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Devin Schenk
... is a faculty member at the Northern Kentucky University Center for Applied Ecology. As a graduate of Miami University's Institute of Environmental Sciences, Devin has over 6 years of experience working in the environmental field. He works as project manager for many community projects, providing ecological services to local non-profit organizations, governments, and businesses. Devin also coordinates, trains, and manages student interns. As a graduate student he worked for Project Dragonfly, and fell in love with environmental education. When he has free time, Devin can be found outside exploring. |
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Christina Colon
... is a Curator of Curriculum Development at the New York Botanical Garden, she creates, evaluates and disseminates K – 12 plant science and conservation curricula for global, national and local dissemination. Dr. Colon holds a BA in Biology, an MA in Environmental Conservation Education and a Ph.D. in Ecology. She conducted her Masters' thesis on environmental education in Belize, and her dissertation as a Fulbright scholar on the impact of logging on wildlife in Borneo. Prior to this she was secondary instructor in Education at the Bronx Zoo and a research fellow and consultant in Malaysia, Thailand and Indonesia for the Wildlife Conservation Society. She is also an avid writer, and has authored, contributed to and/or been featured in a variety of scientific and popular publications, including travel guides, children’s books and educational videos. She remains active in the local small mammal research community working with students, volunteers and small non profits. |
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Jonathan Lee
...is a Graduate Assistant for Project Dragonfly and a graduate student at Miami University's Institute of Environmental Sciences, where he is concentrating on natural sciences. Before coming to Miami, he worked at the Alaska SeaLife Center and gained exposure to a number of avian species, predominantly a population of Eiders on site for research. As a Graduate Assistant, Jonathan has worked in multiple facets, including data collection for the Wild Research project and as a Teaching Assistant for Zoo Expeditions and Earth Expeditions courses. |
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Kristen Lucia
... Kristen Lucia is a doctoral graduate student in the Department of Zoology at Miami University. She received her B. s. in Biology at the Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University where she studied the physiological and behavioral changes caused by a decline in diet quality in white-footed mice. Her master's research focused on why prairie vole offspring delay dispersal and remain at the natal nest beyond the age of maturation, evaluating both ecological and biological influences. Kristen is now working on her doctorate, continuing her study of prairie vole behavior. Bit by the teaching bug many years ago when she first began teaching for Johns Hopkins University's Center for Talented Youth, Kristen hopes to continue to find the balance between teaching and research, so she can further her love for science and the outdoors while sharing that passion with others. |
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Todd Levine
...is a doctoral candidate in Zoology at Miami University. His current research centers around the relationship between freshwater mussels and fish, to which their larvae attach as parasites. He grew up near the confluence of the Mississippi, Missouri and Illinois rivers and earned his BS and BA at the University of Missouri – St. Louis. Along the way, he completed both a Research Experience for Undergraduates program at the University of Michigan Biological Station and the Wilderness and Civilization program at University of Montana. He has taught at several levels, including at working with K-12 programs at a nature area, various bear outreach programs, an NSF-funded workshop teaching conservation genetics and inquiry for high school teachers and lab components of undergraduate courses. He seeks out both traditional and non-traditional venues for teaching and research, combining his work and love of nature. |
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Meg Triplett Bickerstaff
... was a Project Assistant at Project Dragonfly. She studied Philosophy, Linguistics, and English at Ohio State, and earned a Master's Degree in American Literature at Miami University in 2004. She has taught writing and literature on the college level, and is interested in the intersection of cultural, environmental, and psychological issues. |
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Molly Hobbins
... joined the Cincinnati Zoo & Botanical Garden in February 2002 as
the Volunteer Educator Program Coordinator. Upon completing a BS in
Biophysical Environmental Studies from Northland College in Ashland,
WI, Molly began her career assisting in limnology field research projects
throughout the Lake Superior watershed. She spent many years as a Naturalist
in county park systems in both Maryland and Ohio, as well as serving
as a statewide legislative representative for the American Lung Association
of Maryland where she testified before state general assemblies and
the United States Congress on public health and environmental issues.
Molly now works with the Cincinnati Zoo staff, providing intensive interpretive
training for Volunteer Educators on the issues that many species face
and the Zoo's resulting global conservation efforts. She truly enjoys
working in partnership with people on issues impacting communities and
ecosystem health and is thrilled to be a part of the inquiry processes
taught with the Earth Expeditions Program!
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Vivian Negron-Ortiz
... was an instructor for Dragonfly workshops, and an Adjunct Assistant
Professor in the Department of Botany of Miami University. She earned
her B.S. & M.S. degrees in Biology from University of Puerto Rico, and
received her Ph.D. in botany from Miami University. Her research focuses
on and speciation and island biogeography in the Caribbean, plant reproduction/breeding
system evolution, and the relationship of rarity to plant reproductive
biology and how the results apply to conservation. She has conducted
studies in Puerto Rico, Cuba, the Bahamas, St. Vincent and the Grenadines,
and southern Florida. Vivian has experience teaching at all levels from
high school to graduate students, from specialized courses and graduate
seminars in Botany to liberal arts courses. She believes that education
is the key element for necessary changes in the relationship between
our society and biological resources. Vivian considers that natural
science should be integrated with law, public policy, and social sciences
to develop effective conservation programs to control the detrimental
consequences of human impact on biological diversity. She and her husband
have two children. |
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Jen Hajj
... was a student on the Earth Expeditions trip to Trinidad in 2004.
