Robert & Patricia Switzer Foundation

Steve Blackmer
Yale Divinity School - MA - (Divinity/Religion and Environment)

Steve Blackmer spent the first part of his career working as an organizer and advocate for forest conservation and forest-based community development in New Hampshire and the Northern Forests of Maine, New Hampshire, Vermont and New York. Over a span of 25 years, Steve held leadership positions with the Northern Forest Center, Northern Forest Alliance, Appalachian Mountain Club and Society for the Protection of New Hampshire Forests and served on the board of numerous conservation organizations at the local, state and national levels. He holds an A.B. from Dartmouth College in Anthropology and a Master of Forestry degree from the School of Forestry and Environmental Studies at Yale. Over the past several years, Steve has been seeking a deeper understanding of the worldviews that enable humans to do such harm to the earth (and to each other) and how the environmental movement can tap into the positive transformational power of religious and spiritual traditions. To pursue this, Steve resigned as founding president of the Northern Forest Center, spent a year as a Bullard Fellow at the Harvard Forest, and is now a Master’s degree student at the Yale Divinity School. He is interested in the role of religion in social change movements, how faith communities can broaden and renew the environmental movement, and how the environmental movement can deepen itself by renewing its own sense of the earth as sacred.

Kyra Busch
Yale University - MS - (Environmental Justice, Sustainable Food Systems)

From rice paddies to rooftops, Kyra is keenly interested in making sustainable food more accessible in both urban and rural areas. She is currently a Masters student at the Yale School of Forestry and Environmental Studies where she focuses on environmental justice, community development and sustainable food systems. This summer her research has taken her to Panama where she is learning about successful models of bicultural and place-based education and the connections between food sovereignty and the transfer of environmental knowledge. Previously, Kyra lived in Thailand working to bring Fair Trade rice to the U.S., coordinated national fair trade and trade justice campaigns for the ENGAGE network, and developed an indigenous Farm to School curriculum with the White Earth Land Recovery Project, co-authoring a report on Native American Farm to School programs. In New Haven, she is developing a farm-based education curriculum and training environmental educators in her role as the Public Schools Program Coordinator for the Yale Sustainable Food Project. Upon graduation, Kyra plans on returning to community food systems programs working on both a project and a policy level. Kyra received her bachelor's degree in Environmental and Social Justice and Political Science from Indiana University.

Noah Charney
University of Massachusetts - Amherst - PhD - (Organismic and Evolutionary Biology)

Noah’s projects involve rare species conservation, natural history education, as well as technical contributions to ecological theory. He has expertise in subjects ranging from animal tracking to experimental physics. He is currently a PhD candidate in the Organismic and Evolutionary Biology Program at the University of Massachusetts Amherst, focusing on the terrestrial ecology and conservation of pond-breeding amphibians. His dissertation examines amphibian upland habitat, the impacts of forest fragmentation, new techniques for tracking small animals, and the genetic complexities of a kleptogenetic lineage that hybridizes with two state-listed salamanders. In the course of his research, Noah has worked closely with the Massachusetts Natural Heritage and Endangered Species Program to protect rare salamanders.

Noah enjoys teaching in various formats, including through college courses, public natural history workshops, and writing. He recently co-authored a field guide to invertebrate signs of North America, and his photographs from this project have been displayed in art galleries and newspapers. He continues to help run a small community non-profit, the West Meade Conservancy that he founded in 2006 aimed at conservation and natural history education in Nashville, TN.

Justin Foster
Boston University - PhD - (Systems Engineering)

As a PhD candidate in Systems Engineering at Boston University, Justin is studying sustainable energy systems, environmental policy analysis, and electricity market design. In particular, he is working towards the development of an applied science base incorporating demand response and distributed generation, which holds promise for dramatic global effects on sustainable energy when implemented in both developed and developing countries. Currently, he is focused on the market-based coordination of plug-in-hybrid electric vehicles and renewable electricity generation – in particular, wind – that will contribute to the broad adoption of both technologies. His awareness of sustainable power systems began through his work at ICF International, where he supported the US Environmental Protection Agency in the development and analysis of multi-pollutant trading programs included in the Clean Air Act, Clean Air Interstate Rule, and Clean Air Mercury Rule. Justin graduated from Bowdoin College with an AB in Mathematics, cum laude, and enjoys rooting for Boston area sports – Go Pats! – as well as sand dollar hunting, wine tasting, and bicycling.

