Launched in 2022, the Heather M. Morgan Climate Risk Adaptation Lecture Series is an endowed fund supporting the annual participation of a keynote lecturer in climate risk and design at the annual Waterfront Conference.

This lecture series honors Heather M. Morgan, noted climate risk adaptation expert, and her contributions to the field of sustainability. Taken from the world too soon, Heather built a remarkable career during her 44 years on Earth. Heather believed that “[t]he health of the natural system is [a] national security concern” and dedicated her career to redefining the relationship between our human inhabitation and the natural system utilizing a transdisciplinary approach. She used her formidable oratory skills to educate people and empower them to advocate for their communities because she felt that unless people understood the dynamic, there would be no real progress. Heather was herself a force of nature who brought boundless energy, genuine integrity, and limitless passion to her work.

Selected each year by an advisory committee made up of select fund donors, including premier sponsor AECOM, the speaker focuses on a cutting-edge subject that reflects Heather’s transdisciplinary approach at the intersection of design, nature, community, infrastructure, public education, and natural systems in the context of climate change. There is emphasis to feature women leaders in their fields.