Maria Honeycutt

Dr. Maria Honeycutt, CFM, is the Assistant Director for Resilience Science and Technology at the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy (OSTP). She is responsible for connecting and coordinating science and technology (S&T) activities relevant to natural hazards and other threats within OSTP, across White House components (e.g., National Security Council; Domestic Climate Policy Office; Council on Environmental Quality), among Federal agencies, and with external partners. Dr. Honeycutt is detailed to OSTP from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s (NOAA’s) Office for Coastal Management, where since 2008 she has applied her expertise in coastal geoscience and hazard mitigation towards developing national policy and tools that build community resilience to flooding.
Prior to joining NOAA, Dr. Honeycutt served as a Congressional Science Fellow for U.S. Senator Bill Nelson (FL), a position sponsored by the U.S. Geological Survey and Geological Society of America as part of the American Association for the Advancement of Science’s S&T Policy Fellows Program. In the Senate, her issue portfolio included natural hazards, flood insurance reform, water resources, climate change, and fisheries. She spent the preceding seven years as an engineering consultant leading post-hurricane flood recovery mapping projects along the Gulf Coast for the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA). Dr. Honeycutt got her start in natural hazards engineering, policy, and risk reduction by serving as a Knauss Sea Grant Marine Policy Fellow in FEMA’s Mitigation Directorate, contributing to post-disaster forensic studies and national building science guidance.
Dr. Honeycutt earned a B.A. in geology from Smith College, an M.S. and Ph.D. in oceanography from the University of Delaware, and is professionally registered as a Certified Floodplain Manager.