Cynthia Banks is a research biologist at the US Army Engineer R&D Center, Environmental Laboratory in Vicksburg, Mississippi. She received a BSc in Environmental Science (2000) and MSc in Hazardous Materials Management (2003) from Jackson State University. Since 1995, she has been involved with areas including wetlands, coastal ecology, risk assessment and environmental research related to dredging and currently serves as manager of the USACE DOTS Programme.