Jake Barker, Research Assistant and WCC Coordinator | Jake is a Master of Forestry candidate focusing on western forest management, restoration, and conservation. Prior to YSE, he worked in sustainable forestry in the Pacific Northwest and as a forestry technician in timber sales for the USDA Forest Service Enterprise Program. Currently, he is a Conservation Connect Fellow with the National Forest Foundation, showcasing partnerships and collaborations in the Rocky Mountain Region through storytelling, including Wood For Life and the 14ers Centennial Visioning Process. At Yale, he researches the costs of pile burning with the Carbon Containment Lab and Kodama Systems and is a teaching assistant for the Yale Forest Forum. He is a graduate student representative for OneYSE and serves as a leadership team member for the Yale Temperate Forestry student interest group. Jake enjoys surfing, reading, and exploring National Forests. See what Jake has been up to. | Blog
Andie Creel, WCC Coordinator | Andie Creel is a Ph.D. student at the Yale School of the Environment studying natural resource economics and capital accounting. Her current research evaluates the benefit of local parks and the ecosystem services of green infrastructure in cities. She’s passionate about increasing access to green space and outdoor recreation because of the access she enjoyed growing up in Bozeman, Montana. Before Yale, she worked as a journalist reporting on conservation solutions coming out of rural communities and as a freeride ski coach. See what Andie has been up to. | Blog
Dimitria Spathakis, Research Assistant | Dimitria is a joint Master of Environmental Management and Master of Business Administration candidate at the Yale School of the Environment and Yale School of Management. Prior to Yale, Dimitria served as a logistics officer in the United States Marine Corps, leading teams in Hawaii, Japan, and Thailand. She has also worked for the National Outdoor Leadership School (NOLS) as a field instructor, teaching leadership, risk management, and environmental stewardship in the
western U.S. As an outdoor educator, Dimitria is passionate about protecting natural spaces and is interested in exploring ways the private, public, and nonprofit sectors can work to advance nature-based solutions. Dimitria is from New Jersey and has an AB in Biology and Eurasian Studies from Bowdoin College. See what Dimitria has been up to. | Blog
2023
Uthara Vengrai, Western Resource Fellow | Uthara is an ecosystem ecologist and doctoral student at the Yale School of the Environment. Her research explores the role of land use and global change on soil greenhouse gas exchange and organic matter pools in dryland ecosystems. Originally from Southern California, her academic interests are strongly motivated by a desire to produce research that helps inform and prepare communities in the West for the impacts of climate change. Uthara has a BS in Environmental Sciences from the University of California, Berkeley and an MESc from the Yale School of the Environment. See what Uthara has been up to. | Blog
Damaris Chenoweth, Western Resource Fellow | Damaris is a plant community ecologist and doctoral student at Yale School of the Environment. Her dissertation work focuses on restoration and recovery dynamics of big sagebrush plant communities at natural gas disturbances in southwestern Wyoming. She is particularly interested in the role of recruitment and early successional dynamics in determining restoration outcomes under climate change and uses a combination of field work and simulation modeling to investigate these topics. Damaris is from Princeton, New Jersey and has a BA in Biology from Skidmore College and an MESc from Yale School of the Environment. See what Damaris has been up to. | Blog
Julia Jacobson, Western Resource Fellow | Julia is a Master of Environmental Science student interested in the intersections of multispecies interactions, food, and community. Her research aims to understand how farmers in southwest Colorado are experiencing and responding to climate change, and the more-than-human interactions involved in these processes. Prior to coming to the Yale School of the Environment, Julia worked as an environmental journalist and educator in her hometown of Gunnison, Colorado. She holds a B.S. in ecology and evolutionary biology and a B.A. in English literature from the University of Colorado at Boulder. In her freetime, Julia enjoys skiing, rafting, hiking, gardening, and all things outside. See what Julia has been up to. | Blog
Kathleen Voight, Research Assistant and Western Resource Fellow | Kathleen Voight is a Master of Environmental Science candidate focused on the conservation and management of working lands in the Rocky Mountain West. Her research focuses on agricultural viability, resiliency, and drought adaptation in livestock grazing systems in southern Colorado. Kathleen believes working lands are essential to western landscapes that support rural communities and healthy ecosystems. Prior to matriculating at the Yale School of the Environment, Kathleen worked in agriculture, conservation, and environmental education. Kathleen holds a BA in History of Art from Yale University and she is a former Rocky Mountain Farmers Union Fellow. In her free time, Kathleen likes to bike, hike, and ski as often as possible. See what Kathleen has been up to. | Blog
Julia Chen, Research Assistant | Julia Chen is a Master of Forestry candidate at the Yale School of the Environment focusing on forest management issues in the American West. Julia received a B.S. in Ecosystem Management and Forestry and Microbiology from UC Berkeley, where her love for conifer forests developed. Prior to YSE, her work with the Museum of Vertebrate Zoology concentrated on amphibian conservation and mapping species ranges. In her free time, Julia enjoys playing tuba and hiking. See what Julia has been up to. | Blog
Sam Wilson, Research Assistant and Western Resource Fellow | Sam Wilson is a graduate student at Yale School of the Environment working towards a Masters in Environmental Science, focusing on using remote sensing, big data, and field work to analyze relationships in rangeland ecosystems. He received a B.S. in Geography from Montana State University in 2019 and spent the next few years living in Bozeman, Montana. While there summers were spent working in rangelands on a long term monitoring protocol with the BLM and winters were spent using satellite imagery to map wetlands for the National Wetlands Inventory. In his free time he enjoys skiing, hiking, reading, and learning! . | Blog
Rowan Sharkey, Research Assistant | Rowan Sharkey, Research Assistant | Rowan Sharkey is a Masters of Environmental Management candidate at Yale School of the Environment, focusing specifically on ecosystem management and conservation. Having received her B.A. in Data Analytics and Environmental Studies at Denison University, her interest lies in environmental data analyzation, story telling, and communication. Prior to Yale, Rowan was a Princeton in Africa fellow, where she worked with regenerative agriculture and nutrition accessibility in Kenya. Growing up in rural Ohio, she holds a deep connection to the land and is curious about best management and restoration practices. | See what Rowan has been up to. | Blog
Rob Anderson, Western Resource Fellow | Rob Anderson, Western Resource Fellow | Rob is a Master of Environmental Science candidate at the Yale School of the Environment. His thesis research combines simulation modeling and field research to assess the potential of climate change to alter the plant community phenology of Southwest Wyoming through shifts in functional type. He is interested in incorporating species interactions and climatic changes to conservation decision-making. Prior to coming to YSE, Rob contributed to the protection of shorebirds with Mass Audubon, and then came to the EEB department at Yale to work on a global biodiversity mapping project. He received his B.S. in Environmental Science from Northeastern University. See what Rob has been up to. | Blog
Ross Martin, Western Resource Fellow | Ross is a Masters of Environmental Management candidate at the Yale School of the Environment. His focus is on wildlife coexistence, ecosystem connectivity, environmental sociology, and the repopulation of bison in North America. Prior to graduate school, he worked in public policy, decarbonization campaigns, grassroots activism, and the conservation of wildlife in the Greater Yellowstone Ecosystem. As a Western Resource Fellow, Ross will work with Tanka Fund, a South Dakota nonprofit returning bison to native lands, lives and economies in the American West. See what Ross has been up to. | Blog
Raffa Sindoni, Western Resource Fellow | Raffaele (“Raffa”) is a Master of Environmental (MEM) candidate at YSE, focusing on sociology, ecosystem management, and environmental justice. He is interested in the ways regenerative agriculture and ecosystem restoration support environmental and sociological healing in the wake of centuries of exploitation, oppression, and extraction. Raffa is also a Yale Environmental Justice Fellow and a research assistant in Dr. Justin Farrell’s lab on Western Land & Peoples, where he supports Tribal data-empowerment and researches Indigenous involvement in carbon-offsetting markets. Prior to Yale, Raffa worked as an economic consultant and data scientist, where he advised organizations like the DOJ, the ACLU, and the Lawyers’ Committee for Civil Rights. See what Raffa has been up to. | Blog
Rachel Renne, Western Resource Fellow | Rachel grew up in rural southwest Florida, in the heart of orange and cattle-country. After graduating from New College of Florida in 2008, she began a three-mile-per-hour tour—on foot—of the subtle and dramatic shifts of vegetation across the American landscape, hiking over 11,000 miles on National Scenic (and other) Trails. Rachel completed a Masters of Environmental Science at the Yale School of Forestry and Environmental Studies in 2018 and is now a doctoral student at the Yale School of the Environment. She is fascinated by how soils translate climate into vegetation in drylands, and her favorite drylands are big sagebrush ecosystems. She is interested in combining traditional field data with artificial intelligence to answer fundamental and applied questions about plant community ecology. See what Rachel has been up to. | Blog
Mara MacDonell, Research Assistant and Western Resource Fellow | Mara MacDonell is a Masters of Environmental Science student interested in rural communities, science communication, transitioning economies, and environmental justice in the American West. While she grew up in rural, remote northern Minnesota, she fell in love with the West while working in social services policy and programming in Telluride, CO. She has also coached Nordic skiing, served as an AmeriCorps VISTA, and guided backcountry canoe and backpacking trips. She holds a BA in geology from Carleton College. In her free time, Mara enjoys backcountry skiing, running rivers, rock climbing, and painting. See what Mara has been up to. | Blog
Delaney Heileman, Western Resource Fellow | Delaney is a Master of Environmental Science student at the Yale School of the Environment focused on energy justice in the American Southwest. Specifically, she is interested in energy access in Native American communities and is working with the Hopi Utility Corporation to understand issues of electrification and access. Her childhood in Albuquerque, New Mexico, where she saw firsthand the inequities in the southwest, inspires her research. She holds a B.S. in Computer Engineering from the University of New Mexico. See what Delaney has been up to. | Blog
2022
Wyatt Klipa, Research Assistant | Wyatt Klipa is a Master of Environmental Management candidate at the Yale School of the Environment. He is interested in exploring the ways in which approaches of equity and engagement for local stakeholder groups most impacted by conservation policy and implementation of local knowledge can enhance effective community management of large ecosystems, particularly in the American West. Prior to starting at YSE, Wyatt spent the previous four years in environmental education in Jackson Hole, Wyoming, and the Greater Yellowstone Ecosystem. He holds a BS in Environmental Studies with a focus in Conservation Ecology from the University of Michigan. See what Wyatt has been up to. | Blog
Uthara Vengrai, Western Resource Fellow|Uthara Vengrai is a Master of Environmental Science candidate at the Yale School of the Environment. Her thesis research combines simulation modeling and field research to better understand the effects of land use practices and global change on biogeochemical fluxes and soil organic matter in dryland ecosystems. Originally from southern California, her academic interests are strongly motivated by a desire to produce research that helps inform and prepare communities in the West for the impacts of climate change. Uthara holds a Bachelor of Science degree in Environmental Sciences from the University of California, Berkeley. See what Uthara has been up to. | Blog
Shannon Bell, Western Resource Fellow and Research Assistant | Shannon is a Master of Environmental Management candidate at the Yale School of the Environment specializing in environmental policy analysis. She is particularly interested in collaborative policymaking and nature-based climate solutions in the Pacific Northwest, especially in her home state of Oregon. Shannon was inspired to return to the landscape where she was born and raised by both her education in environmental science and climate policy as well as her intimate connection with the diverse forest and highland desert ecosystems. She came to Yale after graduating from the University of British Columbia with a B.S. in Honors Environmental Science.See what Shannon has been up to. | Check out Shannon’s research. | Blog
Scott Carpenter, Western Resource Fellow| Scott is a doctoral student in the School of the Environment at Yale University where he researches the impact of changing precipitation patterns on plant communities in the Intermountain West. Following his undergraduate degree at Princeton University, Scott worked as a project manager for an NSF-funded ecological study at Ol Pejeta conservancy, Kenya’s second largest cattle operation and premier rhino tourism destination. While living in central Kenya Scott developed an interest in mixed-use rangelands, particularly how increasing climate variability influences plant communities and the subsequent consequences for wildlife and livestock. His research in Southwest Wyoming focuses on the impacts of shifting precipitation patterns and increased variability for big sagebrush plant communities through a mix of process-based modeling, field experimentation and survey methods. See what Scott has been up to. | Blog
Ryanna Fossum, Western Resource Fellow |Ryanna Fossum is a Master of Environmental Management candidate at the Yale School of the Environment. She is interested in exploring integrated regional watershed management in the urbanized West. Prior to Yale, Ryanna researched California water policy to better engage local elected officials with community-led water resilience efforts. More recently, she worked on a range of urban design projects to confront public space challenges in New York City. She holds a BA from Oberlin College and majored in Geology and Environmental Studies. See what Ryanna has been up to. | Blog
Molly Ryan, Research Assistant | Molly Ryan is a Master of Environmental Management candidate at the Yale School of the Environment specializing in ecosystem management and conservation. She grew up in Flagstaff, Arizona, where she originally became interested in the intersection between people and natural places. Through her degree, Molly hopes to better understand the social aspects of conservation and land management, with a particular emphasis on stewardship behavior, environmental communication, and equity. Prior to YSE, Molly received her B.A. in Environmental Studies and Geography at Dartmouth College and worked as an analyst in the private sector conducting visitor use management research for the National Park Service. See what Molly has been up to. | Blog
Luca Guadagno, Western Resource Fellow |Luca is a Master of Environmental Science candidate at the Yale School of the Environment interested in the connections between nature based climate solutions, landscape-level conservation, and community-driven land stewardship. At YSE, he works on research and stakeholder engagement related to tree planting and forest management for multiple benefits, including for carbon drawdown, income generation, and ecosystem services. Before coming to YSE, Luca worked on human-wildlife coexistence research in Kenya and worked as an environmental educator. He received his B.S. in Biology and Environmental Science from Tufts University.See what Luca has been up to.| Blog
Lily Colburn, Western Resource Fellow | Lily Colburn is a Master of Environmental Management candidate at the Yale School of the Environment studying nature-based solutions, conservation, and food systems. Prior to Yale, Lily worked at the Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute (STRI) in Panama, studying the effects of reduced rainfall on root morphology and nutrient cycling. She has also spent time guiding backcountry trips in the Sierra Nevada. Lily holds Bachelor of Arts degrees in geography and English literature from the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA). See what Lily has been up to. | Blog
