Conservation Science

Fellow Story

Hyun quoted on Audubon intervention to protect ocean monument for puffins

The National Audubon Society is getting involved in a lawsuit over the future of a national monument in the ocean off New England because of the area's importance to seabirds, especially colorfully beaked puffins. Fishing groups sued in federal court against creation of Northeast Canyons and Seamounts Marine National Monument, which former President Barack Obama designated in 2016. The case is on appeal. Court documents show Audubon has moved to file a friend-of-the-court brief in favor of keeping the monument.
July 8, 2019
Fellow Story

Thelen's work with amphibian crossing featured in Washington Post

Wood frogs lie frozen in suspended animation. Salamanders wait below the frost line for the signal to return where they were born. A trifecta of thawing ground, favorable temperature and rain cues them to emerge and migrate to vernal pools for nights of communal courtship and explosive breeding. When they do, Keene, N.H., is committed to making sure they don’t land under the wheels of passing cars.
July 8, 2019
Fellow

Nigel Golden

2019 Fellow
Nigel Golden is a Research Scientist at the Woodwell Climate Research Center. His interests has ranged in focus from Arctic ecology, justice-informed wildlife and environmental conservation, Decolonizing Methodologies, and STEM education...
Fellow

Avalon Owens

2019 Fellow
Avalon C.S. Owens is passionate about lights — living lights, especially bioluminescent fireflies, and the artificial light that humans impose on the environment. Avalon is working to better our understanding of how artificial light at...
Fellow

Maria Jesus

2019 Fellow
Maria Jesus is a Conservation Botanist at the California Botanic Garden (CalBG) where she works to advance native and rare plant conservation. She recently earned her MS in Botany from CalBG/Claremont Graduate University where she studied...
Fellow

Melissa Cronin

2019 Fellow
Melissa Cronin is a Smith Conservation Research Fellow and postdoctoral researcher hosted by the Coasts and Commons Co-Laboratory at Duke University. She is an interdisciplinary marine conservation scientist and studies the impacts of industrial fishing on ecosystems, threatened species, and human communities. She is co-founder of the conservation organization Mobula Conservation (www.mobulaconservation.org) and co-founder and CEO of FieldFutures (www.fieldfutures.org).
Fellow

Christine Wilkinson

2019 Fellow
Christine Wilkinson is a conservation scientist and science communicator at University of California, Santa Cruz and the California Academy of Sciences. Her research interests include multidisciplinary mapping, human-wildlife conflict...
Fellow Story

Recovery on the shoreline: the Birds are BACK

Along the shores of Long Island Sound in Connecticut, scientists are seeing decades of environmental improvements show how spring can once again become cacophonous with birds and habitats can rebound from loss. Fellow Leigh Shemitz shares her view.
June 6, 2019
Leadership Grant Grant

Southern California Conservation Analyst: Year Two

California Native Plant Society (CNPS) hired Nick Jensen as its first Southern California Conservation Analyst in 2017, with support from a Switzer Leadership Grant. This second year of funding will provide continued support as CNPS...
May 22, 2019
Fellow Story

Alger joins VHB as Environmental Scientist/Pollinator Specialist

Samantha Alger joins VHB’s Natural Sciences team in the South Burlington, Vermont office as an Environmental Scientist/Pollinator Specialist. She brings an in-depth understanding of applied ecological science, with the bulk of her work focused on improving the health of both managed and wild bees through research, education, and outreach. Samantha received her PhD from the University of Vermont where she was awarded both a National Science Foundation Graduate Research Fellowship and a Switzer Environmental Fellowship.
May 1, 2019