CNR Class Notes
Alums: Where are you and what are you doing?
Emanuel Jacobson, B.S., Agriculture, graduated from UCLA (but his fond recollection of his time spent at Berkeley certainly merits a class note). He writes: “I arrived in Berkeley for the fall semester in 1931. My first three years in California were equally divided between Berkeley and Davis. In 1934, the department of Subtropical Horticulture was moved to UCLA, where I was one of the first six students to earn a B.S. in agriculture.” A retired citrus and avocado grower, he lives in Tel Aviv, Israel.
Appeared in Spring 2005 issue
Tim Jang, A.A., Agricultural Engineering, was employed by the design section of the Army Corps of Engineers after World War II, working on dams in Folsom and elsewhere. In 1947 he transferred to the U.S.D.A. National Conservation Service as a district engineer for the National Resources Conservation Districts. He retired in 1972 with 30 years of government service.
Appeared in Summer 2006 issue
Robert Brownscombe, B.S., Plant Pathology, has worked for California’s state Bureau of Plant Pathology (with two six-month appointments doing field surveys on Pierce’s Disease and Peach Mosaic); various farm supply cooperatives (including the California Farm Bureau); and in fertilizer sales at Atkins Kroll & Co. and Union Oil Company.
Appeared in Winter 2007 issue
Grant A. Mitchell, B.S., Forestry, attended the 1939 summer camp. Ten days after graduation he enlisted in the U.S. Army Air Corps and became a senior weather forecaster, and eventually became a master sergeant in charge of the McClehans Field weather station. “Due to a change in events I never went into forestry, although at 87 years of age, I’m still active!”
Appeared in Spring 2005 issue
Ross Miller, B.S., Entomology, retired from FMC Corp. as a regional manager and from the U.S. Navy as a commander. He served in the South and West Pacific as a naval aviator. He reports: “Present activities are traveling, skin diving, and loafing.”
Appeared in Winter 2007 issue
Peter Kepon, B.S., Forestry, is thrilled to have one grandchild in high school. Last year Peter traveled to Russia, and he is planning to travel to China this year, as “my wife tends to keep me on the go.”
Appeared in Summer 2006 issue
James B. Watson, B.S., Forestry, entered UC in 1939, and in 1941 volunteered as an ambulance driver with the American Field Service attached to the British Eighth Army during the siege of Tobruk. He enlisted in the U.S. Marines in 1943 and served in the Pacific aboard the Marine carrier U.S.S. Block Island. In 1947 he got married and re-entered Berkeley. After a year in the U.S. Forest Service in Burn, Oregon, he returned to Berkeley to do graduate work in management. From 1950 until 1980 he lived in Berkeley and was employed by U.S. Envelope Company in Emeryville. He retired with his wife Margaret Ann to the Napa Valley, where he now grows Chardonnay and Merlot grapes. Their daughter, a veterinarian, and son-in-law, a microbiologist, have a Napa Valley winery, Aetna Springs Cellars, which makes wine from their grapes.
Appeared in Fall 2005 issue
Robert Heyden, B.S., Forestry, is enjoying retirement and living in the active adult community of Rossmoor, in Walnut Creek, Calif.
Appeared in Summer 2006 issue
Julius Menn, B.S., Biology, M.S., Entomology, ’54, and Ph.D., Entomology/Toxicology, ’58, is currently an international consultant for USDA/FAS, consulting in Vietnam, establishing a pesticide monitoring system in Hanoi. On December 2 colleagues and friends from UC Berkeley, industry, and the USDA honored Julius at Berkeley, where he gave an address reflecting on a career in crop protection chemistry. “A most memorable event.”
Appeared in Spring 2005 issue
Forrest Wilde, B.S., Forestry, is retired. He maintains an active academic interest in his major careers (the military and the environment) but most of his activity is devoted to his children and grandchildren, and to his health.
Appeared in Summer 2006 issue
Jack E. Throop, B.S., Forestry, stays busy consulting for his ex-employer Lockheed Martin and other aerospace companies in the Houston area. “My work is enabled by the University’s success in teaching me English composition,” he says. “Since most aerospace engineers do not like to write, there is a wealth of consulting work for anyone willing and able to write a coherent sentence.” His family life consists mainly of recreation, “enjoying our five grandchildren, and traveling.”
Appeared in Spring 2005 issue
John W. Thaxton, Jr., B.S., Forestry, served in the Army Air Corps during World War II as a bombardier-navigator, flying a B-17 “Flying Fortress” over Germany. He used the G.I. Bill for his college education and after graduation worked for Hammond, Jensen & Wallen as a forester, then for Weyerhanger, until he was recalled to active duty in the U.S. Air Force for the Korean War. John stayed in the USAF until 1969, when he retired as Lieutenant Colonel.
Appeared in Spring 2005 issue
James Ceragioli, B.S., Forestry, says his forestry education proved very beneficial in his career in purchasing land for state highway projects. His career spanned 38 years, with countless projects in Northern California counties.
Appeared in Summer 2006 issue
Kurt Weinke, Ph.D., Plant Pathology, is planning to move to Cleveland, N.C., this year. He has five granddaughters and one grandson. His eldest son now works as a Department of Energy consultant and is a reserve major in the Corps of Engineers and a graduate of Penn State, with a degree in mining engineering.
Appeared in Summer 2006 issue
Kurt Weinke, Ph.D., Plant Pathology, is retired and hopes to move to North Carolina by the end of 2009.
Appeared in Fall 2007 issue
Joe Ratliff, B.S., Forest Management, will retire from the Bureau of Land Management in Battle Mountain, Nev., in 2007. He plans to buy a 40-foot oceangoing sailboat and never set foot in the desert again. He writes: “Give me the cobalt-blue sea, southern latitudes, bronze-skinned women, and fresh seafood.”
Appeared in Summer 2006 issue
Michael G. Volz, B.S., Plant Nutrition, and Ph.D., Soil Science, ’72, works for the California Department of Health Services in Richmond as chief of the Office of Laboratory Resource Preparedness and Response, Emergency Operations Center, and as project officer in the All-Hazards Risk Assessment Laboratory.
Appeared in Spring 2005 issue
Ed Holsten, B.S., Forestry, completed a three-year stint in the Peace Corps in Chile after graduation, followed by graduate school at University of Washington, where he wrote a dissertation on Costa Rica. After completing his Ph.D. in 1977, Ed relocated to Alaska. In March, he retired from the Forest Service after 30 years and plans to remain in Alaska fulltime.
Appeared in Spring 2005 issue
Carol I. Waslien, Ph.D., Nutrition, became chair of the Department of Public Health Sciences at the John A. Burns School of Medicine at the University of Hawaii at Manoa.
Appeared in Fall 2004 issue
Max Copenhagen, B.S., Forestry, continues to work on fuel hazard reduction in the San Bernardino National Forest. “We are almost done with our land management plan revision,” he says. “Here is a photo of one of our more aggressive prescribed burns up near Big Bear last year. Biswell would be proud.” On a personal note, he reports, “Our three-year-old granddaughter Alaina is wonderful, and we have a new puppy.”
Appeared in Spring 2005 issue
Michael C. Stroud, B.S., Forestry, and M.S., Range Management, ’70, retired in 2003 after 33 years with the Department of Defense Natural Resources Management Program. He is now the director of operations at the Center for Natural Lands Management, a non-profit, public-benefit land trust.
Appeared in Fall 2004 issue
Brooke Alex Lambie, B.S., Conservation of Natural Resources, became a teacher naturalist with Santa Cruz County schools, and later worked in the Jamaican West Indies as a biologist and biology educator. She has a California teaching credential in biological sciences, an M.S. in science education, and a Ph.D., and used her conservation education to become a college instructor teaching biology and earth and planetary science. “I take all my classes into the field to study the natural systems of the planet,” she says. Brooke has six children and has a house in Berkeley as well as one in the Central Valley. “I have worked for the State of California for 20 years as a science educator, and have used ideas developed in CNR in all my work,” she says.
