2000-2002 Doris Duke Conservation Fellows

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

Jon Kazmierski
Resource Policy & Behavior: Policy/Conservation Biology & Ecosystem Management

Jon Kazmierski returned to the School of Natural Resources & Environment after receiving his Bachelor of Science from the School in 1998. Jon is now a masters candidate in the Resource Policy & Behavior program, focusing on Conservation Biology and Ecosystem Management. Since graduation, Jon has held positions with both the National Park Service and U.S. Forest Service. As a biological science technician at the Isle Royale National Park, Jon worked with the Nature Conservancy on the development of a vegetation map of the Park and assisted the Park in other ecological monitoring projects. At the Inyo National Forest in the Eastern Sierra Nevada range, Jon works as a ranger in the John Muir wilderness where he greets backcountry visitors, restores degraded use areas, and promotes behaviors that ensure the preservation of wilderness resources. Jon is interested in continuing to work for public land management agencies in an effort to promote the ideas ad philosophies of ecosystem management.

Laura Kearns
Resource Ecology & Management: Conservation Biology & Ecosystem Management

Laura started her journey into the ecological field by obtaining an undergraduate degree in biology from Kenyon College. This included the completion of an undergraduate research project studying the effects of phenolic compounds in marine brown algae on the feeding preferences of the herbivores that eat them. In addition, Laura spent a year abroad at Lancaster University, where she studied aspects of vegetation, lakes, and populations. After graduation, she taught English in Japan for two years. She later held a variety of internships and positions with environmental and conservation organizations doing environmental education, raptor rehabilitation, crane husbandry, and songbird field research. At SNRE, Laura's research interests include the wintering ecology of bald eagles in Wisconsin and avian-habitat relationships. As a career, Laura hopes to continue doing avian field research and consulting with a non-profit agency whose focus is habitat conservation.

Megan Kram
Resource Policy & Behavior: Planning

Conservation planning is the focus of Megan Kram (M.S. candidate in Resource Policy & Behavior, concentration in Planning), a 1997 graduate of DePauw University in Greencastle, Indiana (B.A. Economics). Diverse professional experiences have given her insight into working with and understanding the needs of stakeholders in different employment sectors. After graduating from DePauw, Megan worked for two years as a Management Consultant with Ernst & Young LLP in Chicago. Through this position, she gained skills in strategy development, communications and facilitation and worked with 20 private and nonprofit organizations. Her passion for environmental issues led her to then intern with Region 5 of the US Environmental Protection Agency. At the same time, she volunteered with The Lake Michigan Federation to create land use recommendations for Chicago's lakefront parks. Eager to "get her hands in the dirt," Megan next served the needs of domestic communities for ten months with AmeriCorps. Particularly rewarding projects involved the removal of invasive species and the completion of prescribed burns to restore wetlands, salt marshes, and maritime forests. At SNRE, Megan has gained an understanding of collaborative natural resource management practices by working with the Ecosystem Management Initiative, where she has added structure and content to a new database of ecosystem management cases. Given her interests in regional planning, greenway development, and growth management, she looks forward to a summer internship and future career with a land trust.

Maggie Macdonald
Resource Policy & Behavior: Planning

Maggie Macdonald obtained a BA in History and Environmental Studies from Williams College. As an undergraduate, her interests in land use planning led her to an independent study with the local land trust, the Williamstown Rural Lands Foundation, and to a grant-supported internship at Metro, the regional planning authority in Portland, Oregon. After graduation, she worked for the Teton Science School, an environmental education center in Jackson, Wyoming, and The Murie Center, a nonprofit organization dedicated to carrying forward the conservation efforts of Olaus and Mardy Murie, longtime residents of Grand Teton National Park. As office manager, development and finance manager, and finally ranch manager at The Murie Center, Maggie was able to experience the full range of responsibilities present in nonprofit operations. Currently, she is a M.S. candidate in Resource Policy & Behavior, focusing on land use and conservation planning. She looks forward to her work next summer with the Wood River Land Trust in Sun Valley, Idaho, exploring the potential role of land trusts in regional conservation initiatives.

