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Team
Marianne Krasny
Director
Marianne Krasny is a Professor and Director of the Civic Ecology Lab in the Department of Natural Resources at Cornell University, specializing in community environmental stewardship and environmental education in urban and other settings in the US and internationally. krasny-cv
Alex Kudryavtsev
Research Associate
Alex Kudryavtsev (pen name: Alex Russ), PhD, is an environmental education researcher at Cornell University. He is the first editor of the Urban Environmental Education Review (Cornell University Press, 2017). Alex's research and teaching focuses on urban environmental education, sense of place, and social outcomes of urban agriculture education. He also develops and teaches online professional development courses for environmental educators. http://alexruss.org
Yue Li
Research Associate
Yue Li is a Research Associate and online course instructor at Cornell University. Through her research and outreach, she seeks to understand how networking among environmental educators in online learning communities and other platforms fosters innovation in their environmental education practice. Yue is currently conducting MOOC research and international programs to bridge environmental education communities in China, the US and elsewhere. http://yueyuelee.me
Xoco Shinbrot
Postdoc
Xoco is a conservation social scientist. Her research focuses on conservation behavior, civic engagement, behavioral economics, and adaptation to climate change in the US and internationally. She earned her PhD from Colorado State University in Ecology, an MS from Johns Hopkins in Environmental Science and Policy, and a BA from McGill University in Environment and International Development. She now co-teaches Climate Solutions and Global Water Sustainability at Cornell University
Bethany Jorgensen
PhD Student
Bethany is working on her PhD in Cornell’s Department of Natural Resources, and conducts research with communities to untangle the political ecology of plastic pollution locally and globally. She is co-coordinator of the international research network Marine Science For Society and a core member of the Organizing Board and Scientific Committee for the MICRO international conference series on microplastic.
Annie Armstrong
PhD Student
Anne Armstrong is a PhD student in the Department of Natural Resources at Cornell University. She has a professional background in environmental education, and she is the lead author on Climate Change Communication: A Guide for Educators (Cornell University Press, 2018). Her research areas include climate change communication, environmental education, and the links among place, social practices, and identity in environmental stewardship.
Elena Dominguez Contreras
PhD Candidate
Elena is a Ph.D. candidate in the Department of Natural Resources and the Environment at Cornell University. Her research focuses on young children's nature education. Specifically, she seeks to engage young children in long-term community-based restoration and conservation activities (e.g., civic ecology practices and stewardship) and engage children as co-researchers to understand their experiences within these practices. Moreover, her research explores how enabling children's participation in nature stewardship might promote a sense of agency and purpose in children.
Celeste Carmichael
PhD Student
Celeste Carmichael is a PhD student and Program Development Specialist for Cornell Cooperative Extension. Her interests, work and research relate to designing educational experiences that ultimately impact personal behaviors, particularly for online course and MOOC participants. Celeste’s background is in environmental education, youth development and instructional design of online learning. https://celcarmichael.com
Felipe Gutierrez Antinopai
PhD Student
Felipe is a PhD student in Natural Resources and Environment. His interests are linked to the understanding of the paths of sustainability diagnosis from epistemology to the selection of indicators in the context of the environmental crisis, in particular, subjective indicators in the revelation of consumption and well-being.
Melanie Quiñones Santiago
MS Student
Melanie Quiñones Santiago is an environmental scientist and community engagement leader. She earned a B.S. in Environmental Sciences from the University of Puerto Rico and currently pursuing an M.S. in Natural Resources at Cornell University. Her research interest is to understand what are the social, ecological and policy effects of implementing civic ecology practices in Puerto Rico after natural disturbances, such as Hurricane Maria.
Yueyang "Braven" Yu
MS Student 2020
Completed B.A. degree in Computer Science at Beijing Foreign Studies University (2018). Yueyang has been working with China campus environmental clubs since 2014. Her research aims at enabling China campus environmental clubs, advancing their missions and leadership. She is also interested in online learning design.
Jenna Rice
MS Student 2020
Jenna Rice graduated from Binghamton University in 2018 with a BS in Business Administration and Marketing. Since graduation, she has served as an AmeriCorps NCCC member where she helped increase access to healthy foods through sustainable practices in the Pacific Northwest. In addition, she served as a profile writer for the SPCA. She is now an MPS student focusing on social analysis and environmental decision making in the Department of Natural Resources.
Kim Snyder
Online Courses Communications
Kim Snyder is an MS student in Conservation Biology at Antioch University New England. She graduated from Cornell in 2015 with a BS in Environmental Science and has assisted the Civic Ecology Lab with course marketing and maintenance since then. For her masters degree, she is focusing on citizen science initiatives and connecting scientists with the public.
Xin Yu ("Fish")
MS Student, China Coordinator
Fish's interests include public engagement for sustainability and climate resilience, climate change education, and urban governance. Before joining the Civic Ecology Lab, he had extensive professional experience as an environmental campaigner, grant maker, practitioner, and researcher in international and local organizations in China. Fish works to link research and innovative practice through exchange and collaboration between China, the US, and the rest of the world.
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