Meet the Gund Community

With 300 scholars in Vermont and across the world, the Institute brings together a network of internationally recognized researchers from diverse disciplines, including the natural and social sciences, business, health, technology, engineering, and the humanities. Meet our community.

By the Numbers

  • 300 Scholars from 8 UVM colleges and 80+ external institutions
  • 28 Countries represented
  • 50 Events hosted annually

UVM Faculty Fellows |  Postdoc Fellows  |   Graduate Student Fellows  | UVM Faculty Affiliates  | Global Affiliates | Advisory Board  |  Leadership Team  | Ombudsperson 


Faculty Fellows are accomplished UVM faculty who have a long-term and deep engagement with the Institute. Faculty fellows are widely recognized scholars who serve as thought leaders and help to shape the research agenda of the Institute.Become a Gund Fellow

UVM Faculty Fellows

Taylor Ricketts

Director of the Gund Institute for Environment • Professor, Rubenstein School of the Environment and Natural Resources

taylor.ricketts@uvm.edu
Expertise

Economic and health benefits that nature provides to people, crop pollination by wild bees, climate and environmental impacts on children's health, conservation of global biodiversity, ecological dynamics across agricultural...

Carol Adair

Associate Professor, Rubenstein School • Faculty Fellow, Gund Institute for Environment • Director, Aiken Forestry Sciences Laboratory

carol.adair@uvm.edu
Expertise
  • global climate change
  • ecosystem ecology
  • biogeochemistry

Mads Almassalkhi

Associate Professor • Department of Electrical and Biomedical Engineering • College of Engineering and Mathematical Sciences

malmassa@uvm.edu
Expertise

Power and Energy Systems, Control Systems, Mathematical Optimization, Renewable Energy Integration

Appala Raju Badireddy

Associate Professor, Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering

raju.badireddy@uvm.edu
Expertise

Water Quality Engineering, Membrane Separation Processes, Resource Recovery from Solid- and Liquid-Waste, Environmental Photochemistry

M. Noelia Barrios-Garcia

Lecturer

noelia.barrios-garcia@uvm.edu
Expertise
  • invasive species
  • climate change
  • community ecology
  • ecosystem ecology

Robert Bartlett

Emeritus Professor, Rubenstein Sch Env & Nat Res, Political Science

Expertise

Research: American environmental politics, comparative environmental policy, international environmental governance, and global green politics

Brian Beckage

Professor, Department of Computer Science • Gund Institute for Environment Faculty Fellow • Graduate Student Advisor

Brian.Beckage@uvm.edu
Expertise
  • Forest ecology
  • Theoretical ecology
  • Statistics

Emily Belarmino, PhD

Assistant Professor

Emily.Belarmino@uvm.edu
Expertise
  • Public Health Nutrition
  • Food System-Nutrition linkages

Paul Bierman

Professor, Rubenstein School • Faculty Fellow, Gund Institute for Environment • Director of UVM/NSF Community Cosmogenic Laboratory

paul.bierman@uvm.edu
Expertise

Geology, Greenland and glaciers, geohydrology, geochemistry, geologic dating, climate change, erosion and human-landscape interaction, landscape history, and science education and communication.

Eric Bishop von Wettberg

Chair of the Department of Animal and Veterinary Science • Director of VT Agricultural Experiment Station • Professor

Eric.Bishop-Von-Wettberg@uvm.edu
Expertise

Crop genetics, evolution, genomics, breeding, domestication and sustainability. Legumes and germplasm. Animal grazing and sustainability. Agriculture, food, ecology, conservation. 

Pablo Bose

Professor

Pablo.Bose@uvm.edu
Expertise

Refugee resettlement in non-traditional destinations, food and migration, environmental displacement, kolkata and Globalization, technology, education and representation. 

Patrick J. Callery, Ph.D.

Assistant Professor

Patrick.Callery@uvm.edu
Expertise

Corporate sustainability efforts, business strategy and climate change, corporate and investor management of climate change, including carbon emissions reductions goals and information disclosure strategies.

Yolanda Fanslow Chen

Professor • Faculty Fellow, Gund Institute for Environment

Yolanda.Chen@uvm.edu
Expertise
  • Insect Ecology
  • Population Genetics
  • Agroecology
  • Evolutionary Biology
  • Insect-plant Interactions,
  • Evolution
  • Epigenetics
  • Ecological Pest Management

Chris Danforth

Director • Professor

Chris.Danforth@UVM.edu
Expertise

Cecilia Danks

Associate Professor • Affiliate, Gund Institute for Environment

cecilia.danks@uvm.edu
Expertise
  • environmental studies
  • forestry
  • environmental policy
  • sustainable forestry
  • community forestry
  • climate change mitigation
  • forest carbon markets
  • woody biomass energy

Heather Darby

Extension Professor

Heather.Darby@uvm.edu
Expertise

Soil quality and nutrient management, Grain production, Organic farming, Forages, Hops, Oilseed crops.

Mandar Dewoolkar

Interim Dean, College of Engineering and Mathematical Sciences • Professor, Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering • Affiliate, Gund Institute for Environment

mdewoolk@uvm.edu
Expertise
  • Geotechnical and geoenvironmental engineering
  • transportation geotechnics
  • hazard mitigation
  • geotechnical aspects of space exploration
  • cultural preservation
  • engineering education

Lesley-Ann L. Dupigny-Giroux

Distinguished Professor

Lesley-Ann.Dupigny-Giroux@uvm.edu
Expertise

Climate variability and change; climatology; natural hazards; drought; floods; severe weather; frontline communities; State of Vermont; State Climatologist; New England; Northeast; regional climate; adaptation; resilience.

Jon Erickson

Associate Dean for Research and Graduate Education • Professor • Faculty Fellow, Gund Institute for Environment

jon.erickson@uvm.edu
Expertise
  • Ecological economics
  • Sustainable development
  • Systems modeling

Joshua Farley

Professor • L4E Ecological Economics Lead • Affiliate, Gund Institute for Environment

jfarley@uvm.edu
Expertise

Designing an economy to balance what is biophysically possible with what is socially, psychologically, and ethically desirable. 