Marisa Martin
Resource Policy & Behavior: Policy/Conservation Biology & Ecosystem Management

Marisa Martin graduated from Northwestern University majoring in Environmental Sciences and International Studies with a focus on Africa. Marisa worked in Anchorage, Alaska for then-Secretary of the Interior's Assistant for Alaska tracking environmental legislation and developing a presentation on the economic value of conservation lands to Alaskans. Last summer, she worked for Earthjustice Legal Defense Fund in Honolulu, Hawaii, focusing on legal research and writing about the Endangered Species Act and the National Environmental Policy Act. Marisa is currently in her second year in a joint-degree program -- law school and SNRE (CBEM - Policy). Her current interest is on the Endangered Species Act and whether its mandate to focus on individual species is really preserving the greatest biodiversity possible. She's also interested in determining whether an ecosystem approach is a possibility under the Act or if the scientific, administrative and political hurdles are too high. After graduation, Marisa plans to work for a plantiff-side, environmental public interest litigation organization such as Earthjustice Legal Defense Fund. She is also interested in working in international environmental law and policy.

David Phemister
Resource Policy & Behavior: Planning

David Phemister works as a Land Protection Specialist with The Nature Conservancy of Virginia in Charlottesville. His job centers on protecting ecologically significant lands using conservation easements, management agreements, and fee simple acquisition. His daily work includes landowner
contact, negotiation, fundraising, and real estate transactions. David graduated from the University of Michigan's School of Natural Resources and Environment with a Master's degree in environmental science in May of 2002.His work at Michigan focused on land use planning, conservation in rural
landscapes, and open space protection, and it culminated in a seven-member
Master's project entitled Upper Manistee River Watershed Conservation Plan.

David graduated from Brown University with a BS in Geology in 1994. After graduation he traveled to Australia on an Arnold Fellowship to investigate environmental concerns associated with agricultural and ranching operations. David spent a year working on cattle and sheep ranches in Western Australia to gain firsthand exposure to the country's environmental issues and ranching culture. After returning to the States, he worked for four and a half years at the National Fish and Wildlife Foundation, an environmental grant making organization in Washington, DC. He served as the Foundation's Assistant Director for the Mississippi Valley Region, and much of his work focused on supporting wildlife and habitat conservation in agricultural landscapes. He also served as Program Director for the Save The Tiger Fund, a special project of the Foundation that supported conservation efforts across tiger-range in Asia.

Kara Roggenkamp
Landscape Architecture

Kara Roggenkamp received her undergraduate degree in 1999 from Williams College, where she studied English Literature and Environmental Studies. Before deciding to study landscape architecture at SNRE, she worked for the Washtenaw-Potawatomi Land Trust in Ann Arbor, Michigan, and the Berkshire Regional Planning Commission in Pittsfield, Massachusetts. The scope of her work at these two organizations ranged from preparing community open space plans to organizing a forum on the revitalization of historic mill buildings in Western Massachusetts. At SNRE, Kara hopes to broaden her knowledge of site design as it relates to preserving ecological integrity and meeting community needs for green space. Her particular areas of interests are greenway planning, landscape perception, and habitat restoration. Upon graduation, she plans to work for a nonprofit or public organization that protects and/or manages open space or habitat areas.

John Taylor
Landscape Architecture

John Taylor received an A.B. in philosophy from the University of Chicago in 1986. Following graduation, he worked for more than eight years for the National Opinion Research Center, a not-for-profit social science survey organization, where he managed component surveys of major studies sponsored by the US Department of Education. Subsequently, John completed a second Bachelors degree in horticulture from Michigan State University. During this time, he participated in a summer internship at the Chicago Botanic Garden where he rotated through the departments of: Urban Greening; Research and Evaluation; and Natural Areas. Through John's work with natural areas staff, he became familiar with the potential role of landscape architects in ecosystem management. Following his graduation, he worked as a self-employed gardener in southwest Michigan and Chicago. Within the field of landscape architecture, John is interested in landscape perception, aesthetic strategies for promoting sustainable environments, landscape ecology, and landscape restoration. After graduating, he plans to work with a government agency or NGO that integrates work in design, ecological restoration, and landscape ecology, focusing on urban environments.

Karen Verpeet
Landscape Architecture

Karen Verpeet earned her undergraduate degree at UC Davis in Environmental Biology & Management in 1998. After several months of volunteering in a limnology lab and living in France, Karen decided to set her career goals on the restoration and remediation of damaged landscapes. As an environmental specialist for the City of Sunnyvale's Solid Waste Division, Karen helped promote residential and commercial recycling programs and monitor and maintain a 97-acre closed landfill facility. Karen is currently working toward a Masters of Landscape Architecture. After graduation, she expects to return to California and pursue her interests of landscape architecture, environmental issues, ecology, and conservation.