Appeared in Fall 2005 issue
Debar DeZarn, B.S. Dietetics, and M.P.H., ‘76, reports that her only child recently started high school. “We just returned from a family road trip to the East Coast and it was interesting, but sad, to see the pine tree blight of the West also affecting Pennsylvania and New York.” She has worked continuously in dietetics and public health since graduation and currently consults for geriatric and rehabilitation facilities.
Appeared in Winter 2007 issue
Patricia Hedge, B.S., Conservation of Natural Resources, worked in environmental conservation with several national organizations and was a regional director for the Wilderness Society. Now, she serves as a Peace Corps volunteer in Jamaica in the environmental sector. She sees it as “a great way to give back and an opportunity to prove that this phase of life can also offer great adventures.”
Appeared in Spring 2005 issue
Julie Nagle, B.S., Conservation of Natural Resources, has worked since 1974 for the federal government and is currently a computer and information technology specialist with the National Park Service. She says that she loves the national parks, “but working for the government has its frustrations.” She has continued her personal and professional education with classes including English literature, economics, music, and dance, and she completed an environmental planning program at San Francisco State University in 1982. She lives in San Leandro with two sons, and drives a 2002 Prius hybrid car that she says is “a political statement as much as a means of transportation.”
Appeared in Fall 2005 issue
Janet Franco, B.S., Genetics, lived in Israel for seven months after graduation and attended the Medical College of Georgia, where she was certified in nuclear medicine technology. She worked in Albuquerque, New Mexico, as a nuclear medicine technologist, then moved to Fort Collins, Colorado, to earn an M.S. in Radiological Physics from Colorado State University. After working as medical physicist in Houston, she moved to Portland to work for the state of Oregon. She joined Oregon Health and Science University (her current employer) in research lab radiation safety, but returned to hospital setting as Clinical Radiation Safety Officer in 1999.
Appeared in Spring 2005 issue
John Hannum, B.S., Forestry, owns his own insurance brokerage in Lafayette, Calif. He has been in business for 29 years and has eight employees. Harold M. Hoogasian, B.S., Genetics, and his wife Nikki purchased a working coffee farm in 2004, located in Holualoa (Kona), Hawaii. Growing and marketing estategrown, 100 percent Kona coffee under the trade name “Kona Perfect,” Harold now feels like he is living up to his degree from the College of Agricultural Sciences. “In fact,” he says, “after classes in coffee husbandry from the University of Hawaii Ag Extension, I know now that coffee is cultivated in soil, not dirt!”
Appeared in Spring 2005 issue
Donald E. Campton, B.S., Genetics, is the regional geneticist for the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, Pacific Region. He is stationed in Longview,Wash., and deals with both policy and science issues. “I was part of the first graduating class of CNR in 1974, after the merger of the College of Agriculture and the School of Forestry. Genetics was a small program then. No one imagined that we would be sequencing DNA in our lifetimes. Genetics has become a major issue in fish and wildlife management and conservation biology.” Richard Merritt, Ph.D., Entomology, is currently chair of the Department of Entomology at Michigan State University, East Lansing. He was honored with the MSU Distinguished Professor award in 2004 and has received the MSU College of Natural Science Distinguished Faculty award.
Appeared in Fall 2004 issue
Lauren H. Coodley, B.S., Conservation of Natural Resources, is currently a professor of history and president of the Academic Senate. Professor Coodley published two books this year: Napa: The Transformation of an American Town, and Land of Orange Groves and Jails: Upton Sinclair’s California. com. Both include an environmentalist perspective on California History.
Appeared in Spring 2005 issue
Lauren H. Coodley, B.S., Conservation of Natural Resources, is currently a professor of history and president of the Academic Senate. Professor Coodley published two books this year: Napa: The Transformation of an American Town, and Land of Orange Groves and Jails: Upton Sinclair’s California. com. Both include an environmentalist perspective on California History.
Appeared in Fall 2004 issue
April E. Fletcher, B.S., Conservation of Natural Resources, received an M.S. in Wildlife Biology and Management from Colorado State University and went to work for the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service in 1976. She has been with the agency ever since, and is currently the invasive species coordinator for the southwest region, headquartered in Albuquerque, N.M. She has also done some freelance writing on environmental issues for local papers, and is currently working on publishing an anthology of works by older women. She lives in the Manzanita Mountains east of Albuquerque with her husband of 18 years and two dogs.
Appeared in Fall 2005 issue
Ellen Bernstein, B.S., Conservation and Resource Studies, recently published a new book, The Splendor of Creation: A Biblical Ecology. Ellen is the founder of the first Jewish environmental organization, Shomrei Adamah (Keepers of the Earth). Possibly the first book to offer the Biblical world creation story as a treasure trove of eco-spiritual wisdom, Splendor weaves together biology, poetry, spiritual philosophy, and memoir in a personal meditation on the world creation story. For more information see Ellen Berstein.
Appeared in Summer 2006 issue
Gary Grossman, B.S., Conservation of Natural Resources, has just published A Bone to Pick: Everyone’s Guide to Gourmet Venison Cookery.
Appeared in Winter 2007 issue
Ponciano M. Halos, Ph.D., Plant Pathology, is the CEO of Arnichem Corp., a biofertilizer business in the Philippines.
Appeared in Fall 2004 issue
Chris Walton, B.S., Conservation of Natural Resources, is an orthopedic surgeon in Eugene, Oregon. (“Yes, it’s Duck country!”) He has two children who have graduated from CU-Boulder and two who still live at home.
Appeared in Winter 2007 issue
Chris Walton, B.S., Conservation of Natural Resources, lives in Eugene, Oregon. He is an orthopedic surgeon specializing in sports medicine, with a special interest in injuries to the knee. His professional group is completing an 80,000 square-foot office and surgery center called the Slocum Center. He enjoys Eugene because “it is a great place to enjoy the outdoors, minimize crowds, and enjoy a university influence.”
Appeared in Winter 2007 issue
Lloyd E. Burton, Jr., B.S., Conservation of Natural Resources; M.A., Jurisprudence and Social Policy, ’80; and Ph.D., Jurisprudence and Social Policy, ’84, is a former teaching associate in CNR and published his first book, American Indian Water Rights and the Limits of Law in 1991. His second book, Worship and Wilderness: Culture, Religion, and Law in Public Lands Management was published in 2002. The American Library Association’s Choice Magazine just rated his second book as one of the outstanding academic titles for acquisition in 2004.
Appeared in Fall 2004 issue
Carol Freedman, B.S., Conservation of Natural Resources, earned an M.A. in Environmental Planning from UCLA in 1978 and went on to do consulting in the design of geographic information systems. She did a “career about-face” in 1994 and now owns and operates her own interior design consulting business.
Appeared in Spring 2005 issue
John Gross, B.S., Conservation of Natural Resources, operates a small business that offers guided river trips fishing for salmon, steelhead, trout, and bass on many rivers throughout western Oregon.
Appeared in Spring 2005 issue
Laura (Jacobs) Barton, B.S., Food, Nutrition and Dietetics, spent several years in the dietetics field, and then became a West Coast sales manager for a French cheese company. For the past 17 years she has been working in domestic and international marketing for the state of Oregon, promoting the state’s agricultural products. Her career allows traveling to Mexico, South America, Southeast Asia, Europe, Japan, and Korea, although her current focus is in-state and domestic.
Appeared in Spring 2005 issue
Dennis L. Merritt, Ph.D., Entomology, is finishing his book on Jung and ecopsychology, entitled The Dairy Farmer's Guide to the Universe: Jung, Hermes, Ecopsychology and Post 9-11. The book is due out this year.
Appeared in Spring 2005 issue
Nick Sundt, B.S., Conservation and Resource Studies, and M.A., Energy Resources Group, ’80, lives in Washington, D.C. During most of the 1980s he worked at the Congressional Office of Technology Assessment and spent summers as a Forest Service smokejumper in the Pacific Northwest. After editing two climate change periodicals during the 1990s, Nick joined the U.S. Global Change Research Program in 2000 and today is responsible for the program’s websites and other communications.
