Kelly Knee leads Tetra Tech’s ocean science team and has extensive experience applying science, data, and technology to solve complex marine and coastal challenges.
Kelly is a trusted advisor to clients, known for bringing together scientific expertise, advanced modeling, and data-driven decision support to inform responsible use of the marine environment. Her work spans ocean observing, environmental forecasting, and applied research supporting offshore energy, maritime operations, emergency response, and coastal resilience.
She specializes in leveraging software, systems engineering, and data analytics to translate complex environmental data into actionable insight. By working with cross-functional teams of scientists, engineers, software developers, and data analysts, Kelly helps ensure that innovative solutions are not only scientifically rigorous, but also scalable, operational, and fit for real world decision-making.
Kelly is also a former Fulbright Scholar whose early work examined the impacts of sea level rise on small island nations, shaping her career-long focus on ocean science, climate, and responsible development.
What are some of today’s most pressing challenges in the marine environment?
Today’s marine environment is shaped by a convergence of stressors. Long standing challenges, such as marine pollution, continue to affect water quality and trigger acute events like harmful algal blooms. At the same time, expanding human use of the ocean, including shipping, overfishing, offshore energy development, and emerging activities such as deep-sea mining, is placing increasing pressure on marine systems. Climate driven changes, including ocean warming and acidification, are further altering ocean physics and chemistry. These stressors overlap and interact, compounding their effects and making it difficult to fully understand impacts on ecosystems and marine life.
Managing these challenges requires informed decision-making in the face of uncertainty. The ocean is inherently complex and dynamic, and even as forecasting and modeling capabilities improve, decisions must often be made with incomplete information. Rapid growth in the blue technology sector has dramatically expanded our ability to collect ocean data. Uncrewed platforms, low-cost sensors, and advances in real-time data transmission are transforming ocean observation and improving environmental forecasting. This abundance of data creates opportunity, but also complexity. The central challenge is no longer accessing data, but translating information into timely, actionable insight. Artificial intelligence (AI), machine learning, and blended physics-based and AI models are emerging as essential tools to synthesize data, manage uncertainty, and support more effective decisions in an increasingly complex marine environment.
How is digital innovation transforming marine science and the way we deliver projects?
The marine sector is seeing a clear shift toward data-driven decision-making enabled by emerging technology. Advances in blue technology, including uncrewed systems, low-cost sensors, edge computing, and real time data transmission, are expanding what can be observed and measured in the ocean. The challenge now is turning that information into insight. At Tetra Tech, we use tools like OceansMap™ to support clients to synthesize large volumes of environmental data into situational awareness that supports faster, more informed decisions. Neptune is another example, using machine learning at the edge to process complex acoustic data and identify sound sources with potential applications that extend beyond marine mammals to broader monitoring and security needs. We also are applying machine learning to understand coastal flooding impacts in near real time, supporting response and resilience planning. By integrating these capabilities, Tetra Tech is helping clients make informed decisions that support environmental stewardship while advancing marine development, resilience, and security in complex and dynamic ocean settings.
What trends will shape the future of ocean science and how is Tetra Tech helping clients prepare?
As the blue economy grows beyond 1 trillion dollars annually and continues to expand, success increasingly depends on the ability to develop ocean resources responsibly while managing environmental and operational risk. At the same time, expanding ocean use and growing geopolitical complexity are elevating the importance of maritime security and domain awareness across both civilian and defense sectors. Data, technology, and knowledge-driven services are becoming essential to sectors ranging from offshore energy to maritime transportation and defense. This is a huge opportunity for the maritime industry to benefit from timely access to high-quality data and the ability to anticipate challenges and threats.
Clients need the ability to understand what is happening in the marine environment—including detecting activity, anomalies, and issues that may not be readily observable—while also accounting for environmental constraints and co-stressors that can affect ecosystems and operations. Tetra Tech prepares clients for this future by integrating AI, advanced modeling, and our unique software products across the enterprise. By combining environmental intelligence with situational awareness, we help clients de risk development, strengthen security, and optimize outcomes in a dynamic and increasingly strategic ocean environment.
Tetra Tech’s earliest projects were focused on building coastal zone resilience. With 60 years of marine experience, what makes our global services stand out today?
That’s right. In the 1960s, shortly after the company’s founding, Tetra Tech was at the forefront of building and managing several large-scale physical models to support studies in breakwater stability analyses, coastal structure design, and more.
What has always set Tetra Tech apart is our focus on technology-enabled consulting grounded in deep scientific expertise. We bring together ocean scientists, engineers, software developers, and data analysts in fully integrated teams. This ensures our solutions are scientifically sound, technically robust, scalable, and operational in real-world settings. Innovation is embedded in our culture. Through internal initiatives like our Tech 1000 Challenge, we encourage employees at every level to think big, think differently, and turn ideas into deployable solutions. Research and development have been part of Tetra Tech since our founding and continue to shape industry practice, from guidance development to mission critical operations.
Today, Tetra Tech’s suite of software and technology solutions—including OceansMap, Neptune, and FusionMap®—are used globally to support emergency response, maritime operations, and infrastructure development. We are also highly agile, enabling us to pivot quickly as client priorities evolve. This combination of expertise, innovation, and execution is how we help clients solve complex marine challenges.