CONSERVATION BIOLOGY INSTITUTE - Key Persons
Job Titles:
- Member of the Conservation Planning & Management Team
- Senior Research Scientist
Alexandra Syphard is a research ecologist who investigates landscape change that results from the interplay between human and natural disturbances, especially wildfire, urban development, and climate change. She uses a variety of spatial analytical and modeling methods to investigate how change has occurred in the past, how it is likely to occur in the future, and what types of ecological impacts are likely to result. She also envisions how alternate management scenarios may differentially impact the biological and social integrity of different landscapes. Alexandra works on issues related to vegetation dynamics and wildfire in Mediterranean ecosystems; fire science and ecology; effects of multiple threats to native vegetation communities; biogeography and species distribution modeling; land use / land cover change; and the influence of humans on fire regimes.
Before joining CBI in 2007, Alexandra earned her PhD in Geography from San Diego State University and the University of California, Santa Barbara in 2005. Alexandra also received a BA in English from the University of Mary Washington, a Masters of Public Health at the Medical College of Virginia, and a Masters in Environmental Studies at Virginia Commonwealth University. She also completed a postdoctoral research fellowship in the Department of Forest Ecology & Management at the University of Wisconsin, Madison and a postdoctoral fellowship in the Department of Biology at San Diego State.
In her free time, Alexandra enjoys playing guitar, riding her Vespa scooter, running or practicing yoga, traveling to different countries, and drinking a good cup of coffee with her family and friends.
Job Titles:
- Professor Emeritus of Global Change Biology & Terrestrial Systems Science
Beverly (Bev) Law is Professor Emeritus of Global Change Biology & Terrestrial Systems Science in the Department of Forest Ecosystems and Society at Oregon State University. She is a fellow of the American Geophysical Union and the Earth Leadership Program. She has published more than 240 refereed journal articles and book chapters and is a Clarivate Analytics Highly Cited Researcher, in the top 1% in the world across fields (H index > 100). Her 30 years of research includes the effects of climate, wildfire and management on forest carbon processes, and related emissions to the atmosphere at multiple scales from ecosystems to regional and global, and forest carbon accounting. She has testified in multiple US congressional hearings on topics including climate change, wildfires, and forest management. You can find her publications here, such as "Creating Strategic Reserves to Protect Forest Carbon and Reduce Biodiversity Losses in the United States": http://terraweb.
Job Titles:
- Associate
- Professor Emeritus of Global Change Biology & Terrestrial Systems Science, Oregon State University
Bill is proud to have grown up in Oak Park, IL but has lived on the West Coast for most of his adult life. Bill studied philosophy at Occidental College and received his Masters in Mathematics Education from DePaul University. After teaching math at the high school and community college level in his twenties, Bill decided to learn how to program and defend wildlife with computers. He loves working with geospatial data because of its connection to mathematics and the beautiful visual displays that can be created. When Bill is not at CBI, he is usually watching David Attenborough documentaries, snowboarding, playing guitar, or expanding his collection of tropical house plants.
Job Titles:
- Associate
- Senior Software Engineer
Brendan Ward joined the Conservation Biology Institute in December 2007 and is now a CBI associate. He has brought experience in GIS, spatial analysis, ecological modeling, and software development to the institute. Brendan has a passion for harnessing computer power to advance conservation science and ecological research. He aspires to contribute to model and data fusion, to enable a greater degree of synthesis and cross-pollination across disciplines to fully catapult ecology into the information age.
Brianna Fair focuses on project architecture, technical project management, behavioral analytics, and full-stack software engineering, with a particular interest in UX for its direct link to user behavior and interaction. Brianna has worked in tech since the beginning of her career, leading developing and growing a number of digital departments and software teams throughout the West Coast. Much of her work has been focused on integrating a behavioral analytics layer into software to allow for direct feedback to the user experience, in order to better personalize digital interactions. Most recently, she co-founded a decentralized hydroponic farming initiative, based out of Corvallis, Oregon.
Charlotte is interested in harnessing spatial data, remote sensing, and data science tools to answer questions concerning conservation to improve conservation outcomes and human wellbeing. Charlotte earned an M.S. in Natural Resources and Environmental Management at the University of Hawaii at Manoa where she investigated the role of High Conservation Value areas in reducing deforestation within oil palm landscapes in Indonesia. Before joining CBI, Charlotte worked on a variety of remote sensing, climate science, and conservation impact analysis projects ranging from validating MODIS and VIIRS vegetation indices to developing a deforestation alert monitoring framework in Google Earth Engine. Having experienced some of the remaining wild places left on earth like the Bornean rainforests, and America's temperate forests in which she was raised, Charlotte feels an ardent need to support conservation efforts. Charlotte lives in Honolulu, HI, with her many house plants, and enjoys being outside in nature whether surfing, hiking, or free diving.
Job Titles:
- Conservation Outreach Coordinator
Cole Soldo is a conservationist who is grounded in the fact that conservation is, ultimately, about people. He comes from The Ohio State University with experience in risk analysis and decision science, measuring the drivers of conservation program participation rates, and farmer conservation identity. His primary research targeted the use of constructed wetlands to address water quality challenges and farmer willingness to adopt edge-of-field conservation measures in the Western Lake Erie Basin.
Cole brings additional ecosystem stewardship and urban sustainability experience to CBI, emphasizing clear communications and finding workable, focused solutions to pressing environmental issues. He is excited to bring an additional viewpoint and expertise to help CBI's spatial analysis tools become adopted by a wide audience.
Job Titles:
- Landscape Wildlife Ecologist
Dr. Thompson's background includes a blend of landscape and wildlife ecology, specializing in the relationship between large-scale habitat change and the interactions between predators, competitors, and prey. He has worked with a wide variety of sensitive carnivore species, including black-footed ferrets, island fox, swift fox, bald eagles, and mountain lions in numerous western states. He has served as a technical advisor for wildlife-related issues to numerous organizations and efforts, including the Dinkey Collaborative Forest Landscape Restoration Project in the Sierras, the Blackfoot-Swan Landscape Restoration Project in northern Montana, and the California Academy of Sciences. Currently, he lives in Missoula, MT and is applying this background to the development of resiliency-based forest management regimes in both the Sierra Nevada and Rocky Mountain regions.
Dan Airola is a Wildlife Biologist with strong experience in corporate management of consulting businesses, natural resource planning, and biological consulting and research. Dan is President of Conservation Research and Planning, a small northern California firm. He recently retired as present of Northwest Hydraulic Consultants Inc., the U.S. subsidiary of NHC Ltd, a $30 MM Canadian firm that specializes in water resource science and engineering. He also served as co-chair of the firm's Board of Directors.
Previously, Dan ran his own sole-proprietorship biological consulting firm, served as Vice President and Board Chair of Jones & Stokes Associates, a western U.S. Environmental Consulting firm, and worked as a biologist and planner for the Lassen National Forest. Altogether, he has 40 years of experience practicing and managing environmental and engineering consulting firms based in northern California. He also serves as a Director of an environmental consulting firm and hyrology consulting firm in California and several non-profit conservation groups.
Independently Dan conducts long-term research and conservation programs on at-risk bird species and bird-urban habitat relationships. He has conducted long-term studies and published over 60 scientific papers, including works on the population status, ecology, and conservation of the Purple Martin and Tricolored Blackbird, importance of native oaks to migrant and resident birds in urban habitats, Turkey Vulture and Swainson's Hawk migration, and effects of West Nile Virus on bird populations.
Job Titles:
- Member Emeritus of the Board
- Member of the Board
David Johns earned degrees in law and political science from Columbia University. He currently teaches politics and law in the School of Government at Portland State University. David is a co-founder of The Wildlands Project and Yellowstone to Yukon Conservation Initiatives, both NGOs that rely heavily on science in shaping conservation goals. David has written extensively on the role of science in conservation and the politics of the conservation movement. CBI Board member since 1997.
Job Titles:
- Senior Science Coordinator
Deanne DiPietro is a geographer and conservation biologist with over 25 years of experience applying science and information technology to conservation planning. Deanne has a B.S. in Botany and M.A. in Geography from University of California.
As Senior Science Coordinator at CBI she manages projects with multi-disciplinary teams that deliver practical solutions for a wide range of issues from endangered species recovery to community wildfire resilience. Her areas of expertise include science communications, stakeholder engagement, data management, and decision-support tool and digital library design. Deanne's passion is to apply the latest science and data to protect natural systems while promoting human community resilience in this time of rapid change.
Deanne lives and works in Sonoma County, California.
Job Titles:
- Geospatial Analyst With the
Declan Pizzino is a Geospatial Analyst with the Conservation Biology Institute and has more than 5 years experience applying science and geospatial technology to support the conservation of natural resources. With a B.S. in Environmental Science and a certificate in Geographic Information Science from Oregon State University, Declan is excited to be part of a team that is focused on a science-based approach to improving the world. His areas of expertise and interest include geographic information systems, remote sensing, machine learning, modeling, and sustainability planning.
Declan's love for the natural world has informed and enhanced his passion for conservation. Prior to joining CBI, he worked with the Nature Collective in San Diego, CA, on water quality monitoring and with Yamhill County Public Works in McMinnville, OR, to help develop a spatial roadside vegetation inventory. In Eugene, OR, he worked for Lane Council of Governments leveraging his GIS and interpersonal skills in the local government arena. Declan participates in a number of professional organizations and communities, including the Spatial Community Slack, AI for Conservation, Machine Learning for Remote Sensing, the Data Visualization Society, and the Society for Conservation GIS, where he serves on the Communications Committee.
Declan lives in Corvallis with his houseful of pets and plants. In his spare time, he loves to play Dungeons and Dragons, get outdoors and hike, play his mandolin, or explore local waterways in his handmade canoe.
Job Titles:
- Member of the Conservation Planning & Management Team
- Ecologist
Dr. Chris Cosma is a community ecologist and pollination biologist specializing in developing data-driven conservation strategies. An adventurous and rather nomadic childhood spent in Colorado, Michigan, New Jersey, and California gave Chris early insight into the diversity of people, ecosystems, and environmental problems in the US. Between surf sessions, Chris earned his BS in Ecology at UC Santa Barbara, and then completed his PhD in Ecology at UC Riverside. There, his research focused on the impacts of climate change on plant-pollinator interactions, and how to apply ecological data and tools to guide effective insect conservation actions. Although he focused on moths in this research, Chris loves all insects and is determined to help protect them and their ecosystem services. In addition to pollination and climate change ecology, Chris has expertise in spatial ecology, ecological network science, molecular ecology, plant ecophysiology, insect biology and identification, and environmental policymaking.
During his doctoral research, Chris bridged the gap between science and conservation action by developing an innovative web application for butterfly and moth conservation in California. The app, which applies ecological network analysis to guide plant selections, is being used by thousands of people to expand and connect insect habitat across California. After garnering media attention and interest from multiple agencies, Chris formed an interdisciplinary working group through the National Center for Ecological Analysis and Synthesis to build upon the tool. Chris has been invited to speak to groups all around the country about this work, and in his role at CBI, he brings with him resources and expertise from his various collaborations. Chris currently lives in Spokane, Washington, and when he is not devising strategies to protect our insect overlords, he enjoys backyard permaculture and outdoor adventures with his partner and dog.
Job Titles:
- Senior Conservation Scientist
Dr. John Gallo is a geographer and landscape ecologist who works together with conservation practitioners on applied conservation projects. Dr. Gallo also explores scientific frontiers with the purpose of advancing innovative strategies and best practices to attain multiple benefits. He employs a variety of areas of expertise in an interdisciplinary approach, including:
design and application of software for conservation planning, landscape assessment, and habitat connectivity modeling,
promoting advances in spatial decision support systems,
wildfire mitigation and adaptation analyses and planning,
climate change adaptation planning,
applying citizen and community science to engage the public and fill data gaps,
bringing knowledge graphs and machine learning to conservation applications,
engaging partners, stakeholders, and decision-makers in all of the above.
Job Titles:
- Member of the Board
- Senior Strategic Communications Strategist
Ed Schoaps is a senior strategic communications strategist with experience with for-profit businesses, government agencies and nonprofits.
Job Titles:
- Member of the Conservation Planning & Management Team
- Senior Scientist
As a quantitative ecologist and conservation biologist, Erin Conlisk integrates field experiments with quantitative techniques to understand California plant and wildlife responses to climate change, land-use change, and their interactions with changing wildfire regimes. Her research ranges from applied land management to academic ecology and is typically multidisciplinary, focusing on conservation co-benefits in socio-ecological systems. Currently, Erin is interested in using empirically-driven vegetation and wildfire simulation modeling to understand the influence of climate change, urban development, and forest management on California wildfire risk.
Previously, Erin has used vegetation simulation models to understand the impacts of wildfire, examined satellite data to support waterbird management in the Central Valley of California, modeled landscape connectivity for iconic wildlife in Southern California, created mechanistic models of species' distributions and abundances, analyzed data from a treeline warming experiment, and worked in the social sciences with an emphasis on educational equity and environmental justice. When Erin is not working you will find her getting outdoors, talking to young people about newfangled things they didn't have in her day, and combining these two pastimes.
Esti Shay joined CBI in 2018. She is active in her local tech community, hosting educational meetups and running regional conferences. As a former librarian, she is perennially curious and always learning something new. She is a full-stack developer and manages the team's accessibility guides.
Esti loves the Pacific Northwest, from the cloudy skies to the mossy trees, rhododendrons to rocky beaches. She prefers getting around on foot or by bicycle.
Job Titles:
- Chief
- Member of the Executive Leadership Team
- Project Officer
Gladwin Joseph was born in a town called Nazareth in Tamil Nadu, India, but has lived in Ghana, India and the USA. He was, until recently, the Director and Professor at the School of Development, Azim Premji University (APU), Bangalore, India. Prior to that, he was a senior leader of Ashoka Trust for Research in Ecology and the Environment (ATREE), an Environmental think-tank and academic institution. He was its director for 10 years and with its founding president helped build and establish ATREE as a premier conservation and sustainability organization in India. His publications span a diverse range of topics from plant ecophysiology to conservation and livelihoods. After finishing a degree in Agriculture in India from the University of Agricultural Sciences, he completed his MS and Ph.D. at Oregon State University. He helped initiate the development of an online course on sustainability for the global south for undergraduate students at APU. He continues to advise and provide inputs on course design as a visiting faculty. In his spare time he is actively involved with the open source Indian Biodiversity portal, particularly the treesindia group which is working on a citizen science project documenting all of India's tree species. He is also working on an easy-to-use bilingual (English-Spanish) pictorial guide to trees of Oregon. He continues to serve on Ph.D. student advisory committees as an adjunct senior fellow at ATREE. His hobbies include gardening and cooking with his kids, keeping track of global news, reading books on history, culture and religion, hiking, and fly fishing.
As a Geospatial Analyst, Grace is interested in applying geospatial technologies to translate data into accessible and actionable conservation solutions. Her areas of expertise and interest include geographic information systems (GIS), remote sensing, data visualization, and interactive web maps. Grace has broad experience in conservation, most recently with the Center for Large Landscape Conservation to analyze the potential impacts of linear infrastructure development on wildlife across Asia. She has also worked with Conservation International to develop a land-use planning tool and with the National Park Service to identify disturbances in National Parks using satellite imagery. Grace has an M.S. in Environmental Observation and Informatics from the University of Wisconsin-Madison, a Professional Certificate in Geospatial Programming and Web Map Development from Penn State University, and a B.S. in Environmental Studies from Yale University.
Grace is passionate about the process of linking knowledge to action, and through her work hopes to use geospatial data to inform land-use decisions that balance the needs of people and biodiversity. She is a 2022 Pacific Crest Trail thru-hiker, and currently lives in Bend, OR, where she enjoys rock climbing, skiing, and jigsaw puzzles.
Job Titles:
- Chief Science Officer
- Co - Founder
- Member of the Board
- Member of the Executive Leadership Team
- President
- Senior Vice President
Jim Strittholt is Co-Founder, President, and Chief Science Officer of the Conservation Biology Institute and has over 26 years' experience in applying computer mapping technologies (including GIS and remote sensing) to address various ecological assessments and conservation planning projects in the U.S. and internationally. He holds undergraduate degrees in Botany, Zoology and Secondary Education from Miami University (Oxford, Ohio) where he also earned a Masters in Zoology in vertebrate population genetics. Jim earned a Ph.D. in 1994 from Ohio State University in a self-designed multi-disciplinary program emphasizing landscape ecology, conservation planning, and computer mapping technologies. While a truly multi-disciplinary degree, he conducted most his research and developed most of his technical skills from the Center for Mapping - a NASA Center of Excellence. While at Ohio State, he earned numerous academic achievement awards including being chosen as a University Presidential Fellow during his final year.
Job Titles:
- Marketing & Communications Coordinator
Jenna Sposato is from the Bay Area, California, and joined the CBI team in August 2021. With a BS in Agricultural Sciences and Sustainability from Oregon State University, she is passionate about our organization's mission to support the conservation of biological diversity towards a healthier, more ecologically sustainable planet. Jenna writes our monthly newsletter, manages our accounts on all social media platforms, and assists with marketing strategy. She enjoys spending her free time writing music, hiking, and making art of all kinds.
Job Titles:
- Associate
- Associate Botanist Biologist
Jessie is a biologist/botanist with 22 years' professional experience in field biology, botany and land management throughout California with a strong background in coastal and desert ecology, botany, and natural resource management and restoration. She is particularly knowledgeable of the central and southern California coast and coastal ranges, western and central Mojave Desert, and central and southern Sierra Nevada Mountains where she has surveyed for and located more than 120 threatened, endangered, or sensitive plant species. Additional experience includes coastal California gnatcatcher surveys, least Bell's vireo nest monitoring, sensitive plant and animal monitoring and management, threats assessments and trend analyses, botanical research, vegetation mapping, wetland and upland habitat restoration, and preserve management. Jessie prepares habitat management plans, work plans and budgets, and annual reports, and has created public outreach literature and organized and led outreach events and volunteer workdays. Jessie communicates regularly with the conservation community through workshops and presentations, and is a member of the San Diego rare plant oversight committee and the San Diego County Weed Management Area steering committee.
Job Titles:
- Software Engineer IT Admin
Job Titles:
- Geospatial Analyst and Data Basin User Support
Job Titles:
- Associate
- Software Architect
Job Titles:
- Office Manager / Marketing & Communications
Job Titles:
- Member of the Board
- Senior Vice President
- Vice President
Job Titles:
- Executive Director
- Member of the Board
- Member of the Executive Leadership Team
Job Titles:
- Associate
- Associate Ecological Modeler