Erin Hafkenschiel
Harvard Kennedy School - MPP - (Public Policy)

Erin is pursuing a Master’s degree in Public Policy and Urban Planning at the John F. Kennedy School of Government at Harvard University. Her work focuses on urbanization issues, management, governance and climate change. She is specifically interested in encouraging sustainable urban development paths in rapidly urbanizing countries, particularly China. As a Fulbright scholar in China, she studied sustainable urbanization issues in numerous major cities, including Beijing, Kunming and Jinan. She conducted a transportation and urban lifestyle survey in Jinan. She hopes to use the results of her survey to develop a public-private partnership project between the city of Jinan and a real estate developer for her second-year graduate school project. This summer she is interning at Calthorpe Associates working on the connection between land-use planning and carbon emissions. Before her year in China, Erin worked at the Hewlett Foundation in the Environment Program. During her time there, she played an integral role in a project to protect and properly manage the Great Bear Rainforest in British Columbia, Canada. She also helped establish the Sustainable Cities program at the Energy Foundation in Beijing. Erin is extremely eager to use her past experiences and her new opportunity as a Switzer Fellow to tackle the challenge of sustainable urbanization in China over the next few decades. She has a B.A. in Political Economy (PEIS) from the University of California, Berkeley.

Susannah Lerman
University of Massachusetts Amherst - PhD - (Biology/Urban Ecology)

Susannah is a Ph.D. candidate in the Organismic and Evolutionary Biology program at the University of Massachusetts, Amherst. Working with the National Science Foundation-funded Central Arizona-Phoenix Long Term Ecological Research (CAP LTER) project, a multi-partnered approach to understanding urban ecology in the Sonoran desert, she investigates how humans interact with native wildlife, both directly and indirectly through landscaping plantings, and how these actions in turn, influence urban biodiversity. Susannah incorporates long-term bird monitoring and behavioral experiments to evaluate if yards landscaped with native plants can help reverse the loss of urban biodiversity. To help combat the rift between people and nature, Susannah recruits local schools and private Phoenix residents to assist with her doctoral research. These citizen scientists conduct bird foraging experiments in their backyards, helping to uncover the mechanisms structuring urban bird communities. Susannah received her MS in Conservation Biology at Antioch University New England where she studied the winter ecology of a small migrant owl in southern Israel. Prior to her graduate studies, Susannah spent five years volunteering on a Kibbutz in southern Israel. She helped establish a desert bird reserve, initiated a community-based recycling effort, and promoted eco-tourism through birding tours. In May 2010, she was a Fellow with the Quebec Labrador Foundation Middle East Exchange Program on Developing Strategies for Community-based Natural Resource Management. Upon completion of her PhD, Susannah plans to apply scientific information towards management and policy decisions in urban and suburban areas with the goal of improving relations between people and urban wildlife.

Michelle Lewis
Yale School of Forestry and Environmental Studies - MS - (Forestry and Environmental Studies / Divinity)

Michelle Lewis is a joint degree student with the Yale School of Forestry and Environmental Studies, and the Yale Divinity School. She is concentrating on connecting under-served urban populations (at-risk youth and juvenile offenders) to the environment through their religions using popular culture. This summer she will be working in New Haven, Connecticut to develop a model for working with youth by engaging them in positive natural experiences. Prior to coming to Yale, Michelle spent 12 years as a United States Park Ranger. During her work with the National Park Service(NPS), Michelle worked and trained at locations across the United States including: Cape Hatteras National Seashore, Cuyahoga Valley National Park, Fort Sumter National Monument, Martin Luther King Jr. National Historic Site, the Grand Canyon, and the Arch in St. Louis. Before separating from the NPS Michelle was a Law Enforcement officer, an Interpreter, and a Biological Science Technician. She has published an article in the current issue of Sage Magazine about the time she spent working for the NPS. Michelle's background is in Communication (Film Directing). She has produced two award winning documentaries, "Stairway to the Top of Hatteras," that she made in conjunction with Boyer Video that won a Communicator Award of Distinction, and a video about Law Enforcement in the National Park Service, that won the NPS Intake Program award for innovation and creativity. Michelle holds a B.A. from Elizabeth City State University, and a M.A. from Regent University, and in her free time enjoys traveling, hiking, and writing.

