Mackenzi is broadly interested in freshwater conservation and bridging the gap between conservation science and practice. She earned her B.S. in Biology from Virginia Tech in 2020. Prior to beginning grad school, she gained a variety of research and conservation experience across the Southeast US including amphibian conservation, feral hog population monitoring, and longleaf pine ecosystem hydrology and wetland monitoring. While working as a research technician with the River Basin Center monitoring the management and health of Georgia's two most imperiled rivers, she was inspired to understand how human behaviors impact freshwater environments. Her research focuses on how information resources influence farmer decision-making in a region home to endangered fish and mussel species and streams impacted by surrounding agricultural land use.

Jonathan’s thesis examines inequalities in stormwater infrastructure management in Gwinnett County, Georgia. His work shows how inspection frequency and infrastructure age vary across Hispanic and Black communities, and assesses whether green infrastructure investments are likely to redress or reinforce these disparities in service and resilience.