Kailey Nichols completed her BSc. (Honours) in Environmental Science with a minor in Geography in 2023 and has since begun her MSc in Applied Science at Saint Mary’s University. She conducts research under the supervision of Dr. Danika van Proosdij in the Geography and Environmental Studies department, focusing on coastal restoration monitoring. Her honours work, which contributed to this paper, encompassed monitoring the spatial and temporal patterns of vegetation colonization in a restored tidal wetland using GIS and remote sensing techniques. From this project, Kailey was the recipient of Canada’s 2023 ESRI Young Scholar Award out of 20 competitors for her ArcGIS StoryMap “Using GIS and Remote Sensing to Monitor Coastal Restoration”. This work was highlighted in the ESRI User Conference in the San Diego Convention Center, and presented as a poster by Kailey at conferences including Restore America’s Estuaries (RAE) in New Orleans, Louisiana (2022), and at Coastal and Estuarine Research Federation (CERF) in Portland, Oregon (2023). Outside of her research, Kailey has been working in coastal environments for the past 4 years alongside CB Wetlands and Environmental Specialists (CBWES) as a Mitacs intern and research assistant, where she assists with field work, processing aerial photography, and spatial analyses, owing to her current skills in geomatics. She is also on the Board of Directors as a Student Representative for the Geomatics Association of Nova Scotia (GANS).