Joshua Faulkner

Research Associate Professor • Director, Agricultural and Environmental Testing Lab • Director, UVM Extension Center for Sustainable Agriculture

joshua.faulkner@uvm.edu
Expertise

Climate change impacts and adaptation in Northeastern agricultural systems; Treatment of agricultural wastewater and best management practices for control of nonpoint source pollution; Field scale hydrology and water management in agricultural...

Brendan Fisher

Professor • Director, Environmental Program • Affiliate, Gund Institute for Environment

brendan.fisher@uvm.edu
Expertise

Gillian Galford

Research Associate Professor • Faculty Fellow, Gund Institute for Environment

gillian.galford@uvm.edu
Expertise

Climate change and measurement, environmental sustainability, ecosystems ecology, nitrogen and carbon cycling, greenhouse gases, remote sensing, ecosystems modeling, land-cover and land-use change, tropical agriculture, Vermont's...

Ehsan Ghazanfari

Associate Professor, Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering • Affiliate, Gund Institute for Environment

Ehsan.Ghazanfari@uvm.edu
Expertise
  • Geotechnical and geoenvironmental engineering
  • Geo-energy systems
  • Sensors/sensing for civil infrastructure

Kelsey Gleason, Sc.D., M.S.

Assistant Professor

kelsey.gleason@med.uvm.edu
Expertise

Global health, humanitarian crises, climate change, forced and climate-related displacement, refugee studies.

Nicholas J. Gotelli

University Distinguished Professor of Biology • George H. Perkins Professor of Zoology

nicholas.gotelli@uvm.edu
Expertise

Organization of animal and plant communities

Rachelle Gould

Associate Professor, Rubenstein School • Faculty Fellow, Gund Institute for Environment

rachelle.gould@uvm.edu
Expertise

Instructional program: Environmental Studies
Research: Environmental values, well-being, Cultural Ecosystem Services, environmental learning, human behavior, policy, diversity, equity

Stephanie E. Hurley

Associate Dean for Faculty Affairs, College of Agriculture and Life Sciences • Professor - Ecological Landscape Design • Gund Institute for Environment Faculty Fellow

Stephanie.E.Hurley@uvm.edu
Expertise

Stormwater management, green infrastructure, landscape design, landscape architecture, land use and watershed management, urban ecology.

William Keeton

Professor • Faculty Fellow, Gund Institute for Environment

william.keeton@uvm.edu
Expertise

Instructional programs: Environmental Sciences, Forestry
Research: Forest ecology and dynamics; climate, forest carbon & energy; sustainable forestry

Matthew Kolan

Adjunct Senior Lecturer • Faculty Fellow, Gund Institute for Environment

matthew.kolan@uvm.edu
Expertise
  • Ecological leadership and learning
  • Power, privilege, and equity
  • Social transformation and systems change
  • Field ecology and animal tracking

Jane Kolodinsky

Professor Emeritus

Expertise
  • consumer behavior
  • economics of information
  • genetic engineering
  • hemp
  • applied econometrics
  • consumer policy

Byung S. Lee

Professor • Department of Computer Science • College of Engineering and Mathematical Sciences

bslee@uvm.edu
Expertise

Database, Data mining, Data science, Machine learning, Information retrieval

Teresa Mares

Associate Professor, Anthropology

teresa.mares@uvm.edu
Expertise

Food security, migration, labor studies, border studies, food justice

Jeffrey Marshall

Professor, Department of Mechanical Engineering • Associate Dean for Research and Graduate Education

jmarsha1@uvm.edu
Expertise

Fluid Dynamics, Particulate Flows, Renewable Energy Systems, Biofluids

V. Ernesto Méndez

Professor of Agroecology and Environmental Studies

Ernesto.Mendez@uvm.edu
Expertise
  • Agroecology
  • Food Security and Sovereignty
  • Rural Livelihoods
  • Agrifood Systems
  • Political Ecology
  • Participatory Action Research (PAR)
  • Environmental Conservation in Agricultural Landscapes

Scott C. Merrill

Research Associate Professor • Managing Director, Social-Ecological Gaming & Simulation (SEGS) Lab UVM • Faculty Fellow, Gund Institute for Environment • Adjunct Professor, Food Systems at UVM

Scott.C.Merrill@uvm.edu
Expertise
  • landscape ecology
  • serious games
  • experimental gaming
  • animal biosecurity
  • climate change
  • population modeling
  • Integrated Pest Management (IPM)
  • social-ecological systems
  • Monte Carlo...

Brittany Mosher

Associate Professor • Affiliate, Gund Institute for Environment

brittany.mosher@uvm.edu
Expertise

Wildlife ecology, conservation biology, conservation decision-making, herpetology, amphibians (frogs, toads, salamanders, etc.), reptiles (snakes, turtles, lizards, etc.), disease and population ecology, and quantitative ecology.

James "Jed" Murdoch

Associate Dean for Academic Affairs • Professor • Faculty Fellow, Gund Institute for Environment

james.murdoch@uvm.edu
Expertise

Instructional program: Wildlife and Fisheries Biology
Research: Wildlife ecology, conservation biology

Deborah Neher

Professor Emerita

deborah.neher@uvm.edu
Expertise

Soil ecology, plant-soil interactions, biology of compost and its uses, biological indicators of soil, epidemiology of root pathogens.

Meredith Niles, PhD

Professor

Meredith.Niles@uvm.edu
Expertise
  • Food Systems Sustainability
  • Food Security
  • Farmer Behavior
  • Social-Ecological Systems

Bindu Panikkar

Associate Professor • Faculty Fellow, Gund Institute for Environment • Associate Director, Institute for Environmental Diplomacy and Security (IEDS)

bindu.panikkar@uvm.edu
Expertise

Environmental health, community based research, environmental policy, natural resources, Arctic environment and health, environmental health social movements, environmental justice

Julia Perdrial

Professor of Geochemistry

Julia.Perdrial@uvm.edu
Expertise

Investigates how land-water interactions shape water quality and water security; specializes in geosciences, mineralogy, and biogeochemistry to study soil and stream health; leads interdisciplinary research teams on Big Data, offers insights into...

