For more information on the The Wyss Scholars Program, please return to the Wyss Scholars Page.

Martha Campbell
Sustainable Systems; Joint MS/MBA

Martha Campbell is originally from the wild west border town of El Paso, Texas, where she was born and raised and developed a love of the outdoors by building forts in the extreme Chihuahuan desert, horse-back riding on the great dunes of New Mexico and spending summers on the Great Lakes of Michigan. Martha went on to receive her B.A. in In-ternational Relations in 2002 from Stanford University where she focused on economics and development. Immediately following undergrad she joined the banking world taking a financial analyst position on Goldman Sachs‟s Equities Program Trading Desk. After deciding to leave Goldman in 2004 to try something radically different, Martha became an avid so-journer, exploring much of Australia and parts of South America, and the American West. It was during this time of self exploration and adventure that she became introduced to sustainable architecture and design and began her journey into all things “green,” taking on positions ranging from a field organizer for Repower America, to building Earthships, to cutting trail and leading youth stewardship programs for New Mexico conservation organizations EcoServants and Rivers and Birds. Martha is currently part of the University of Michigan's Erb Institute for Global Sustainable Enterprise where she is pursuing both an MS in Environmental Science and an MBA. Martha is extremely interested in understanding how to stimulate ecological restoration through payment for ecosystem services and eco-entrepreneurship.

   

David O'Connor
Conservation Biology

Growing up in rural Ireland cemented David‟s pas-sion for the outdoors. After completing his undergraduate degree in zoology he moved to Washington DC where he worked for several conservation and media organizations, primarily for National Geographic Magazine on natural history focused articles. However the West was calling and David moved to Austin, Texas where he continued to work remotely for National Geographic, while also helping Whole Foods Market HQ set up their animal welfare program. Last year David began his a Master‟s with the goal of returning to more hands-on conservation work upon graduating, hopefully out West. In the summer of 2011 he conducted his thesis research in Kenya on the foraging ecology of the reticulated giraffe and domestic camels. Like the rest of us David feels happiest out-doors, enjoying hiking, biking, kayaking, and camping..