Meet The Team

Prof. Alejandra Echeverri is an interdisciplinary conservation scientist. Expert on bird conservation, international biodiversity policy, and the psychological and cultural benefits that people derive from animals, such as the birds that represent national currencies or are symbols of national identities. She has represented youth at the United Nations Convention of Biological Diversity, is a National Geographic Explorer, a Stanford Rising Environmental Leader, and an advocate for Latinx, youth, and women in STEM.

Brissa Christophersen is a Research Associate working towards achieving self-sustaining populations of critically endangered and endemic birds. Her work weaves avian expertise and indigenous knowledge into perpetuating conservation in Hawaiʻi.

Dr. Caleb Hickman is an ecologist for the Eastern Band of Cherokee Indians managing all manner of fish and wildlife, including endangered species, to sustain biodiversity and cultural sovereignty.

Dr. Holly Nesbitt is a postdoc at Boise State University. She studies how people respond to large-scale ecological change using creative methods that combine different quantitative social science methods and a collaborative philosophy. She works in several different contexts including wildfire adaptation, rangeland management, and human-wildlife coexistence.

Dr. JJ Apodaca is a conservationist and geneticist. He is the Executive Director of the Amphibian and Reptile Conservancy (ARC) and the founder and lead scientist of Tangled Bank Conservation.

Dr. Kailin Kroetz is an Assistant Professor of Environmental and Resource Economics in the School of Sustainability at ASU and University Fellow at Resources for the Future. Her research focuses on decision-making and policy related to natural resource use and conservation. Her areas of interest and expertise include conservation planning, the economics of conservation, return on investment, and rural natural resource dependent economies.

Dr. Dunning is Director of the Conservation Governance Lab, specialized in wildlife and natural resource public policy.

Laura Melissa Guzman is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Biological Sciences and Quantitative and Computational Biology at the University of Southern California. Her research links ecology, data science, and conservation, with a particular focus on the environmental drivers behind changes in pollinator, bees and butterflies, distributions in North America.

Matt Williamson is an Assistant Professor in Human-Environment Systems at Boise State University whose work focuses on how the intersection of people, their environment, and the institutions that govern them inspire (or inhibit) conservation action. He has over a decade of experience in conservation science and policy in both academic and applied contexts.

Andrea is a Professor of Political Science and Geography, Geomatics and Environment at the University of Toronto. Her work focuses on the politics of wildlife conservation, especially species at risk policy. Her book Land, Legitimacy and Stewardship compares landowner attitudes toward endangered species policy in Canada and the United States.

Dr. Shifra Goldenberg is a scientist in the Conservation Science and Wildlife Health department at the San Diego Zoo Wildlife Alliance. She uses behavioral and spatial ecology to inform management decisions for endangered species. Her expertise is in human-wildlife interactions, wildlife reintroductions, and human impacts on wildlife.

Vaughn is a macroecologist and insect biodiversity expert whose work focuses on the use of artificial intelligence and advanced modeling to inform conservation assessments. Vaughn has expertise in climate change impacts, boreal forest, Arctic, and desert ecology, insect declines, pollinators, butterflies and other insects, artificial intelligence and statistics.

Barry is Emeritus Professor of Wildlife Ecology in the Department of Fish, Wildlife, and Conservation Biology at Colorado State University. He has worked on the effects of land management practices on imperiled fish and wildlife populations for the past 45 years. For 11 years, he directed a Forest Service Research Lab in the Pacific Northwest (USA) and in 1995 served as Chief Scientist of the National Biological Service (DOI). His current research focuses on tiger conservation in India, climate change effects on wetland birds, water management to sustain imperiled fish, and promoting biodiversity conservation on U.S. federal lands.

Brett is the Endangered Species Policy Director at the Center for Biological Diversity, and coordinates work on federal legislative issues that affect endangered species, public lands, oceans, climate and energy. He holds a bachelor's from Prescott College in conservation biology and a law degree from Lewis and Clark Law School. Prior to joining the Center, Brett worked in the House Natural Resources Committee and was the senior policy fellow at the Society for Conservation Biology.

Tom is Professor Emeritus at Northern Arizona University and advisor for several conservation organizations, including Borderlands Restoration Network, Black Mesa Trust, Nature Trust of British Columbia, and Defenders of Wildlife. He works on science and policy challenges underlying biodiversity conservation during rapid environmental change. His research focuses on edge effects, landscape assessment, livestock grazing, and ecosystem restoration. He applies this expertise through collaborative efforts in landscape design, forest and grassland restoration, and mitigation of human land use on wildlife and wild places. He has overseen conservation projects stretching from Central America to Canada.

Wendy is a Professor of Biology at Simon Fraser University. Her research focuses on identifying science-based conservation solutions for freshwater and terrestrial ecosystems, and projects integrate her expertise in population dynamics and risk assessment for threatened and endangered species. She leverages science in support of diverse stakeholder groups on issues surrounding environmental problem solving and biodiversity protection.