Sustainability Leadership Fellow Cohort: 2018-2019

Ph.D. Candidate, Department of Ecosystem Science and Sustainability, Graduate Degree Program in Ecology, and Natural Resource Ecology Laboratory

Research Summary: In a rapidly changing world, humans struggle to address complex environmental “wicked problems” that require collaboration between actors with potentially conflicting objectives. My research informs the sustainable and equitable management of natural resources by focusing on the process of collaborative conservation, where diverse groups of people work together, learn from each other, and make collective decisions about resources. I use models to facilitate collaboration around an issue, evaluating how different kinds of model’s impact learning and decision-making. My dissertation focuses on a case study of shrub encroachment in the Ethiopian highlands to better understand and apply this collaborative modeling process.

Advisor: Julie Klein and Paul Evangelista