George Pinder

Professor, Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering • Affiliate, Gund Institute for Environment

gpinder@uvm.edu
Expertise
  • Water Resources
  • Environmental
  • Sustainability & Energy
  • Geotechnical & Geoenvironmental
  • Climate Change & Hazard Mitigation

Travis Reynolds

Associate Professor • MPA Program Director

twreynol@uvm.edu
Expertise
  • food policy
  • food security
  • agricultural development
  • sustainable agriculture
  • rural livelihoods

Mariano A. Rodriguez-Cabal

Assistant Professor • Affiliate, Gund Institute for Environment

mariano.rodriguez-cabal@uvm.edu
Expertise

Global change ecology, invasive species, plant-animal interactions, biological invasions, community ecology. 

Joe Roman

Research Affiliate • Affiliate, Gund Institute for Environment

joseph.roman@uvm.edu
Expertise

Instructional programs: Environmental Sciences, Wildlife and Fisheries Biology
Research: Biodiversity, biological invasions, conservation biology, ecosystem services, marine ecology, marine mammals

Matthew Scarborough

Assistant Professor • Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering • College of Engineering and Mathematical Sciences

mscarbor@uvm.edu
Expertise

Biological Wastewater Treatment, Anaerobic Bioprocessing of Wastes, Microbiome Engineering, Modeling of Microbiomes

Stephanie Seguino

Emerita Faculty • Professor of Economics

stephanie.seguino@uvm.edu
Expertise

Macroeconomics and development.

Racial and gender inequality.

Trisha Shrum

Associate Professor

tshrum@uvm.edu
Expertise
  • Climate Change
  • Behavioral Science
  • Environmental Economics
  • Behavioral Economics
  • Experimental Economics
  • Environmental Policy
  • Risk & Uncertainty

Daniel Tobin

Director of the Sustainable Development Policy, Economics, and Governance Ph.D. program • Associate Professor • Graduate Faculty, Food Systems • Faculty Fellow, Gund Institute for Environment

Daniel.Tobin@uvm.edu
Expertise

Sociology of agriculture, Development Sociology, Political economy of agricultural development, Crop diversity conservation, and Seed Systems.

Regina Toolin

Associate Professor, STEM Education • Program Coordinator, Computer Science Education Minor • Co-Program Coordinator, Secondary Education Master of Arts in Teaching

Regina.Toolin@uvm.edu
Expertise
  • STEM Education
  • Environmental Education
  • Project-based learning
  • Place-based Education
  • Teacher Professional Learning
  • Computer Science Education

Christine Vatovec

Clinical Assistant Professor, College of Nursing and Health Sciences • Planetary Health Lead, Osher Center for Integrative Health • Research Assistant Professor, Larner College of Medicine • Lecturer and Research Affiliate, Rubenstein School of Environment and Natural Resources • Gund Institute for Environment Fellow

christine.vatovec@uvm.edu
Expertise

Planetary health, climate change and human health, decarbonizing healthcare, environmental public health, health benefits of nature contact, integrative healthcare, Whole Person Health, pharmaceutical pollution, social science surveys,...

Luis Vivanco

Chair of the Anthropology Department • Professor

Luis.Vivanco@uvm.edu
Expertise

Cultural and environmental anthropology, development and social movements, knowledge, science and technology, cultures of mobility, tourism, ethnographic methods; Latin America.

Leon Walls

Associate Professor of Education

Leon.Walls@uvm.edu
Expertise
  • Curriculum and Instruction
  • Multiculturalism
  • Race and Racism
  • Science Education
  • Science of Sustainability
  • Teacher Education

Rory Waterman

Professor — Inorganic, Organometallic, and Catalysis

Rory.Waterman@uvm.edu
Expertise

Chemistry, synthetic and mechanistic inorganic/organometallic chemistry, energy, catalysis, professional development

Beverley C. Wemple

University Scholar • Professor of Geography and Environmental Sciences • Faculty Director, Water Resources Institute

Beverley.Wemple@uvm.edu
Expertise

Water resources, geomorphology, GIS, spatial modeling, human-environment interactions, mountain environments.

Eva "Lini" Wollenberg

Research Professor • Affiliate, Gund Institute for Environment

lini.wollenberg@uvm.edu
Expertise

Instructional program: Natural Resources
Research: Climate change & land use, natural resource management & governance, agriculture-forest landscapes, anthropology, international rural livelihoods

Asim Zia

Associate Dean of Research and Postgraduate Education • Professor of Public Policy (CDAE) • Senior Faculty Advisor, Water Resources Institute • Gund Fellow • Co-Director of the Social-Ecological Gaming and Simulation (SEGS) Lab

Asim.Zia@uvm.edu
Expertise

Computational policy analysis, governance networks, social ecological systems, coupled natural and human systems, sustainable development, food, energy and water systems

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UVM Faculty Fellows |  Postdoc Fellows  |   Graduate Student Fellows  | UVM Faculty Affiliates  | Global Affiliates | Advisory Board  |  Leadership Team  | Ombudsperson 


The Gund Institute hosts exceptional postdoctoral scholars who conduct research on major global environmental challenges. Our scholars connect interdisciplinary research to real-world issues in environment and sustainability.

Become a Postdoctoral Fellow

Postdoc Fellows

Jessica Balerna

Post-doctoral Research Associate • Affiliate, Gund Institute for Environment

jessica.balerna@uvm.edu
Expertise
  • socio-ecology
  • human-natural systems
  • freshwater ecology
  • biogeochemistry

Sam Bliss

Postdoctoral Fellow, Gund Institute for Environment

sam.bliss@uvm.edu
Expertise

Amaya M. Carrasco-Torrontegui

Postdoctoral Associate, Institute for Agroecology

Amaya.Carrasco@uvm.edu
Expertise

Agroecology, Collective Action, Food Systems, Indigenous Knowledge Systems, Planetary health, Nature and health 

Megan Duffy

Gund Postdoctoral Fellow, Rubenstein School of Environment and Natural Resources

Megan.Duffy@uvm.edu
Expertise

Biogeochemistry, regional climate change, nutrient flux, warming winters.