She received her BS degree in Biology at Westminster College of Salt
Lake City in 1992. Having worked for 3 years as the Education Manager
at Tracy Aviary, Jen now coordinates the education program at HawkWatch
International, an organization that monitors migratory raptors across
eleven States. She is also working on her MS degree at the Univeristy
of Utah, due to be completed in Spring of 2006. Her thesis will explore
the importance of affect in learning, investigating the effect of education
outreach programs on Sense of Wonder in upper grade-school children. |
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Penny Jarrett
... has worked in the Education Dept. of the Cincinnati Zoo & Botanical
Garden for 12 years. An avid nature enthusiast since childhood, she
also spent a year working for the Cheetah Conservation Fund as Program
Manager. As the Zoo's Community Outreach Coordinator, she directs the
Edzoocation program which provides environmental education programs
for 3rd and 4th grade students, helps coordinate the Cincinnati Public
School Zoo Expeditions for 2nd and 5th graders, and assists with teacher
training workshops at the Zoo. She also coordinates the Zoo's community
outreach program that highlights the Zoo at regional community events.
Her international outreach efforts include providing environmental education
programs for the children in a small village in Belize where she has
also had the opportunity to assist with an on-going manatee research
project. Beyond traveling throughout the United States, her travels
include Belize, Costa Rica, Guatemala, Honduras, Trinidad and Tobago,
Ecuador and the Galapagos Islands, Peru, Europe, Botswana, Kenya, and
Namibia. She received her B.S. in Animal Science from the University
of Connecticut. |
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Terry Scott
... was a doctoral candidate in educational leadership and zoology at Miami University.
Terry received a B.S. in elementary education from the University of Cincinnati.
He then completed the Teacher Leadership M.Ed. program from Wright State University.
Terry later focused graduate course work in the areas of curriculum theory and science
education at Purdue University. Terry is entering his 21st year as a science educator
having teaching experiences with kindergartners through graduate school students in a
variety of educational settings including both public and independent schools and
universities in urban, rural, and suburban settings. While formal classroom instruction
has served as the foundation of Terry's teaching background, his recent teaching and
research focus concerns informal environmental education with rural student populations
in Southern Ohio. |
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Felice Marcus
... Felice was the Manager of Digital Technology at Project Dragonfly
at Miami University. Before joining Dragonfly Felice worked as a computer
programmer at Miami University and in the corporate world. Felice has
taught numerous courses for the Department of Computer Science at Miami.
During the 1990s, before her technology career began, Felice worked
as a language teacher abroad and in the United States. She has a BA
degree in Anthropology and Masters degrees in Chinese and Computer Science. |
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Donna McCollum
... is quite at home ... or
in her field of expertise…well, after just slipping into a high
mountain bog in Costa Rica. She believes there’s no better place
to be than in the water, whether swimming, studying, or just having
a cool refreshing dip! Donna finished a doctorate in zoology just
last year at Miami University, working in the area of human impact
on streams and stream organisms. She is interested in watershed ecological
relationships and environmental education. During her stay at Miami
she was a student in the first Miami-sponsored Belize workshop for
teachers, and later jumped at the opportunity to teach the course
every summer. She has been a teacher since 1975, working in public
schools, YMCA, Cincinnati Zoo, and university settings, but the outdoor
field experience is her love and specialty. She is teaching this year
at Thomas More College in northern Kentucky, but hopes to find a position
that will be more inline with her outdoor and stream interests and
experience. Her older son followed her into the field of aquatic ecology,
and her younger son is a junior at Oakland College in Michigan. |
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Amy
Seitz
... was a graduate student at Miami University working on
her master’s in Environmental Sciences, and a graduate student
at Project Dragonfly. She earned her undergraduate degree
in biology from Northern Kentucky University; while an undergraduate
she spent two summers in the mountains of New Mexico analyzing various
physiological and reproductive behaviors in several species of cicadas.
Amy has also had extensive laboratory experience analyzing various
molecular and microbial characteristics of several pathogenic fungi
and yeast strains while working as a research assistant at the University
of Cincinnati. She has also worked as an instructor for the Nocturnal
Adventure’s Program at the Cincinnati Zoo, teaching children
about animal adaptations. She believes that environmental education
is an effective way of reaching people and inspiring them to contribute
in their own way to improving our world. |
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Brad Martin
... was a member of the Project Dragonfly team
and a
graduate student in Miami University's Institute of Environmental
Sciences. His involvement with Dragonfly started in 2003 when he began
work as the Manager of Outreach and Technology. He continues to grow with Dragonfly as a graduate assistant developing and implementing the Earth
Expeditions program. In addition, he occasionally works as a part-time
educator at the Cincinnati Zoo. Brad has conducted research in the
Bahamas, Costa Rica, Curacao, Ohio, Oklahoma, Colorado, California,
Namibia, and southern Florida. He believes that the role of education is
not to teach people what they do not know; it is to teach them to behave
as they do not behave. When not laboring in the field, at Dragonfly, or at
school he usually ends up thinking about all the laboring he should be
doing in the field, at Dragonfly, or at school ... that ... or making
pottery. |
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Sean Duncan
... was the Manager of Digital Technology for Earth Expeditions and Project Dragonfly.
