UWSP CNR Master's International Student Biographies

Current:

Scott, MI student
Program: Master's International in Natural Resources/Water Resources
Assignment Location: Cape Verde, Africa
Dates abroad: Departing July 2010

 

Scott is a graduate student in the College of Natural Resources Master's International Program. Scott finished his major coursework at UWSP the spring of 2010 and he and his wife Melissa will leave for their Peace Corps service in July. Scott's major professor is Dr. Ron Crunkilton, a professor of water resources. Scott hopes to help people improve the quality of their water wherever the Peace Corps sends him, but plans on learning far more from his host community than he can teach while there. He encourages everyone to learn about the world and their passions through community service.

Read about Scott and Melissa's Peace Corp experience by visiting their blog at http://www.onabluerocean.blogspot.com.

 

Heidi, MI student
Program: Master's International in Natural Resources/Soil and Waste Management
Assignment Location: Uganda, Africa
Dates abroad: 8/2009-2011   

Heidi is a current graduate student in the College of Natural Resources Master’s International Program. The focus of her master’s work is in the area of water quality and sanitation. She hopes to use her education to help those in need by working for an international organization or possibly teaching students what they can do to make a difference in the world “out there.” Her major advisor is Dr. Aga Razvi, a professor of soils and waste management. During the 2008-09 school year, Heidi attended classes in preparation for her service with Peace Corps in the Uganda, Africa which began August 2009. Heidi is located in the Mukono District working with a fishing community.

Read about Heidi's Peace Corp experience by visiting her blog at http://travelinheidi-myugandanexperience.blogspot.com/. 

 

Daphne, MI student
Program: Master's International in Natural Resources/Forestry
Assignment Location: Zambia, Africa
Dates abroad: 2/2009-2011           

Daphne is a current graduate student serving in the Peace Corps through the Master's International program. She is working toward her M.S. in Natural Resources with an emphasis in Forestry. Her advisor is Dr. Holly Petrillo, Assistant professor in the Forestry Department. Daphne spent the Fall 2007 and Spring 2008 semesters at UWSP earning academic credits, In February, she, with her husband Tyson, departed for their Peace Corps assignment in Zambia, Africa in February of 2009. Their assignment is the with the 'LIFE' program which stands for "Linking Income, Food, and the Environment" in the fields of forestry and agriculture in the Central Provence.

Throughout Daphne and Ty's Peace Corps volunteering they will have updates about their experience, so take a few minutes find out what is happening in Zambia.

Follow along in Daphne & Ty's Peace Corps adventure using the link provided http://www.mayesinzambia.blogspot.com/

 

Previous (not an extensive list):

Nick, MI student
Program: Master's International in Natural Resources/Forestry (graduated 2005)
Dates abroad: 2/2001-5/2003           

Nick transplanting native trees in country.

Project: Nick, and his wife Anne, worked with the Galapagos school district to develop environmental education programs. He led a participatory planning process that involved all 12 Galapagos schools in developing a strategy to implement environmental education as part of their education reform. His thesis is entitled "Biodiversity Conservation Efforts in the Complete Education Reform for Galapagos: A Participatory Approach to Curriculum Development in Environmental Education". Click here to view Nick's thesis.

Nick facilitating strategies for environmental education with Galapagos educational institutions.

Update: Nick currently works for the Midwest Renewable Energy Association as their Instructor Development Coordinator. Previously, he was the director of a non-profit forestry education program (WFREA) and worked with the Wisconsin K-12 Forestry Education Program (LEAF) in curriculum development.

 

Jason, MI student
Program: Master's International in Natural Resources/Forestry (graduated 1998)
Dates abroad: 2/1996 - 6/1998                

   

Project:  Jason served his Peace Corps assignment in Nepal, working on conservation and community development issues. He launched a multi-district agroforestry program, establishing 50 home nurseries, a training center, and a school EE club. He also founded a multi-district improved cook stove program, training ten extension officers and forty villagers in construction methodology. He completed two projects and two theses entitled: "Agroforestry Systems in Nepal" and "Improved Cookstoves in Nepal".	Jason with host family in Nepal.
Update: Currently, Jason works with the University of Wisconsin Extension in economic development and sustainability programming. He also helps to organize the annual Green Lake County Fair. Prior to returning to the states, Jason took a 30-month tour visiting 50 countries with his wife, and since completing his degree, advised and directed several community development projects abroad. He also has experience training teachers in China and worked as a soil conservationist for the U.S. Department of Agriculture.

 

Dan, MI student
Program: Master's International in Natural Resources/Forestry (graduated 1996)
Dates abroad: 1994 - 1996

	Project: Dan served in the Peace Corps in Benin. He was based in a small village managing a tree nursery and incorporating agroforestry demonstration sites on a pilot farm project. His project for the MI program was "A Practical Guide to Agroforestry Practices in Benin" written and published in French. Update: Dan is a missionary in Chad, Africa where he also continues his work in agroforestry and tree nursery maintenance and care.
Angela, MI student Program: Master's International in Natural Resources/Wildlife (graduated 2002) Dates abroad: 1999 - 2001 Project: Angela worked with the Ministry of Education and the National Authority for the Environment as a Community Environmental Educator and Parks Volunteer in the community of Las Nubes - a rural community of approximately 500 residents situated at the entrance to La Amistad International Park that dedicates itself primarily to vegetable farming. She also trained elementary teachers how to incorporate environmentally focused education activities in the classroom, and created an ecological club for students. For her thesis work, Angela wrote and received three grants to fund her research on bats in the primary and secondary cloud forests of La Amistad. Her thesis was titled "Chiropteran Diversity and Ecology in a Panamanian Cloud Forest." Update: After graduating from UWSP, Angela spent two years living and working as a wildlife biologist on Catalina Island. She is now a wildlife research biologist for an intertribal natural resource agency and is studying wolves in northern Minnesota. She currently resides on the North Shore of Lake Superior with her husband, Matt.

Tanya, MI student Program: Master's International in Natural Resources/Wildlife (graduated 2002) Dates abroad: 1999 - 2001

Project: Tanya worked as an Outreach Environmental Educator in the Toledo District for the Belize Zoo. In this position she visited 46 primary schools to give presentations about the environment and  helped to plan an annual Science Fair. Tanya also worked with the Rio Blanco Mayan Association for the Rio Blanco National Park, assisting them to write proposals for funding. While there, she helped to raise funding to build a visitor's center and train park guards, and the Mayan Association was given permission to manage the park by the Belizean Government. Her thesis project was titled "Anuran Communities in Southern Belize: A Twenty-Month Study of Breeding Activity and Resource Use at Nine Tropical Breeding Sites".   Update: Tanya has been working on her PhD in the Department of Biology at the University of Miami, studying frog occupancy patterns and underlying mechanisms within a landscape mosaic of pasture and forest in Costa Rica. To complete her research, she lived on a ranch with a local family in the Osa Peninsula for about three years. Tanya is currently writing her dissertation and looking for a post-doc.