Sara Mersha
Brown University - MA - (Environmental Studies)

Sara Bissrat Mersha is a Masters student at the Center for Environmental Studies at Brown University, where she focuses on issues of climate justice, climate debt, and food sovereignty on local and international levels. She was born in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, grew up in Lynn, Massachusetts, and has been living in Providence, Rhode Island since 1993. Sara worked for 12 years in the field of community organizing, as Lead Organizer and Executive Director of Direct Action for Rights and Equality, a grassroots organizing group with a membership base in low-income communities of color. In this role, she led and supported a variety of campaigns including low-wage worker organizing, youth organizing, anti-criminalization, and anti-gentrification work, along with political education and broader movement-building work. In 2008, she was Visiting Faculty in the Department of Ethnic Studies at Brown, where she co-taught a practicum course on "Strategies, Tactics, and Tools for Social Change.” Sara was a member of the Rockwood Leadership Fund’s 2008-2009 “Leading from the Inside Out” fellowship program. Sara's involvement with national networks has included Jobs with Justice (former national board member), the Right to the City Alliance (current resource ally to the Environmental Justice Working Group), and the Grassroots Global Justice Alliance (current interim co-chair of the Global Well-Being Working Group). She loves to spend time with her 11 nieces and nephews!

Maximilian Parness
Massachusetts Institute of Technology - MS - (Technology and Policy)

Max is currently pursuing a Masters in the Technology and Policy Program at MIT. His research concerns the use of electric vehicles as a form of distributed battery storage, in part to help reduce air pollution. Prior to attending MIT, he worked at the Natural Resources Defense Council's Beijing office on industrial energy efficiency practices. In the future, he hopes to work with rapidly developing countries to help establish policies that encourage long-term sustainable electricity generation, transmission, and use. Max holds a B.S. in Electrical Engineering from Drexel University.

Stephanie Stern
Massachusetts Institute of Technology - MCP - (Urban Studies and Planning)

Stephanie is currently pursuing a master’s degree at MIT’s Department of Urban Studies and Planning, with a specialization in Environmental Policy and Planning. She is focusing on city energy and sustainability policies and an integrated approach to environmental problems that take into account social, economic and political factors that contribute to and inhibit action on environmental issues. At MIT, she also is a Research Assistant for Professor Judith Layzer’s Urban Sustainability Project, which examines what actions U.S. cities are taking to become more sustainable. Prior to attending MIT, Stephanie worked in energy efficiency in California for five years, gaining valuable insight into how utilities and rebate programs work, the kinds of technologies available and the array of considerations that affect efficiency retrofits. During this time, Stephanie also managed the Cool Roof Rating Council, a non-profit rating system, and worked closely with the roofing industry. She received her B.A. from Wellesley College in 2004 with a double major in biology and studio art.

Karrigan Bork
University of California - Davis - PhD - (Ecology)

Karrigan Bork completed a law degree at Stanford Law School in Spring 2009 and is currently an Ecology PhD candidate working in the Genomic Variation Laboratory at UC Davis. Originally from Lawrence, Kansas, he graduated from the University of Kansas in 2002 and moved to Washington, DC. Karrigan spent 3 years as a Truman Fellow in the Secretary’s Office at US Department of Transportation working on energy policy, climate change, and fuel economy. After three years, Karrigan moved to UC Davis and spent a year pursuing his PhD before heading to Stanford for law school. At Stanford, Karrigan spent two years in the Environmental Law Clinic and litigated cases related to the federal and California Endangered Species Acts. He also cofounded and managed the Stanford Journal of Law, Science, and Policy to provide an outlet for interdisciplinary scholarship for robust, science-based policy papers. His dissertation research involves conservation, with a focus on endangered species issues related to listing and reintroductions of salmonids. He hopes to clerk and then practice law after graduation. He is married and has two children.

Kristy Deiner
University of California - Davis - PhD - (Ecology)

Kristy Deiner is a PhD. candidate in the graduate group of ecology at the University of California, Davis (UCD). She is also pursuing a degree certificate at UCD in Conservation Management. Her dissertation research uses genetic tools to assess how species interactions drive evolutionary processes. She has a diverse background working with mammals, birds, fish and arthropods to understand species limits and population dynamics. Currently, she is studying the evolutionary impact of introduced fish on alpine lake communities in the Sierra Nevada mountain range in California and the Alps in Switzerland. Her conservation management research is focused on what social, biological and economic pressures predict successful adoption of strategic conservation plans through an evaluation of California’s ecosystem based Natural Community Conservation Planning. She also holds a masters and bachelors degree in Biology from Sonoma State University. Both of Kristy’s current research endeavors are allowing her to begin work with engaging stakeholders in the process of understanding and applying scientific knowledge for management of alpine ecosystems. She is currently writing and directing a documentary film about these ecosystems. In the future she hopes to develop an international institute through collaboration with researchers and practitioners focused on developing, educating and use of long-term monitoring scientific information to make the most informed decisions regarding alpine ecosystem management for the enjoyment of generations to come.