Laura González Mantecón, Research Assistant| Laura González Mantecón is a Master of Environmental Management candidate at the Yale School of the Environment. She is interested in the intersection of ecosystem conservation and rural development and in the incorporation of traditional knowledge and community-led planning into management practices as part of the broader goal of addressing climate change and environmental inequities. Before coming to YSE, Laura worked in outdoor and international education, and she became enamored by the Western landscapes while living and skiing in the Canadian Rockies. See what Laura has been up to. | Blog
Lani Chang, Research Assistant|Lani Chang is a Master of Environmental Management candidate at the Yale School of the Environment focusing on water and public land issues in the American West. In particular, she interested in understanding how to better integrate stakeholder engagement, local/indigenous knowledge, and creative science communication to achieve more equitable and sustainable outcomes. Having grown up in California and attended Colorado College for her BA, her interests have been heavily influenced through her time living, working, and recreating all over the West. See what Lani has been up to. | Blog
Kyle Lemle, Western Resource Fellow |Kyle Lemle is a Masters in Forestry candidate at the Yale School of Environment, focusing on how conservation, restoration and sustainable management of forest ecosystems can help achieve US state and national climate mitigation targets. As a Kerry Fellow, Kyle, supports Special Presidential Envoy on Climate John Kerry on climate and ecosystems policy analysis. Kyle is also a Wyss Scholar and YSE Climate Fellow, serving as a consultant for the US Climate Alliance and The Nature Conservancy North America Natural Climate Solutions division. Prior to matriculating at Yale, Kyle spent ten years leading forest conservation and climate advocacy movements in California and across the world. See what Kyle has been up to. | Blog
Darya Watnick, Western Resources Fellow| Darya Watnick is a Master of Environmental Management candidate at the Yale School of the Environment, focusing on agriculture & food systems. She is particularly interested in regenerative agriculture practices and soil health. Her passion for food and agriculture began during her childhood in Southern California, growing up near avocado and citrus orchards and many strawberry fields. She holds a BA in Environmental Studies from Lewis & Clark College in Portland, OR. See what Darya has been up to. | Blog | Website
Cloe Dickson, Western Resource Fellow|Cloe is a Master of Environmental Science candidate at the Yale School of the Environment. She earned her BA in Environmental Studies and Ecology and Evolutionary Biology at the University of Colorado Boulder in 2019. She is broadly interested in water politics of the North American Southwest, with a specific focus on rural-to-urban water transport throughout the region. As a Western Resources Fellow, her independently-led research looks at the ongoing efforts to keep water on working lands in rural Colorado’s San Luis Valley, which will consist of interviews with farmers, ranchers, and community members who have been fighting against water export to the urban and suburban Front Range for decades. Prior to graduate school, she served in AmeriCorps as a Youth Development Coordinator at Alpine Achievers Initiative, where she supported students in southern Colorado schools. In her free time, you can find her somewhere outside, ideally bagging another 4,000-foot peak in New England, where she grew up. Blog
Christina Kohler, Research Assistant | Christina is a Master of Environmental Management Candidate at the Yale School of the Environment studying environmental policy and collaborative solutions to protect wildlife. Before coming to YSE, she worked for an environmental nonprofit, focusing on water and nutrient management on the Central Coast of California and stopping the sale of invasive horticultural plants. She also studied visitor use impacts while thru-hiking the Pacific Crest Trail and enjoys combining her two passions of research and backpacking. Christina holds Bachelor of Science degrees in Molecular Environmental Biology and Environmental Economics & Policy from the University of California, Berkeley. See what Christina has been up to. | Blog
Annie Miller, Research Assistant | Annie Miller is a Masters of Environmental Management candidate at Yale School of the Environment. She focuses on biodiversity and land conservation in the West with a particular lens toward community-based conservation as a means to sustainably and justly address climate change. Prior to Yale, Annie worked in the citizen/community science field where she researched learning outcomes of youth and built partnerships with community-based organizations in the Bay Area. She received her B.S. in Biology and Environmental Science from Tufts University. See what Annie has been up to. | Blog
2021
Indy Burke, Faculty Director |Ingrid C. “Indy” Burke is the Carl W. Knobloch, Jr. Dean at the Yale School of the Environment (YSE), an internationally recognized professional school that trains tomorrow’s environmental leaders and creates new knowledge to sustain and restore the long-term health of the planet and the wellbeing of its people. Dr. Burke is an ecosystem ecologist whose research has focused on carbon and nitrogen cycling in semi-arid rangeland ecosystems. Her work with graduate students, postdoctoral associates, and colleagues has addressed the influence of land use management, climatic variability, and regional variability on these systems. She teaches in the fields of environmental science, ecosystem ecology, and biogeochemistry. A respected educator and intellectual leader in the U.S. and internationally, she is particularly interested in fostering interdisciplinary scholarship. She came to YSE in 2016 from the University of Wyoming, where she was the dean of the Haub School of Environment and Natural Resources, one of the leading institutions in the western U.S. for research, teaching, and outreach on natural resource issues.
Meghanlata Gupta, Communications Coordinator and Research Assistant |Meghanlata A. Gupta is a graduate of Yale College where she majored in Ethnicity, Race, and Migration. As a member of the Sault Ste. Marie Tribe of Chippewa Indians, her research focuses on the intersections of Native American history and federal Indian law and policy. On campus, she was involved with Ucross, the Native American Cultural Center, and the Association of Native Americans at Yale. See what Meghanlata has been up to. | Blog
Charlotte Benishek, Research Assistant|Charlotte Benishek is a joint MBA and Master of Environmental Management candidate at the Yale School of Management and Yale School of the Environment. She is interested in the connection between sustainable agriculture and rural economic development. Charlotte’s interest in sustainable agriculture began as a teenager growing up in Wisconsin, where she worked on an organic farm. Before coming to Yale, she worked in the U.S. Senate as an advisor to Senator Tammy Baldwin on agricultural and environmental policy. Charlotte holds a BA in environmental studies from Wellesley College. See what Charlotte has been up to. | Blog
Margot Buckelew, Western Resources Fellow and Research Assistant | Margot was a Master’s of Environmental Management candidate at the Yale School of the Environment focusing on water resources. She was interested in studying urban water quantity planning and policy development while at Yale. Before graduate school, Margot became inspired by the western landscape while spending time in Colorado working on mayflies, and working on steel head research in Washington. See what Margot has been up to. | Blog
Damaris Chenoweth, Western Resources Fellow and Research Assistant | Damaris was a Master of Environmental Science candidate at Yale School of the Environment. Her thesis research focused on modeling sagebrush community regeneration in areas disturbed by oil and gas extraction. At Ucross, Damaris assessed the vulnerability of conservation targets to climate change in a region known as The Crown of the Continent. For this project, she worked closely with US Fish and Wildlife to contribute to a larger Landscape Conservation Design. Blog
Tony Cisneros, Research Assistant|Tony Cisneros is a joint MBA and Master of Environmental Management candidate at the Yale School of Management and Yale School of the Environment. Born and raised in Colorado, Tony’s interests are focused on land conservation and management in the American West. Tony works on applied land management related to food systems and outdoor recreation. His experience includes work with the National Park Service, The Nature Conservancy Colorado, and on his own outdoor nutrition company, Mesa Foods. Tony earned a BA from Northwestern University with majors in Economics, Legal Studies, and German. See what Tony has been up to. | Blog
Emma Desrochers, Research Assistant|Emma is an undergraduate at Yale college, pursuing a double major in Environmental Studies and Mechanical Engineering. After a summer spending time in the Rocky Mountains she became interested in land conservation in the west and current studies in that region. She is interested in learning many different fields of research in environmental studies, including participating in past research of coral restoration in Thailand and reforestation in the Amazon. She is also an avid solo traveler, having spent time in seven different countries during her summers at Yale. | Blog
Hailee Gibaldo, Research Assistant|Hailee was a Senior at Yale College majoring in Ecology and Evolutionary Biology. She was working with Ucross to research global inherding techniques, a method used to graze livestock. She became interested in food systems working on two farms during the past two summers in Alaska and Massachusetts. On campus, she also worked for the Yale University Herbarium digitizing records and giving tours. See what Hailee has been up to. | Blog
Cally Guasti, Research Assistant|Cally is a Master’s of Environmental Management candidate focusing on ecosystem management and conservation, and environmental justice issues. The intersection of public health and environmental issues, such as resource allocation and equity, are her principal commitments. She has a background in case management and environmental education. In her free time, Cally loves to birdwatch and write fiction. | Blog
Grace Hilbert, Research Assistant |Grace Hilbert is a Master of Environmental Management candidate at the Yale School of the Environment. She is interested in water resources, land conservation, and community-based environmental management. Prior to Yale, Grace worked in environmental consulting, mainly on environmental remediation, corporate sustainability, and water risk assessment. She holds a BS in Earth and Environmental Sciences from the University of Michigan. In her free time, she loves to explore new places through hiking, climbing, and paddling. See what Grace has been up to. | Blog
Tim Ibbotson-Sindelar, Western Resources Fellow |Tim Ibbotson-Sindelar is a joint Master of Environmental Management and MBA candidate at the Yale School of the Environment and the Yale School of Management. He is studying U.S. food and agricultural systems with the aim to shift the present paradigm to support the health of ecosystems and humans, and create financial incentives and stability for farmers to improve their land and local ecosystems. He holds a BA in economics from Haverford College. He previously worked as a financial litigation consultant, and more recently as a produce procurement analyst at an online grocer. See what Tim has been up to. | Blog
Rory Jacobson, Research Assistant | Rory Jacobson was a Master of Environmental Management candidate at the Yale School of the Environment. Before attending Yale F&ES, he worked as a Senior Policy Adviser at a nonprofit dedicated to developing policies to incentivize carbon storage in agricultural lands and rangelands. At UHPS, Rory worked with partners at the Cary Institute of Ecosystem Studies and the Greater Yellowstone Coalition to develop a financial model to incentivize ranchers to reduce their operations’ impacts on wildlife. Rory holds a Bachelor of Science and Bachelor of Arts degrees from the University of California, Berkeley. See what Rory has been up to. | Blog
Reid Lewis, Western Resources Fellows, Land Management Field Practicum Participant, and Symposium Coordinator | Reid was a Master of Forestry candidate at the Yale School of the Environment. Hailing from Flagstaff, Arizona, he hoped to use his experience in natural resource sampling and GIS to inform the management of drought-resistant, fire healthy forests. Beyond work, Reid loves to sail, hike, and crack open a good book! See what Reid has been up to. | Blog
Jon Michel, Land Management Field Practicum Participant and Western Resources Fellow | Jon is an undergraduate at Yale College from Wooster, Ohio, pursuing a B.S. in Environmental Studies. He’s interested in dryland ecosystems as well as the effects of climate change on natural systems, and the role that computer simulations can play in quantifying these effects. In the future, he hopes to work in conservation or environmental management in the West. Jon is an avid skier and hiker in his free time. See what Jon has been up to. | Blog
Bea Portela, Research Assistant and Western Resources Fellow |Bea is an undergraduate in Yale College majoring in Environmental Studies (BS) and Political Science. She is interested in dam removal, rural development, land conservation, and the politics of how to grow our network of public lands. This past semester, Bea worked as a field organizer for the Colorado Democratic Party in Boulder and looks forward to continue studying the intersection of policy, wilderness, and people.| Blog
Bryce Powell, Western Resources Fellow and Research Assistant |Bryce was a Master of Environmental Management candidate at the Yale School of the Environment specializing in Ecosystems and Land Conservation and Management. Work and play in the mountains and deserts of the American West, including his home state of Colorado, provided a foundation for Bryce’s studies at UHPSI. He is interested in the management of public lands in the American West, particularly through stakeholder engagement, conflict resolution, and the inclusion of historically marginalized perspectives. Bryce holds a Bachelor of Arts degree in Environmental Studies from the University of Colorado Boulder. See what Bryce has been up to. | Blog
Lauren Sadowski, Research Assistant|Lauren is a Master of Environmental Management candidate at the Yale School of the Environment specializing in Ecosystem Management & Conservation, and People, Equity & the Environment. Her past work and interests lie in human-wildlife conflict mitigation, anti-poaching, community development, and wildlife tracking and rehabilitation in southern Africa. She is interested in working at the interface of social science and ecology to develop equitable practices of community-based conservation and wildlife research in rural landscapes. Lauren holds a Bachelor of Science in Ecology, Conservation & Wildlife Biology from the University of Vermont. See what Lauren has been up to. | Blog
Humna Sharif, Research Assistant and Western Resources Fellow |Humna Sharif was a Master of Environmental Management Candidate at the Yale School of the Environment focused on Water Resource Science & Management, and Environmental Policy Analysis during her time at Yale. She is interested in exploring the interconnectedness of freshwater systems with land, and how we can address issues of water quantity/quality through ecosystems management practices, and policy changes. As a Western Resources Fellow, Humna worked with the National Park Conservation Association (NPCA), and Sustainable Waters on issues of water and land conservation in the Western US. She holds a BA in Environmental Sciences, and Environmental Thought & Practice from the University of Virginia and worked at the National Fish and Wildlife Foundation (NFWF) in Washington D.C prior to beginning her graduate work. See what Humna has been up to. | Blog
Viola Taubmann, Research Assistant|Viola Taubmann was a Master of Environmental Management candidate at the Yale School of the Environment, focusing on sustainable agriculture and agroforestry. She is particularly interested in conservation on agricultural land and international development. Viola previously worked on ecosystem-based adaptation to climate change at the German Agency for International Cooperation (GIZ) and on agricultural policy in the European Union. She holds a B.Sc. in Earth and Environmental Sciences from the University College Freiburg in Germany and was a visiting student at the University of California, Los Angeles. See what Viola has been up to. | Blog
Katherine Tucker, Research Assistant|Katherine is a Master of Environmental Management candidate at the Yale School of the Environment specializing in Water Resources Science and Management. A native of Woodstock, Vermont, Katherine decided to study watersheds after her community flooded during Tropical Storm Irene. She received her BA in Geography and History from Bucknell University, where she studied the environmental history of transboundary Vermont/Quebecois watersheds. Prior to Yale, Katherine worked as a GIS Technician for the City of Thornton, Colorado, and loved exploring the Rockies. She sees potential at the nexus of equitable community water management and citizen driven data science. A former Girl Scout Camp Counselor, she is passionate about encouraging young women to explore STEM careers. See what Katherine has been up to. | Blog
