Brazilian Ecosystems Featured Alumni
Here is a glimpse at what some of our program alumni are doing now as leaders in their field, and ongoing dedication to our institutional mission of advancing social, economic, and environmental justice.
Christine D. Bacon
Brazilian Ecosystems 1999
Antioch College
Christine is a Post-Doctoral Research Fellow with the Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute, based in Ancon, Balboa, Panama. She writes: “AEA’s Brazilian Ecosystems program was fundamental in forming both my career and life choices. During the program I was exposed to language, rivers, culture, Amazonian rainforests, amazing people, plants, cities, and science. My experiences helped me get into graduate school afterwards and to shape my Masters and PhD projects. After returning to live in Brazil for four more years, I have also been to most South American countries since the program and have now been living in Colombia for three years. I have dedicated my career to understanding the evolutionary forces behind the formation of biodiversity hotspots such as those found in the tropical Americas and I continue to do research across South America, including in Brazil.”
David Flores
Brazilian Ecosystems 2006
Bard College
“I use my experience participating in AEA’s Brazilian Ecosystems program to inform and shape many of my academic and professional decisions and goals. The program exposed me to complex problems in biodiversity conservation that challenged my academic approach and enhanced my passion for community-led resource management and restoration…Since participating in the program, I have diligently pursued a career in non-profit conservation and restoration organizations: managing a regionally-significant herbarium and wet-specimen collection and assisting in Blanding’s Turtle research for Hudsonia Ltd.; collecting field ornithological data for the Baltimore Ecosystem Study’s Long-Term Ecological Research of Baltimore’s urban ecology; and managing watershed restoration projects and water quality and pollution monitoring programming for Blue Water Baltimore. This fall, I will be attending the University of Maryland’s School of Law part-time, focusing on environmental law, while I continue my day-time duties managing water quality monitoring and advocacy programming for the Baltimore Harbor WATERKEEPER.”
Professional Activity Highlights of Program Alumni
Heidi Nutters
MA in Environmental Studies, Brown University
Starting Fellowship with National Oceanographic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA). Will study adaptations to sea level rise.
Lauren Zamora, PhD
Post-doctoral Researcher, Helmholtz Centre for Ocean Research
Studies marine biogeochemistry.
Jackson Frechette, PhD Student
University of Florida
Studies primate ecology in Cambodia.
Joshua Dimon, PhD Student
U. C. Berkeley
Studies environmental science, policy and management.
Ruth Baker
Masters (MEM) in Environmental Law and Policy
Yale University
Currently a PhD Student, University of Wisconsin.
Sara Diamond
MS in Entomology, U.C. Davis
Research Consultant for environmental non-profit organizations in the U.S., Peru, and Brazil.
Gera Jochum
MS in Ecological and Evolutionary Biology, West Virginia University
Program Specialist for the National Institute of Food and Agriculture