Appeared in Spring 2005 issue
Stephen Cunha, Conservation of Natural Resources ’77, is a professor of geography at Humboldt State University and director of the California Geographic Alliance. He received the California State University Wang Family Excellence Award as the Outstanding Faculty in Social and Behavioral Sciences and Public Service for 2007. Earlier that year, the California Council for Social Studies honored Cunha with the Hilda Taba Award for Outstanding and Enduring Contributions to Social Science Education in California.
Appeared in Summer 2008 issue
Daina Dravnieks Apple, B.S., Political Economy of Natural Resources, and M.A., Geography, ’80, currently serves as staff assistant to the U.S. Forest Service deputy chief for programs, legislation, and communication in Washington, DC. In 2002 she was elected a fellow of the Society of American Foresters (SAF), and this year she was appointed to the SAF Forest Science and Technology Board.
Appeared in Spring 2005 issue
Mary Hatzenbehler, Forestry ’77, reports that the Forestry class of 1977 (summer camp of 1975) had a reunion in the summer of 2007 and that “a lot of us are out there making a difference for resource conservation. As for me, I am now working with the Office of Special Counsel in Oakland. Please visit our website at www.osc.gov to see what we do. I like the email lists at http://www.naturealum.berkeley. edu and the Cal Cafe for alum hangouts.”
Appeared in Summer 2008 issue
Gina Frierman-Hunt, B.S., Conservation of Natural Resources, was appointed to the City of Sierra Madre Planning Commission this summer. Sierra Madre is a small city of about 10,000 people adjacent to Pasadena.
Appeared in Spring 2005 issue
Kathryn McLain, B.S., Conservation of Natural Resources, and her husband had their doctorates conferred last November by Hartford Seminary, and are both in their 18th year as Congregational UCC ministers in the Boston area. “My CNR studies have provided a strong foundation for twining theological questions with pragmatic realities, and for pairing outreach efforts with environmental concerns as a contemporary harmony of science and religion,” she says.
Appeared in Spring 2005 issue
David Newman, B.S., Forestry, and his wife Barbara have two children, Katie, 8, and Jenny, 7. “Last summer we did a cross-country trip visiting the western national parks and the previous summer we did a similar trip around the UK.” David is a professor of forest resource economics and policy at the University of Georgia. “Forestry education continues to be challenging,” he says. “It is difficult to find students who have a burning desire to study forest economics.”
Appeared in Spring 2005 issue
Michael Bade, B.S., Conservation and Resource Studies, worked briefly in air quality planning and then went to architecture school at UC Berkeley. After graduation with an M. Arch., he practiced in the U.S. for five years and then moved to Tokyo, where he practiced for 12 years. “I first had the opportunity to design and develop projects with environmental sustainability considerations as formal design criteria in Tokyo,” he says. Upon returning to the U.S. in 2000, he joined the UC Office of the President as assistant director of design and construction services, with responsibilities for oversight of new building designs system-wide. Michael was the lead staff member in the development of the University’s new Green Building and Clean Energy Policy while at UCOP. He recently became director of capital programs at UC San Francisco, which is in the midst of developing a new research campus at Mission Bay in San Francisco. “UCSF is a very exciting place to be!”
Appeared in Spring 2005 issue
Donna Tunkel Lilborn, B.S., Soil Resource Management, received her Master of Landscape Architecture from the University of Massachusetts at Amherst in May 2004.
Appeared in Fall 2004 issue
Sharon Marie Paris, Conservation of Natural Resources ’78, has worked for the federal government for the past 29 years—in three land management agencies and in four states. Starting as a park ranger on Alcatraz Island in 1979, she transferred to Carlsbad Caverns National Park in 1982 and then to Valley Forge National Historical Park in 1985. After seven years with the park service, she became a Bureau of Land Management ranger in Needles, Calif., then a natural resource specialist in Barstow, Calif. In 1992 she transferred to the Forest Service at Boise National Forest as a NEPA/litigation specialist. In 1999 she transferred back to BLM where she is now the Natural Resource Specialist overseeing the postfire recovery program. She looks forward to retiring in a couple years to do volunteer work and travel.
Appeared in Summer 2008 issue
Vishnu-priya Sneller, Ph.D., Parasitology/Medical Entomology, has been with the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention for nine years, and produced the adult immunization schedule that has been adopted by the Department of Health and Human Services. Vishnupriya also spends time involved with refugee health and complex emergencies, “which is closer to my heart than analyzing databases. I wish I could have continued as a parasitologist or vector-borne disease epidemiologist. I still hold dear my time at Berkeley and miss being with Dr. Reginald H. Dadd (deceased) and Dr. Clarence Weinman, who were my co-thesis directors and mentors par excellence.”
Appeared in Spring 2005 issue
Richard Walton, Forestry ’78, currently works in Chico, Calif., and is deciding what to do next.
Appeared in Summer 2008 issue
Michael Wellborn, B.S., Conservation of Natural Resources, reports runs the Advance Planning section for the County of Orange. In 2004, as president of the Board of Directors of the California Watershed Network, he helped oppose a state Department of Industrial Relations labor interpretation that made community volunteers subject to prevailing wage requirements. “The impacts of this determination undermined restoration, trail maintenance, and community clean-up efforts and brought up serious labor questions....We engaged with the governor’s office and Berkeley Assemblywoman Loni Hancock, who bravely submitted a bill to save community volunteerism. The bill was signed by the governor in August, to the relief of volunteers throughout California.”
Appeared in Spring 2005 issue
Vincent Berg, M.S. Range Management ’79, worked for PG&E in a variety of roles over 18 years following graduation. For the past 9 years, he has worked in the telecommunications department at Charles Schwab and Co. in San Francisco, in performance and capacity planning for the company’s data network.
Appeared in Summer 2008 issue
Vincent Berg, M.S., Range Management, worked for two years at Lawrence Berkeley Laboratory, then for 18 years at PG&E, in jobs that included business planning, forecasting, marketing, and information technology. For the past five years, he has been doing capacity and performance planning for the data network at Charles Schwab. Cynthia Macedo Feibert, B.S., Biology of Natural Resources, works part time at the Ohio State University Experiment Station. She and her husband met in graduate school at UC Santa Cruz, performed research in tropical ecology in Brazil (where he is from), and now have three daughters.
Appeared in Spring 2005 issue
Andrew S. Coblentz, B.S., Biology-Natural Resources, is a sixth grade teacher in Daly City and looks for every opportunity to bring insects into the curriculum.
Appeared in Fall 2004 issue
Margaret Rands, M.S., Conservation of Natural Resources; M.P.P., Goldman School of Public Policy, ’81, took advantage of an offer to retire early from her position as manager of the Santa Clara County California Integrated Waste Management Division last July. She subsequently moved to Texas to spend more time with her family, including three grandchildren. “I'm looking for a home to buy, enjoying explorations of the East Texas area, taking opportunities to travel, and considering what I want to do next,” she says.
Appeared in Spring 2005 issue
Teri Ewell Broadhurst, B.S., Nutrition, Food Science and Dietetics, and M.P.H., Nutrition, writes, “Life is good. Health and wellness of body, mind, and spirit is the key!”
Appeared in Spring 2005 issue
Meg Gawler, B.S., Conservation of Natural Resources, has been an independent nature conservation and human development consultant for six years. She lives and works in France, near Geneva, Switzerland. Her work focuses mostly on evaluations of conservation projects and programs. “I am doing some exciting work evaluating UNICEF’s work in Central and Eastern Europe and the former Soviet Republics,” she reports. In 2004, various missions took Meg to Mali, Thailand, Spain, Belarus, Georgia, FYRO Macedonia, Albania, and Tanzania. “My family now boasts four delightful granddaughters, and fun includes training a young and lively Lusitano horse.”
Appeared in Spring 2005 issue
Michelle Leonard, Conservation of Natural Resources and Environmental Studies ’80, lives in Pasadena, Calif. She is a vice president of SCS Engineers, a national environmental consulting firm. She specializes in the design and implementation of solid waste management plans and recycling programs.
Appeared in Summer 2008 issue
Elicia (Newkirk) Benstein, B.S., Nutrition, Food Science and Dietetics, married in 2000 and now has three stepchildren. Her husband, Harvey, is conductor of the Contra Costa Chamber Orchestra and the Walnut Creek Concert Band (where they met; she plays the flute). Elicia works at Jelly Belly, where she creates new candy products and jelly belly flavors.