Abbey Warner, Western Resources Fellow and Research Assistant |Abbey Warner was a Master of Environmental Management candidate at the Yale School of the Environment. Her current studies and prior work experience in the nonprofit and agricultural sectors center around natural resource and land management to promote the multiple benefits of water provision, climate mitigation and adaptation, ecosystem health, and equitable development within communities. Abbey holds a Bachelor of Science degree in Conservation and Resource Studies from the University of California, Berkeley. See what Abbey has been up to. | Blog
William Weinberg, Research Assistant|William Weinberg was a Master of Forest Science candidate at Yale School of the Environment whose research focuses on agroforestry practices in the United States. Originally from the Mojave Desert, William went north to complete his Bachelor of Science degree in Forestry at Humboldt State University. His previous research has included physiological effects of pathogens on hardwood species, and energy allocation in masting tree species. Outside of academia, William enjoys baking, hiking, and reading. | Blog
Eleah Wilkerson, Research Assistant|Eleah Wilkerson is a Master of Environmental Management candidate at the Yale School of the Environment, specializing in Business and the Environment and Water Resource Science and Management. As a native of Denver, Colorado, she has a strong connection to the Rocky Mountain West, and is invested in creating equitable solutions to the consequences of human impacts on the environment in a changing world. Eleah coordinates the Western Speakers Series at UHPSI and aims to connect the Yale community to innovative and insightful speakers who can share their experiences and perspective about western environmental issues. Eleah holds a Bachelor of Art degree in Environmental Studies from Amherst College. See what Eleah has been up to. | Blog
2020
Erik Anderson, Research Assistant | Erik was a joint-degree candidate at the Yale School of Forestry and the Yale School of Divinity. Growing up in a small town in the foothills of Mount Rainier, he spent many hours hunting, fishing, and tramping in the woods around a family farm, exposing him to the beauty and complexity of the natural world from a young age. While at Yale, he focused on the intersection between spirituality, responsible business development, and sustainable land-use in the West. He was a leader of the Western Student Interest Group at F&ES, member of the organizing committee on the Graduate Conference in Religion and Ecology, and a member of the Yale Graduate Crew Team. See what Erik has been up to. | Blog
Paul Berne Burow, Western Resources Fellow | Paul is a student in the combined doctoral degree program between the School of Forestry & Environmental Studies and Department of Anthropology at Yale University. Paul’s work examines how changing ecosystems impact rural communities in Nevada and California. Paul’s research draws from mixed-method social scientific approaches in anthropology, geography, and ecology. See what Paul has been up to. | Blog
Leif Hemming Castren, Western Resources Fellow | Leif was a Master of Environmental Studies candidate at Yale School of Forestry and Environmental Studies and a Master of Arts in Religion candidate at Yale Divinity School. He studied at the interface of religious ethics and environmental values—exploring the diverse ways that humans and human communities have related to the ecosystems in which they are embedded, especially in his home state of Montana. Leif was a 2017 Fulbright fellow to Chile where he studied forest ecosystem responses to volcanic eruptions and community projects in ecological restoration. He holds a Bachelor of Arts in Biology from Middlebury College. See what Leif has been up to. | Blog
Shea Flanagan, Research Assistant and WRF Fellow | Shea was a Master of Environmental Management candidate at the School of Forestry and Environmental Studies, specializing in Systems Leadership in Conservation and Business & the Environment. At Ucross, Shea worked as a research assistant on a carbon offsets project related to the avoided conversion of grasslands. She also worked as a writer for the Conservation Finance Network at the Center for Business and the Environment at Yale, and volunteers as a Nonprofit Board Fellow for The Nature Conservancy in Connecticut. Shea spent most of her time prior to Yale working for The Nature Conservancy in New Hampshire and in the Adirondacks, serving on the chapters’ conservation and stewardship teams. See what Shea has been up to. | Blog
Danielle Glass, Western Resources Fellow | Environmental history has shown that we, as humans, have power over our surroundings. As such, we have the responsibility to construct stable, resilient ecosystems and the opportunity to promote engaging, productive landscapes. As a conservation biologist, Danielle is interested in advancing these ideas in the context of biodiversity conservation, spatial ecology, and human-wildlife coexistence. She studied how surface water utilization impacts desert bighorn sheep (Ovis canadensis nelsoni) movement patterns in California’s Mojave Desert. See what Danielle has been up to. | Blog
Anna-Sophia Haub, Research Assistant|Anna-Sophia Haub was a Master of Environmental Management candidate at the School of Forestry and Environmental Studies specializing in Business & the Environment and Industrial Ecology. She focused on sustainable, circular, and restorative business models across and at the nexus of the food and fashion industries. At Ucross, she works as a research assistant on identifying implementable and effective solutions for wildlife friendly ranching in the Greater Yellowstone Ecosystem (GYE). See what Anna-Sophia has been up to. |Blog
Meghan Hills, Western Resources Fellow | Meghan pursued a Master of Environmental Science degree, where her research focused on the spread of chronic wasting disease among deer and elk of the Northern Rockies. In her pre-Yale years, Meghan served with Montana Conservation Corps and attended the University of Texas at Austin for a B.S. in Biology. As an undergrad, she conducted independent research into the use of camera traps for identifying and tracking male deer. Despite what her undergraduate- and graduate-level research topics suggest, Meghan is not fixated on deer. Rather, she is passionate about supporting and contributing to landscape-level conservation in the American West and around the world, and to exploring the possibility for keystone and umbrella species to serve as the basis of efforts to safeguard ecosystems. See what Meghan has been up to. | Blog
Elizabeth Himschoot, Research Assistant| Born and raised in small remote community in Alaska, Elizabeth has always had a strong connection to nature and an understanding of human influence on the environment. As a Master of Environmental Management candidate, she is focused on learning interdisciplinary land management strategies with an emphasis on biodiversity conservation. She hopes to return to the West to continue exploring the human and nature connection through multiple ways of knowing. As a UHPSI Speaker Coordinator Elizabeth is bringing innovative speakers to the F&ES community to share their experiences and perspectives on western environmental issues. See what Elizabeth has been up to. | Blog
Lucas Isakowitz, Western Resources Fellow | Lucas Isakowitz is an environmental writer working hard to keep alive the natural curiosity that we all had as children. His focus at Yale F&ES was environmental governance and storytelling, and most recently a growing interest in water issues. Through the Western Resources Fellowship, Lucas worked with The Nature Conservancy’s Colorado River Program, focusing on coalition building and storytelling along the Colorado, and diving into the world of water resource management. See what Lucas has been up to. | Blog
Haley Leslie-Bole, Research Assistant | Haley received a Master’s of Environmental Management degree and specialized in political ecology and human dimensions of environmental challenges. She is particularly interested in applying perspectives she has gained from the social sciences to land management challenges in the Rocky Mountain West. Haley has spent most of her life living, working, and exploring in the West starting with her childhood in California and continuing with her BA from Colorado College and her outdoor education work in many Western states. See what Haley has been up to. | Blog
Zhi Li, Research Assistant and WRF Fellow | Zhi comes from Shantou, a coastal city of about five million in Southeast China. He became passionate about forest ecology during his education at Brandeis University and worked for Harvest Forest to conduct research at Walden pond in Massachusetts. Zhi received a Master of Forest Science degree from the School of Forestry and Environmental Studies, where his research focused on fire ecology and forest regeneration in western United States. Besides his academic interests, Zhi is enthusiastic about rock climbing and basketball. See what Zhi has been up to. | Blog
Emilé Newman, Research Assistant| Emilé is a Master of Environmental Management candidate at the Yale School of Forestry & Environmental Studies. She received her undergraduate degree and intimate knowledge of the West from the University of Montana. At F&ES, she is working on innovating channels to better integrate the lived experiences of rural stakeholders and communities in the creation of environmental solutions and sustainable land management in Western landscapes. She is deeply interested in the role of applied stewardship in working landscapes as one wedge in a broader approach to addressing climate change. She sees the potential in how attuning to, and caring for, something as seemingly inconsequential as soil, the earth beneath our feet, has the power to transform our relationship to the land and one another. See what Emilé has been up to. | Blog
Talia Niederman, Research Assistant | Talia received a Master of Environmental Management degree with a focus in Ecosystem Conservation and Land Management. Prior to Yale F&ES, Talia worked for the Center for Biological Diversity and the Catalina Island Marine Institute. She is interested in analyzing anthropogenic influences on wildlife populations and collaborating with local communities to develop effective conservation strategies. Talia worked as a research assistant with UHPSI for two years while attending Yale F&ES. See what Talia has been up to. |Blog
Katie Pofahl, Research Assistant and Land Management Field Practicum Participant | Katie is a Master of Environmental Management candidate at the Yale School of Forestry and Environmental Studies specializing in land conservation and business strategy. She grew up in America’s dairyland and learned the importance of working landscapes and sustainable rural livelihoods. Now focused on the wild and arid landscapes of the West, Katie works to create lasting conservation solutions for resilient landscapes and communities. She has restored habitat with farm-working families in the strawberry fields and ranches of California and she developed market-based incentives for fishing communities along the coast. At F&ES Katie works with the Center for Business and the Environment at Yale to educate land conservation practitioners about cutting-edge financial strategies. She also works with the Ucross High Plains Stewardship Initiative to assess best practices in grassland restoration for ranch lands in the Northern Great Plains. See what Katie has been up to. | Blog
Tiana Wilson-Blindman, Research Assistant |Tiana is a Master of Environmental Management candidate at the Yale School of Forestry and Environmental Studies. Raised in Pine Ridge, South Dakota, Tiana (Oglala Lakota) is passionate about natural resource science and policy on Indigenous lands, with an emphasis on human rights. In parallel, her focus also lies in promoting and implementing tribal energy independence in the transition to renewable energies. Outside of her academic life, she also can be found with a camera in hand hiking, kayaking, and camping, preferably in the wildlands of Wyoming, where her family now resides. See what Tiana has been up to. | Blog
2019
Eve Barnett, Research Assistant | Eve Barnett earned a MEM in 2020. Eve studied environmental policy and hopes to work on public land conservation issues. Before graduate school, she earned her undergraduate degree from Princeton University, then worked for the National Park Service (NPS) in CA and WA. She learned about the complexities of effective stewardship during her time with the NPS and hopes to gain new perspectives while at Yale. She is particularly interested in finding strategies for preserving natural resources for future generations while also ensuring that opportunities for solitude and recreation remain accessible. In her free time, she loves to backpack, ski, and forage for mushrooms. See what Eve has been up to. | Blog
Brendan Boepple, Research Assistant | Brendan Boepple was a Master of Environmental Management candidate interested in private land and working lands conservation in the American West. Prior to Yale FES he worked at Colorado College‚ Äôs State of the Rockies Project, supervising undergraduate research on topics related to land and water in Colorado. At State of the Rockies, Brendan also oversaw the implementation and release of the annual Conservation in the West Poll–a survey assessing the attitudes of western voters towards environmental and natural resource issues. At UHPSI, he worked with the Nature Conservancy’s Tensleep Preserve to explore native trout reintroduction in Wyoming. See what Brendan has been up to. | Blog
Jesse Bryant, Western Resources Fellowship | Jesse came to Yale F&ES after four years of work in Wyoming and Idaho with NOLS and Teton Science Schools. While at F&ES he studied environmental conflict, governance, and media. His ongoing research project involves investigating and resolving conflict that has arisen between the powerful rock climbing community and residents of Ten Sleep, Wyoming. In the future he intends to cultivate a career that leverages the public sciences and humanities in order to imagine solutions to the worlds most pressing problems. See what Jesse has been up to. | Blog
Jeffrey Conti, Research Assistant | Jeff has a passion for protecting ecologically and economically vital natural and working lands. At FES, Jeff focused on land conservation and management as well as conservation finance. He was a research assistant with the Ucross High Plains Stewardship Initiative, where he worked to source potential projects and partnerships for a carbon offset fund. Jeff also wrote for the Conservation Finance Network and served as a Teaching Fellow for Brad Gentry’s Strategies for Land Conservation course. See what Jeff has been up to. | Blog
Franklin Eccher, Western Resources Fellowship | Franklin was an Environmental Studies BA and Education Studies Scholar at Yale College. Franklin studied issues in rural America, including fisheries restoration in the Mountain West and college access for rural students. Franklin was a Western Resources Fellow in summer 2018, where he stayed on the Tensleep Preserve to research and write his senior thesis: “The Hardier Fish: An Environmental History of Trout and Grayling Management in the Montana ‘Trout Paradise.'” See what Franklin has been up to. | Blog
Mark Foster, Research Assistant | Mark was a Master of Forestry student who brought his prior experience as an environmental attorney to bear on current land management issues. As an attorney, Mark focused on emissions issues related to stationary and mobile sources (power plants and cars), permitting of major liquid natural gas projects, national fuel programs, and natural resource conservation. In addition, he has worked on input to developing federal management plans throughout the country, and the application of policies in these plans to current projects and activities. He is focused on practical solutions that meet the needs of the present while anticipating the future. See what Mark has been up to. | Blog
Cayley Geffen, Western Research Fellow | Cayley is from San Francisco, California. Currently, in Utah, there is a great deal of political, economic, and social controversy over Former President Obama’s recent designation of Bears Ears National Monument. As a double major in environmental studies and economics and as a passionate outdoor enthusiast with significant ties to Utah, she is very interested in this current national land use issue. During summer 2017, she researched the natural, social, and political history of the area and interview people from each of the groups involved in the controversy surrounding the designation of Bears Ears as a national monument. She will create a short documentary film and produce written analysis of this topic. See what Cayley has been up to. | Blog
Claire Lafave, Land Management Field Practicum Participant |Claire Lafave earned a MEM/MBA from Yale and is passionate about using business as a lever to support the transition towards regenerative food systems. At Yale, she founded and runs the Regenerative Agriculture Initiative at CBEY. She has conducted graduate internships at Happy Family Organics, an organic baby food company, and Hugo and Hoby, a sustainable furniture start-up founded by two Yale SOM alums. She loves hiking, dance, gardening, and contemporary fiction. . See what Claire has been up to. | Blog
