Stephanie Bertaina (
) graduated from Westmont College with a B.A. in Biology and a B.A. in Psychology. Before returning to school, Stephanie worked for the Sansum–Santa Barbara Medical Foundation Clinic in Santa Barbara, California. Stephanie recently graduated with a Master's of Science from the School of Natural Resources and Environment, with a focus on Resource Policy and Planning. As a Doris Duke Conservation Fellow, she is completing her second summer internship with the Maryland Coastal Bays Foundation, one of the National Estuary Programs. She will join the U.S. Forest Service as a Presidential Management Fellow in the fall of 2006.
Alden Boetsch () graduated from Carleton College with a B.A. in Geology. Before returning to school, Alden worked for the U.S. Bureau of Land Management and Fenton Communications in Washington, D.C. Alden recently graduated with a Master's of Science from the School of Natural Resources and Environment, with a focus on Resource Policy and Planning. While completing her degree, Alden has also worked for the Sonoran Institute researching state trust land management strategies like land exchanges and total asset management.
Emily Kelly () graduated from Duke University with a B.S. in Biology and Environmental Science. Prior to graduate school, Emily worked at the Cheetah Conservation Fund in Namibia as a field and community education assistant. Emily recently graduated with a Master's of Science in Resource Ecology and Management from the School of Natural Resources and Environment. Her research focused on collaborative planning and coastal science and policy. Emily is a Doris Duke Conservation Fellow and recently completed an internship with the Conservation Science Program at World Wildlife Fund (US).
Eirin Krane () graduated from the University of Puget Sound with a B.A. in International Political Economy and Environmental Studies. Prior to returning to graduate school, Eirin worked at Pierce County Planning and Land Services in Tacoma, Washington. She recently graduated with a Master's of Science from the School of Natural Resources and Environment, where her focus was on collaborative land use management, community-based conservation and international development. While attending the School of Natural Resources and Environment, Eirin worked for Michigan Sea Grant and the Great Lakes Commission researching environmental policy and resource management in the Great Lakes Basin.
Jessica Mitchell () graduated from the University of Michigan with a B.A. in English and a minor in Environmental Studies. Before returning to graduate school, Jessica worked as an environmental and government affairs paralegal at Spiegel & McDiarmid in Washington, D.C. In recent years, she has interned at the National Wildlife Federation's Great Lakes Natural Resource Center in Ann Arbor, Michigan and the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, Region V in Chicago, Illinois. Jessica currently is a summer associate at Baker & McKenzie in Chicago, Illinois focusing on environmental law. In the fall of 2006, she will begin her final year of study, earning a J.D. at the University of Michigan Law School and an M.S. in Resource Policy and Behavior at the School of Natural Resources and Environment.
Lisa Spalding () graduated from Oberlin College with a B.A. in Environmental Studies and a minor in Religion. Prior to graduate school, Lisa was a Conservation Associate with the New England Aquarium's Division of Global Marine Programs in Boston, Massachusetts. She also worked in science education programs at Olbrich Botanical Gardens in Madison, Wisconsin and the Museum of Science in Boston, Massachusetts. Lisa recently graduated with a Master's of Science in Resource Policy and Planning from the School of Natural Resources and Environment. She is also a Doris Duke Conservation Fellow and currently works with SNRE's Ecosystem Management Initiative to increase the capacity of organizations working on natural resource issues.
Matt Stout () graduated with Distinction in Economics from Connecticut College. Prior to graduate study, Matt worked as an Associate in the Corporate Finance department of Morgan Joseph & Co. Inc. where he helped middle market companies raise capital and execute strategic corporate transactions. Before working in finance, he was employed as a management consultant by PricewaterhouseCoopers LLC. Matt currently is a dual degree student at the University of Michigan, earning a Master's in Natural Resource Policy from the School of Natural Resources and Environment and an M.B.A. from the Stephen M. Ross School of Business.
Drew Vankat () graduated from Miami University in Oxford, Ohio with a degree in Urban and Environmental Planning. Before coming to Michigan, Drew lived in the Colorado mountains where his work experience included one season with a USDA Forest Service timber crew in the Arapahoe National Forest. Drew recently graduated with a Master's of Science in Resource Policy and Planning from the School of Natural Resources and Environment, with a focus on public lands management and conservation planning. As a Doris Duke Conservation Fellow, he completed an internship with the International Mountain Bicycling Association (IMBA) in Boulder, Colorado, coordinating public lands campaigns, developing partnerships with federal land agencies and providing technical expertise for mountain bike clubs around the country. Since completing his Master's degree, Drew has begun work full time as IMBA Policy Advisor.
Steven Yaffee () is the Theodore Roosevelt Professor of Ecosystem Management and Professor of Natural Resource and Environmental Policy at the University of Michigan. He also directs the School of Natural Resources and Environment's Ecosystem Management Initiative, a research, teaching and outreach center focused on landscape-scale conservation and sustainable management of natural resources. Dr. Yaffee has worked for more than thirty years on federal endangered species, public lands and ecosystem management policy. His most recent work explores ways to engage stakeholders in the multi-party, collaborative problem-solving needed for effective adaptive ecosystem-scale management. The lessons from this research are summarized in Making Collaboration Work: Lessons from Innovation in Resource Management (Island Press), a book co-authored with Julia Wondolleck.
