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Master's International Student Biographies

Current:

Daphne is a current graduate student in the Master's International program, 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 will spend the Fall 2007 and Spring 2008 semesters at UWSP earning academic credits, and depart for her Peace Corps assignment in the summer of 2008. She hopes to serve in Latin America, but does not have a confirmed assignment yet. She will serve her PC assignment with her husband, Tyson.

Current UWSP MI students, Click here for additional Resources

Previous:

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 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 is currently the director of a non-profit forestry education program.

 

 

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: Jason recently returned from a 30-month tour visiting 50 countries with his wife, and since completing his degree has advised and directed several community development projects abroad. He has also gained 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.

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.