Tabea Melina Hoffmann

Postdoctoral Associate • Affiliate, Gund Institute for Environment

tabea.hoffmann@uvm.edu
Expertise

Lauren Hunt

Gund Postdoctoral Fellow • Postdoctoral Research Associate

lauren.hunt@uvm.edu
Expertise
  • Climate adaptation and mitigation
  • Farmer decision-making and behavior
  • Mixed-methods social science and agroecology approaches
  • Evidence-based policy and program design

Kate Porterfield

Post-Doctoral Fellow, Climate Impacts in Food Systems, Climate Measurements Center of Excellence

Katherine.K.Porterfield@uvm.edu
Expertise

Nutrient cycling, ecological engineering, sustainable agriculture, phosphorus recovery and reuse

Ariane de Almeida Rodrigues

Postdoctoral Associate

ariane.rodrigues@uvm.edu
Expertise

Ecosystem services, Land systems, Spatial analysis, Water resources, Local communities and Indigenous Peoples

Josiah (Josh) Taylor

Postdoctoral Associate

Josiah.Taylor@uvm.edu
Expertise

Rae Taylor-Burns

Gund Postdoctoral Fellow

Expertise

coastal engineering, hydrodynamic modeling, climate adaptation, nature-based solutions, adaptation finance, insurance

Humberto Miguel Romero Uribe

Gund Postdoctoral Fellow, Rubenstein School of Environment and Natural Resources

Humberto.Romero-Uribe@uvm.edu
Expertise

Ecosystem services, soil carbon dynamics, land-use impacts, ecosystem degradation

Jayashree Rajaram Yadav

Gund Postdoctoral Fellow, Electrical and Biomedical Engineering Department

Jayashree-Rajaram.Yadav@uvm.edu
Expertise

Energy transition, Energy Justice, Distributed Energy Resources, Power Quality, Harmonics

Mojtaba Zeraatpisheh

Postdoctoral Associate • Affiliate, Gund Institute for Environment

mojtaba.zeraatpisheh@uvm.edu
Expertise
  • Peometrics
  • digital soil mapping
  • pedology
  • (spatial) data mining
  • remote sensing
  • soil health/quality

UVM Faculty Fellows |  Postdoc Fellows  |   Graduate Student Fellows  | UVM Faculty Affiliates  | Global Affiliates | Advisory Board  |  Leadership Team  | Ombudsperson 


UVM doctoral, masters and graduate certificate students with strong interests in transdisciplinary research and the Gund Institute’s mission are eligible to apply to become Gund Graduate Fellows.

Become a Gund Graduate Fellow

Graduate Student Fellows

Saadatu Abdul-Rahaman

Gund Graduate Fellow - College of Agriculture and Life Sciences, Food Systems Graduate Program

Saadatu.Abdul-Rahaman@uvm.edu
Expertise

Intersectionality, food systems, sustainable diets, food and nutrition security, community development

Uyoyoghene Adeyemo

PhD Student in Natural Resources • Affiliate, Gund Institute for Environment

uyoyo.adeyemo@uvm.edu
Expertise

Environmental sustainability, precision agriculture, sustainable agriculture, land-cover and land-use change, GIS, remote sensing, ecosystems modeling, machine learning, Africa

Aura M. Alonso-Rodriguez

PhD Student in Natural Resources • Affiliate, Gund Institute for Environment

aura.alonso-rodriguez@uvm.edu
Expertise

Tropical ecology, biodiversity conservation, ecosystem services, agroecology, global change, sustainable livelihoods

Sevda Alvirdizadeh

Gund Graduate Fellow

Expertise

Dietary patterns, eating behaviours, plant-based diets, and public health.

Carlos Amissah

Gund Graduate Fellow, College of Arts and Sciences, Biology Department

Carlos.Amissah@uvm.edu
Expertise

Insects, birds, ticks, pathogens.

Rubaina Anjum

Ph.D. Student • Affiliate, Gund Institute for Environment

ranjum1@uvm.edu
Expertise
  • Climate change
  • inequality
  • distribution
  • ecological economics
  • macroeconomics
  • integrated assessment modeling
  • agent-based modeling

Danish Hasan Ansari

Gund Graduate Fellow • College of Agriculture and Life Sciences, • Department of Community Development and Applied Economics

Danish-Hasan.Ansari@uvm.edu
Expertise

Monetary theory, monetary systems, macroeconomics, sustainability.

Abraham Awolich

Gund Graduate Fellow, Community Development and Applied Economics

Abraham.A.Awolich@uvm.edu
Expertise

Sustainability, economics, community resilience

Krizzia Belén-Trineo

Gund Graduate Fellow, PhD Candidate, Graduate College, Food Systems

krizzia.belen-trineo@uvm.edu
Expertise

Food systems, hunting, climate change, subsistence foodways, environmental justice.

Lindsey Bouzan

Graduate Student Coordinator • CDAE MS Candidate • Affiliate, Gund Institute for Environment

Lindsey.Bouzan@uvm.edu
Expertise

Luke Briccetti

Ph.D. Student in Natural Resources • Affiliate, Gund Institute for Environment

lbriccet@uvm.edu
Expertise

Human dimensions of natural resources, habitat connectivity, behavior change, BMP adoption, road ecology

Vitória Cardoso

Gund Graduate Fellow

Vitoria.Cardoso@uvm.edu
Expertise

Family farming, sustainable agriculture, smallholders' development, seed value chain, and food labels.

Martha Caswell

Research Affiliate • Ph.D. Student in Transdisciplinary Leadership, Creativity and Sustainability

martha.caswell@uvm.edu
Expertise

Transformative agroecology, food sovereignty, critical participatory action research (PAR), multiple ways of knowing and arts-based methods

Ilaria Coero Borga

Gund Graduate Fellow, College of Arts and Science, Biology Department

Ilaria.Coero-Borga@uvm.edu
Expertise

Bioacoustics, ecoacoustics, animal behavior, marine mammals, impact of noise.