Appeared in Spring 2005 issue
Yong Lee (Lam), B.S., Nutrition and Dietetics, was assistant director of the Scripps Family Medicine Residency Program in Chula Vista, Calif., for seven years. He and his wife Deanna have added three children to their home: Samuel, Caleb, and Sage. “They have all the makings of future Bears!” The family recently moved to Shanghai, where Yong will be coordinating an urgent care and inpatient service at an international hospital. “If anyone knows of fellow Bears in China, please let us know!”
Appeared in Winter 2007 issue
Tom Larsen, B.S., Conservation of Natural Resources, and his wife Debbie Williams have committed their 12-year-old laptop-case company, Shoreline, to a path toward “green” materials. Distributed in over 500 retail stores nationwide, the cases will be made from recycled PET plastics and should start to arrive in the market in October. Larsen says the commitment makes Shoreline the first import bag brand to fully convert its product line from non-green to green materials.
Appeared in Fall 2007 issue
Dale Morris, B.S., Forestry, is a regional natural resources officer at the Bureau of Indian Affairs, Pacific Regional Office, in Sacramento.
Appeared in Spring 2005 issue
Heidi (Stettler) Hagler, B.S., Nutrition, Food Science and Dietetics, received an M.S. in Nutrition from the University of London and has been married and lived in Belmont, Calif., for 16 years. She has a 13-year-old son and a nine-year-old daughter. “I’ve worked for the same company for 15 years. I’ve been on the same masters swim team for 10 years. But the new form of recreation I took up only two years ago qualifies as news: full-contact kung fu! And yes, I really am too old, but it is so much fun!”
Appeared in Spring 2005 issue
Greg Syren, Conservation of Natural Resources ’81, has worked in the urban environment since 1985, representing criminal defendants for Alameda County—“Not exactly the ‘environmental’ legal job I imagined,” he says. “Nevertheless, I still consider issues of the environment the most important in our society.”
Appeared in Summer 2008 issue
Valerie Yerger, Conservation of Natural Resources ’81, is a licensed naturopathic doctor with a special interest in cleansing the body of environmental toxins. Several years ago she joined the faculty at the University of California, San Francisco, where her research focuses on tobacco-related health disparities. Dr. Yerger initiated the investigation of melanin’s potential role in nicotine addiction. Her research has appeared in a number of peer-reviewed journals. She is also the mother of four children: Shannon, Ainye, Craig, and Justin.
Appeared in Summer 2008 issue
Julian Henkin, Forestry ’82, has “made a grand loop, now ending up in New York as a principal in the hedge fund firm Green Ventures International, trading emission reduction credits.”
Appeared in Summer 2008 issue
Janet M. Pang, B.S., Nutrition and Food Science, has been in food product development since graduation, and has primarily worked with natural and organic foods. She is currently working for California Natural Products in Lathrop, Calif. She was a guest speaker in Professor Benito De Lumen's Nutritional Science 106 class in 2003 and 2004. She is happily married to Stanley Liu. “We both attended and graduated from Oakland High School in 1978, but we didn't meet until a friend introduced us in 1999.”
Appeared in Spring 2005 issue
Stan Aronoff, Ph.D., Wildland Resource Science, specialized in remote sensing while at Cal and was Bob Colwell’s last graduate student. His most recent book, Remote Sensing for GIS Managers, was released last year. His previous books were Geographic Information Systems: A Management Perspective (1989) and Total Workplace Performance: Rethinking the Office Environment with Audrey Kaplan (1995). He currently lives in Ottawa, Ontario, where he is a writer and a consultant.
Appeared in Summer 2006 issue
Steven M. Carr, Ph.D., Genetics, is currently professor of biology at the Memorial University of Newfoundland, and was recently cross-appointed to the Faculty of Medicine as professor of genetics. His research focuses on population genomics of vertebrate species, with special interest in endangered marine species (seals, cod, and wolfish) and the founding human population of Newfoundland—the oldest colony in North America. Steve teaches courses in genetics, evolution, and biotechnology, and was named one of MUN's best teachers by the 2004 McLean's annual review of Canadian universities. He married Justyna Ciszewska in December 2002. They have enjoyed travel to Russia, Poland, and California. They live in the historic downtown area of St. John's, North America's oldest city.
Appeared in Spring 2005 issue
Thomas Fitch, Forestry ’83, lives in Tracy, Calif., and has worked at Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory since 2000 as a chemist. He and his wife, a teacher in Stockton, have been married for 17 years and have an 8-yearold daughter in the 3rd grade. They plan to vacation in Boston and New York this summer.
Appeared in Summer 2008 issue
Vijaya Nagarajan, B.S., Political Economy of Natural Resources, is finishing up a book on women's ritual art and ecology, Drawing Down Desires: Women, Ritual and Ecology in India. She married in 1991 and now is a mother of twin four-year-old girls. She finished her Ph.D. in 1998 at Berkeley in South Asian Studies, emphasizing anthropology, Tamil literature, and art history. She was at Harvard on the Women's Studies in Religion fellowship from 2001-2002, recently attained tenure in the Department of Religious Studies at University of San Francisco, and teaches in USF’s Environmental Studies program. Vijaya “I have a lot to be grateful for,” she says. “I am also looking for a couple of old friends from those days whom I lost touch with.”
Appeared in Spring 2005 issue
David Stanley (Samuelso), Ph.D., Entomology, has made a career transition after 16 years at the University of Nebraska. He is now the research leader and supervisory research entomologist at the Biological Control of Insects Research Laboratory, USDA/ARS, in Columbia, Missouri.
Appeared in Spring 2005 issue
Donald A. Friend, B.S., Conservation of Natural Resources, received a Fulbright Scholarship for sabbatical leave to the Institut für Geographie at Friedrich-Alexander Universität, Erlangen, Germany during the 2004-2005 school year. There, he is finishing a text on mountain peoples and environments, to be published by University of California Press. Upon returning to the U.S. he will serve as chair of the geography department at Minnesota State University.
Appeared in Spring 2005 issue
Michael Green, Conservation and Resource Studies ’84, lives in Albany and works in Oakland, Calif. He is executive director of the Center for Environmental Health (www.cehca.org).
Appeared in Summer 2008 issue
Ann Mayo Hobbs, Conservation of Natural Resources ’84, is currently employed with the Placer County Air Pollution Control District in California. This year marks her 21st year of working in the air quality field. She finds that her conservation background has aided her work with smoke management, especially in the Lake Tahoe Basin. She and her husband Doug (Forestry Camp ’84) live in Nevada City in the Sierra Nevada foothills with two children, Colt, 14, and Blaire, 11.
Appeared in Summer 2008 issue
David T. Leung, B.S., Political Economics of Natural Resources, and B.A., Applied Mathematics, ’84, left New Jersey for China in 1997 to manage an American wireless manufacturing subsidiary. “It has been a truly rewarding experience participating in the reforms of the Chinese economy and in the reshaping of the society,” he said. He will get another such opportunity when he moves into his new job, vice president of operations and strategy, helping a Chinese pharmaceutical company compete in the fast-growing pharmaceutical market. David will move with his wife and two daughters to a neighborhood adjacent to the 2008 Olympic Village in Beijing. “It will be an interesting challenge dealing with all the new building activities in the area, which include subways, highways and roads, public parks, and commercial and residential buildings,” said Leung.
Appeared in Fall 2004 issue
David T. Leung, B.S., Political Economy of Natural Resources, moved to Shanghai, China, with his family in 1997. They now live in Beijing. He reports: “It is wonderful being able to experience firsthand the explosive growth of the Chinese economy and see how millions of lives are being changed (mostly for the better, but a few are being left behind).” David now works for a company that manufactures and markets biopharmaceutical products and herbal medicine. “I only regret that I dozed off when my professors explained how DNA works.”