Naomi Fraga
Claremont Graduate University - PhD - (Botany)

Naomi is a PhD candidate in the Botany Program at Rancho Santa Ana Botanic Garden and Claremont Graduate University. Her doctoral research is centered on a group of closely related species in the genus Mimulus (commonly called monkeyflowers). Through her research Naomi hopes to provide a better understanding of species limits, evolutionary relationships, and reproductive biology in Mimulus. She is broadly interested in conservation of biodiversity and has spent much of her research working in the field (primarily in California) revealing diversity that is yet to be described. In addition to her full time status as a doctoral student Naomi also serves as Conservation Botanist at Rancho Santa Ana Botanic Garden. At the Garden, Naomi manages the field studies program and actively works with Federal, State, and local agencies to conduct botanical research that informs on the ground management decisions on public lands. Naomi holds a M.S. in Botany from Claremont Graduate University and a B.S. in Botany and Biology from California Polytechnic University, Pomona.

Melissa Garren
University of California - San Diego - PhD - (Marine Biology)

Melissa is an interdisciplinary doctoral candidate in marine biology at the Center for Marine Biodiversity and Conservation, Scripps Institution of Oceanography, studying under Professor Farooq Azam. The focus of her research is the effects of coastal pollution on the microbial processes that support large-scale ecosystem health. She specifically studies these interactions on coral reefs exposed to two major sources of coastal pollution – aquaculture and sewage disposal – that are emergent problems as over-fishing and global population growth continue to accelerate. Her work aims to find more sustainable solutions for aquaculture and sewage disposal practices that benefit the health of both people and coral reefs. She ultimately hopes to work at the interface of research and policy by facilitating the integration of microbial processes into conservation planning. Melissa holds a B.S. in molecular biology from Yale University and an M.S. in marine biology from Scripps Institution of Oceanography, University of California San Diego.

Matthew Hamilton
University of California - Davis - MS - (International Agricultural Development)

Matthew is an M.S. student in International Agricultural Development at the University of California, Davis, where he is advised by Dr. Mark Lubell and Dr. Richard Plant. He is interested in environmental and humanitarian applications of emerging geospatial technologies. At present, Matthew is leading a team of specialists from several Central American countries to develop a low-cost technique for gathering environmental and social data on water resources using high-resolution satellite imagery as base layers in participatory mapping exercises. By involving community members in the information-gathering process, these mapping exercises serve both to gather rich datasets and at the same time build social capital critical for improving land-use practices. His work is helping to improve the effectiveness of integrated water resource management projects carried out by the Global Water Initiative, a partnership of local and international NGOs. Before beginning his studies at UC Davis, Matthew was Developing Regions Program Coordinator at the Association of American Geographers. Earlier, he spent several years in Latin America working with local stakeholders to improve conservation of natural resources and ecosystem services, first as a Peace Corps Volunteer in Paraguay and later as an agroforestry extension volunteer with the Golden Lion Tamarin Association in Brazil. He has also worked for the Sierra Club and Friends of the Earth in the U.S. He has a B.A. from Dartmouth College.

Stacy Jackson
University of California - Berkeley - PhD - (Energy & Resources)

Stacy Jackson is a PhD candidate in the Energy & Resources Group at UC Berkeley and a Graduate Student Research Assistant in Carbon & Climate Science at Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory. Her research focuses on near-term climate change science and mitigation policy, with an emphasis on short-term vs. long-term mitigation pathways and decadal high-latitude feedback effects. She also works to increase public knowledge of climate science and has recently been appointed to the Council of the American Geophysical Union (AGU). Stacy’s academic training has been highly interdisciplinary, spanning the sciences, engineering, policy, and business. She holds an MS in Energy & Resources from UC Berkeley, an MBA from MIT’s Sloan School, and a BSE in Operations Research from Princeton University. Prior to graduate school and her second career in climate science, she spent over a decade in corporate finance and strategy, most recently as a Finance Director for NIKE, Inc.

Sarah Kapnick
University of California - Los Angeles - PhD - (Atmospheric & Oceanic Sciences)

Sarah Kapnick is a fifth year Ph.D. student in Atmospheric and Oceanic Sciences at UCLA. Sarah’s research focuses on climate variability and change and its impact on water resources in North America. Her innovative work using observations and regional climate models has been published in academic journals as well as in reports for the California Energy Commission and the California Environmental Protection Agency. She is also pursuing a certificate in the “Leaders in Sustainability” program from the UCLA Institute of the Environment. Through the program, she worked with the Climate Registry, a Los Angeles-based non-profit organization that provides a platform for entities to voluntarily report greenhouse gas emissions. Sarah is extremely interested in connecting the fields of management, public policy, and climate science. To this end, she has also co-founded Vertum Partners, an entity focused on directly applying climate data to resource management and investment. Prior to attending UCLA, Sarah received her bachelor’s degree in Mathematics with a certificate in Finance from Princeton University and spent two years working as an investment banking analyst in the Financial Institutions Group at Goldman Sachs. After finishing her Ph.D., Sarah hopes to secure a faculty position and continue to work on climate-related issues. She is interested in both advancing the scientific understanding of climate and helping to educate students, politicians, and business executives about her work.