Lucio Costa Proenca

Ph.D. Student • L4E Fellow

lucio.proenca@uvm.edu
Expertise
  • Ecological economics
  • Degrowth, Agroforestry
  • Agroecology
  • Environmental Policy

Ayana Curran-Howes

Ph.D. Student, Food Systems

Ayana.Curran-Howes@uvm.edu
Expertise

Paticipatory Action Research; Peasant economies,; Agroecological design and transition; Museum studies; Grassroots social movements

Justin Dempsey

Ph.D. Student in Natural Resources • Affiliate, Gund Institute for Environment

justin.dempsey@uvm.edu
Expertise
  • ecological economics
  • qualitative research
  • behavioural economics
  • transdisciplinarity
  • political economy
  • urban political ecology
  • economic history
  • place-based renewables

Lucy Drummond

Lecturer

lucy.drummond@uvm.edu
Expertise
  • integrating ecological and social sciences
  • student-centered pedagogy
  • plastics, chemicals, and fossil fuels
  • environmental justice
  • environmental media

Ericka Griggs

Gund Graduate Fellow, College of Arts and Sciences, Department of Biology

Ericka.Griggs@uvm.edu
Expertise

Molecular Ecology, Ornithology, Disease Ecology.

Alison Hall

Gund Graduate Fellow, College of Arts and Sciences

Alison.Hall@uvm.edu
Expertise

Marine ecosystems, phenotypic-plasticity, environmental change, adaptation.

Muhammad Jahedul Huq

Ph.D. Student in Natural Resources • Affiliate, Gund Institute for Environment

Muhammad-jahedul.huq@uvm.edu
Expertise
  • disaster risk management
  • climate change adaptation and community resilience
  • policy analysis and risk-informed development planning

Robert Jones

Gund Graduate Fellow, College of Engineering and Mathematical Sciences, Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering

Robert.Jones@uvm.edu
Expertise

Microbial bioreactors, waste mitigation, circular local economies, microbial ecology, permafrost conversion, waste conversion, greenhouse gas mitigation, carbon conversion.

Jukka Kilgus

M.S. Student in Natural Resources • Affiliate, Gund Institute for Environment

jukka.kilgus@uvm.edu
Expertise
  • ecological economics
  • socio-ecological systems
  • post-growth
  • systems thinking
  • sustainability governance

Bailey Kretzler

FSRI Postdoctoral Associate

Bailey.Kretzler@uvm.edu
Expertise

Soil Science, Microbial Ecology, Plant Breeding, Microbiomes


 

Kacey LaBonte

Gund Graduate Fellow, Food Systems Graduate Program

Expertise

Farmer behavior, sustainable agriculture, climate change, public health nutrition, community development.

Anna Maassel

Ph.D. Student in Natural Resources • Gund Graduate Fellow

Anna.Maassel@uvm.edu
Expertise

Planetary health, ecosystem services, land use & land cover change

Lizah Makombore

IfA Affiliate • Gund Graduate Fellow

Lizah.Makombore@uvm.edu
Expertise

Valuation and finance of natural capital, Ecological restoration of rainforest ecosystems, Sustainable Agriculture & Agroecology, Resilient Communities, private public partnerships, and social impact bonds, Justice and equity for...

Carina Manitius

Gund Graduate Fellow, Department of Community Development and Applied Economics, College of Agricultural and Life Sciences

Carina.Manitius@uvm.edu
Expertise

Nature policy, protected areas, just transition, food systems, ecological economics.

Pindar Yawulda Mbaya

FRSI PhD Fellow

pindar.mbaya@uvm.edu
Expertise

Food insecurity, Food Safety, Vulnerable population (elderly), Chronic diseases of nutritional origin.

Chris McElroy

Gund Graduate Fellow, College of Agriculture and Life Sciences, Community Development and Applied Economics

Chris.McElroy@uvm.edu
Expertise

Ecological economics, degrowth, sustainability, planetary boundaries, well-being.

Rigo Melgar-Melgar

Ph.D. Student in Natural Resources • Affiliate, Gund Institute for Environment

Rigo.Melgar-Melgar@uvm.edu
Expertise

Lara de Macedo Monteiro

PhD Student in Natural Resources • Affiliate, Gund Institute for Environment

lara.monteiro@uvm.edu
Expertise
  • ecosystem restoration
  • sustainable management
  • biodiversity conservation
  • human behavior
  • participatory methods
  • citizen science

Maura Muldoon

Gund Graduate Fellow, Rubenstein School of Environment and Natural Resources

Maura.Muldoon@uvm.edu
Expertise

Relational values, Earth Observation, interconnectedness, value of information

Teresa Tinenenji Mungazi

Gund Graduate Fellow • Nutrition and Food Sciences

Teresa.Mungazi@uvm.edu
Expertise

Consumer behavior, sustainable diets, novel food adoption, neglected and underutilized species (NUS), community development and food security

Theresa "Tess" Meyer

Ph.D. Student in Natural Resources

tkmeyer@uvm.edu
Expertise

Harrison Myers

Gund Graduate Fellow

george.myers@uvm.edu
Expertise

Water resources engineering, machine learning, hydrology, nutrient cycling and recovery, agricultural nutrient management.

Juliana Neira

Ph.D. Candidate, Community Development and Applied Economics

Juliana.Neira@uvm.edu
Expertise

Political agroecology, political ecology, post-development, degrowth, post-growth, alternative food networks, Latin America, participatory action research, ethnography.