Appeared in Spring 2005 issue
Michelle E. Portman, B.S., Political Economics of Natural Resources, is currently working part time for the Massachusetts Department of Environmental Protection in the Waterways Regulation Program. The program implements state regulations that aim to preserve and protect public access and benefits in public and private tidelands. She is also studying part-time in the public policy Ph.D. program at University of Massachusetts Boston, focusing on environmental policy. Michelle also just had a children’s picture book published on the subject of vermicomposting. She lives with her husband and two children in Newton, Massachusetts.
Appeared in Fall 2004 issue
Evan Read, B.S., Genetics, has been working as a scientific illustrator at the Population Council for over 10 years. He moved to New York City in 1991 to earn an M.F.A. in painting, and now has a painting studio. His work uses strong color with pattern and simple shapes to treat a range of subjects, from science to pop culture. He is married and has a five-year-old daughter.
Appeared in Spring 2005 issue
Michael Green, B.S., Conservation and Resource Studies, has been the director of the nonprofit Center for Environmental Health for the past eight years. Focused on the intersection of public health and the environment, the center works to prevent pollution that can make people sick, and advocates for alternatives to toxic chemicals. Michael is proud of the center’s many major victories. Last summer, they helped prompt the largest product recall in U.S. history: 150 million pieces of children’s jewelry were pulled from gumball machines nationwide to protect children from potential lead poisoning. “I would love to hear from CNR grads who are interested in human health and the environment,” he says.
Appeared in Spring 2005 issue
Ken Raust, M.For., Forestry, moved to Colorado 19 years ago. “While my profession turned out to be something completely different than natural resources, I still enjoy the outdoors. I have a place in Silverthorne, Colorado, and spend a lot of time outdoors skiing, hiking, and playing golf. Oddly enough, my forestry education prepared me well for the business world. Both involve thinking and planning for longterm growth!”
Appeared in Spring 2005 issue
Michael Simsik, B.S., Forestry, completed a doctorate in education at the University of Massachusetts-Amherst in May 2003. He is now program leader for the Urban Food System at the Cornell Cooperative Extension office in New York City.
Appeared in Spring 2005 issue
Cyril Jungkoo AN, Political Economy of Natural Resources ’86, has returned to Korea and is running an automotive components manufacturing business in Korea, China and Japan. “I miss the CNR life during the ’80s and want to keep in touch with ’86 classmates,” he says.
Appeared in Summer 2008 issue
Eric Minzenberg, B.S., Forestry, served in the Peace Corps in Ecuador from 1995 to 1997, and completed his M.A. in Latin American studies at San Diego State University in 2000. He is currently at the University of Florida, writing a Ph.D. dissertation dealing with peasants and hunting in the Brazilian Amazon.
Appeared in Spring 2005 issue
Yu-Chun Wang, M.S., Forestry and Resource Management, reports that he was recently surprised to find his photo on the Web from when he attended forestry camp in 1984. [Editor's Note: See a great selection of these photos on the Forestry Camp Website.]
Appeared in Fall 2007 issue
Rica Kuno Matsumura, B.S., Genetics, established a TV game company in Japan last year and is looking forward to hearing from friends who are working in the industry.
Appeared in Spring 2005 issue
Helene Metais-Robieux, Political Economy of Natural Resources ’87, followed her husband Jean-Luc to France in 1990. She is responsible for market studies at Euro Disney, but is currently on parental leave caring for her four daughters, Estelle, 12, Stéphanie, 10, Juliette, 4, and Diane, 1.
Appeared in Summer 2008 issue
Jeri Berc, Ph.D., Soil Science, will be joining the policy staff at the EPA Office of Water in Washington, D.C. She has been working on international environmental and sustainable development issues and representing the USDA in various U.N. treaty meetings, including climate change, biodiversity, and desertification.
Appeared in Spring 2005 issue
John W. Kercheval, III, B.S., Genetics, went to work in the corporate finance department of Hambrecht & Quist in San Francisco following graduation. In 1991, he returned to Berkeley to earn his MBA in Finance in 1993. From 1993-1996 he returned to Hambrecht as a vice president in its technology investment banking division. In 1996, he relocated to his native Washington, D.C., area to become director of financial planning and analysis for the Orbital Sciences Corporation and was subsequently appointed vice president and treasurer of its ORBCOMM subsidiary.
Appeared in Fall 2004 issue
Rob Lilieholm, Ph.D., Wildland Resource Science, has become increasingly involved in a new bioregional planning program at Utah State University, where he keeps busy forecasting future landscape-level urbanization patterns and their impact on wildlands. Rob and his wife are both currently on sabbatical from USU. He reports that, “Somewhere along the way, we've acquired two dependents (Jennifer is 12 and Tommy is 8).”
Appeared in Spring 2005 issue
Sandra Rosenblum, B.S., Conservation and Resource Studies, returned to Berkeley to earn her M.P.H. degree after a five-year stint as a certified nurse midwife. She is currently working as the maternal, child, and adolescent health director for Marin County. “Because I take my job so seriously, last June my husband Peter and I welcomed our own first child, Nathaniel Kurt,” she says.
Appeared in Spring 2005 issue
James L. J. Houpis, Ph.D., Wildland Resource Science, is dean of the College of Natural Sciences at California State University, Chico. In the past year under his leadership, the college established a new environmental literacy program, expanded its ecological and environmental research, added a new degree option in applied ecology, and are in the process of establishing the Center for Ecology and Environmental Sciences.
Appeared in Spring 2005 issue
Chris Nelson, B.S., Conservation and Resource Studies, was married in 1999 and is the father of two young boys, Kyle and Liam. Chris has been working on remediation of the Presidio of San Francisco for more than five years.
Appeared in Spring 2005 issue
Andrew M. Streiber, B.S., Political Economy of Natural Resources, left the Los Angeles music industry in 1998, after almost 10 years. In 1999, he started working on prerequisites for veterinary school, and he is now in his third year at the Kansas State University College of Veterinary Medicine. He will graduate as a Doctor of Veterinary Medicine in May 2006. “I hope to return to Southern California as an intern in surgery and critical care for a year and then go into small animal private practice in general medicine,” he says.
Appeared in Spring 2005 issue
Karen Frye, B.S., Environmental Economics and Policy, is now working for the San Francisco Public Utilities Commission (SFPUC) in their Bureau of Environmental Management. She oversees CEQA/NEPA documents and regulatory compliance for various projects.
Appeared in Fall 2007 issue
Lea (Hutchinson) Murry, B.S., Nutrition and Food Science; M.P.H., Public Health Nutrition, ’92, is the president and founder of Certified Trainers, Inc., a small company in Oakland. She and her staff provide educational and first aid/CPR training to staff and administrators of nonmedical residential care facilities. Lea is married to Benjamin Murray, has two children (Camren, 8, and Travis, 3). They plan to move to Miami, Fla., this summer to establish her company there.
Appeared in Fall 2004 issue
Sheila (Seshan) Steinberg, M.S., Wildland Resource Studies, 1990, had a baby boy, Joshua Steinberg. Both Dr. Steinberg and her husband, Steve Steinberg, just received tenure and promotion at Humboldt State University.
Appeared in Spring 2005 issue
Crystal Adeline Johnson, B.S., Conservation and Resource Studies, moved to Hawaii in 1992, where she enjoyed hiking and swimming and worked for a large engineering firm as an energy analyst, assessing alternative energy fuels for the U.S. Department of Energy. After three years she moved to Boston and worked for the Massachusetts Aeronautics Commission, focusing on wetland issues. For the last five years she has worked in New York City, where she is currently a senior project analyst in the environmental planning and assessment office of the city’s Department of Environmental Protection. Crystal also writes articles for the Gazette, a newsletter of the New York City Parks Department. “Thank you, CNR, for providing an incredible education that fostered a connection to the environment that is truly reflected in my life,” she says.
Appeared in Spring 2005 issue
Robyn Myers, M.S., Landscape and Systems Ecology, works on the NRCS Watershed Planning Services Staff in Davis, Calif. In her off time at home in American Canyon (Napa County), Robyn and her husband Brad (a park ranger with the East Bay Regional Park District) are breeder-caretakers for Korina, a black lab/golden retriever mix whose puppies are raised to become canine companions for people with disabilities.
Appeared in Spring 2005 issue
Joshua Polston, B.S., Political Economy of Natural Resources, and M.A., Urban Planning, ’98, recently began working for MuniFinancial as a senior project manager, assisting cities and counties with financial planning and programming. He had his second child, Bayla, in October.
Appeared in Fall 2005 issue
Grace Wang, B.S., Political Economy of Natural Resources, has been teaching Environmental and Natural Resource Policy at Western Washington University for more than three years. She loves living in the Pacific Northwest and teaching about the wonderful resources of that region.
Appeared in Summer 2006 issue
Kenneth R. Hobson, Ph.D., Entomology, teaches entomology, ecology, introductory zoology, and a senior capstone class on the origin of human behavior for the University of Oklahoma’s more than 800 zoology majors. He also teaches two classes for non-majors that introduce biological concepts and look at current issues in biology, as well as a summer course in insect ecology at the OU Biological Station.
Appeared in Fall 2005 issue
Jolie Kaytes, Conservation and Resource Studies ’92, is a faculty member in the Department of Horticulture and Landscape Architecture at Washington State University, and was recently promoted to associate professor.
Appeared in Summer 2008 issue
Beto Borges, B.S., Conservation and Resource Studies, obtained an M.B.A. in strategic leadership after graduating from UC Berkeley. After working in executive positions with Rainforest Action Network, Shaman Pharmaceuticals, Goldman Environmental Foundation, Aguirre International, and Adopt-A-Watershed, he is now the director of the communities and markets program at Forest Trends. At Forest Trends, his work is to leverage payments or compensation for ecosystem services to benefit forest and rural communities in Africa and Latin America. More about Forest Trends.
Jon Chorover, Ph.D., Soil Science, moved from a faculty
position at Penn State to the University of Arizona in
2001. “I could not pass up the opportunity to get back out
West,” he says. Now an associate professor of environmental
chemistry specializing in soil and water systems,
Jon says he is enjoying the beautiful Sonoran Desert.
Appeared in Spring 2005 issue
Dan Irelan, Conservation and Resource Studies ’93, recently moved to Alaska to take a one-year position as an interpretive ranger at Denali National Park. For the previous three years, he was the director of the Pigeon Point Environmental Education Program in Pescadero, Calif., where he taught coastal, marine, and redwood ecology to public school students. He says, “When I was not taking students to meet tide pool animals and northern elephant seals, I was spending summers as a park ranger in Denali and Sequoia National Parks.”
Appeared in Summer 2008 issue
Simon Kingston, B.S., Forest Management, married Lisa Conner in 1995 and worked for Weyerhaeuser Company in Washington state from 1995 to 1999. Since 2000 he has worked for Colorado State University as a National Park Service Cooperator and as a desktop application developer for the National Park Service's NPSpecies database, which documents the occurrence of organisms in the National Parks.
Appeared in Spring 2005 issue
Evan R. Sorem, B.S., Political Economy of Natural Resources, is married and is expecting a second child this spring.“We are very excited about adding to our family, he writes.“The most excited person is this child's big brother, Andrew. He can’t wait.”
Appeared in Spring 2005 issue
John Stevens, Conservation and Resource Studies and Geography ’93, moved to Boise, Idaho in 2002. He is a partner with Thornton Oliver Keller Commercial Real Estate, specializing in investment real estate sales. He has been married nearly 10 years and has a 6-year-old boy and a 3-year-old girl.
Appeared in Summer 2008 issue
Jennifer (Kline) Vallina, B.S., Political Economics of Natural Resources, 1993, moved to Washington D.C. and works for the Boston Consulting Group as the American marketing project coordinator.
Appeared in Fall 2004 issue
Jennifer K. Vallina, B.S., Political Economy of Natural Resources, recently purchased a house in Silver Spring, Md. Her baby is due July 4.
Appeared in Spring 2005 issue
Erik Terreri, B.S., Political Economy of Natural Resources, is a senior economist for Competition Policy Associates, Inc. (COMPASS) in San Francisco. COMPASS is an economic consulting firm specializing in financial and economic analysis of policy, regulatory, and litigation matters for corporations, governments, and public-sector entities in the U.S. and around the world.
Appeared in Fall 2005 issue
Laurel Treviño Murphy, M.S.,Wildland Resource Sciences, is building an eco-house with photovoltaic and rainwater collection systems, appropriate architecture, super efficient appliances, and a greenhouse for native plants and bonsai. She is becoming a land steward of 10 acres in the Texas Hill Country with a vegetation of oak savanna and cedar elms. She is thinning excess “cedar” (Juniperus ashei), re-introducing native grasses and wild- flowers, and cultivating native trees and shrubs including oaks, yaupon holly, deciduous holly,Texas persimmon, and many more. Her husband, Carlos Torres-Verdín, received his Ph.D. at Berkeley and is a professor at the University of Texas at Austin. They are confident in their long-term plan for the eco-house, and have received prizes for their water-wise native plant landscape.
Appeared in Spring 2005 issue
Amit Batabyal, Ph.D. Agricultural and Resource Economics ‘94, recently published his fifth book, Dynamic and Stochastic Approaches to the Environment and Economic Development.
Appeared in Summer 2008 issue
Amit Batabyal, Ph.D., Agricultural and Resource Economics, is the Arthur J. Gosnell Professor of Economics at the Rochester Institute of Technology in Rochester, New York. Academic research and upper division undergraduate teaching are his two primary duties.
Appeared in Spring 2005 issue
Rebecca Drummond, B.S., Conservation and Resource Studies, was an English teacher in Ecuador for three years, and then returned to southern New Mexico to teach adult basic education and ESL in border commu- nities. She recently received an M.A. in Geography and Regional Development at the University of Arizona and has spent the past four years working with Mexican- American families with diabetes, as well as health workers. She developed a family-based diabetes curriculum that received a Health Education Multi-Media Yearly Award from the Arizona Public Health Association. She is currently a program evaluator for a CDCinitiative that focuses on asthma, diabetes, and obesity in rural communities along the Arizona-Mexico border.
Appeared in Spring 2005 issue
Holly (Elizabeth) Glenn Carter, B.S., Bioresource Sciences, graduated from the Royal Veterinary College in London in 2000 and is currently working on a certificate in exotic and zoo animal medicine. She works as a small animal vet and is married to an Englishman named Daniel Carter.Their first child was born in April 2004.
Appeared in Spring 2005 issue
Ted Raab, Ph.D. Agricultural Chemistry ’94, is a senior scientist at Stanford University, working on tropical forest processes, especially ferns in Hawaii and Suriname. He and his wife Dominique will find time to travel to Canada, New Zealand, and Tanzania later this year.
Appeared in Summer 2008 issue
Eric Engelhard, Ph.D., Entomology, has two children with his wife Gabriella (whom many of his classmates knew as the Cocolat pastry chef). He followed career opportunities to the East Coast and Switzerland before settling in Davis, Calif., in 1999. Eric is currently director of bio-analytics at Fair Isaac Corporation, and Gabriella has her own chocolate dessert company, Vevey Confections.
Appeared in Summer 2006 issue
Dan Oppenheimer, Ph.D., Entomology, works at at Biomarin Pharmaceuticals, where he was recently promoted to program leader, PKU director, and program manager.
Appeared in Spring 2005 issue
Sylvia Busby, B.S., Conservation and Resource Studies, and her husband Bruce just had their first baby, a girl named Aiko. Sylvia has been working with the Nature Conservancy of California since 2005 as program coordinator of conservation science and planning.
Appeared in Fall 2007issue
Sylvia Stone, B.S., Conservation and Resource Studies, spent four years with the Wildlife Conservation Society. She now works with the Nature Conservancy of California as coordinator of conservation science and planning.
Appeared in Summer 2006 issue
Kerry Eastman (Stendell), B.S., Conservation and Resource Studies, was married in 2002 to Eric Stendell (Bioresource Sciences ’96). They are expecting their first child this spring.
Appeared in Spring 2005 issue
Kai Craig, B.S., Conservation and Resource Studies, spent five years as a video game designer and consultant in the Bay Area, but has now moved to Long Beach, Calif., with his wife Molly. He is currently in graduate school at Cal Poly Pomona, studying landscape architecture.