Heather Lahr
University of California - Santa Barbara - MESM - (Coastal Marine Resources Management)

Heather Lahr is currently a Masters student at the Bren School of Environmental Science & Management where she is researching the environmental sustainability and economic viability of offshore shrimp aquaculture in Aquapod Net Pens. The project aims to couple spatial planning with bio-economic analyses to inform policy decisions regarding the integration of Aquapods into local fisheries in Mexico. Her belief in sustainable aquaculture began in Zambia while working for the United States Peace Corps as a Rural Aquaculture Extension Agent. While in Zambia she learned the importance of aquaculture as a food source for developing nations and since then has aspired to make these practices more environmentally friendly. For the past three years she has been co-directing the Santa Barbara Sustainable Seafood Program, a restaurant certification program that aims to increase the availability of local and sustainable products through direct consultation with chefs, fishermen and distributors. This summer she will continue to explore the complicated world of seafood distribution while working at Oceana as a Seafood Fraud Intern. In the future she plans to continue her work in sustainable seafood by creating traceability mechanisms to further streamline the distribution process.

Isaac Silverman
University of California - Los Angeles - JD - (Environmental Law)

Isaac is currently pursuing a JD with a focus in environmental litigation at UCLA School of Law. A veteran of multiple legislative campaigns, Isaac has authored reports, built coalitions, organized press conferences, and directed membership building, petition gathering, and electoral canvassing offices. These efforts helped to establish stronger vehicle emission standards in Oregon, pass Assembly Bill 32 (the California Global Warming Solutions Act) in California, and double Colorado’s renewable energy standard. Although he believes grassroots organizing and direct advocacy are integral to the environmental movement, he is particularly interested in the ability of litigation to create space for policy change—through robust enforcement and novel application of existing environmental law—where reliance on other modes of advocacy have come up short. Isaac is regularly inspired by the wonder of the great outdoors. When he is not working or studying you’ll find him in the mountains (or perhaps the desert), hiking, climbing, riding his bike, or snowboarding.

Rachel Smith
University of California - Berkeley - PhD - (Environmental Science, Policy and Management)

Rachel Smith is a doctoral candidate at UC Berkeley's College of Natural Resources in the Department of Environmental Sciences, Policy, and Management studying the role of collaborative planning in wildfire risk abatement. A firefighter from the age of 18, Rachel has fought wildfires throughout California and the American west, including time parachuting into remote fires as a U.S. Forest Service Smokejumper. Additionally, she has assisted suppression efforts abroad in countries ranging from Australia to South Africa to Guatemala. As the threat of catastrophic wildfires has increased around the world, Rachel has become increasingly interested in innovative solutions to reduce wildfire costs and losses. She spent the last three years researching effective strategies to engage stakeholders in wildfire risk mitigation with the support of a graduate research fellowship from the National Science Foundation. Rachel is Founder and President of Firescaping.org, a nonprofit which provides accessible fire safety solutions for residents and community organizers in the wildland-urban interface.

John Urgo
University of California - Berkeley - MS - (City Planning)

John is a Master of City Planning candidate at UC Berkeley with a concentration in transportation planning. His studies focus on land use, transportation, and pricing policies aimed at reducing greenhouse gas emissions from automobile use. He is currently working for Berkeley Law School’s Center for Law, Energy and Environment researching how local governments can overcome legal barriers and liability issues related to resource efficient street design. Prior to graduate school, John organized environmental campaigns in Nebraska and Pennsylvania as a Green Corps fellow, and was the Outreach Director for the Healthy Environment Alliance of Utah, where he lobbied, ran citizen trainings, and organized thousands on campaigns to protect public health and promote clean energy policies. Organizing is at the heart of John’s commitment to the environment, as he believes long run environmental protection is as much about building power for people as it is about any particular issue. He plans to use his organizing background and planning degree to work with local governments to reduce energy use tied to the built environment, and to create communities in which greenhouse gas reductions become a matter of self-interest rather than self-sacrifice. John has a B.A. in Environmental Analysis from Pomona College.