Robert & Patricia Switzer Foundation

Fellowship Year: 2004

Academic Background: Yale School of Forestry - MS - (Environmental ScienceSocial Ecology)

Current Position: Forest Campaigns Coordinator , Environmental Investigation Agency

Andrea graduated from the Yale School of Forestry and Environmental Studies in 2005 with a Master's in Environmental Science. After previous work on orangutans in Indonesia and macaw ecology in Peru, she shifted focus at Yale towards the social, financial, and political aspects of tropical conservation, conducting thesis work on Peru's Camisea Natural Gas Pipeline controversy and organizing on campus for more transparent endowment investment policies. Andrea's research interests include the role of field stations and other scientific institutions in applied conservation and the role of civil society organizations and North-South networks in environmental conflicts. After a brief stint in 2006 with the Native Species Reforestation Project (PRORENA) at the Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute in Panama, Andrea has returned stateside. She is currently working as the Forest Campaigs Coordinator with the Environmental Investigation Agency, an NGO that uses undercover investigation and advocacy to document and expose international environmental crimes. Her focus will be on forests in Latin America and Southeast Asia.

Expertise: Int'l Conservation & Developmt