Joshua Perez-Cruet, Western Resources Fellow | Joshua earned a BS and BS Int. in 2020 from Yale College and majored in Chemistry and Ecology and Evolutionary Biology at Yale University. He worked as an aquatic research technician for Colorado Parks and Wildlife and completed a survey of the benthic invertebrates of Canyon Creek for The Nature Conservancy’s Tensleep Preserve. Joshua aspires to study medicine in the future. At Yale, Joshua was the Intramural Secretary for Grace Hopper College, played piano for the Yale Gospel Choir, and teught for several science outreach programs. See what Joshua has been up to. | Blog
Chengcheng Qiu, Research Assistant (Coursework) | Chengcheng was a Master of Public Health candidate at the Yale School of Public Health concentrating in Environmental Health Sciences. Prior to graduate school, Chengcheng studied Biology and Human Health, and participated in floristic research at Emory University in Atlanta, GA, where she has developed a passion in understanding and preserving the relationship between natural environment and humans. While at Yale, she focused her study on geospatial analysis and examining the effects of green space in modulating climate-related health impacts. She worked on developing a data visualization tool using Google Earth Engine for examining the population composition and socioeconomic changes around national forests in the United States. See what Chengcheng has been up to. | Blog
Jack Singer, Research Assistant | Jack Singer was a Master of Forestry candidate at the Yale School of Forestry and Environmental Studies, where he focused on land management policy and practices. He was previously employed by the Great Basin Institute as the Ecological Monitoring State Coordinator of Wyoming, where supervised monitoring activities over aspen and conifer forests, juniper slopes, riparian zones, sagebrush steppe, and other ecotypes. He is excited to gain experience with forest and land management solutions on multi-use lands in the West. See what Jack has been up to. | Blog
Charlotte Stanley, Research Assistant | Charlotte was a Master of Environmental Management student at the Yale School of Forestry & Environmental Studies, focusing on improving conservation efforts and mitigating climate change through geospatial analysis. For her summer internship at F&ES, Charlotte mapped community conservation areas and analyzed land cover change in Eastern Zambia to obtain carbon credits for sustainable farmers. Prior to F&ES, she coordinated public education on recycling and sustainability for the NYC Department of Sanitation and managed curriculum development at Urban Green Council. She holds a Bachelor of Science degree in Environmental Science from UCLA. Blog
Lauren Stoneburner, Research Assistant | Lauren was a Master of Environmental Management candidate at the Yale School of Forestry and Environmental Studies, focusing her studies on urban ecological conservation. Having grown up in southern California, she is intimately familiar with reconciling L.A.’s dual identity of being known for its magnificent nature and urban sprawl. In her career, Lauren hopes to manage protected areas in a way that preserves the landscape’s ecological viability, fosters smarter urban growth, and enables people of all backgrounds to connect meaningfully with nature. See what Lauren has been up to. | Blog
Michael Storace, Research Assistant | Michael earned a Masters of Forestry in 2020 at the Yale School of Forestry and Environmental Studies, studying ecosystem conservation and land management. He is interested in planning conservation to achieve landscape scale habitat connectivity for both ecological function and social benefit. With Ucross, Michael conducted geospatial analysis of conservation planning and prioritization in northeastern Wyoming. Michael graduated from the University of Vermont with a BS in environmental studies and focused on environmental policy and water quality. See what Michael has been up to. | Blog
Julia Sullivan, Research Assistant | Julia earned a Master of Environmental Management degree at the Yale School of Forestry & Environmental Studies. Her academic interests include water resource management and land use, and she worked with Bridger-Teton National Forest in western Wyoming to assess the socioeconomic impacts of the forest-planning process. Prior to attending Yale F&ES, Julia worked in conservation for four years–both in the non-profit sector and as a Peace Corps Volunteer in Panama. She holds a dual-degree in Environmental Studies and International Studies from American University in Washington, DC. See what Julia has been up to. | Blog
Sabrina Szeto, MF – Geospatial Analyst | Sabrina graduated with a Master of Forestry degree at F&ES in 2016. As geospatial analyst from 2016 to 2019, Sabrina specialized in the use of Geographic Information Systems (GIS) and remote sensing for solving environmental challenges. With a background in anthropology and forestry, she has a strong interest in understanding ecosystems and societies. Sabrina supported student research by providing tailored guidance on GIS and storytelling with maps. Sabrina also founded a working group for Google Earth Engine users at Yale in 2017, which is now led by TC Chakraborty and others under the Yale Center of Earth Observation. In summer 2019, Sabrina started a geospatial consulting practice in Germany, helping organizations and land managers to use GIS and earth observation data to do their work more effectively. See what Sabrina has been up to.
Sophie Tyack, Research Assistant (Coursework) | Sophie Tyack earned a MBA/MEM at the School of Management and School of Forestry and Environmental Studies and is interested in the intersection of data analytics and sustainable development. Prior to Yale, Sophie worked as a research analyst at an environmental consulting firm where her work ranged from natural resource damage assessment cases to system dynamics modeling. Originally from Boston, Sophie holds a B.A. with High Honors from Princeton University, where she studied Classics and Environmental Studies. See what Sophie has been up to. | Blog
Ben Williamson, Research Assistant | Ben was a Masters of Environmental Management (MEM) candidate at the Yale School of Forestry and Environmental Studies. Originally from Colorado, Ben has a BS in Ecology and Organismal Biology from the University of Montana. His early interest in wildlife biology led him to positions with the National Park Service, the Glacier Institute, and Natural Resources Defense Council. At Yale, he built on his science and education background to craft a career path in land use policy and governance. See what Ben has been up to. | Blog
Amy Zuckerwise, Symposium Coordinator | Amy Zuckerwise earned a Master of Environmental Science degree at the Yale School of Forestry and Environmental Studies. Amy studies carnivore ecology and conservation, with a focus in small and medium-sized wildcat species. Prior to Yale, Amy worked as a wildlife biologist in environmental consulting in Southern California. During her undergraduate degree at Stanford University, she majored in Biology with honors in Ecology and Evolution, and conducted her thesis research on the ecology of bobcats, pumas, and other mammals in northern California. See what Amy has been up to. | Blog
2018 Alumni
Jaycie Arndt, Land Management Field Practicum | Jaycie was a student at the University of Wyoming studying rangeland ecology and watershed management. Her hometown is Arvada, Wyoming. She is interested in the monitoring and rapid assessment applications, and took part in Ranch Crew (now called Land Management Field Practicum) to gain experience in working with landowners and seeing how stakeholder goals work together.
Anthony Bell, Western Research Fellow | Anthony is a born and raised native of Salt Lake City, Utah. He earned a Masters of Environmental Management degree at the Yale School of Forestry and Environmental Studies. He is interested in market-based vehicles for land conservation and investigating bison ranching as a grassland restoration and conservation mechanism. He spent summer of 2017 on a bison ranch in Wyoming as well as some time at the American Prairie Reserve in Montana. See what Anthony has been up to. | Blog
Charlie Bettigole, MS – Program Director | Charlie served as UHPSI’s program director from 2013 to 2018, managing day-to-day operations from either the New Haven or Ucross office. His background lies in spatial ecology, remote sensing, and wildlife biology – he has worked in academic and on-the-ground organizations across North America. Charlie had a hand in most of the projects the team takes on, but focused on the cultivation of key relationships with Ucross Partners, generating new student interest in UHPSI research, and assisting with scientific analysis and writing. Charlie lent particular effort to the development of UHPSI’s Change Vector Analysis algorithm, working with practitioners on the ground to maximize the utility of this change-detection tool, and building it’s reach through the development of an interactive web application. When not at work, Charlie can be found with his daughter Margot on his back, skiing, fishing, and hiking in the northern Rockies and rolling hills of Connecticut.
Eve Boyce, Research Assistant | Eve earned a Master of Environmental Management degree from Yale F&ES, and hailed most recently from beautiful Washington state, where she worked as the Land Stewardship Manager for an agricultural land trust with a mission to protect prime farmland from development. Eve brought her knowledge of farmland access issues to UHSPI, assisting the National Young Farmers Coalition with the development of a financial modeling tool for farmers looking for land in Fall 2016. See what Eve has been up to.
Kris Covey, MF, PhD – Lead Scientist and F&ES Lecturer in Forest Dynamics | Kris finished his PhD in silviculture and biogeochemistry at F&ES in the spring of 2016. Kris assisted the UHPSI team with publication strategy, data processing and analysis, and student, faculty and staff engagement. As the lead scientist in the UHPSI Lab, Kris lends his expertise in experimental design, analysis, and publication to UHPSI students and staff. Kris and his wife welcomed daughter Laurel in the fall of 2015.
Ross Donihue, Western Research Fellow | Ross earned a Master in Environmental Management degree at the Yale School of Forestry and Environmental Studies. He also holds a BA in Geography and Environmental Studies from Macalester College. Ross is also the founder and creative director of Maps for Good, a mission driven organization that makes maps and digital media for conservation campaigns around the world. Ross is a visual storyteller and a wilderness enthusiast. See what Ross has been up to. | Blog
Adam Eichenwald, Western Research Fellow | Adam’s main interests are in how predators influence food webs and ecosystems through interactions with their prey, and how the studies of such effects can be applicable to conservation efforts. Most of his research over the past few years has been with birds and bats, although he loves working with trophic interactions across ecosystems in general. For his master’s work, he is primarily focused on the interactions between Alaskan gyrfalcon populations and one of their primary sources of prey, the rock and willow ptarmigan. He is interested in discovering whether the presence of gyrfalcons has cascading effects through the arctic food web. See what Adam has been up to. | Blog
Charlie Faires, Affiliate | With a background in farming, ranching, and wildlife biology, Charlie came to the UHPSI team with a strong skill-set for problem solving issues of rangeland ecology. A native of North Carolina, Charlie has been splitting time over 2015 between his work as a science-technician at F&ES and in finishing his undergraduate degree at Warren Wilson College in Asheville, NC. See what Charlie has been up to.
Tyler Jones, Ranch Crew | Tyler was born and raised in Rozet Wyoming on a family ranch. He grew up around plants, wildlife and livestock and have maintained a desire to be involved in that lifestyle for years to come. He currently attends Sheridan College in Wyoming and studies Rangeland Management as well as Agriculture Business. He plans to move on to the University of Wyoming and obtain a Masters in Rangeland Ecology after graduation. He joined Ranch Crew with the intent of taking the knowledge he has gained in school and putting it to the test in a real-life situation where several interested parties are working together to improve and maintain a piece of Wyoming’s natural resources.
Samuel Jordan, Research Assistant | Sam earned a MESc while with researching the sagebrush steppe in Wyoming. His work will help land owners and managers make more informed decisions and be better stewards to the systems they live and work in. He comes from a forestry background, and has work experience in agriculture, non-profits, and land managing agencies. Sam will be helping UHPSI in ongoing efforts to bridge the geographic and communication gaps between the Yale community and stakeholders, leaders, and researchers on the high plains. See what Sam has been up to.
Jaclyn Kachelmeyer, Research Assistant |Jaclyn earned a Master of Environmental Management degree at the Yale School of Forestry and Environmental Studies. Born and raised in Texas, her interest in the West grew out of road trips to visit family in California, crisscrossing through National Parks, ranches, and stretches of sky and land as far as the eye could see. Jaclyn is interested in land use change, agroecology, agroforestry, and carbon sequestration on agricultural and ranch lands. See what Jaclyn has been up to.
Carli Kierstead, Western Research Fellow | Carli earned a MEM in 2018 and is interested in the social-ecological dynamics of large-scale conservation, climate change adaptation, and environmental justice. She grew up in San Diego, CA and came to FES after conducting coastal ecological research at Scripps Institution of Oceanography and working in veterinary medicine. During the 2017 summer Carli worked in partnership with UHPSI and The Nature Conservancy in Lander, WY to assess the feasibility of a site-specific scenario analysis tool for the Popo Agie watershed’s complex agricultural and ecological needs. She provided TNC with spatial, social, and ecological analysis that will aid in their future conservation decision making in the American West. See what Carli has been up to. | Blog
Rebecca Lehman, Research Assistant | Rebecca earned a Masters in Environmental Management. She is studying water resource management through the use of geospatial software. She loves to mountain bike and climb, and dreams of one day living in Colorado. Rebecca attended Colorado College. She also was a research assistant at Rocky Mountain Biological Laboratory. Now, she is a Social Impact Program Manager at DroneDeploy. See what Rebecca has been up to.
Laurel Low, Research Assistant | Laurel earned a Master of Environmental Management degree at Yale School of Forestry and Environmental Studies, focusing on aquatic ecology, stakeholder engagement, and decision-making. A Bay Area native, she worked most recently for US Fish & Wildlife Service as a Conservation Scientist and Educator mostly within the Fisheries department in Olympia, WA. At UHSPI, she will be working with The Nature Conservancy in Wyoming to research and develop a management plan for native trout reintroduction. See what Laurel has been up to.
Lydia Mendoza, Land Management Field Practicum | Lydia earned a Master of Forestry degree at the Yale School of Forestry and Environmental Studies. She is originally from Ohio but moved to California shortly after graduating college. Before starting at F&ES, she worked in public health in San Francisco and land conservation in the northern Sierra Nevada. She is interested in working land conservation and sustainable forestry. See what Lydia has been up to.
Jeremy Menkhaus, Western Research Fellow, Land Management Field Practicum | Jeremy was born and raised in Palm Beach County, Florida and earned a Master of Forestry from the Yale School of Forestry & Environmental Studies and a Master of Business Administration from the Yale School of Management. He has a professional background in mergers & acquisitions advisory as well as private equity investing, and now focuses his time on looking at innovative financial tools and investment vehicles for motivating better land management practices and increased conservation efforts. He is the fourth of nine kids and enjoys hunting and fly fishing.
Ethan Miller, Research Assistant | Ethan earned a Master of Forestry degree at Yale F&ES focusing on the role of collaborative spatial planning and analysis in the management of multi-functional forest landscapes. As a UHPSI Research Assistant, Ethan created a web-based process for detecting invasive cheatgrass in the West using satellite imagery. His work employed Google Earth Engine, time series analysis, and image classification techniques to dynamically detect cheatgrass over time. Before joining UHPSI, Ethan worked as a Fellow with the Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute. In this role he studied the viability of using drones as a means of mapping and assessing biomass storage in timber plantations and reforestation sites along the Panama Canal. See what Ethan has been up to.
