Professor Biology (Deceased)
"Dr. Jennifer Mattei has been posthumously awarded the status of Professor Emerita. During Jennifer’s 27 years of service at SHU she demonstrated an unwavering commitment to teaching, scholarship and service, to both the university and the broader community. Jennifer was a champion for the environment and loved engaging students, faculty, community partners and the public in the critical work of restoring and conserving coastal species and habitats. She was also a driving force in shaping the Biology Department, imbuing it with the values that embody the university’s mission.
Jennifer was a dedicated teacher of many courses, including Ecology, Evolution and Plant Biology. She played a key role in developing the Coastal and Marine Science major, and served as Director of the now-defunct Professional Science Master’s Program in Environmental Science and Management. She also chaired the Biology department from 2003 to 2009, overseeing a time of great transition and growth while ensuring that we remained student-focused.
Jennifer recruited many students to participate in her very active research program. Collectively, her students delivered over 75 presentations at internal, regional, and national research conferences and received at least five awards. Many of these students went on to pursue careers in science and education, including one of the department’s full-time faculty and several adjunct faculty members. Her work also involved community outreach and education, reaching K-12 teachers and students, local conservation groups, and many others.
She founded Project Limulus, a large-scale citizen science effort to tag and monitor horseshoe crab populations in Long Island Sound. She also spearheaded construction and monitoring of a living shoreline at Stratford Point that has served as a model for coastal protection against erosion throughout the northeast, and received a national award from the American Shore and Beach Preservation Association. Jennifer’s work on coastal restoration, as well as the Project Limulus efforts, has received over $2,000,000 in funding and has generated many scientific articles and book chapters.
Jennifer’s legacy will continue to be a significant presence in the Biology Department well into the future" --Robin L. Cautin, Ph.D., Provost, Sacred Heart University, email to the Sacred Heart University community March 24, 2023.
"The Department of Biology recently lost a beloved member of our faculty. Over her 27 years of service at Sacred Heart University, Jennifer Mattei truly exemplified all that we strive to be as faculty members in the department: focused on providing the best education possible, abundant opportunities to conduct research, and to foster a love of life-long learning.
Jennifer was known throughout the University community for her passion about the environment—in particular the endangered horseshoe crab and shoreline restoration. She engaged anyone who would listen, especially her students who often joined her and other volunteers in such projects as tagging horseshoe crabs, installing reef balls—aimed at helping with shoreline restoration—at Stratford Point, and much more.
To honor Jennifer's legacy, the Department of Biology is creating The Jennifer H. Mattei Scholarship for Undergraduate Researchwhich will provide an undergraduate student with a $1,000 stipend to conduct research with a Biology faculty member during the summer. In addition to supporting research, a portion of the funds may be used for student travel to an academic conference. The scholarship will be open to all students interested in Summer Research with a Biology faculty member or members, and candidates from traditionally underrepresented populations in STEM are encouraged to apply. With your help, the goal is to raise more than the $25,000 necessary to establish an endowed fund in Jennifer's memory that will exist in perpetuity.
Please consider donating in Jennifer’s memory: https://crowdfunding.sacredheart.edu/campaigns/the-jennifer-h-mattei-scholarship-for-undergraduate-research" --Mark A. Beekey, Ph.D., Dean, College of Arts and Sciences, Professor, Department of Biology.
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About Jennifer Mattei
"Dr. Jennifer Mattei has been posthumously awarded the status of Professor Emerita. During Jennifer’s 27 years of service at SHU she demonstrated an unwavering commitment to teaching, scholarship and service, to both the university and the broader community. Jennifer was a champion for the environment and loved engaging students, faculty, community partners and the public in the critical work of restoring and conserving coastal species and habitats. She was also a driving force in shaping the Biology Department, imbuing it with the values that embody the university’s mission.
Jennifer was a dedicated teacher of many courses, including Ecology, Evolution and Plant Biology. She played a key role in developing the Coastal and Marine Science major, and served as Director of the now-defunct Professional Science Master’s Program in Environmental Science and Management. She also chaired the Biology department from 2003 to 2009, overseeing a time of great transition and growth while ensuring that we remained student-focused.
Jennifer recruited many students to participate in her very active research program. Collectively, her students delivered over 75 presentations at internal, regional, and national research conferences and received at least five awards. Many of these students went on to pursue careers in science and education, including one of the department’s full-time faculty and several adjunct faculty members. Her work also involved community outreach and education, reaching K-12 teachers and students, local conservation groups, and many others.
