Rachel Kenny - Project ManagerRachel Kenney, a first-year master’s student, graduated summa cum laude from George Washington University in 2013 with a Bachelor of Arts in Psychology and a Minor in Fine Arts. After graduating, she joined National Geographic as a graphic designer in the children’s media department. As she reviewed hundreds of books and attended guest lectures, she noticed that the conservationists who were most effective in their goals used a multi-faceted approach; they educated the public about the danger of removing animals from the wild, worked with local law enforcement to arrest poachers, and identified molecular markers to return animals to their native habitats. She spent the next year volunteering as a wildlife rehabilitator and assisting with environmental research examining topics ranging from coral reef pollution in Guam to online black market wildlife product trade. During this time she learned about the disproportionate effect of environmental damage on low-income and minority households. Endeavoring to learn more about how to manage the environment with an interdisciplinary approach while empowering disenfranchised communities, she is now pursuing a Master’s degree at the Bren School. Specializing in conservation planning with a focus on communications, her goal is to work with local communities to address environmental justice problems from social, legal, and scientific angles.
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Austin Richards - Data ManagerAustin Richards' academic interests center around Environmental Economics. Austin currently works at the Sustainable Fisheries Group (SFG) at UCSB as an assistant project researcher, where he is involved in a collaborative effort with The Nature Conservancy in modelling management strategies for local value capture in tuna fisheries for community and government stakeholders in the central and western pacific. Prior to coming to the Bren school, Austin served for 27 months as an Agro-Ecological Business/Food Security Advisor with Peace Corps Madagascar. In Madagascar, Austin served as Food Security Committee President, and taught improved rice and vegetable cultivation techniques, along with animal husbandry. Here, Austin spent much of his time planning and establishing a technical farm school and library, which, still operating, brings people from all over the region together for agricultural trainings in a remote area. Austin is pursuing the Politics and Economics of the Environment specialization with the Master’s program at Bren, and holds a Bachelor of Arts in Environmental Studies/Economics from Western Washington University. Austin is originally from Colorado, and in his free time enjoys snowboarding, ocean activities, creative writing, and playing guitar.
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Meghan Cook - Outreach ManagerMeghan Cook, a first-year master’s student, graduated from Arizona State University in 2015, with a Bachelor of Science in Biological Sciences, and a concentration in Animal Physiology and Behavior. As an undergraduate, Meghan was a student researcher for a behavioral ecology lab where she studied house finches. This led to an independent study and first authorship on a paper published in Behavioral Ecology and Sociobiology. The study focused on the effects of urbanization and human disturbance on problem solving ability of wild finches. After graduation, Meghan interned with the National Park Service on Alcatraz Island studying nesting waterbird populations, and spent time as the first line of communication for a state agency in Arizona. She has also volunteered on conservation projects with Arizona State University, Arizona Game and Fish, and the Phoenix Zoo. While field biology is her first passion, she came to Bren to focus on the more human component of environmental issues. For that reason, she is specializing in Economics and Politics of the Environment, and pursuing the Strategic Environmental Communication focus. She is interested in communicating with stakeholders to promote environmental policy that meets the needs of both humans and nature.
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Jessica Gomez - Finance ManagerJessica Gomez, a first-year master’s student, graduated from Colorado State University at Fort Collins in 2013 with a Bachelor of Science in Zoology. She won the $20,000 Partnership Award as a result of her academic and leadership excellence. She was recognized by the Dean of College of the Natural Sciences and was awarded Outstanding Mentor for her co-founding a mentorship program to assist incoming Freshman’s transition into college life. Her love for wildlife, conservation, and adventure drew her to Kenya and Tanzania in the summer of 2009, where she studied Community Wildlife Management with the School for Field Studies. Studying animal behavior, eco- tourism, field research techniques, and volunteering in the community enlightened her to the necessity of resident engagement in wildlife conservation efforts and their receipt of resulting economic benefits. This experience confirmed her pursuit of an environmental conservation career and their receipt of resulting economic benefits. This experience confirmed her pursuit of an environmental conservation career, specifically focused on the human-nature relationship to preserve wild-lands. After graduation, Jessica was selected to work for The Cape Leopard Trust in South Africa, where she researched human-wildlife conflict mitigation strategies. At the Bren School, Jessica is specializing in Corporate Environmental Management, with a focus in Eco-Entrepreneurship. Nature always provided joy and healing for Jessica and it is her mission to preserve and create similar opportunities for others. Her goal is to create avenues which reconnect urbanized Americans to nature and encourage environmental sustainability. Her entrepreneurial spirit motivates her to start her own eco-tourism business, work as an eco-business consultant, and an environmental advocate.
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Bren Faculty Advisor
Mark T. Buntaine - Assistant ProfessorMark Buntaine's research investigates the sources of effective environmental policy in developing countries, with an emphasis on the targeting and impact of foreign aid. Although many of the world's most significant environmental problems occur in developing countries, the implementation of environmental policies is often challenging because of inadequate resources and poor governance. Buntaine leads a range of international projects that deal with the allocation practices of aid donors, the participation of citizens in environmental policy-making, the relationship between public and private financing of environmental technologies, the processes that lead to effective government reform, and the evaluation of environmental projects, among other interests. Prior to arriving at the Bren School in 2013, he served on the faculty in the Government Department at the College of William & Mary. He has done fieldwork in many countries across Asia, Africa, and South America.
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Our Client: Conservation International
Mission: Building upon a strong foundation of science, partnership and field demonstration, CI empowers societies to responsibly and sustainably care for nature, our global biodiversity, for the well-being of humanity. Check out their website.