Chadwick Oliver, PhD – Faculty PI | As the Pinchot Professor of Forestry and Environmental Studies, Chad served as UHPSI’s fearless leader, ensuring that research remains relevant, timely, and effective. His research has taken him to more than 25 countries, where he has cultivated macro-level perspective that help to situate UHPSI within a larger framework. Outside of UHPSI, Chad teaches and researches forest ecology and silviculture, as well as natural resource management on local, region, and global scales. Chad and his wife Fatma recently published a new book on global resources.
Katherine Panek, Land Management Field Practicum | Katie Panek earned a MEM degree at the Yale School of Forestry and Environmental Studies. She has roots in Colorado and Massachusetts and is interested in land conservation and sustainable development in the American West, especially as pertaining to working lands. Before coming to F&ES, she worked in ecotourism, Geographic Information Systems (GIS) and the development of protected areas in Chilean Patagonia. See what Katie has been up to.
Austin Rempel, Western Research Fellow | Austin earned a MEM and is interested in watershed restoration, outdoor recreation economics and collaborative land conservation in the American West. He grew up in New Mexico and France, and comes to F&ES after working as a natural resource economist in Portland, Oregon. Austin is working with UHPSI to evaluate how, when, and where beaver dams and beaver dam analogues can benefit western ranchers and land managers. See what Austin has been up to. | Blog
Rachel Renne, Western Research Fellow | Rachel Renne grew up in rural southwest Florida, and earned a Master’s of Environmental Science at the Yale School of Forestry and Environmental Studies. After graduating from college in 2008, she began a three-mile-per-hour tour—on foot—of the subtle and dramatic shifts of vegetation across the American landscape, hiking over 10,500 miles on National Scenic Trails. At Yale, she has expanded her love of plants to a fascination with how soils translate climate into vegetation. This summer, she will serve as the field botanist for a study investigating the impacts of livestock grazing on plant diversity in big sagebrush (Artemisia tridentata) ecosystems in Wyoming. When not in the field, Rachel will be analyzing a large vegetation dataset to investigate big sagebrush community structure across the West. | Blog
Evelyn Rhodes (Sale), Research Assistant | Sale earned a Master of Environmental Science and is interested in soil and water quality, particularly with regard to waste products and public health. She previously worked on food waste composting projects for Recology in San Francisco. Sale has previous experience coordinating carbon offset pledges for multi-national organizations and is excited learn more about soil carbon sequestration strategies. Originally from Seattle and a lover of mountains, Sale has an affection for western landscapes. See what Sale has been up to.
Kyle Soriano, Affiliate | Kyle came to UHPSI with a background in environmental chemistry, soil science, and environmental consulting. A native of upstate New York, with a passion for the West, Kyle has been an eager volunteer for UHPSI, lending his expertise in database design and data analysis to various hydrologic, forestry, and rangeland projects.
Jessica Swindon, Western Research Fellow | Jessica Swindon earned a Master of Environmental Science degree in ecosystem ecology at the Yale School of Forestry & Environmental Studies. Her research focused on root distribution and production, as well as carbon and nitrogen cycling in the sagebrush steppe, mixed grass prairie, and shortgrass steppe in Wyoming and Northern Colorado. Through her research she hopes to join the ideas behind sustainability with land and natural resource management. “The world is to me a secret which I desire to divine” – Mary Shelley’s, Frankenstein. See what Jessica has been up to. | Blog
Eli Terris, Research Assistant | Eli served as the Experimental Grassland Coordinator at Yale’s West Campus. He helped to prepare for a management competition at an experimental grassland site taking place in the spring of 2017. Eli earned a joint-MEM and African studies master’s degree in 2019. Prior to coming to F&ES, Eli spent 4 years in West Africa doing agroforestry and agribusiness work. He is interested in international agricultural research and anthropology as a tool for supporting sustainable natural resource management. See what Eli has been up to.
Robert Turnbull, Research Assistant | Rob earned a Master of Forestry degree and is interested in sustainable forest management and forest regeneration. Raised in Connecticut, his academic interests stem from a childhood spent romping through New England’s forests. Rob spent the past few years planting trees, running ornithological surveys throughout Latin America, and working as an arborist.
Samuel Wall, Western Research Fellow | Sam earned a Masters of Environmental Management degree at Yale’s School of Forestry and Environmental Studies. His education focused on water resource management and energy and the environment. He grew up in Western Montana, on the south end of Flathead Lake near the Mission Mountain Wilderness, surrounded by an abundance of water resources and scenic mountains. Constantly being in the outdoors in his youth drove his aspirations to work in natural resources, and to be a steward of the natural world. In the summer of 2017, he worked as an intern for Energy Keepers Incorporated, the corporation tasked with managing the Se̓liš Ksanka Qĺispe̓ project, the first tribal owned major hydropower facility in the United States, located on the Flathead Indian Reservation.
2017 Alumni
Martin Becker, MEM | A native of Santiago, Chile, Martin has spent the last 4 years working for public agencies and NGO’s promoting public-private partnerships for managing public lands and tourism in Chile’s National Parks. At FES, he was interested in acquiring and applying new GIS skills for managing large-scale conservation initiatives and improving agricultural management practices. Martin brought his enthusiasm and energy for land stewardship as a research analyst for UHPSI. In his free time, Martin enjoys hiking and climbing mountains, drinking coffee or wine and traveling to new places with his wife Josefina. See what Martin has been up to.
Julia Calderón, MF | Julia is a second year Master of Forestry student with a background in environmental sciences. She has worked assisting in community based forest projects such as land planning, restoration, sustainable forest management for timber and agroforestry foraging with local species from a non-profit and the national autonomous university of Mexico in different agrarian communities in Mexico in dry forest, temperate forest and mangrove ecosystems. Julia assisted the Northern Plains Resource Council and the City of Billings in designing an urban compost program in Fall 2016. See what Julia has been up to.
Elizabeth Domenech, MEM | Elizabeth graduated in 2017 with a MEM degree. She is from Austin, Texas and is interested in large-scale conservation solutions with a focus on the Western U.S. Prior to coming to F&ES, she served as the Director of the Shield-Ayres Foundation, a family foundation supporting natural resource conservation, health and human services, and education and the arts in Central Texas. Elizabeth worked with UHPSI to bring a diverse set of practitioners (ranchers, managers, conservationists) to New Haven to talk about Western land conservation issues, and worked with TNC on designing protocols for monitoring fence crossings by wildlife in Wyoming. See what Elizabeth has been up to.
Taylor Ganz, MESc | Taylor graduated from FES with a MESc degree in 2017 . She’s interested in environmental research relevant to public lands management in the American West, and worked with UHPSI to study the impact of air pollution on alpine watersheds. Taylor is originally from California but has lived and worked across the West, primarily in Idaho and Wyoming. She now studies carnivore – ungulate interactions in Washington State. See what Taylor has been up to. | Blog
Henry Glick, MESc, PhD Candidate – Lead Researcher | Henry provided analytical, spatial, and statistical expertise wherever it’s needed in the UHPSI lab. He was responsible for the development and maintenance of UHPSI’s in-house Geographic Information System, and has spent considerable time creating geographic models of the current land cover across the Ucross Ranch, as well as statistically evaluating the accuracy of those models. Henry loves to use spatial statistics to explore ecological problems, and applied them to UHPSI whenever possible. See what Henry has been up to.
Luke Menard, MEM | Luke graduated with a MEM degree in 2017. He is from western Massachusetts. He is interested in learning how spatial analysis and financial tools can be incorporated into successful land management for conservation gains in the west. Luke recently worked in Portland, OR, where he used geospatial software to estimate the landscape-level effects of industrial forest management regime shifts on the abundance and health of Pacific NW forest resources. Luke assisted UHPSI with geospatial projects, such as mapping conservation priority lands in western states. See what Luke has been up to.
Joshua Morse, MESc | Josh is an interdisciplinary researcher interested in how people value nature, and how these values inform (or, don’t inform!) natural resource policy. His work as a Ucross Western Research Fellow and Masters student at Yale FES focused on mapping the stakeholder community surrounding Wyoming’s Red Desert to Hoback mule deer migration. He is currently a PhD candidate at the University of Vermont’s Rubenstein School of Environment and Natural Resources. In his free time, Josh enjoys fly fishing, playing mandolin, and exploring with his dog Pepper. See what Josh has been up to. | Blog
Lucyann Murray, MBA, MF | Lucyann graduated in 2017 with a MBA/MF at the Yale School’s of Management and Forestry and Environmental Studies. Her studies at Yale focused on sustainable land management at the intersection of business and the environment. Her interest lies in finding innovative and sustainable ways for a land use and enjoyment. Lucyann worked with Wyoming rancher Shane Cross, performing market analysis and financial modeling, helping Shane and his family move towards grass finishing and direct marketing of their beef. See what Lucyann has been up to. | Blog
Nick Olson, MF – Assistant Director | Nick graduated from F&ES with a Master of Forestry and joined the Ucross team as Assistant Director in Spring 2016. In this role, Nick helps expand Ucross relationships in the Rockies and in New Haven, assists the Western Research Fellows, and connects students with projects across the American West. In September 2016, Nick married his sweetheart, Cass, who he met while working in the Upper Amazon Basin of Ecuador.
Devin Routh, MA, MFS | Devin spent much of his efforts designing new algorithms and statistical operations on a Google Earth Engine research project investigating the automated detection of invasive species with satellite imagery. Devin is in the midst of starting a meadery at his family farm in North Carolina. He continues to share his expertise on all things bee with folks in Wyoming and New Haven. See what Devin has been up to.
Rebecca Shively, MEM | Rebecca graduated with a MEM degree in 2017. She has interests in water resources, climate resilience and the American west. She was born and raised in Oregon, and came to FES after four years in Washington D.C. where she was a political appointee at USDA working on water policy and drought response with NRCS and the US Forest Service. Becca worked with the Savory Institute to connect FES students with increased on-the-ground knowledge of holistic management and rangeland stewardship. See what Rebecca has been up to. | Blog
Hannah Walchak, MEM | Hannah graduated in 2017 with an MEM degree. She studied the intersection of land conservation and agricultural management. She spent the summer of 2016 working at the Hawaiian Islands Land Trust, where she fell in love with the magic of Maui. At Ucross, she worked with TNC’s Tensleep Preserve and Spear-O Mountain Campus, both in Wyoming’s Bighorn Mountains, to develop background research, feasibility studies, and management plans for a few different multi-use collaborative research and recreation outposts. See what Hannah has been up to.
2016 Alumni
Leanne Weiss, MEM | Leanne graduated in 2016 with a MEM from F&ES. Hailing from Oregon, Leanne has spent the last four years working with ocean fishermen off the coast of Oregon to design sustainable fisheries management practices. Leanne spent the summer of 2015 based jointly in Sheridan and Ucross, splitting time working on UHPSI projects around the ranch, while also assisting the Sheridan Community Land Trust with a variety of on the ground projects. See what Leanne has been up to.
Laurel Williams, MEM | Laurel graduated in 2016 as a mid career MEM student at F&ES. Before coming back to school, Laurel spent nine years working on public lands issues in the West and Washington, DC. While on the west coast, she worked with diverse stakeholders including Native American tribes, ranchers, and elected officials to craft and pass conservation legislation. Laurel works with Elizabeth, coordinating increased interaction between FES students and western stewardship practitioners. Laurel and her husband just welcomed daughter Adelyn, and can’t wait to introduce her to the high plains and mountains of the West. See what Laurel has been up to.
2015 Alumni
Megan Brakeley, MEM | Megan graduated in 2015 with an M.E.M from F&ES. Her background lies in education, farming, and environmental studies. With these three values guiding Megan’s graduate studies, it was a perfect fit to bring her into the Ucross fold to work with the Clearmont School on designing a set of mapping classes focused on sustainable land management practices. Over Yale’s 2015 spring break, Megan and Charlie traveled to Ucross to work with middle-school students in their science and agricultural classes. See what Megan has been up to.
Bryce Kellog, MESc | Bryce graduated in 2015 with an MESc from F&ES. As a native of central Oregon, Bryce has a strong connection to rangelands, and pursued this interest in project work Spring 2015. Bryce built an ecological model of cheatgrass distribution based on satellite and weather data (essentially predicting its spatial extent and longevity of green-out), and then built a resource allocation model that maximized early season grazing of cheatgrass (when it is still a viable forage crop) with the fewest resources possible. See what Bryce has been up to.
Catherine Kuhn, MESc | After two years of working with the UHPSI team, Catherine graduated in the Spring of 2015 with an MESc from F&ES, and has gone on to pursue a PhD at the University of Washington. A native of Kansas, Catherine spent five years before F&ES in the Bay Area teaching watershed ecology, biology and conservation to high school students as part of the Oakland Teaching Fellows program. She is interested in watershed scale conservation and management with an emphasis on how land use practices can improve community resilience in the high plains. See what Catherine has been up to.
Lindsi Seegmiller, MESc | Lindsi served as UHPSI’s specialist in the acquisition, manipulation, and analysis of satellite imagery from May 2013 through October 2015. Among other things, she was in charge of using this imagery to identify the distribution and relative abundance of invasive species across the landscape, as well as developing web-compatible tools that allow the public to perform complex geospatial analysis. See what Lindsi has been up to.
Jeffrey Stoike, PhD | Jeff finished his PhD at F&ES in January of 2016. His PhD work has been focused on building sustainable relationships in Brazil between landowners, managers, government, NGO’s, and many other stakeholders around issues of conservation and land management. With a sharp eye towards communication and landowner engagement, and a burgeoning interest in the American West, Jeff has been working with Shane Cross, who helps run his family’s ranch outside of Douglas, WY. See what Jeffrey has been up to.
Sophie Young, MEM | Sophie graduated in 2015 with an M.E.M from F&ES. Originally from California, Sophie has spent time in working landscapes around the world, including China and Spain. Sophie brought her expertise in land use and economic development to UHPSI in the spring of 2015 as she worked on her master’s thesis in collaboration with Mountain Meadow Wool (MMW). Inspired by a set of conversations with Valerie Spanos and Karen Hostetler at MMW, Sophie dove into the world of fiber production, researching a variety of topics and helping MMW design a set of best practices to use with their producers. See what Sophie has been up to.
