Educated as an architect at SCI-Arc in Los Angeles, Evelyn is an expert in biomimetic design and concrete fabrication. Internationally recognized as a leader in the fields of coastal resilience and aquatic ecosystem restoration, she invented GRoW’s patented biophilic concrete formula and reef restoration products. Tested by VIMS, the Virginia Institute of Marine Sciences, these calcium carbonate rich products have been installed in the Gulf of Mexico, the Chesapeake Bay, along the north-eastern seaboard of the United States, in Elkhorn Slough, Northern California and on the south coast of the UK, protecting shorelines, attenuating wave energy, and increasing biodiversity.
In January 2024, GRoW Oyster Reefs, LLC was awarded U.S. National Science Foundation (NSF) Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) research and development funding to evolve and scale the next generation of their biophilic concrete modular reef substrates, using biomimetic 3-D printed metal molds and electro-mechanical production processes, driving down cost, reducing embodied carbon, increasing capacity and maximising yields to address the urgent need for effective coastal protection, confronting the impact of anthropogenic climate change.
Evelyn is a Fellow of the American Academy in Rome, was selected as an MIT Solver in 2019, a RISE Innovation Fellow in 2020, was a finalist in the Biomimicry Institute’s Ray of Hope Prize in 2021, and won the USGBC-CA Net-Zero Trailblazer Award in 2024.