Michelle Nikfarjam

Ph.D. Student, Food Systems

Michelle.Nikfarjam@uvm.edu
Expertise

Food systems, agroecology, local knowledge and climate change resilience, gender and feminist methodologies

Mandy Nix

PhD Student in Natural Resources • Affiliate, Gund Institute for Environment

mnix@uvm.edu
Expertise

Environmental education and justice; place-based learning; social-ecological systems science; STEM learning ecosystems; science communications; freshwater ecology; aquatic macroinvertebrates

Onome Ofoman

Ph.D. Student in Natural Resources • Affiliate, Gund Institute for Environment

onome.ofoman@uvm.edu
Expertise

Emily ("Em") R. O'Hara

Affiliate, Gund Institute for Environment

erohara@uvm.edu
Expertise
  • gender mainstreaming
  • feminist economics
  • feminist political ecology
  • feminist methodologies
  • ecological economics
  • reproductive labor

L'Dawn Olsen

Gund Graduate Fellow

Expertise

Joy Onuh

Gund Graduate Fellow, College of Engineering and Mathematical Sciences

Joy.Onuh@uvm.edu
Expertise

Hydrological modeling, public health engineering, water security, water quality analysis and treatment

Stephen Peters-Collaer

PhD Student in Natural Resources • Affiliate, Gund Institute for Environment

spetersc@uvm.edu
Expertise

Forest ecology, disturbance ecology, forest-stream interactions, carbon storage

Shashank Poudel

Ph.D. Student • Gund Graduate Fellow • L4E Fellow

shashank.poudel@uvm.edu
Expertise
  • ecological economics
  • environmental justice
  • participatory policy practices

Sean P. Rogers

Gund Graduate Fellow

Sean.Rogers@uvm.edu
Expertise

Machine learning, NLP,  computational social science, security studies, and cybercrime.

Ben Ryan

Ph.D. Student

benjamin.ryan@uvm.edu
Expertise

Sustainable Agriculture, Policy Design, Ecosystem Services, Earth System Governance, Knowledge Systems

CJ Sands

Master's Student

Craig.Sands@uvm.edu
Expertise

Greta Savitsky

Graduate Student, Department of Plant Biology • Gund Institute for Environment Graduate Student Fellow

greta.l.savitsky@uvm.edu
Expertise

Anna Schmidt

PhD Student in Biology

anna.schmidt@uvm.edu
Expertise

Freshwater zooplankton ecology, zooplankton migration behavior, carbon cycling in lakes

Reed Scott

Ph.D. in Natural Resources • Affiliate, Gund Institute for Environment

rcscott@uvm.edu
Expertise
  • amphibians
  • disease ecology

Matías Vaccarezza Sevilla

Gund Graduate Fellow, College of Agriculture and Life Sciences, Department of Community Development and Applied Economics

mvaccar2@uvm.edu
Expertise

Ecologically unequal exchange; industrial and economic sovereignty; decolonization; modern monetary theory; post-growth; global supply chains.

Garrett Simon

Ph.D. Student in Natural Resources • Affiliate, Gund Institute for Environment

garrett.simon@uvm.edu
Expertise

Nina L. Smolyar

Gund Graduate Fellow - Rubenstein School of Environment and Natural Resources

nina.smolyar@uvm.edu
Expertise

Decolonization, degrowth, ecological and behavioral economics, demilitarization and economic conversion, land-power relations, Indigenous resurgence and sovereignty, transformation of higher education, environmental humanities, slow scholarship,...

Shiva Soroushnia

Gund Graduate Fellow • College of Agriculture and Life Sciences • Food Systems Graduate Program

shiva.soroushnia@uvm.edu
Expertise

Leslie Spencer

Gund Graduate Fellow • Food Systems Graduate Student

Leslie.Spencer@uvm.edu
Expertise

Farmscape ecology, wild bees, natural history education, agroecology, landscape planning

Emma Spett

Part-time Lecturer

Emma.Spettt@uvm.edu
Expertise
  • Community resilience and economic development
  • Sustainable development policy, economics, and governance

Sarra Talib

Gund Graduate Fellow

Sarra.Talib@uvm.edu
Expertise

Competitive and sustainable value chains, food-health-planetary boundaries nexus, economic incentives, impact of culinary trends on producer/consumer behavior, food waste, regenerative ag.

Nishant Tiku

Ph.D. Student in Natural Resources • Affiliate, Gund Institute for Environment

nishant.tiku@uvm.edu
Expertise
  • artificial glaciers
  • GLOF mitigation
  • indigenous knowledge systems
  • participatory research
  • natural resource management
  • ecosystem services 

Jeannine Valcour, MA, MBA

Complex Grant Proposal Developer

Jeannine.Valcour@uvm.edu
Expertise

USAID, USDA, NSF, EDA, multiple foundations

Ryan van der Heijden

Gund Graduate Fellow - College of Engineering and Mathematical Sciences, Civil and Environmental Engineering

Ryan.van-der-Heijden@uvm.edu
Expertise

Remote Sensing, Post-Wildfire Geo-Hazards, Slope Failure, Groundwater, Machine Learning, Roadways

Dakota Walker

Gund Graduate Fellow, Department of Community Development and Applied Economics

Dakota.Walker@uvm.edu
Expertise

Madeline "Maddie" Winer

M.S. Student in Natural Resources • Affiliate, Gund Institute for Environment

mwiner@uvm.edu
Expertise

soils, watersheds, agriculture, biogeochemistry, sustainability

UVM Faculty Fellows |  Postdoc Fellows  |   Graduate Student Fellows  | UVM Faculty Affiliates  | Global Affiliates | Advisory Board  |  Leadership Team  | Ombudsperson 


Gund Affiliates are individuals interested in participating in Institute activities and whose scholarship aligns with its mission. There are two types of Affiliates: UVM Affiliates from schools and colleges across UVM, and Global Affiliates from organizations anywhere in the world.

Become a Gund Affiliate

UVM Faculty Affiliates

Anaka Aiyar

Assistant Professor • Affiliate, Gund Institute for Environment

Expertise
  • Food Systems
  • Applied Microeconomics
  • Development Economics
  • Health Economics

Samantha Alger

Research Assistant Professor • Director, Vermont Bee Lab • Affiliate, Gund Institute for Environment

Expertise
  • Pollinator Ecology
  • Habitat Restoration and Conservation
  • Public Outreach
  • Data Collection and Analysis

Joe Ament

Assistant Professor • L4E Degrowth Lead • Affiliate, Gund Institute for Environment

Expertise

Monetary theory, ecological economics, degrowth, embeddedness, ecofeminist political ecology, labour theory, post-liberal theory.