Meghanlata Gupta, Communications Coordinator and Research Assistant |Meghanlata A. Gupta is a graduate of Yale College where she majored in Ethnicity, Race, and Migration. As a member of the Sault Ste. Marie Tribe of Chippewa Indians, her research focuses on the intersections of Native American history and federal Indian law and policy. On campus, she was involved with Ucross, the Native American Cultural Center, and the Association of Native Americans at Yale. See what Meghanlata has been up to. | Blog
Charlotte Benishek, Research Assistant|Charlotte Benishek is a joint MBA and Master of Environmental Management candidate at the Yale School of Management and Yale School of the Environment. She is interested in the connection between sustainable agriculture and rural economic development. Charlotte’s interest in sustainable agriculture began as a teenager growing up in Wisconsin, where she worked on an organic farm. Before coming to Yale, she worked in the U.S. Senate as an advisor to Senator Tammy Baldwin on agricultural and environmental policy. Charlotte holds a BA in environmental studies from Wellesley College. See what Charlotte has been up to. | Blog
Margot Buckelew, Western Resources Fellow and Research Assistant | Margot was a Master’s of Environmental Management candidate at the Yale School of the Environment focusing on water resources. She was interested in studying urban water quantity planning and policy development while at Yale. Before graduate school, Margot became inspired by the western landscape while spending time in Colorado working on mayflies, and working on steel head research in Washington. See what Margot has been up to. | Blog
Damaris Chenoweth, Western Resources Fellow and Research Assistant | Damaris was a Master of Environmental Science candidate at Yale School of the Environment. Her thesis research focused on modeling sagebrush community regeneration in areas disturbed by oil and gas extraction. At Ucross, Damaris assessed the vulnerability of conservation targets to climate change in a region known as The Crown of the Continent. For this project, she worked closely with US Fish and Wildlife to contribute to a larger Landscape Conservation Design. Blog
Tony Cisneros, Research Assistant|Tony Cisneros is a joint MBA and Master of Environmental Management candidate at the Yale School of Management and Yale School of the Environment. Born and raised in Colorado, Tony’s interests are focused on land conservation and management in the American West. Tony works on applied land management related to food systems and outdoor recreation. His experience includes work with the National Park Service, The Nature Conservancy Colorado, and on his own outdoor nutrition company, Mesa Foods. Tony earned a BA from Northwestern University with majors in Economics, Legal Studies, and German. See what Tony has been up to. | Blog
Emma Desrochers, Research Assistant|Emma is an undergraduate at Yale college, pursuing a double major in Environmental Studies and Mechanical Engineering. After a summer spending time in the Rocky Mountains she became interested in land conservation in the west and current studies in that region. She is interested in learning many different fields of research in environmental studies, including participating in past research of coral restoration in Thailand and reforestation in the Amazon. She is also an avid solo traveler, having spent time in seven different countries during her summers at Yale. | Blog
Hailee Gibaldo, Research Assistant|Hailee was a Senior at Yale College majoring in Ecology and Evolutionary Biology. She was working with Ucross to research global inherding techniques, a method used to graze livestock. She became interested in food systems working on two farms during the past two summers in Alaska and Massachusetts. On campus, she also worked for the Yale University Herbarium digitizing records and giving tours. See what Hailee has been up to. | Blog
Cally Guasti, Research Assistant|Cally is a Master’s of Environmental Management candidate focusing on ecosystem management and conservation, and environmental justice issues. The intersection of public health and environmental issues, such as resource allocation and equity, are her principal commitments. She has a background in case management and environmental education. In her free time, Cally loves to birdwatch and write fiction. | Blog
Grace Hilbert, Research Assistant |Grace Hilbert is a Master of Environmental Management candidate at the Yale School of the Environment. She is interested in water resources, land conservation, and community-based environmental management. Prior to Yale, Grace worked in environmental consulting, mainly on environmental remediation, corporate sustainability, and water risk assessment. She holds a BS in Earth and Environmental Sciences from the University of Michigan. In her free time, she loves to explore new places through hiking, climbing, and paddling. See what Grace has been up to. | Blog
Tim Ibbotson-Sindelar, Western Resources Fellow |Tim Ibbotson-Sindelar is a joint Master of Environmental Management and MBA candidate at the Yale School of the Environment and the Yale School of Management. He is studying U.S. food and agricultural systems with the aim to shift the present paradigm to support the health of ecosystems and humans, and create financial incentives and stability for farmers to improve their land and local ecosystems. He holds a BA in economics from Haverford College. He previously worked as a financial litigation consultant, and more recently as a produce procurement analyst at an online grocer. See what Tim has been up to. | Blog
Rory Jacobson, Research Assistant | Rory Jacobson was a Master of Environmental Management candidate at the Yale School of the Environment. Before attending Yale F&ES, he worked as a Senior Policy Adviser at a nonprofit dedicated to developing policies to incentivize carbon storage in agricultural lands and rangelands. At UHPS, Rory worked with partners at the Cary Institute of Ecosystem Studies and the Greater Yellowstone Coalition to develop a financial model to incentivize ranchers to reduce their operations’ impacts on wildlife. Rory holds a Bachelor of Science and Bachelor of Arts degrees from the University of California, Berkeley. See what Rory has been up to. | Blog
Reid Lewis, Western Resources Fellows, Land Management Field Practicum Participant, and Symposium Coordinator | Reid was a Master of Forestry candidate at the Yale School of the Environment. Hailing from Flagstaff, Arizona, he hoped to use his experience in natural resource sampling and GIS to inform the management of drought-resistant, fire healthy forests. Beyond work, Reid loves to sail, hike, and crack open a good book! See what Reid has been up to. | Blog
Jon Michel, Land Management Field Practicum Participant and Western Resources Fellow | Jon is an undergraduate at Yale College from Wooster, Ohio, pursuing a B.S. in Environmental Studies. He’s interested in dryland ecosystems as well as the effects of climate change on natural systems, and the role that computer simulations can play in quantifying these effects. In the future, he hopes to work in conservation or environmental management in the West. Jon is an avid skier and hiker in his free time. See what Jon has been up to. | Blog
Bea Portela, Research Assistant and Western Resources Fellow |Bea is an undergraduate in Yale College majoring in Environmental Studies (BS) and Political Science. She is interested in dam removal, rural development, land conservation, and the politics of how to grow our network of public lands. This past semester, Bea worked as a field organizer for the Colorado Democratic Party in Boulder and looks forward to continue studying the intersection of policy, wilderness, and people.| Blog
Bryce Powell, Western Resources Fellow and Research Assistant |Bryce was a Master of Environmental Management candidate at the Yale School of the Environment specializing in Ecosystems and Land Conservation and Management. Work and play in the mountains and deserts of the American West, including his home state of Colorado, provided a foundation for Bryce’s studies at UHPSI. He is interested in the management of public lands in the American West, particularly through stakeholder engagement, conflict resolution, and the inclusion of historically marginalized perspectives. Bryce holds a Bachelor of Arts degree in Environmental Studies from the University of Colorado Boulder. See what Bryce has been up to. | Blog
Lauren Sadowski, Research Assistant|Lauren is a Master of Environmental Management candidate at the Yale School of the Environment specializing in Ecosystem Management & Conservation, and People, Equity & the Environment. Her past work and interests lie in human-wildlife conflict mitigation, anti-poaching, community development, and wildlife tracking and rehabilitation in southern Africa. She is interested in working at the interface of social science and ecology to develop equitable practices of community-based conservation and wildlife research in rural landscapes. Lauren holds a Bachelor of Science in Ecology, Conservation & Wildlife Biology from the University of Vermont. See what Lauren has been up to. | Blog
Humna Sharif, Research Assistant and Western Resources Fellow |Humna Sharif was a Master of Environmental Management Candidate at the Yale School of the Environment focused on Water Resource Science & Management, and Environmental Policy Analysis during her time at Yale. She is interested in exploring the interconnectedness of freshwater systems with land, and how we can address issues of water quantity/quality through ecosystems management practices, and policy changes. As a Western Resources Fellow, Humna worked with the National Park Conservation Association (NPCA), and Sustainable Waters on issues of water and land conservation in the Western US. She holds a BA in Environmental Sciences, and Environmental Thought & Practice from the University of Virginia and worked at the National Fish and Wildlife Foundation (NFWF) in Washington D.C prior to beginning her graduate work. See what Humna has been up to. | Blog
Viola Taubmann, Research Assistant|Viola Taubmann was a Master of Environmental Management candidate at the Yale School of the Environment, focusing on sustainable agriculture and agroforestry. She is particularly interested in conservation on agricultural land and international development. Viola previously worked on ecosystem-based adaptation to climate change at the German Agency for International Cooperation (GIZ) and on agricultural policy in the European Union. She holds a B.Sc. in Earth and Environmental Sciences from the University College Freiburg in Germany and was a visiting student at the University of California, Los Angeles. See what Viola has been up to. | Blog
Katherine Tucker, Research Assistant|Katherine is a Master of Environmental Management candidate at the Yale School of the Environment specializing in Water Resources Science and Management. A native of Woodstock, Vermont, Katherine decided to study watersheds after her community flooded during Tropical Storm Irene. She received her BA in Geography and History from Bucknell University, where she studied the environmental history of transboundary Vermont/Quebecois watersheds. Prior to Yale, Katherine worked as a GIS Technician for the City of Thornton, Colorado, and loved exploring the Rockies. She sees potential at the nexus of equitable community water management and citizen driven data science. A former Girl Scout Camp Counselor, she is passionate about encouraging young women to explore STEM careers. See what Katherine has been up to. | Blog
Abbey Warner, Western Resources Fellow and Research Assistant |Abbey Warner was a Master of Environmental Management candidate at the Yale School of the Environment. Her current studies and prior work experience in the nonprofit and agricultural sectors center around natural resource and land management to promote the multiple benefits of water provision, climate mitigation and adaptation, ecosystem health, and equitable development within communities. Abbey holds a Bachelor of Science degree in Conservation and Resource Studies from the University of California, Berkeley. See what Abbey has been up to. | Blog
William Weinberg, Research Assistant|William Weinberg was a Master of Forest Science candidate at Yale School of the Environment whose research focuses on agroforestry practices in the United States. Originally from the Mojave Desert, William went north to complete his Bachelor of Science degree in Forestry at Humboldt State University. His previous research has included physiological effects of pathogens on hardwood species, and energy allocation in masting tree species. Outside of academia, William enjoys baking, hiking, and reading. | Blog
Eleah Wilkerson, Research Assistant|Eleah Wilkerson is a Master of Environmental Management candidate at the Yale School of the Environment, specializing in Business and the Environment and Water Resource Science and Management. As a native of Denver, Colorado, she has a strong connection to the Rocky Mountain West, and is invested in creating equitable solutions to the consequences of human impacts on the environment in a changing world. Eleah coordinates the Western Speakers Series at UHPSI and aims to connect the Yale community to innovative and insightful speakers who can share their experiences and perspective about western environmental issues. Eleah holds a Bachelor of Art degree in Environmental Studies from Amherst College. See what Eleah has been up to. | Blog
Erik Anderson, Research Assistant | Erik was a joint-degree candidate at the Yale School of Forestry and the Yale School of Divinity. Growing up in a small town in the foothills of Mount Rainier, he spent many hours hunting, fishing, and tramping in the woods around a family farm, exposing him to the beauty and complexity of the natural world from a young age. While at Yale, he focused on the intersection between spirituality, responsible business development, and sustainable land-use in the West. He was a leader of the Western Student Interest Group at F&ES, member of the organizing committee on the Graduate Conference in Religion and Ecology, and a member of the Yale Graduate Crew Team. See what Erik has been up to. | Blog
Paul Berne Burow, Western Resources Fellow | Paul is a student in the combined doctoral degree program between the School of Forestry & Environmental Studies and Department of Anthropology at Yale University. Paul’s work examines how changing ecosystems impact rural communities in Nevada and California. Paul’s research draws from mixed-method social scientific approaches in anthropology, geography, and ecology. See what Paul has been up to. | Blog
Danielle Glass, Western Resources Fellow | Environmental history has shown that we, as humans, have power over our surroundings. As such, we have the responsibility to construct stable, resilient ecosystems and the opportunity to promote engaging, productive landscapes. As a conservation biologist, Danielle is interested in advancing these ideas in the context of biodiversity conservation, spatial ecology, and human-wildlife coexistence. She studied how surface water utilization impacts desert bighorn sheep (Ovis canadensis nelsoni) movement patterns in California’s Mojave Desert. See what Danielle has been up to. | Blog
Anna-Sophia Haub, Research Assistant|Anna-Sophia Haub was a Master of Environmental Management candidate at the School of Forestry and Environmental Studies specializing in Business & the Environment and Industrial Ecology. She focused on sustainable, circular, and restorative business models across and at the nexus of the food and fashion industries. At Ucross, she works as a research assistant on identifying implementable and effective solutions for wildlife friendly ranching in the Greater Yellowstone Ecosystem (GYE). See what Anna-Sophia has been up to. |Blog
Meghan Hills, Western Resources Fellow | Meghan pursued a Master of Environmental Science degree, where her research focused on the spread of chronic wasting disease among deer and elk of the Northern Rockies. In her pre-Yale years, Meghan served with Montana Conservation Corps and attended the University of Texas at Austin for a B.S. in Biology. As an undergrad, she conducted independent research into the use of camera traps for identifying and tracking male deer. Despite what her undergraduate- and graduate-level research topics suggest, Meghan is not fixated on deer. Rather, she is passionate about supporting and contributing to landscape-level conservation in the American West and around the world, and to exploring the possibility for keystone and umbrella species to serve as the basis of efforts to safeguard ecosystems. See what Meghan has been up to. | Blog
Elizabeth Himschoot, Research Assistant| Born and raised in small remote community in Alaska, Elizabeth has always had a strong connection to nature and an understanding of human influence on the environment. As a Master of Environmental Management candidate, she is focused on learning interdisciplinary land management strategies with an emphasis on biodiversity conservation. She hopes to return to the West to continue exploring the human and nature connection through multiple ways of knowing. As a UHPSI Speaker Coordinator Elizabeth is bringing innovative speakers to the F&ES community to share their experiences and perspectives on western environmental issues. See what Elizabeth has been up to. | Blog
