Amy Giannotti, M.S., C.L.M.
Amy Giannotti is the founder of AquaSTEM Consulting, LLC – an environmental consulting company specializing in aquatic plant and lake management, aquatic habitat restoration, and STEM outreach initiatives. Amy is a Certified Lake Manager and has over 25 years of experience working in temperate and subtropical marine and freshwater systems, including coastal and freshwater vegetation dynamics, invasive species management, impacts of nutrient enrichment and remediation efforts, stormwater management and watershed hydrology, and public speaking on environmental issues affecting lakes, springs, and karst community ecology.
For the last 20+ years, much of Amy’s daily work has focused on the technical aspects of habitat management in Florida waters where she has supervised lake, stormwater, and natural resource programs for local governments, state agencies, and as a private consultant. These duties included managing the control of invasive species, field operations for NPDES compliance, fisheries habitat management, water quality, shoreline permitting/enforcement/and compliance, stakeholder and community engagement, and educational outreach.
Amy also serves as the Director of Development for Schoolyard Films, a 501c3 non-profit organization dedicated to making high-end environmental and nature films for K-12 youth. These award-winning films are available for free, come with study guides that align to state and national science standards, are available in other languages, and are captioned for visually and hearing-impaired audiences.
She has also had the unique opportunity to lead conservation initiatives here in the United States and in several other countries of Central America and the Caribbean. From 2004 to 2019, Amy served as president of the Cambrian Foundation, a 501c3 technical diving organization, and led scientific expeditions in Bermuda, Mexico, and Florida that promoted the preservation and protection of critical cave and karst environments, historic shipwrecks, and implemented expedition participation programs for students and teachers in the United States and abroad. These expeditions required complex logistical coordination related to scientific/cave diving, environmental sampling, fundraising, and liaising with international government agencies, schools, and local interest groups.
Amy currently serves on the Advisory Council of the Center for Aquatic and Invasive Plants at the University of Florida, and she has designed and developed curricular programs for elementary, middle, and high school students emphasizing the threats to Florida waters from invasive species. She is an officer with the Aquatic Plant Management Society, and has served on the Board of Directors of the Florida Aquatic Plant Management Society, and was the editor of the Society’s journal Aquatics. Amy is also a mentor for the University of Central Florida’s STEM Program and is an invited seminar presenter at many technical conferences and symposia.
Amy holds a bachelor of science degree in biology from Marietta College (Ohio) and earned her master of science degree in environmental science from the University of Virginia, with a specialty in marine ecology. Some of her professional affiliations include the Aquatic Plant Management Society, Florida Aquatic Plant Management Society, Florida Lake Management Society, North American Lake Management Society, Florida Marine Science Educators Association, National Marine Educators Association, and the Boston Sea Rovers. Amy is a certified scuba diver (open water, EANx, and cavern diver), airboat pilot, outboard motor operator, and a licensed aquatics herbicide applicator in Florida.
