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

Liz Munn
Environmental Policy and Planning

Liz Munn is studying Environmental Policy and Planning, with

interests in land conservation and management and an emphasis on both water resources and community engagement. Born and raised in California, Liz received her B.A. in geology and theater from Whitman College in Walla Walla, Washington.  After a few years of freelance work in technical theater in New York City, she worked for five years as a program coordinator for Naturalists at Large, leading outdoor environmental education trips in Arizona and California. Liz also worked as a site director and teacher for Aim High, a California program focused on bridging the achievement gap and providing opportunities for underserved middle-school students in the Bay Area.

 

Working in outdoor education, in particular on the Colorado River and Coastal California, led Liz to pursue a graduate degree in Natural Resource Management, in an effort to leverage her wilderness leadership experiences towards her goal of becoming a leader in the non-profit conservation sector. Liz is inspired to both study and educate others about the complex decisions we are faced with, particularly in the west, with regard to land and water use. This summer she worked as the Education and Policy Intern at the Roaring Fork Conservancy in Basalt, CO developing and implementing a water conservation campaign. Liz is also an avid outdoorswomen with a new-found passion for fly-fishing and hopes to have good access to trout streams in the near future!

Frank Sturges
Environmental Policy and Planning; Joint MS/MPP

Born and raised in North Carolina, Frank Sturges first developed his passion for western conservation while working in college on collaborative conservation projects between the U.S. Forest Service and the Boy Scouts of America when he lead trail work and invasive species removal crews in Wyoming, Utah, California, and New Mexico. Shifting into government service after graduating from the University of North Carolina in 2009, Frank worked as a paralegal at the U.S. Department of Justice and Special Inspector General for Afghanistan Reconstruction. 

Leaving the nation’s capital, he headed back out West to work as a Traveling Trainer at the Leave No Trace Center for Outdoor Ethics. In this role he spoke to everyone from elementary school students in Oregon to the National Park Service Intermountain Region Headquarters in Denver about conservation and environmental stewardship. 

At Michigan, Frank is enrolled at both SNRE and the Ford School of Public Policy with a focus on Western land management policy and the interactions of federal agencies both with each other and with local agencies and stakeholders. During summer 2013, Frank served as the Science Application & Integration Intern at the US Forest Service Rocky Mountain Research Station in Fort Collins, CO. While there, his primary project dealt with the assessment phase of the 2012 Forest Planning Rule.