She founded Project Limulus, a large-scale citizen science effort to tag and monitor horseshoe crab populations in Long Island Sound. She also spearheaded construction and monitoring of a living shoreline at Stratford Point that has served as a model for coastal protection against erosion throughout the northeast, and received a national award from the American Shore and Beach Preservation Association. Jennifer’s work on coastal restoration, as well as the Project Limulus efforts, has received over $2,000,000 in funding and has generated many scientific articles and book chapters.
Jennifer’s legacy will continue to be a significant presence in the Biology Department well into the future" --Robin L. Cautin, Ph.D., Provost, Sacred Heart University, email to the Sacred Heart University community March 24, 2023.
"The Department of Biology recently lost a beloved member of our faculty. Over her 27 years of service at Sacred Heart University, Jennifer Mattei truly exemplified all that we strive to be as faculty members in the department: focused on providing the best education possible, abundant opportunities to conduct research, and to foster a love of life-long learning.
Jennifer was known throughout the University community for her passion about the environment—in particular the endangered horseshoe crab and shoreline restoration. She engaged anyone who would listen, especially her students who often joined her and other volunteers in such projects as tagging horseshoe crabs, installing reef balls—aimed at helping with shoreline restoration—at Stratford Point, and much more.
To honor Jennifer's legacy, the Department of Biology is creating The Jennifer H. Mattei Scholarship for Undergraduate Researchwhich will provide an undergraduate student with a $1,000 stipend to conduct research with a Biology faculty member during the summer. In addition to supporting research, a portion of the funds may be used for student travel to an academic conference. The scholarship will be open to all students interested in Summer Research with a Biology faculty member or members, and candidates from traditionally underrepresented populations in STEM are encouraged to apply. With your help, the goal is to raise more than the $25,000 necessary to establish an endowed fund in Jennifer's memory that will exist in perpetuity.
Please consider donating in Jennifer’s memory: https://crowdfunding.sacredheart.edu/campaigns/the-jennifer-h-mattei-scholarship-for-undergraduate-research" --Mark A. Beekey, Ph.D., Dean, College of Arts and Sciences, Professor, Department of Biology.
| 1997 - December 2022 | Director & Founder Project Limulus, Sacred Heart University ‐ Biology Department, College of Arts & Sciences | |
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| 1995 - December 2022 | Professor Biology, Sacred Heart University ‐ Biology Department, College of Arts & Sciences | |
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| September 2011 - May 2015 | Director, Professional Science Master's, Environmental Science & Management, Sacred Heart University ‐ Biology Department, College of Arts & Sciences | |
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| 2003 - 2009 | Chair, Department of Biology, Sacred Heart University | |
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Disciplines
Grants
| 2017 - Present | SHU's Living Shoreline Project |
| Federal Coastal Resilience Grant Program, NOAA | |
| Colleague(s): Audubon Connecticut, DuPont Company | |
| 2019 - 2021 | Monitoring and Management of the Living Shoreline at Stratford Point, Stratford, CT |
| Corteva Agriscience™ Agriculture Division of DowDuPont ™ | |
| Colleague(s): LaTina Steele and Jo-Marie Kasinak | |
| $118,240.40 |
Honors and Awards
- Faculty Appreciation Award: The Office of Residential Life 2007
- Chair Biology Department 2002-2009
- Women Faculty Mentoring Committee 2011-present
- Fellow for the Center on Teaching and Learning 2006-2007
- 2020 Best Restored Shore Award, American Shore & Beach Preservation Association Award for research on Stratford Point Living Shoreline.
- 2020 Stratford Point Living Shoreline National Fish & Wildlife Foundation 15-year anniversary publication honoring the top 8 projects that they helped to fund – nationwide
| 1994 - 1995 | Post-doctoral Research Associate, Rutgers University ‐ Ecology, Evolution, and Natural Resources | |
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| 1994 | Ph.D. Ecology and Evolution, State University of New York at Stony Brook | |
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| 1984 | M.F.S. Forest Science, Yale University ‐ School of Environment | |
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| 1982 | B.S. Zoology, University of Maryland at College Park | |
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Links
Contact Information
Biology
Science Ctr of Academic Bldg SC*234P
College of Arts and Sciences
Email:
