Current 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.
Alex Kudryavtsev
Research Associate
Alex Kudryavtsev, 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, urban agriculture education, and civic engagement. He also develops and teaches online professional development courses for environmental educators.
Celeste Carmichael
PhD Candidate
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://www.linkedin.com/in/celeste-carmichael-04b22a23/
Felipe Gutierrez Antinopai
PhD Candidate
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.
https://www.linkedin.com/in/felipe-an%C3%ADbal-guti%C3%A9rrez-antinopai-a985a673/
Bethany Jorgensen
PhD Candidate
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.
Elena Dominguez Contreras
PhD Candidate
Elena explores young children's nature education. She seeks to engage young children in long-term community-based restoration and conservation activities (e.g., civic ecology practices and stewardship) and involve children as co-researchers to understand their experiences within these practices. In addition, her research explores how enabling children's participation in nature stewardship might promote a sense of agency and purpose in children.
Xin Yu (aka Fish)
MS/PhD Student
Fish's interests include public engagement for sustainability and climate resilience, climate change education, and urban governance. He is experienced 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 U.S., and the rest of the world.
Hamidullah Nikzad
MS Student
Hamidullah Nikzad is a master's student in Natural Resources at Cornell University. His research interests are mostly focused on climate change and environmental sustainability. His career background has been focused on climate change, sustainable environmental management and environmental awareness. Currently he is a General Council Member of the Department of Natural Resources and the Environment Diversity, Equity and Inclusion-DNRE-DEI 2023-2024 at Cornell University. "Kind human is kind with nature" is the best slogan in his life.
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.
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.
Alumni
Yue Li (2022)
Research Associate
Yue Li was a Research Associate and online course instructor at Cornell University. Through her research and outreach, she explored how networking among environmental educators in online learning communities and other platforms fosters innovation in their environmental education practice. Yue conducted MOOC research and international programs to bridge environmental education communities in China, the US and elsewhere.
Yan Mi (2022)
MS
Mi Yan was a MS student and a social entrepreneur who set up Youth Lead, an environmental education organization for young Chinese people in 2013. He was interested in developing educational programs to bring environmental benefits and financial return.
Xoco Shinbrot (2022)
Postdoc
At Cornell University, Xoco was a conservation social scientist. Her research focused 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. At Cornell, she was co-teaching Climate Solutions and Global Water Sustainability.
Annie Armstrong (2021)
PhD
Anne Armstrong was 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 included climate change communication, environmental education, and the links among place, social practices, and identity in environmental stewardship.
Yueyang "Braven" Yu (2020)
MS
Completed BA degree in Computer Science at Beijing Foreign Studies University (2018). Yueyang worked with China campus environmental clubs since 2014. Her research aimed to enable China campus environmental clubs, advancing their missions and leadership. She was also interested in online learning design.
Jenna Rice (2020)
MPS
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. As an MPS student, she focused on social analysis and environmental decision making in the Department of Natural Resources.
Philip Silva (2017)
PhD
Philip's research focused on adult learning and professional development of environmental leaders.
Lilly Briggs (2016)
PhD
Lilly conducted research at the intersection of citizen science, biodiversity protection, and positive youth development