He earned a B. Phil. in Interdisciplinary Studies from Miami University, and a Master's degree in cognitive psychology from Bowling Green State
University. Sean has extensive experience in both teaching about social uses of technology
and in fostering inquiry in the college curriculum, having taught in Miami University's School
of Interdisciplinary Studies since 2001. He is particularly interested in
participatory digital culture, social uses of the Internet, and the ways
that collaborative Web tools can help to support interdisciplinary inquiry.
He lives in Oxford, OH and, in his spare time, enjoys reading and exploring the
Internet. |
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Mike Gilmore
... recently received his Ph.D. in botany from Miami University. His
research generally focuses on ethnobiology, ethnoecology, and tropical
ecology. Mike spent approximately one and a half years living amongst
and working with the Maijuna Indians of the Peruvian Amazon while completing
his dissertation research project. Currently, Mike is working to address
biocultural conservation issues facing the Maijuna in conjunction with
the Maijuna indigenous organization FECONAMAI (Federacion de Comunidades
Nativas Maijunas) and a US not-for-profit organization called WildShare
International. |
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Mary Flory
... is the Youth Program Coordinator at the Cincinnati Zoo & Botanical
Garden where she can be found developing and teaching curriculum designed
to awaken wonder and awe in children who are the country's future leaders.
What do salamanders, a crazy college professor, and a summer job at
a state reservoir in Indiana have in common? They were all factors that
led her to the field of environmental education. With nine years of
experience, Mary has gained interpretive experience in the county, state,
and federal park systems. In her spare time, Mary enjoys inline skating,
playing the piano, trying to learn to identify songbirds, and still
going on the occasional salamander hunt. |
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Becky McClatchey
... is a graduate assistant for Project Dragonfly. Prior to enrolling as a Master's student in Miami University's Institute of Environmental Sciences in 2006, Becky worked as a Conservation Organizer for the Sierra Club in Cincinnati. As a grassroots organizer, she worked closely with citizens and politicians to build awareness and support for local environmental issues. Becky attended Northern Kentucky University where she received B. s. degrees in Biology and Psychology. Her specialization in undergraduate research involved a two-year in-depth study of Caribbean coral reef ecology, conducting a bio-inventory of Glover's Reef Marine Reserve (Belize, C. A.), and using spatial predictions of coral reef community diversity to assess the efficacy of the marine reserve. She also assisted the Belize Department of Fisheries with the monitoring of harvested benthic species. |
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Nuttarote Wangwinyoo (Nutt)
... is the co-director of Kwanmuang Institute. After his one-year Buddhist
monkhood in Thailand, he attended the Environmental Leadership Master's
program from Naropa University, Boulder, Colorado graduating in 2000.
Upon his return to Thailand, he co-founded the Kwanmuang Institute in
collaboration with the Spirit in Education Movement (SEM), Thailand,
to conduct various experiential educational courses on spiritual ecology,
deep ecology, dialogue and team learning. Over the past seven years,
he has also been involved with the Karen headwater bio regional conservation
efforts. Recently, he founded the Oral University of Nature, a Karen
indigenous traditional learning school in the forest of Chiengmai, Thailand. |
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Kathy Winnett-Murray
... is Professor of Biology at Hope College in Michigan. Her research
interests involve the ecology of tropical and temperate birds that exploit
disturbed habitats and interactions between seed-dispersing animals
and invasive plants. She has conducted ecological research in Monteverde,
Costa Rica since 1981 and loves to explore new places. Kathy is a former
Chair of the Education Section of the Ecological Society of America,
has served on ESA's Education Committee, and has played an active role
in numerous programs at the national, state, and local level to link
college and K-12 teachers in the improvement of science education. Kathy
is an inquiry specialist and contributing editor for Project Dragonfly.
She and her biologist husband, K. Greg Murray, have two teenage sons. |
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Saranarat Oy Kanjanavanit
... is known for her writings on natural history and the development
of investigative environmental education programs in Thailand. She is
the General Secretary of the Green World Foundation (GWF), a local non-government
organization. With GWF, Dr. Oy established “Environmental Detectives”,
an education program that develops techniques for public biological
monitoring that can lead to better awareness of the state of local environments
and the empowerment of local communities in the management of their
natural resources. She is currently developing an environmental monitoring
technique for “Seashore Detectives” in southern Thailand.
Oy Kanjanavanit graduated in archaeology at the Institute of Archaeology,
University of London. She then went on to complete her PhD at the School
of Oriental and African Studies (SOAS), University of London, where
she studied the ecology of forest fire in the savanna forest of Thailand. |
