2006 - 2008 Duke Fellows

 

For more information on the Doris Duke Conservation Fellowships, please return to the Doris Duke Conservation Fellows Page.

Michelle Aldridge
Environmental Policy and Planning

Michelle (Mickey) Aldridge earned dual bachelor’s degrees in natural resource conservation and journalism at the University of Florida, focusing on environmental outreach and communications. After graduation, she spearheaded the UF Clean Water Campaign for UF Wetlands and Water Quality Extension, conducting local and statewide water education and establishing a storm drain labeling program. Michelle then served as a conservation education intern at Disney’s Animal Kingdom, promoting wildlife conservation, appreciation and awareness in the park, and developing education tools for other accredited zoos and aquaria worldwide. Michelle moved to Michigan in 2005, where she joined the City of Ann Arbor team as the recycling center educator. She collaborated on many City environmental initiatives, including developing an environmental indicators report, planning Earth Day and other outreach events, and developing street tree replanting strategies following the emerald ash borer infestation.  Michelle participated in the Piedmont Environmental Council's Fellowship Program, learning how to simultaneously pursue land conservation and land use goals at a land trust.  For her master’s project, Michelle is investigating how State Wildlife Action Plans are advising local land use decision making in the Northeast U.S. She looks forward to a career in public or non-profit environmental planning.

M'Lis Bartlett
Landscape Architecture

M’Lis Bartlett is the former executive director of the Friends of the High School for Environmental Studies a community based organization supporting the environmental programming at the High School for Environmental Studies, a NYC public school. While with the Friends M’Lis raised over 2 million dollars towards experiential environmental programming for a multi-ethnic student body of 1,600 students enrolled at the school. She created a national model for environmental education in urban public schools including an award winning environmental internship program, a field education program and professional development for the teaching staff. Prior to working for the Friends she gained extensive community development experience as a Program Coordinator for the Student Conservation Association in the Conservation Career Development Program in Newark, NJ and as an art educator for LEAP. With an undergraduate degree in Fine Art from Oberlin College, M’Lis is pleased to return to the Midwest to combine her experience in community development, art and environmental education with a Masters degree in Landscape Architecture.

Nicolas Enstice
Terrestrial Ecosystems

Nic Enstice grew up in Tucson, Arizona and received a double BA in Biology and Environmental Studies from Indiana University. He has been very nomadic, working as a Fisheries/Aquaculture Intern at Mote Marine Laboratory in Florida, as a Stream Surveyor for the Forest Service in Washington, as a Pollution Prevention Intern for the Marine Corps in D.C. and as a bat surveyor all over the Midwest. Nic then settled down for 3 years in Panama with the Peace Corps. In Panama he worked to weave sustainable agriculture and conservation themes into local farming practices. His main project was rehabilitating riparian areas and installing pastureland improvement systems. He also started a local soccer team and learned how to make hammocks.  Nic looks forward to applying his graduate education towards adjusting our land-use practices for the benefit of aquatic systems. His thesis focuses on gaining a better understanding of the preferences of the major actors in a watershed, how to reduce agricultural runoff and compares and contrasts how the implementation of their preferences would affect the health of the river.

 

Jennifer Johnson
Environmental Policy and Planning

While always a Pisces, Jennifer never imagined that she’d dedicate her life to conserving and farming her star sign. Jennifer attended the Colorado College where she majored in International Political Economy, completing her thesis on the political economy of African elephant conservation in Kenya, Zimbabwe and Tanzania. Prior to beginning her graduate studies, Jennifer worked for the Marine Fish Conservation Network, the nation’s largest coalition dedicated to protecting, conserving, and restoring marine fish, in Washington, DC. At SNRE, Jennifer’s Masters work focuses on the sustainable development of aquaculture in the Lake Victoria basin in East Africa to promote human livelihoods while maintaining biophysical integrity. During the ’06-’07 academic year Jennifer also worked for the Director of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s Great Lakes Environmental Research Laboratory, where she helped facilitate NOAA’s Regional Collaboration efforts in the Great Lakes region. Jennifer also represents SNRE on the steering committee of the UM’s African Development and Human Security Working Group and SNRE Student Government. In the coming years, Jennifer plans to continue her graduate work and begin her career in international conservation and development.

Sarah Levy
Environmental Justice

At SNRE, Sarah is combining an environmental justice focus with classes in policy and sustainable systems. She is interested in working for non-profit or government agencies to assist in the development of policy that encourages domestic communities to grow sustainably and efficiently while protecting the health and welfare of urban citizens. She would like to advance the understanding and development of alternative technologies that could promote pollution prevention and reduce environmental risk in high-density areas by improving waste treatment, disposal methods, and recycling programs. Sarah graduated from the University of Southern California with three majors: Political Science, Religious Studies, and Gender Studies. However, it was two internships with the Student Conservation Association (SCA) that cemented her interest in graduate education in Environmental Studies. She worked as a conservation intern and research assistant in the southern Sierra Nevada Mountains, Kings Canyon and Sequoia National Parks during the summer of 2005. After she graduated from USC she took a job as an SCA crew leader in Harpers Ferry National Historic Park. She co-lead a crew of teenagers and built a trail through Civil War battlefields.

Lauren Pidot
Environmental Policy and Planning

Lauren just arrived back from Bozeman, Montana where she spent the summer working with the Sonoran Institute to develop a tool for evaluating and assessing collaborative processes (she also managed to do a little hiking and wildlife viewing on the side). Prior to arriving in Michigan, she spent two years in Washington, D.C. working for the National Council for Science and the Environment, an organization dedicated to improving the scientific basis of environmental decision-making. She has also spent time developing and leading environmental education programs in upstate New York, and researching environmental indicator development for the Gulf of Maine Council on the Marine Environment. Lauren is a native Mainer and received a B.A. in Government from Wesleyan University in 2003.