Appeared in Winter 2007 issue
Ronald Gartland, B.S., Political Economy of Natural Resources, attended the Bren School at UCSB, where he earned a master’s degree in Environmental Science and Management. After graduation in 2000, Ron volunteered as a restoration coordinator with the Friends of Sausal Creek, an urban watershed restoration group in Oakland. He was then hired as a restoration ecologist intern in the Mojave Desert through the Environmental Careers Organization (ECO). He was tasked with creating and implementing an arid lands restoration plan in critical desert tortoise habitat. Currently, he is the lead Bureau of Land Management restoration specialist for the California Desert District, assisting coordination of restoration projects in a variety of critical habitats.
Appeared in Fall 2005 issue
Andrew Hoppin, M.S., Wildland Resource Science, aims to transform domestic politics by empowering grassroots organizations and campaigns through technology tools.“See Civic Space Labs and Trellon for organizations I'm currently working with.”
Appeared in Spring 2005 issue
Elissa Meites, B.S., Bioresource Sciences, earned an M.P.H. in Public Health Policy and Management in 2004. She will finish her M.D. at Stanford in 2005 and is looking forward to beginning her residency in family medicine.
Appeared in Spring 2005 issue
Janice Dean, B.S., Conservation and Resource Studies, reports that she is currently the assistant attorney general for the State of New York in the Environmental Protection Bureau in New York City.
Appeared in Winter 2007 issue
Sarvy Mahdavi, B.S., Environmental Economics and Policy, worked as an investment banking analyst and then as a marketing specialist for an environmental consulting company. She is now attending the Bren School at UCSB, working toward her master’s degree in Environmental Science and Management.
Appeared in Fall 2005 issue
Camella (Mia) Potter, Nutritional Science-Dietetics ’99, now lives in Portland, Ore., and works on quality-of-life research focusing on breast cancer survivors and men with prostate cancer. This fall she will start a doctorate in naturopathic medicine.
Appeared in Summer 2008 issue
Amy Tang Colitz, Conservation and Resource Studies ’00, finished her master’s degree in education and her multiple subject teaching credential at UCSC in 2006. She is now finishing her second year as a bilingual 7th grade math and science teacher at a dual-immersion Spanish and English charter school in Watsonville, Calif. She says: “I love this community and feel that my work helps empower students, particularly students of color, to be proud of their cultural heritage, to value education, and to continue to make positive contributions to society.”
Appeared in Summer 2008 issue
Sara Gallegos, Environmental Economics and Policy ’00, lives in Napa, Calif. She married soon after graduating, and worked for Vallejo Garbage Service as recycling manager for five years. She now works for the City of Napa as a materials diversion analyst (recycling coordinator).
Appeared in Summer 2008 issue
Kate Phillips-Barrasso, B.S., Conservation and Resource Studies, is completing an M.A. in International Development Studies, focusing on natural resources and development. She married Giulio Barrasso, who she met while teaching English in Italy, in May of last year.
Appeared in Spring 2005 issue
Eliza Barclay, Conservation and Resource Studies ’01, is a freelance journalist based in Washington, DC, covering international environmental, health and business issues with a focus on East Africa and Latin America.
Appeared in Summer 2008 issue
Rishie R. Laroia, B.S., Nutritional Science and Toxicology, is currently working for Chiron Corporation in Emeryville as a quality control analyst, testing cancer drugs for biological activity.
Appeared in Fall 2004 issue
Richard Brody, B.S., Conservation of Natural Resources, just received his master’s degree in physical geography and hydrology at UCLA, married, and bought a house in Topanga, California. He has an 18-month-old baby girl named Sidney (after Sid Vicious), and is now doing wetland delineation and regulatory consulting at Impact Sciences in Southern California.
Appeared in Fall 2005 issue
Aaron Gronstal, B.S., Molecular Environmental Biology, continued work in astrobiology at NASA following graduation. He moved to Strasbourg, France, in 2004 to finish a master of science degree in space studies at the International Space University, working on life in extremely arid deserts on Earth. He is currently a Ph.D. candidate at the Open University (UK) in Astrobiology, studying subsurface microbes in asteroid impact craters and other extreme environments.
Appeared in Winter 2007 issue
Aaron Gronstal, B.S., Molecular Environmental Biology, continued his work in astrobiology at NASA following graduation. He moved to Strasbourg, France, in 2004 to finish a master’s degree in space studies at the International Space University, studying life in extremely arid deserts. Currently, he is a Ph.D. candidate in astrobiology at the Open University in the United Kingdom, studying subsurface microbes in asteroid impact craters and other extreme environments.
Appeared in Summer 2006 issue
Tracy Held, Conservation and Resource Studies ’02, recently left her role as outreach director at Bay Nature magazine to pursue other interests, including acting, playwriting, and acupressure massage. She also studies aikido and works as a martial arts instructor. Her first children’s play was performed in April at Laney College in Oakland, and she is getting married this summer.
Appeared in Summer 2008 issue
Tracy L. Held, B.S., Conservation and Resource Studies, is working for Bay Nature magazine as an outreach and development associate.
Appeared in Fall 2004 issue
Alex Holton, B.S., Resource Management, sends his love to alumni of Forestry Camp from 2001. “I miss you guys.”
Appeared in Fall 2007 issue
Amy M. Ling, B.S., Conservation and Resource Studies, is in her second year at Harvard Law School, working to develop and promote an environmental law curriculum. She is an article editor on the Harvard Environmental Law Reviewand the speakers/education chairperson of the Harvard Environmental Law Society. Amy spent last summer working in the Environmental Protection Division of the Massachusetts attorney general's office, working on national regulations. “I'm also a tour guide for the admissions office,”she says.“So any- one from CNR who would like to talk about Harvard or law school generally, feel free to contact me.”
Appeared in Spring 2005 issue
Monica L. Morrill, B.S., Environmental Economics and Policy, has been living in Europe since graduation. She received an M.A. in International Relations through the University of Paris, XI, worked with an investigative journalist on a bestselling book on counterterrorism, and currently works in the European Parliament. Monica recently started a Ph.D. program at the University of Cambridge in Economic Geography, investigating the economic and political impacts of parallel importation and arbitrage within the European Union.“I miss the University Library and the Morrison Room at Berkeley, and I miss sitting on the grass in front of Gianinni,”she says. “The people and the place made my academic experience a source of encouragement to contribute to environmental, economic, and political solutions.”
Appeared in Spring 2005 issue
Jonathan Shu, B.S., Environmental Economics Policy, is expecting a baby in September.
Appeared in Spring 2005 issue
Scott Turner, Ph.D., Nutritional Sciences, has had two children since graduating. Lola is 2 years old and Dutch is 4 months.
Appeared in Spring 2005 issue
Matt Wacker, M.S., Environmental Science, works for a nonprofit organization that owns or manages nearly 50,000 acres of habitat for threatened and endangered species throughout California. He is responsible for biological monitoring and surveying, noxious weed control, livestock grazing, prescribed burning, grassland and riparian restoration, and public education and outreach within four preserves (two in Solano County and two in Butte County). He works on a variety of special projects throughout California involving the management of vernal pools, grasslands, and oak woodlands. He recently moved to Orangevale, CAwith his wife Marcy and son Jackson, and is converting a portion of their property to a small nursery devoted to California native grasses.
Appeared in Spring 2005 issue
Garth Schultz, B.S., Environmental Sciences, has lived in Berkeley with his wife Megan for the past three years. He works with the city of El Cerrito’s Solid Waste Division as a Waste Reduction Specialist. “I’ve been spending lots of time working on the development of the Berkeley Environmental Alumni Network (BEAN) which is doing great work."
Appeared in Winter 2007 issue
Kaete King (Eisenmann), B.S., Environmental Economics and Policy, is working for the California North Coast Regional Water Quality Control Board. She works in the timber division, protecting water quality in watersheds north of the Eel River. She says she’s very happy with her job: “It’s a dream come true.”
