2. WHAT ARE THE 2011 FELLOWS UP TO NOW?
Now that the 2011 Fellows have finished their fellowship year (and in some cases, finished school), what are they doing? Here are some highlights!
Andrea Bogomolni (UConn, PhD) is completing her research on stressors in marine mammals, and will be working part-time this year at Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution.
Laura Bozzi (Yale, PhD) will spend the coming year writing her dissertation, and remains active with a variety of environmental and justice groups including 350CT, CT Center for New Economy, and Healthy CT Alliance calling for the retirement of the last coal fired plant in Connecticut.
Christian Casillas (UC Berkeley, PhD) graduated in May. He has been continuing some of his work in Latin America on education and renewable energy initiatives and will be traveling in India for the next year working on rural development and energy education projects.
Tara Cornelisse (UC Santa Cruz, PhD) will be finishing her research this year on habitat needs for the endangered Ohlone tiger beetle.
Rebecca Dell (MIT, PhD) will be starting a post-doc at Scripps Institution of Oceanography at UC San Diego. She has strong interests in working to motivate people on climate change issues and hopes to work on bridging those interests.
Shereen D'Souza (Yale, MS) graduated in May and has been offered a Presidential Management Fellowship in Washington DC. She is exploring a variety of options to pursue her work on food systems and equity.
Mark Elbroch (UC Davis, PhD) has graduated and accepted a position leading a cougar research project in the Grand Teton National Park with the organization, Craighead Beringia South, in Jackson, Wyoming.
Tavis Forrester (UC Davis, PhD) will file his dissertation this fall and start a post-doc at the Smithsonian on a citizen science project called E-Mammal in Washington, DC.
Colin Hagan (Vermont Law School, JD) has graduated and begun work at the Schlansky Law Practice in Vermont where he will gain valuable litigation experience before eventually moving to a position with an NGO or public agency. Colin will remain actively engaged in environmental policy issues (and is one of the Fellows involved with the latest Switzer Network Innovation Grant looking at issues involved with fracking and the Marcellus Shale natural gas development project).
Kelsey Jacobsen (UC Santa Barbara, MESM) spent the summer as Research and Projects Manager for UCSB's Sustainable Fisheries Group and will begin a Knauss Marine Policy Fellowship in Washington DC this fall.
Kendra Klein (UC Berkeley, PhD) will graduate in spring 2013 and will continue to work part-time as a Senior Program Associate for Physicians for Social Responsibility in California, expanding their Healthy Food in Health Care program.
Jeannette Laramee (Stanford, MEng) finished her master's degree this spring and will spend the coming year in Africa working with the NGO, Borda, on water, sanitation, biogas and resource recovery. Jeannette will return to Stanford next year to enter a PhD program.
Julia Ledewitz (Tufts, MA) is completing the data analysis for her master's thesis on green building practices on U.S. college campuses. She continues her job as Sustainability Coordinator for MIT where she has advanced LEED certification for several new construction and renovation projects, including one submission for LEED Gold.
Erin McCreless (UC Santa Cruz, PhD) is completing her research and dissertation on developing new tools to set priorities for bird conservation on islands where invasive species must be eradicated for species' survival. She will graduate this fall and will seek work with an applied conservation NGO or government agency.
Kristen Pratt (Lesley College, MA) graduated in May and successfully helped her organization, the Chicago Conservation Corps, find a new home with the Peggy Notebaert Nature Museum after the Chicago Dept. of Environment (in which her program was situated) was eliminated. She learned a great deal about perseverance and active problem-solving in a crisis!
Jessica Shade (UC Berkeley, PhD) is completing her dissertation draft on lupine genetics that will inform plant conservation. She will graduate in December. Her goal is to apply her science and communication skills in an NGO or public sector setting where she can communicate science effectively and especially engage underserved and non-traditional communities.
Ryan Shaening Pokrasso (UC Berkeley, JD) has one more year of law school and will graduate in spring 2013. He is now working as a law clerk in Senator Dianne Feinstein's Senate Judiciary office and aims to find a government or environmental advocacy position after graduation.
Sharon Smith (Yale, MS) graduated in May and is currently working with Global Greengrants Fund to help them set up a global youth philanthropy board. Sharon is aiming for a position in philanthropy or forest conservation based in the Bay area.
Sarah Uhl (Yale, MS) graduated in May and is headed to Washington DC for two years under a Presidential Management Fellowship where she will work with the EPA's Office of Pollution Prevention and Toxics.
Matthew Vadeboncoeur (Univ of New Hampshire, PhD) is focused on writing his dissertation as he completes his work on nutrient cycling in forest ecosystems and growing concerns about forest biomass harvesting in the northeast.
Congratulations on an impressive year for all of you!
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