Rodney R Knight

In this position, Rodney is responsible for the scientific and operational leadership of the USGS science centers located in the Southeast (DOI Regions 2, 4, and 6), which include field centers in the states of Alabama, Arkansas, Florida, Georgia, Louisiana, Mississippi, North Carolina, South Carolina, Tennessee, Missouri, Iowa, Texas, Oklahoma, the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico, and the U.S. Virgin Islands.

Mr. Rodney Knight is the Center Director for the USGS Lower Mississippi-Gulf Water Science Center, where he has dedicated 32 years to advancing the USGS’s mission. He began his career in 1992 as a student in the Nashville field office. In his role as Center Director, Mr. Knight leads a team of nearly 200 staff members, delivering high-quality water data, interpretations, and visualizations to federal, state, tribal, local, and non-governmental agencies. His position requires a comprehensive understanding of the scientific interests and needs of partner agencies across a five-state footprint, including Alabama, Arkansas, Louisiana, Mississippi, and Tennessee. This expertise often allows him to facilitate collaboration among various agencies from neighboring states to address shared interests and challenges. Currently, Mr. Knight is serving in a detail as the Acting Regional Director for the Southeast Region of the USGS. 

In the early stages of his career, Mr. Knight held various roles within the USGS focusing on hydrologic modeling, groundwater assessment, and stream ecology among other areas. During this time, he collaborated with numerous state partners, which helped him establish valuable partnerships across the Lower Mississippi-Gulf region, particularly in ecological flow initiatives. His contributions have garnered recognition from several states in the Southeast Region, resulting in state support for the development of decision-support frameworks for major rivers flowing into the Gulf of Mexico.  Additionally, Mr. Knight has represented the USGS in a Report to Congress and served as an expert witness in a federal trial. In recent years, he has enjoyed engaging with federal, state, and local partners to foster collaborations that connect USGS science and data to real-world applications. 

Mr. Knight holds a Bachelor of Science in Civil/Environmental Engineering from Tennessee Technological University, which he earned in 1995.