Lucas Isakowitz, Western Resources Fellow | Lucas Isakowitz is an environmental writer working hard to keep alive the natural curiosity that we all had as children. His focus at Yale F&ES was environmental governance and storytelling, and most recently a growing interest in water issues. Through the Western Resources Fellowship, Lucas worked with The Nature Conservancy’s Colorado River Program, focusing on coalition building and storytelling along the Colorado, and diving into the world of water resource management. See what Lucas has been up to. | Blog
Haley Leslie-Bole, Research Assistant | Haley received a Master’s of Environmental Management degree and specialized in political ecology and human dimensions of environmental challenges. She is particularly interested in applying perspectives she has gained from the social sciences to land management challenges in the Rocky Mountain West. Haley has spent most of her life living, working, and exploring in the West starting with her childhood in California and continuing with her BA from Colorado College and her outdoor education work in many Western states. See what Haley has been up to. | Blog
Zhi Li, Research Assistant and WRF Fellow | Zhi comes from Shantou, a coastal city of about five million in Southeast China. He became passionate about forest ecology during his education at Brandeis University and worked for Harvest Forest to conduct research at Walden pond in Massachusetts. Zhi received a Master of Forest Science degree from the School of Forestry and Environmental Studies, where his research focused on fire ecology and forest regeneration in western United States. Besides his academic interests, Zhi is enthusiastic about rock climbing and basketball. See what Zhi has been up to. | Blog
Emilé Newman, Research Assistant| Emilé is a Master of Environmental Management candidate at the Yale School of Forestry & Environmental Studies. She received her undergraduate degree and intimate knowledge of the West from the University of Montana. At F&ES, she is working on innovating channels to better integrate the lived experiences of rural stakeholders and communities in the creation of environmental solutions and sustainable land management in Western landscapes. She is deeply interested in the role of applied stewardship in working landscapes as one wedge in a broader approach to addressing climate change. She sees the potential in how attuning to, and caring for, something as seemingly inconsequential as soil, the earth beneath our feet, has the power to transform our relationship to the land and one another. See what Emilé has been up to. | Blog
Talia Niederman, Research Assistant | Talia received a Master of Environmental Management degree with a focus in Ecosystem Conservation and Land Management. Prior to Yale F&ES, Talia worked for the Center for Biological Diversity and the Catalina Island Marine Institute. She is interested in analyzing anthropogenic influences on wildlife populations and collaborating with local communities to develop effective conservation strategies. Talia worked as a research assistant with UHPSI for two years while attending Yale F&ES. See what Talia has been up to. |Blog
Tiana Wilson-Blindman, Research Assistant |Tiana is a Master of Environmental Management candidate at the Yale School of Forestry and Environmental Studies. Raised in Pine Ridge, South Dakota, Tiana (Oglala Lakota) is passionate about natural resource science and policy on Indigenous lands, with an emphasis on human rights. In parallel, her focus also lies in promoting and implementing tribal energy independence in the transition to renewable energies. Outside of her academic life, she also can be found with a camera in hand hiking, kayaking, and camping, preferably in the wildlands of Wyoming, where her family now resides. See what Tiana has been up to. | Blog
Eve Barnett, Research Assistant | Eve Barnett earned a MEM in 2020. Eve studied environmental policy and hopes to work on public land conservation issues. Before graduate school, she earned her undergraduate degree from Princeton University, then worked for the National Park Service (NPS) in CA and WA. She learned about the complexities of effective stewardship during her time with the NPS and hopes to gain new perspectives while at Yale. She is particularly interested in finding strategies for preserving natural resources for future generations while also ensuring that opportunities for solitude and recreation remain accessible. In her free time, she loves to backpack, ski, and forage for mushrooms. See what Eve has been up to. | Blog
Brendan Boepple, Research Assistant | Brendan Boepple was a Master of Environmental Management candidate interested in private land and working lands conservation in the American West. Prior to Yale FES he worked at Colorado College‚ Äôs State of the Rockies Project, supervising undergraduate research on topics related to land and water in Colorado. At State of the Rockies, Brendan also oversaw the implementation and release of the annual Conservation in the West Poll–a survey assessing the attitudes of western voters towards environmental and natural resource issues. At UHPSI, he worked with the Nature Conservancy’s Tensleep Preserve to explore native trout reintroduction in Wyoming. See what Brendan has been up to. | Blog
Jesse Bryant, Western Resources Fellowship | Jesse came to Yale F&ES after four years of work in Wyoming and Idaho with NOLS and Teton Science Schools. While at F&ES he studied environmental conflict, governance, and media. His ongoing research project involves investigating and resolving conflict that has arisen between the powerful rock climbing community and residents of Ten Sleep, Wyoming. In the future he intends to cultivate a career that leverages the public sciences and humanities in order to imagine solutions to the worlds most pressing problems. See what Jesse has been up to. | Blog
Jeffrey Conti, Research Assistant | Jeff has a passion for protecting ecologically and economically vital natural and working lands. At FES, Jeff focused on land conservation and management as well as conservation finance. He was a research assistant with the Ucross High Plains Stewardship Initiative, where he worked to source potential projects and partnerships for a carbon offset fund. Jeff also wrote for the Conservation Finance Network and served as a Teaching Fellow for Brad Gentry’s Strategies for Land Conservation course. See what Jeff has been up to. | Blog
Franklin Eccher, Western Resources Fellowship | Franklin was an Environmental Studies BA and Education Studies Scholar at Yale College. Franklin studied issues in rural America, including fisheries restoration in the Mountain West and college access for rural students. Franklin was a Western Resources Fellow in summer 2018, where he stayed on the Tensleep Preserve to research and write his senior thesis: “The Hardier Fish: An Environmental History of Trout and Grayling Management in the Montana ‘Trout Paradise.'” See what Franklin has been up to. | Blog
Mark Foster, Research Assistant | Mark was a Master of Forestry student who brought his prior experience as an environmental attorney to bear on current land management issues. As an attorney, Mark focused on emissions issues related to stationary and mobile sources (power plants and cars), permitting of major liquid natural gas projects, national fuel programs, and natural resource conservation. In addition, he has worked on input to developing federal management plans throughout the country, and the application of policies in these plans to current projects and activities. He is focused on practical solutions that meet the needs of the present while anticipating the future. See what Mark has been up to. | Blog
Cayley Geffen, Western Research Fellow | Cayley is from San Francisco, California. Currently, in Utah, there is a great deal of political, economic, and social controversy over Former President Obama’s recent designation of Bears Ears National Monument. As a double major in environmental studies and economics and as a passionate outdoor enthusiast with significant ties to Utah, she is very interested in this current national land use issue. During summer 2017, she researched the natural, social, and political history of the area and interview people from each of the groups involved in the controversy surrounding the designation of Bears Ears as a national monument. She will create a short documentary film and produce written analysis of this topic. See what Cayley has been up to. | Blog
Claire Lafave, Land Management Field Practicum Participant |Claire Lafave earned a MEM/MBA from Yale and is passionate about using business as a lever to support the transition towards regenerative food systems. At Yale, she founded and runs the Regenerative Agriculture Initiative at CBEY. She has conducted graduate internships at Happy Family Organics, an organic baby food company, and Hugo and Hoby, a sustainable furniture start-up founded by two Yale SOM alums. She loves hiking, dance, gardening, and contemporary fiction. . See what Claire has been up to. | Blog
Chengcheng Qiu, Research Assistant (Coursework) | Chengcheng was a Master of Public Health candidate at the Yale School of Public Health concentrating in Environmental Health Sciences. Prior to graduate school, Chengcheng studied Biology and Human Health, and participated in floristic research at Emory University in Atlanta, GA, where she has developed a passion in understanding and preserving the relationship between natural environment and humans. While at Yale, she focused her study on geospatial analysis and examining the effects of green space in modulating climate-related health impacts. She worked on developing a data visualization tool using Google Earth Engine for examining the population composition and socioeconomic changes around national forests in the United States. See what Chengcheng has been up to. | Blog
Jack Singer, Research Assistant | Jack Singer was a Master of Forestry candidate at the Yale School of Forestry and Environmental Studies, where he focused on land management policy and practices. He was previously employed by the Great Basin Institute as the Ecological Monitoring State Coordinator of Wyoming, where supervised monitoring activities over aspen and conifer forests, juniper slopes, riparian zones, sagebrush steppe, and other ecotypes. He is excited to gain experience with forest and land management solutions on multi-use lands in the West. See what Jack has been up to. | Blog
Charlotte Stanley, Research Assistant | Charlotte was a Master of Environmental Management student at the Yale School of Forestry & Environmental Studies, focusing on improving conservation efforts and mitigating climate change through geospatial analysis. For her summer internship at F&ES, Charlotte mapped community conservation areas and analyzed land cover change in Eastern Zambia to obtain carbon credits for sustainable farmers. Prior to F&ES, she coordinated public education on recycling and sustainability for the NYC Department of Sanitation and managed curriculum development at Urban Green Council. She holds a Bachelor of Science degree in Environmental Science from UCLA. Blog
Lauren Stoneburner, Research Assistant | Lauren was a Master of Environmental Management candidate at the Yale School of Forestry and Environmental Studies, focusing her studies on urban ecological conservation. Having grown up in southern California, she is intimately familiar with reconciling L.A.’s dual identity of being known for its magnificent nature and urban sprawl. In her career, Lauren hopes to manage protected areas in a way that preserves the landscape’s ecological viability, fosters smarter urban growth, and enables people of all backgrounds to connect meaningfully with nature. See what Lauren has been up to. | Blog
Julia Sullivan, Research Assistant | Julia earned a Master of Environmental Management degree at the Yale School of Forestry & Environmental Studies. Her academic interests include water resource management and land use, and she worked with Bridger-Teton National Forest in western Wyoming to assess the socioeconomic impacts of the forest-planning process. Prior to attending Yale F&ES, Julia worked in conservation for four years–both in the non-profit sector and as a Peace Corps Volunteer in Panama. She holds a dual-degree in Environmental Studies and International Studies from American University in Washington, DC. See what Julia has been up to. | Blog
Sabrina Szeto, MF – Geospatial Analyst | Sabrina graduated with a Master of Forestry degree at F&ES in 2016. As geospatial analyst from 2016 to 2019, Sabrina specialized in the use of Geographic Information Systems (GIS) and remote sensing for solving environmental challenges. With a background in anthropology and forestry, she has a strong interest in understanding ecosystems and societies. Sabrina supported student research by providing tailored guidance on GIS and storytelling with maps. Sabrina also founded a working group for Google Earth Engine users at Yale in 2017, which is now led by TC Chakraborty and others under the Yale Center of Earth Observation. In summer 2019, Sabrina started a geospatial consulting practice in Germany, helping organizations and land managers to use GIS and earth observation data to do their work more effectively. See what Sabrina has been up to.
Sophie Tyack, Research Assistant (Coursework) | Sophie Tyack earned a MBA/MEM at the School of Management and School of Forestry and Environmental Studies and is interested in the intersection of data analytics and sustainable development. Prior to Yale, Sophie worked as a research analyst at an environmental consulting firm where her work ranged from natural resource damage assessment cases to system dynamics modeling. Originally from Boston, Sophie holds a B.A. with High Honors from Princeton University, where she studied Classics and Environmental Studies. See what Sophie has been up to. | Blog
Ben Williamson, Research Assistant | Ben was a Masters of Environmental Management (MEM) candidate at the Yale School of Forestry and Environmental Studies. Originally from Colorado, Ben has a BS in Ecology and Organismal Biology from the University of Montana. His early interest in wildlife biology led him to positions with the National Park Service, the Glacier Institute, and Natural Resources Defense Council. At Yale, he built on his science and education background to craft a career path in land use policy and governance. See what Ben has been up to. | Blog
Amy Zuckerwise, Symposium Coordinator | Amy Zuckerwise earned a Master of Environmental Science degree at the Yale School of Forestry and Environmental Studies. Amy studies carnivore ecology and conservation, with a focus in small and medium-sized wildcat species. Prior to Yale, Amy worked as a wildlife biologist in environmental consulting in Southern California. During her undergraduate degree at Stanford University, she majored in Biology with honors in Ecology and Evolution, and conducted her thesis research on the ecology of bobcats, pumas, and other mammals in northern California. See what Amy has been up to. | Blog
Jaycie Arndt, Land Management Field Practicum | Jaycie was a student at the University of Wyoming studying rangeland ecology and watershed management. Her hometown is Arvada, Wyoming. She is interested in the monitoring and rapid assessment applications, and took part in Ranch Crew (now called Land Management Field Practicum) to gain experience in working with landowners and seeing how stakeholder goals work together.
Charlie Bettigole, MS – Program Director | Charlie served as UHPSI’s program director from 2013 to 2018, managing day-to-day operations from either the New Haven or Ucross office. His background lies in spatial ecology, remote sensing, and wildlife biology – he has worked in academic and on-the-ground organizations across North America. Charlie had a hand in most of the projects the team takes on, but focused on the cultivation of key relationships with Ucross Partners, generating new student interest in UHPSI research, and assisting with scientific analysis and writing. Charlie lent particular effort to the development of UHPSI’s Change Vector Analysis algorithm, working with practitioners on the ground to maximize the utility of this change-detection tool, and building it’s reach through the development of an interactive web application. When not at work, Charlie can be found with his daughter Margot on his back, skiing, fishing, and hiking in the northern Rockies and rolling hills of Connecticut.
Eve Boyce, Research Assistant | Eve earned a Master of Environmental Management degree from Yale F&ES, and hailed most recently from beautiful Washington state, where she worked as the Land Stewardship Manager for an agricultural land trust with a mission to protect prime farmland from development. Eve brought her knowledge of farmland access issues to UHSPI, assisting the National Young Farmers Coalition with the development of a financial modeling tool for farmers looking for land in Fall 2016. See what Eve has been up to.