Colin Anderson

Research Associate Professor, Agroecology, Landscape, and Environment • Co-Director, Institute for Agroecology • Affiliate, Gund Institute for Environment

Expertise
  • Agroecology Transformations
  • Governance of Food Systems
  • Knowledge Mobilization
  • Participation and Power
  • Transformative Action Research
  • Learning and Pedagogy
  • Use of Media and Narratives for...

Emily Beam

Associate Professor of Economics

Expertise

Laura Bloomfield

Gund Affiliate • Research Assistant Professor, College of Engineering and Mathematical Sciences

Expertise

Nature and human health, health tracking technology, human-wildlife diseases, human behavior, environment

Arne Bomblies

Assistant Professor, Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering

Expertise

Environmental Engineering, Hydrology.

John Brawley

Research Assistant Professor • Affiliate, Gund Institute for Environment

Expertise

marine ecology, nutrient cycling, ecological restoration, aquaculture

Paige Brochu

Director, Spatial Analysis Laboratory • Research Assistant Professor • Affiliate, Gund Institute for Environment

Expertise

Environmental health, GIS, tree canopy assessment, climate resilience, spatial analysis

Alison K. Brody

Professor Emerita

Expertise

Plant-animal interactions

Marieka Brouwer Burg

Associate Professor • Co-Director, Digital Anthropology Laboratory

Expertise

Landscape and environmental archaeology; Hunter-gatherers; GIS and geospatial modeling; Paleoenvironment/Paleoclimate; Ancient Mesoamerica; European Mesolithic

Matthew Burke

Research Assistant Professor • L4E Ecozoic Alternatives Lead • Affiliate, Gund Institute for Environment

Expertise
  • just transition
  • science-technology-society
  • political economy and ecology
  • ecological restoration
  • food systems
  • bioregions

Jan K. Carney, MD

Associate Dean for Public Health and Health Policy • Professor of Medicine • Chief, Division of Public Health

Expertise

Hao Chen

Assistant Professor

Expertise

Soil Chemistry

Nick Cheney

Associate Professor, Department of Computer Science

Expertise

Machine Learning, Deep Learning, Meta-Learning, AutoML, Evolutionary Computation, Evolutionary Robotics


 

Kimberly (Kim) Coleman

Director, Parks, Recreation, and Tourism Program • Associate Professor • Affiliate, Gund Institute for Environment

Expertise

Instructional programs: Parks, Recreation, and Tourism
Research: Human dimensions of natural resources; Outdoor recreation and tourism; Planning and management of public land; Environmental justice;...

David Conner

Professor • Affiliate, Gund Institute for Environment

Expertise

The intersection of food systems and community development.

John Crock

Gund Affiliate • Associate Professor

Expertise

Anthropology, archaeology, Caribbean, Native American, Amerindian.

Peter Dodds

Professor, Department of Computer Science • Director, Vermont Complex Systems Institute

Expertise

Complex systems and networks, contagion, sociotechnical phenomena, happiness, stories.

Elizabeth M. B. Doran

Research Assistant Professor, Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering

Expertise

Urban climate; water quality best management practices; land use and land cover change; social-ecological systems; complex dynamic systems modeling

Lucy Drummond

Lecturer

Expertise
  • integrating ecological and social sciences
  • student-centered pedagogy
  • plastics, chemicals, and fossil fuels
  • environmental justice
  • environmental media

Andrea Etter

Assistant Professor

Expertise
  • Food Safety (bacteria)
  • Microbiology
  • Homesteading Biosecurity
  • Foodborne Outbreaks
  • Listeria monocytogenes
  • Salmonella enterica
  • Backyard Poultry
  • Bacterial Stress Tolerance
  • Risk...

Dror Etzion, Ph.D.

Professor and Steven Grossman Endowed Chair in Sustainable Business

Expertise

Rachael Floreani

Associate Professor, Department of Mechanical Engineering

Expertise

Materials customization, tissue engineering, polymer chemistry, food biotechnology

Carlos Andres Gallegos-Riofrío

Research Assistant Professor, Institute for Agroecology

Expertise

Agroecology, indigenous people, rural studies, public health nutrition, social marketing, applied participatory research

Edward N. Gamble, Ph.D.

Associate Professor of Accounting

Expertise

Ante Glavas, Ph.D.

Associate Professor

Expertise

Sustainability, corporate social responsibility, employees, psychology, meaningfulness

Deborah Guber

Professor (1998)

Expertise

American Politics, National Elections, Electoral Behavior and Public Opinion

Scott Hamshaw

Adjunct Assistant Professor, Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering • Affiliate, Gund Institute for Environment

Expertise
  • Water Resources
  • Machine Learning
  • Environmental Sensing
  • Geomatics

Stuart L. Hart, Ph.D.

Practicum Advisor • Professor in Residence at the University of Michigan's Erb Institute • Steven Grossman Distinguished Fellow

Expertise

Maki Hatanaka

Professor

Expertise

Sociology of food and agriculture, Sustainability governance, Supply chain management, Political economy, and Sustainability advocacy.

Robert Herendeen

Gund Affiliate - Adjunct Professor, Rubenstein School for the Environment and Natural Resources

Expertise

Energy’s role in supporting all consumption, the role of efficiency in energy policy

Kathryn Hinkelman

Assistant Professor, Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering • Principal Investigator, The SEE Lab • Affiliate, Gund Institute for Environment

Expertise
  • Energy sustainability
  • Building technologies
  • Equation-based modeling
  • Bio-inspired design
  • Life cycle assessment

Britt Holmén

Gund Fellow • Professor

Expertise

Airborne particles, air pollution, greenhouse gas dynamics and emissions, biogas, methane, real-time emissions monitoring.

Thomas Hudspeth

Professor Emeritus of Environmental Studies and Natural Resources • Affiliate, Gund Institute for Environment

Expertise

Sustainability, sustainability education, sustainable communities, environmental education, environmental interpretation, ecotourism, behavior and environment, citizen participation, service-learning, community-engaged learning, community-based...

