An award-winning multidisciplinary scholar of the human dimensions of water, Dr. Heather O'Leary leads multiple initiatives demonstrating the vital contributions communities make to transnational water policy and science. As an Associate Professor of Anthropology, her research interests trace the ways water impacts the most pressing concerns of our century - from extractive development, to informal labor and human migration, to crucial data literacy goals, and challenges to human and environmental health. Current projects include: marine chemicals of emerging concern in Tampa Bay, USA; comparative projects on cultural values of contamination in coastal and riparian India; epistemic erasure and citation in the environmental social sciences; and hydroliteracy and data-driven sonification (CRESCENDO); and projects for the USF Oceans of Data Think Tank which she jointly leads. These projects together outline the complexities and human dimensions to making our waters secure and sustainable for today's needs and tomorrow's generations. Dr. O'Leary has served as a specialist with the OECD, Global Water Partnership, International Science Council, and in leadership positions on the multiple anthropological boards (World Anthropological Union (WAU); International Union of Anthropological and Ethnological Sciences (IUAES); Scientific Commission for Anthropology and Environment (CAE); Central States Anthropological Association (CSAS)). She received the Bachelor of Arts degree in Sociology from the University of Michigan, Ann Arbor; the Master of Arts degree in Social Sciences from the University of Chicago, and the Ph.D. in Anthropology from the University of Minnesota in 2014.