Ross Donihue, Western Research Fellow | Ross earned a Master in Environmental Management degree at the Yale School of Forestry and Environmental Studies. He also holds a BA in Geography and Environmental Studies from Macalester College. Ross is also the founder and creative director of Maps for Good, a mission driven organization that makes maps and digital media for conservation campaigns around the world. Ross is a visual storyteller and a wilderness enthusiast. See what Ross has been up to. | Blog
Adam Eichenwald, Western Research Fellow | Adam’s main interests are in how predators influence food webs and ecosystems through interactions with their prey, and how the studies of such effects can be applicable to conservation efforts. Most of his research over the past few years has been with birds and bats, although he loves working with trophic interactions across ecosystems in general. For his master’s work, he is primarily focused on the interactions between Alaskan gyrfalcon populations and one of their primary sources of prey, the rock and willow ptarmigan. He is interested in discovering whether the presence of gyrfalcons has cascading effects through the arctic food web. See what Adam has been up to. | Blog
Charlie Faires, Affiliate | With a background in farming, ranching, and wildlife biology, Charlie came to the UHPSI team with a strong skill-set for problem solving issues of rangeland ecology. A native of North Carolina, Charlie has been splitting time over 2015 between his work as a science-technician at F&ES and in finishing his undergraduate degree at Warren Wilson College in Asheville, NC. See what Charlie has been up to.
Samuel Jordan, Research Assistant | Sam earned a MESc while with researching the sagebrush steppe in Wyoming. His work will help land owners and managers make more informed decisions and be better stewards to the systems they live and work in. He comes from a forestry background, and has work experience in agriculture, non-profits, and land managing agencies. Sam will be helping UHPSI in ongoing efforts to bridge the geographic and communication gaps between the Yale community and stakeholders, leaders, and researchers on the high plains. See what Sam has been up to.
Carli Kierstead, Western Research Fellow | Carli earned a MEM in 2018 and is interested in the social-ecological dynamics of large-scale conservation, climate change adaptation, and environmental justice. She grew up in San Diego, CA and came to FES after conducting coastal ecological research at Scripps Institution of Oceanography and working in veterinary medicine. During the 2017 summer Carli worked in partnership with UHPSI and The Nature Conservancy in Lander, WY to assess the feasibility of a site-specific scenario analysis tool for the Popo Agie watershed’s complex agricultural and ecological needs. She provided TNC with spatial, social, and ecological analysis that will aid in their future conservation decision making in the American West. See what Carli has been up to. | Blog
Rebecca Lehman, Research Assistant | Rebecca earned a Masters in Environmental Management. She is studying water resource management through the use of geospatial software. She loves to mountain bike and climb, and dreams of one day living in Colorado. Rebecca attended Colorado College. She also was a research assistant at Rocky Mountain Biological Laboratory. Now, she is a Social Impact Program Manager at DroneDeploy. See what Rebecca has been up to.
Lydia Mendoza, Land Management Field Practicum | Lydia earned a Master of Forestry degree at the Yale School of Forestry and Environmental Studies. She is originally from Ohio but moved to California shortly after graduating college. Before starting at F&ES, she worked in public health in San Francisco and land conservation in the northern Sierra Nevada. She is interested in working land conservation and sustainable forestry. See what Lydia has been up to.
Jeremy Menkhaus, Western Research Fellow, Land Management Field Practicum | Jeremy was born and raised in Palm Beach County, Florida and earned a Master of Forestry from the Yale School of Forestry & Environmental Studies and a Master of Business Administration from the Yale School of Management. He has a professional background in mergers & acquisitions advisory as well as private equity investing, and now focuses his time on looking at innovative financial tools and investment vehicles for motivating better land management practices and increased conservation efforts. He is the fourth of nine kids and enjoys hunting and fly fishing.
Ethan Miller, Research Assistant | Ethan earned a Master of Forestry degree at Yale F&ES focusing on the role of collaborative spatial planning and analysis in the management of multi-functional forest landscapes. As a UHPSI Research Assistant, Ethan created a web-based process for detecting invasive cheatgrass in the West using satellite imagery. His work employed Google Earth Engine, time series analysis, and image classification techniques to dynamically detect cheatgrass over time. Before joining UHPSI, Ethan worked as a Fellow with the Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute. In this role he studied the viability of using drones as a means of mapping and assessing biomass storage in timber plantations and reforestation sites along the Panama Canal. See what Ethan has been up to.
Chadwick Oliver, PhD – Faculty PI | As the Pinchot Professor of Forestry and Environmental Studies, Chad served as UHPSI’s fearless leader, ensuring that research remains relevant, timely, and effective. His research has taken him to more than 25 countries, where he has cultivated macro-level perspective that help to situate UHPSI within a larger framework. Outside of UHPSI, Chad teaches and researches forest ecology and silviculture, as well as natural resource management on local, region, and global scales. Chad and his wife Fatma recently published a new book on global resources.
Katherine Panek, Land Management Field Practicum | Katie Panek earned a MEM degree at the Yale School of Forestry and Environmental Studies. She has roots in Colorado and Massachusetts and is interested in land conservation and sustainable development in the American West, especially as pertaining to working lands. Before coming to F&ES, she worked in ecotourism, Geographic Information Systems (GIS) and the development of protected areas in Chilean Patagonia. See what Katie has been up to.
Rachel Renne, Western Research Fellow | Rachel Renne grew up in rural southwest Florida, and earned a Master’s of Environmental Science at the Yale School of Forestry and Environmental Studies. After graduating from college in 2008, she began a three-mile-per-hour tour—on foot—of the subtle and dramatic shifts of vegetation across the American landscape, hiking over 10,500 miles on National Scenic Trails. At Yale, she has expanded her love of plants to a fascination with how soils translate climate into vegetation. This summer, she will serve as the field botanist for a study investigating the impacts of livestock grazing on plant diversity in big sagebrush (Artemisia tridentata) ecosystems in Wyoming. When not in the field, Rachel will be analyzing a large vegetation dataset to investigate big sagebrush community structure across the West. | Blog
Evelyn Rhodes (Sale), Research Assistant | Sale earned a Master of Environmental Science and is interested in soil and water quality, particularly with regard to waste products and public health. She previously worked on food waste composting projects for Recology in San Francisco. Sale has previous experience coordinating carbon offset pledges for multi-national organizations and is excited learn more about soil carbon sequestration strategies. Originally from Seattle and a lover of mountains, Sale has an affection for western landscapes. See what Sale has been up to.
Kyle Soriano, Affiliate | Kyle came to UHPSI with a background in environmental chemistry, soil science, and environmental consulting. A native of upstate New York, with a passion for the West, Kyle has been an eager volunteer for UHPSI, lending his expertise in database design and data analysis to various hydrologic, forestry, and rangeland projects.
Eli Terris, Research Assistant | Eli served as the Experimental Grassland Coordinator at Yale’s West Campus. He helped to prepare for a management competition at an experimental grassland site taking place in the spring of 2017. Eli earned a joint-MEM and African studies master’s degree in 2019. Prior to coming to F&ES, Eli spent 4 years in West Africa doing agroforestry and agribusiness work. He is interested in international agricultural research and anthropology as a tool for supporting sustainable natural resource management. See what Eli has been up to.
Robert Turnbull, Research Assistant | Rob earned a Master of Forestry degree and is interested in sustainable forest management and forest regeneration. Raised in Connecticut, his academic interests stem from a childhood spent romping through New England’s forests. Rob spent the past few years planting trees, running ornithological surveys throughout Latin America, and working as an arborist.
Martin Becker, MEM | A native of Santiago, Chile, Martin has spent the last 4 years working for public agencies and NGO’s promoting public-private partnerships for managing public lands and tourism in Chile’s National Parks. At FES, he was interested in acquiring and applying new GIS skills for managing large-scale conservation initiatives and improving agricultural management practices. Martin brought his enthusiasm and energy for land stewardship as a research analyst for UHPSI. In his free time, Martin enjoys hiking and climbing mountains, drinking coffee or wine and traveling to new places with his wife Josefina. See what Martin has been up to.
Julia Calderón, MF | Julia is a second year Master of Forestry student with a background in environmental sciences. She has worked assisting in community based forest projects such as land planning, restoration, sustainable forest management for timber and agroforestry foraging with local species from a non-profit and the national autonomous university of Mexico in different agrarian communities in Mexico in dry forest, temperate forest and mangrove ecosystems. Julia assisted the Northern Plains Resource Council and the City of Billings in designing an urban compost program in Fall 2016. See what Julia has been up to.
Elizabeth Domenech, MEM | Elizabeth graduated in 2017 with a MEM degree. She is from Austin, Texas and is interested in large-scale conservation solutions with a focus on the Western U.S. Prior to coming to F&ES, she served as the Director of the Shield-Ayres Foundation, a family foundation supporting natural resource conservation, health and human services, and education and the arts in Central Texas. Elizabeth worked with UHPSI to bring a diverse set of practitioners (ranchers, managers, conservationists) to New Haven to talk about Western land conservation issues, and worked with TNC on designing protocols for monitoring fence crossings by wildlife in Wyoming. See what Elizabeth has been up to.
Taylor Ganz, MESc | Taylor graduated from FES with a MESc degree in 2017 . She’s interested in environmental research relevant to public lands management in the American West, and worked with UHPSI to study the impact of air pollution on alpine watersheds. Taylor is originally from California but has lived and worked across the West, primarily in Idaho and Wyoming. She now studies carnivore – ungulate interactions in Washington State. See what Taylor has been up to. | Blog
Luke Menard, MEM | Luke graduated with a MEM degree in 2017. He is from western Massachusetts. He is interested in learning how spatial analysis and financial tools can be incorporated into successful land management for conservation gains in the west. Luke recently worked in Portland, OR, where he used geospatial software to estimate the landscape-level effects of industrial forest management regime shifts on the abundance and health of Pacific NW forest resources. Luke assisted UHPSI with geospatial projects, such as mapping conservation priority lands in western states. See what Luke has been up to.
Joshua Morse, MESc | Josh is an interdisciplinary researcher interested in how people value nature, and how these values inform (or, don’t inform!) natural resource policy. His work as a Ucross Western Research Fellow and Masters student at Yale FES focused on mapping the stakeholder community surrounding Wyoming’s Red Desert to Hoback mule deer migration. He is currently a PhD candidate at the University of Vermont’s Rubenstein School of Environment and Natural Resources. In his free time, Josh enjoys fly fishing, playing mandolin, and exploring with his dog Pepper. See what Josh has been up to. | Blog
Lucyann Murray, MBA, MF | Lucyann graduated in 2017 with a MBA/MF at the Yale School’s of Management and Forestry and Environmental Studies. Her studies at Yale focused on sustainable land management at the intersection of business and the environment. Her interest lies in finding innovative and sustainable ways for a land use and enjoyment. Lucyann worked with Wyoming rancher Shane Cross, performing market analysis and financial modeling, helping Shane and his family move towards grass finishing and direct marketing of their beef. See what Lucyann has been up to. | Blog
Nick Olson, MF – Assistant Director | Nick graduated from F&ES with a Master of Forestry and joined the Ucross team as Assistant Director in Spring 2016. In this role, Nick helps expand Ucross relationships in the Rockies and in New Haven, assists the Western Research Fellows, and connects students with projects across the American West. In September 2016, Nick married his sweetheart, Cass, who he met while working in the Upper Amazon Basin of Ecuador.
Hannah Walchak, MEM | Hannah graduated in 2017 with an MEM degree. She studied the intersection of land conservation and agricultural management. She spent the summer of 2016 working at the Hawaiian Islands Land Trust, where she fell in love with the magic of Maui. At Ucross, she worked with TNC’s Tensleep Preserve and Spear-O Mountain Campus, both in Wyoming’s Bighorn Mountains, to develop background research, feasibility studies, and management plans for a few different multi-use collaborative research and recreation outposts. See what Hannah has been up to.
Leanne Weiss, MEM | Leanne graduated in 2016 with a MEM from F&ES. Hailing from Oregon, Leanne has spent the last four years working with ocean fishermen off the coast of Oregon to design sustainable fisheries management practices. Leanne spent the summer of 2015 based jointly in Sheridan and Ucross, splitting time working on UHPSI projects around the ranch, while also assisting the Sheridan Community Land Trust with a variety of on the ground projects. See what Leanne has been up to.
Megan Brakeley, MEM | Megan graduated in 2015 with an M.E.M from F&ES. Her background lies in education, farming, and environmental studies. With these three values guiding Megan’s graduate studies, it was a perfect fit to bring her into the Ucross fold to work with the Clearmont School on designing a set of mapping classes focused on sustainable land management practices. Over Yale’s 2015 spring break, Megan and Charlie traveled to Ucross to work with middle-school students in their science and agricultural classes. See what Megan has been up to.
Bryce Kellog, MESc | Bryce graduated in 2015 with an MESc from F&ES. As a native of central Oregon, Bryce has a strong connection to rangelands, and pursued this interest in project work Spring 2015. Bryce built an ecological model of cheatgrass distribution based on satellite and weather data (essentially predicting its spatial extent and longevity of green-out), and then built a resource allocation model that maximized early season grazing of cheatgrass (when it is still a viable forage crop) with the fewest resources possible. See what Bryce has been up to.
Catherine Kuhn, MESc | After two years of working with the UHPSI team, Catherine graduated in the Spring of 2015 with an MESc from F&ES, and has gone on to pursue a PhD at the University of Washington. A native of Kansas, Catherine spent five years before F&ES in the Bay Area teaching watershed ecology, biology and conservation to high school students as part of the Oakland Teaching Fellows program. She is interested in watershed scale conservation and management with an emphasis on how land use practices can improve community resilience in the high plains. See what Catherine has been up to.
Lindsi Seegmiller, MESc | Lindsi served as UHPSI’s specialist in the acquisition, manipulation, and analysis of satellite imagery from May 2013 through October 2015. Among other things, she was in charge of using this imagery to identify the distribution and relative abundance of invasive species across the landscape, as well as developing web-compatible tools that allow the public to perform complex geospatial analysis. See what Lindsi has been up to.
Sophie Young, MEM | Sophie graduated in 2015 with an M.E.M from F&ES. Originally from California, Sophie has spent time in working landscapes around the world, including China and Spain. Sophie brought her expertise in land use and economic development to UHPSI in the spring of 2015 as she worked on her master’s thesis in collaboration with Mountain Meadow Wool (MMW). Inspired by a set of conversations with Valerie Spanos and Karen Hostetler at MMW, Sophie dove into the world of fiber production, researching a variety of topics and helping MMW design a set of best practices to use with their producers. See what Sophie has been up to.