Jess Kuonen (left) and Michael Finewood, Vice-President of the Board of Directors, Hudson River Watershed Alliance (right), pose with Kuonen’s 2026 Watershed WaveMaker Award at the WaveMaker Awards Benefit in Marlboro, NY. Credit: Jack Torry, Marist University ‘26
Jessica Kuonen (Hudson Estuary Resilience Specialist, New York Sea Grant) has been honored as a 2026 Watershed WaveMaker in recognition of her flooding resilience work in the Hudson Valley region.
Contact:
Jessica A. Kuonen, Hudson Estuary Resilience Specialist, NYSG E: jak546@cornell.edu, P: (845) 340-3990 x323
Marlboro, NY, June 3, 2026 — The Hudson River Watershed Alliance (HRWA) announced its 2026 Watershed WaveMakers, which includes Jessica Kuonen, New York Sea Grant’s Hudson Estuary Resilience Specialist. Each year, HRWA recognizes key people from a variety of backgrounds for the award, celebrating the full range of successful watershed work that is being done in the region.
Jess Kuonen (left) accepts her 2026 WaveMaker award from Emily Vail, Executive Director of the Hudson River Watershed Alliance (middle), and Michael Finewood (right) at the WaveMaker Awards Benefit. Credit: Jack Torry
On June 3, Kuonen, alongside three other honorees, was recognized at HRWA’s annual WaveMaker Awards Benefit in Marlboro, NY. Kuonen is being honored for region-wide impact working with communities to support local flood resilience, including:
• Launching innovative tools to document flooding, like MyCoast NY.
• Co-hosting programs to help municipalities keep people safe during floods, including training like mid-June 2025's "Risk and Crisis Communications for Flood Readiness."
• Co-facilitating the Hudson Valley Flood Resilience Network.
“Jess is the epitome of an extension professional,” said Katherine Bunting-Howarth, Associate Director of NYSG and Assistant Director of Cornell Cooperative Extension. “She works with and for communities; she empowers them to improve their resilience through developing tools and programming tailored to their needs. It is great to see her ‘behind the scenes’ activities acknowledged for the impact they make.”
Jess Kuonen (left) hugs Michael Finewood (right) at the WaveMaker Awards Benefit. Credit: Jack Torry
In her role as NYSG’s Hudson Estuary Resilience Specialist, Kuonen serves the 10 counties that border the tidal Hudson River. Her work in estuarine resilience focuses on coastal hazards and environmental health, including flood resilience, and she works with many partners throughout the Hudson Valley to further coastal health, education, and protection in the region.
The other 2026 Watershed WaveMakers include John Garver (Union College), Dany Davis (NYC Department of Environmental Protection), and the Saw Kill Watershed Community.
More Info: New York Sea Grant
New York Sea Grant (NYSG) is a university-based, statewide Federal-State collaboration between the State University of New York (SUNY), Cornell University, and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA). It is one of 34 university-based programs that connects research, extension, and education with the needs of coastal communities, environments, and economies through NOAA.
Since 1971, NYSG has supported science-based solutions for a wide range of water-related challenges and opportunities across the state. Through NYSG’s efforts, university scientists and extension specialists help develop and transfer science and technical information to educational institutions, businesses, agencies, and industries; federal, state and local governments; the media; and the interested public. The program is administratively based at Stony Brook University (SBU) and Cornell's College of Agriculture and Life Sciences (CALS).
NYSG historically leverages on average a 5.5-fold return on each invested federal dollar, annually. The State benefits from this, as these resources are invested in Sea Grant staff and their work in communities right here in New York.
New York Sea Grant, one of the largest of the state Sea Grant programs, maintains Great Lakes offices at Cornell University, SUNY Buffalo, Rochester Institute of Technology, SUNY Oswego, the Wayne County Cooperative Extension office in Newark, and in Watertown. In the State's marine waters, NYSG has offices at Stony Brook University and with Cornell Cooperative Extension of Nassau County on Long Island, in Queens, at Brooklyn College, with Cornell Cooperative Extension in NYC, in Bronx, with Cornell Cooperative Extension of Ulster County in Kingston, and with Cornell Cooperative Extension of Westchester County in Elmsford.
Established in 1966, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA)’s National Sea Grant College Program promotes the informed stewardship of coastal resources in 34 joint federal/state university-based programs in every U.S. coastal state (marine and Great Lakes) and Puerto Rico. The Sea Grant model has also inspired similar projects in the Pacific region, Korea and Indonesia.
For updates on Sea Grant activities: www.nyseagrant.org, follow us on social media (Facebook, Twitter/X, Instagram, Bluesky, LinkedIn, and YouTube). NYSG offers a free e-list sign up via www.nyseagrant.org/nycoastlines for its flagship publication, NY Coastlines/Currents, which it publishes quarterly.