NJ Audubon is pleased to announce that Eileen Murphy, Ph.D. will be joining our staff on January 2, 2020 as Vice President of Government Relations.
"I am thrilled and excited to be joining NJ Audubon as VP Government Relations. Having observed first-hand the standard of excellence from NJA scientists and advocates during my time in state government, I am proud to be joining an organization that values and promotes policies based on sound science. From the voluntary Board to citizen scientists and invaluable classroom teachers who bring conservation issues to life for their students, NJA is comprised of people focused on action to support awareness and a conservation ethic among all NJ citizens. It is truly an honor to be part of this team." Eileen Murphy
Eileen comes to NJ Audubon from Rutgers University, where she held several senior leadership positions in research development and corporate and foundation relations. During her time at Rutgers, she helped raise over $25 million for research, education and community programs, contributing in part to the 25% increase in overall funding to the university in the last two years.
Prior to Rutgers, Eileen served as a research scientist and later as the Assistant Director and Director of Science, Research and Technology at NJ Department of Environmental Protection (NJDEP). Throughout her 21-year tenure with the group, she worked with and managed a highly technical, interdisciplinary team of scientists on a broad range of environmental and conservation issues including habitat mapping and protection, offshore avian-wind power interaction assessment, drinking water contamination, and geographic and hydrological modeling. As NJDEP’s chief scientist, Eileen was integrally involved in development of regulations and legislation.
She initiated and led the State’s investigations into unregulated organic contaminants in drinking water, which ultimately led to the publication of a pivotal report and testimony to the State House Assembly Agriculture and Natural Resources Committee discussing options for treating drinking water. Her team’s work assessing offshore bird and marine mammal movements formed the foundation for development of offshore wind policy in NJ.
On November 1, 2017, NJ adopted drinking water standards for PFOA and PFNA based on this work making NJ the first state to set formal maximum contaminant levels for these contaminants in the country
Eileen recently completed her six-year tenure as a chartered member of the US Environmental Protection Agency’s (EPA) Science Advisory Board and served on several additional subcommittees advising the agency on issues concerning drinking water contamination.
Dr. Murphy has a Ph.D. in Environmental Science from Rutgers University, an M.S. in Outdoor Education from Northern Illinois University, and a B.S. in English with a minor in Biology from the University of Notre Dame and is author or co-author on numerous peer-reviewed scientific papers that have appeared in scholarly journals, including Environmental Science and Technology. She has over 25 years of experience working in collaborative research, policy and philanthropic environments with increasing leadership and responsibility.