Appeared in Fall 2007 issue
Rachel Grande, B.S., Nutritional Sciences and Toxicology, is currently in her second year at UCSF School of Pharmacy and plans to specialize in pharmaceutical sciences.
Appeared in Spring 2005 issue
Ian C. Herriott, B.S., Molecular Environmental Biology, entered the master’s program at the University of Alaska Fairbanks. He is a recipient of a graduate research fellowship from the Experimental Program to Stimulate Competitive Research (EPSCoR) and will be studying soil fungal community dynamics during the winter in Alaska.
Appeared in Fall 2004 issue
Mary Sorensen, Molecular Environmental Biology ’03, received her Ph.D. from UC Riverside in 2007 and is currently a postdoctoral researcher in insect ecology.
Appeared in Summer 2008 issue
Michael Westphal, Ph.D., Environmental Science, Policy, and Management, started a position in the Environment Department of the World Bank in Washington, D.C. His work focuses on climate change and biodiversity.
Appeared in Winter 2007 issue
Cheryl Chu, B.S., Conservation and Resource Studies (Environmental Health and Human Nutrition), entered the University of San Francisco’s graduate program in Environmental Management and gained a paid internship at a local biopharmaceutical company, Berlex Biosciences, after graduation. She now works at a consulting firm called Environmental and Occupational Risk Management (with many other UCB alumni).”I’m doing my best to help industries be environmentally responsible and comply with occupational safety regulations,” she reports. “Life is great, and I thank Cal for challenging me to improve my knowledge and personality.”
Appeared in Winter 2007 issue
Simone Cifuentes, Environmental Economics and Policy ’04, moved to New Orleans after Hurricane Katrina to help rebuild. “Soon after, I bought a house where I live with other Young Urban Rebuilding Professionals (YURPs) sharing the rising cost of living, I am currently applying to law school to pursue environmental law.”
Appeared in Summer 2008 issue
Audrey Krompholz, B.S., Environmental Science, is an envrionmental consultant at Professional Service Industries, Inc. She has become an EPA-accredited California site surveillance technician and has started project manager training.“Seventy-five percent of my company’s recent hires are new Cal graduates,”she reports.“It makes the office workplace lively and fun!”
Appeared in Fall 2004 issue
Jake van den Akker, B.S., Environmental Economics and Policy, is now working for Quality Assurance International, an organic certification firm in San Diego.
Appeared in Fall 2005 issue
Michael Colvin, Environmental Economics ’05 and M.S., Public Policy 07, recently began working as a policy analyst at the California Public Utilities Commission. He reports: “I am on the greenhouse gas team and loving all that I am doing!”
Appeared in Summer 2008 issue
Michael Colvin, B.S., Environmental Economics and Policy, has moved “up the hill” to pursue a master’s degree at UC Berkeley’s Goldman School of Public Policy. He is also one of the newest members of the CNR Advisory Board, and is delighted to stay close to the College while continuing his education.
Appeared in Summer 2006 issue
Jason Delborne, Ph.D. Environmental Science, Policy and Management ’05, is finishing a postdoctoral fellowship at the University of Wisconsin-Madison and preparing to begin a faculty position at the Colorado School of Mines. He will be an assistant professor of science, technology, society, and policy in the division of Liberal Arts and International Studies.
Appeared in Summer 2008 issue
Melisa Ip, Nutritional Sciences-Dietetics ’05, is “teaching kids to stay healthy in the greater Philadelphia area and loving it!” She is also completing an internship to become a registered dietitian. “I try to stay true to CNR by modeling and promoting a sustainable lifestyle as much as I can,” she says.
Appeared in Summer 2008 issue
Michael Joseph, B.S., Molecular Environmental Biology, is excited to be working as an environmental compliance specialist for an environmental consulting firm called Belshire Environmental Services, Inc. He says, “Thanks to the terrific courses, as well as the wonderful advising that CNR offered me, I am well prepared for the work field.”
Appeared in Fall 2007 issue
Jessica Shipley, B.S., Environmental Economics and Policy, now works in the forest conservation program of Scientific Certification Systems, an independent, third-party environmental auditing and certification company. Within the company’s chain-of-custody division, Jessica provides policy and technical guidance to a variety of forest products companies and reviews and assesses certification status of clients. She also helps with daily program maintenance functions.
Appeared in Summer 2006 issue
Catherine Sweere, B.S., Environmental Sciences and Integrative Biology, is a masters student in Oceanography at the University of Alaska, Fairbanks.
Appeared in Fall 2005 issue
Asmeret Asefaw Berhe, Ph.D. Environmental Science, Policy, and Management ’06, is currently a President’s Postdoctoral Fellow in UC Berkeley’s department of Earth and Planetary Sciences. Asmeret’s work focuses on the role of soil erosion in terrestrial carbon sequestration, and mechanisms of organic matter stabilization in soils.
Appeared in Summer 2008 issue
Chris Busch, Ph.D. Agricultural and Resource Economics ’06, is currently an economist in the Union of Concerned Scientists’ Climate Program, based in Berkeley.
Appeared in Summer 2008 issue
Brendan Cox, Environmental Economics and Policy ’06, is a certification coordinator for Scientific Certification Systems in Emeryville. He specifically works with Forest Stewardship Council certification, a market-based program promoting responsible forestry. He says it’s nice to be working in a field related to his major, and with people who care about environmental issues. A volunteer guide for the restored 1914-era Sturgeon’s Sawmill located in western Sonoma County, he is working to expand the site’s historical interpretive message to include an explanation of how contemporary forest management differs from 40 years ago and why there is still a need to harvest commodity resources.
Appeared in Summer 2008 issue
Joseph Spagna, Ph.D. Environmental Science, Policy, and Management ’06, will be starting a position as assistant professor of biology at William Paterson University this summer.
Appeared in Summer 2008 issue
Rebecca Teter, B.S., Molecular Environmental Biology, recently got a job at Novartis as a Technical Reviewer. “Very excited!”
Appeared in Winter 2007 issue
Ali Ansary, Nutritional Sciences-Physiology and Metabolism ’07, has been working with adolescent and young adult cancer patients while applying to graduate schools, and is running the National Melanoma Awareness Project, a community based program that educates young adults about melanoma and skin safety. Ali also chairs the Young Adult Leadership Council for the “I’m Too Young For This!” Young Adult Cancer Foundation, which addresses the psychosocial issues that face young adults with cancer; co-authored the AYA Cancer Patient’s Bill of Rights; and is involved in an epidemiological research program called the Kids, Adolescent and Young Adult Cancer (KAYAC) Research Program. “I hope to be able to eventually foster change beyond the doctor’s office,” Ali says.
Appeared in Summer 2008 issue
Lauren Au, Nutritional Sciences-Dietetics ’07, is pursuing an M.S. in Nutrition & Public Health and Dietetic Internship at Teachers College, Columbia University. She is on the school’s triathlon and water polo teams and plans to complete her first Olympic triathlon in September.
Appeared in Summer 2008 issue
Verena Hui, Nutritional Sciences-Dietetics ’07, recently completed a part-time pastry-baking course in San Francisco. She’s now looking forward to a bit of traveling in the U.S. before returning to her home in Hong Kong in the summer.
Appeared in Summer 2008 issue
Briana Kobor, B.S., Environmental Economics and Policy, works as a technical analyst for NRW & Associates in downtown Oakland. It is a small firm that does consulting work including economic, regulatory, and policy analysis. So far she says she’s really enjoying her job: “The work is challenging, varied, and extremely topical.” She’s currently working on a number of projects and learning very fast. In the future, she hopes to go to graduate school.
Appeared in Fall 2007 issue
Ashley Terrell, Nutritional Science and Toxicology ’07, has enrolled in the UCLA molecular toxicology Ph.D. program.
Appeared in Summer 2008 issue
Hendrik Wolf, Ph.D. Agricultural and Resource Economics ’07, is an assistant professor of economics at the University of Washington.
Appeared in Summer 2008 issue
Simon Wong, Environmental Sciences and Molecular Environmental Biology ’07, has been working as a pharmacy technician and “taking some time to take care of stuff” before heading to pharmacy school in August.
Appeared in Summer 2008 issue
