Cayelan Carey is the Patricia Caldwell Faculty Fellow and Professor of Freshwater Ecosystem Science at Virginia Tech. As co-director of the Virginia Tech Center for Ecosystem Forecasting, she develops and applies novel data science approaches to improve the management of freshwater ecosystems. Her research advances understanding of freshwater responses to global change through high-frequency monitoring of lakes and reservoirs, integrating ecosystem data with models, and developing real-time forecasts for water bodies worldwide.

Carey is a fellow of the Association for the Sciences of Limnology and Oceanography (ASLO) and has been appointed an Earth Leaders Fellow through the Stanford Woods Institute for the Environment and Future Earth. She received the Kilham Memorial Award from the International Society of Limnology and the Yentsch-Schindler Award from ASLO.