Adrian Ivakhiv

Professor Emeritus • Affiliate, Gund Institute for Environment

Expertise

Instructional program: Environmental Studies
Research: Environmental thought, cultural theory, global cultural change

Anne Jefferson

Professor, Rubenstein School, Robert F. and Genevieve B. Patrick Endowed Chair in Watershed Science and Planning • Director, Vermont Water Resources and Lake Studies Center • Senior Faculty Advisor, Water Resources Institute • Director, Lake Champlain Sea Grant • Affiliate, Gund Institute for Environment

Expertise
  • watershed hydrology
  • geomorphology
  • public engagement 

Beth Kirkpatrick, MD

Department Chair • Professor • FASTMH, FACP

Expertise
  • Clinical Infectious Diseases and Internal Medicine
  • Human Vaccinology, including phase 1-3 vaccine clinical trials in the US and internationally
  • Controlled human experimental challenge models (CHIM)
  • Enteric Infections,...

Laurie Kutner

Library Associate Professor • Information & Instruction Howe Library • Gund Affiliate

Expertise
  • Research: Environmental information literacy, environmental research methods, global information environment, Costa Rica

Ike Leslie

Institute for Agroecology Collaborator • Extension Assistant Professor of Community Development

Expertise
  • Environmental sociology & justice
  • Food systems & justice
  • Gender & sexuality
  • Rural economic & community development

Marilyn Lucas

Gund Affiliate • Associate Professor of Operations Management • UVM Grossman School of Business

Expertise

Thomas Macias

Professor

Expertise

immigration, race and ethnic relations, consumerism, environmental justice.

Laura May-Collado

Assistant Professor • Department of Biology • College of Arts and Sciences

Expertise

Evolution, Animal communication, Soundscapes, Marine conservation, Behavior of marine vertebrates

Harlan Morehouse

Co-director

Expertise

Nature-Society Studies, Social and Cultural Geography, Political Ecology, Environmental Humanities.

Cheryl Morse

Gund Affiliate • Associate Professor, College of Arts and Sciences

Expertise

Working landscapes; migration; rural geography; place, power, and identity.

Peter Newman

Dean, Rubenstein School of Environment and Natural Resources • Professor • Affiliate, Gund Institute for Environment

Expertise

Research: Visitor management in protected areas; Soundscape/acoustic management in parks; Transportation management and planning; Efficacy of "Leave No Trace" practices; Health and well-being.

David Novak, Ph.D.

Converse Professor in Commerce and Economics

Expertise

Amritanshu Pandey

Assistant Professor, Department of Electrical and Biomedical Engineering

Expertise

My research is at the intersection of modeling, simulation, and optimization of electric energy systems

Nico Perdrial

Associate Professor

Expertise

Mineralogy, Geochemistry, Contaminant Transport, Environmental Geology, Nanoparticles, Mineral-Bacteria Interactions, Archaeogeology.

Kristen Pierce

Gund Affiliate • Associate Professor, Larner College of Medicine

Expertise

Vaccines, dengue, vector borne diseases, Zika, West Nile

Stephen Posner

Gund Affiliate • Director of Pathways to Planetary Health, The Garrison Institute

Expertise

Donna Ramirez-Harrington

Associate Professor • Department of Economics • College of Arts and Sciences

Expertise

Environmental economics and policy, Environmental regulation, Environmental technology adoption and innovation, Corporate environmental strategy, Environmental information disclosure

Leigh Raymond

Professor (2023) • Gund Professor of Liberal Arts

Expertise

Public Policy, Environmental Politics and Policy

Donna Rizzo

Acting Chair and Professor, Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering

Expertise

Development of new computational tools, including artificial neural networks, to improve the understanding of human induced changes on natural systems and the way we make decisions about natural resources.

David V. Rosowsky

Professor, Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering • Affiliate, Gund Institute for Environment

Expertise
  • Structural Reliability
  • Performance of Wood Structural Systems
  • Design for Natural Hazards
  • Stochastic Modeling of Structural and Environmental Loads
  • Probability-Based Codified Design
  • Wind and Earthquake...

Dana Rowangould

Assistant Professor, Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering • Affiliate, Gund Institute for Environment

Expertise
  • Transportation equity and justice
  • rural travel behavior (including rural mobility
  • rural decarbonization (and rural safety)
  • electric vehicle adoption and use
  • accessibility measurement
  • transportation...

Gregory Rowangould

Director, Transportation Research Center • Associate Professor, Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering • Affiliate, Gund Institute for Environment

Expertise
  • Transportation System and Land-use Modeling
  • Mobile Source Emissions and Air Quality Analysis
  • Regional Transportation Planning
  • Transportation Policy Analysis
  • Active Travel (bicycling and walking)

Bryony Sands

Assistant Professor, Extension

Expertise

Livestock IPM, entomology, veterinary parasitology, ecosystem services, agroecology, livestock grazing systems

Amy Seidl

Senior Lecturer, Co-Director, UVM Environmental Studies Program

Expertise
  • Global climate change
  • climate adaptation
  • sustainability science
  • communicating science
  • ecology
  • evolutionary biology

Kristine "Kris" Stepenuck

Extension Associate Professor • Associate Director and Extension Program Leader for Lake Champlain Sea Grant • Affiliate, Gund Institute for Environment

Expertise

Instructional programs: Environmental Sciences, Natural Resources
Research: Watershed science, impacts of land use on water quality, community science, community engagement

Amy Trubek

Professor

Expertise
  • Taste of Place
  • Culinary History and Anthropology
  • Food Supply Chains

M. Salim Uddin

Assistant Professor • Affiliate, Gund Institute for Environment

Expertise
  • Social-Ecological Systems Resilience
  • Community Resilience to Climate-Change Induced Natural Disasters
  • Social Learning
  • Impacts of Global Environmental Changes
  • Climate Change Adaptation, Mitigation and...

Kristen Underwood

Research Assistant Professor, Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering • Affiliate, Gund Institute for Environment

Expertise
  • Hydrology
  • Fluvial Geomorphology
  • Geostatistics
  • Catchment Dynamics
  • Clustering & Classification
  • Infrastructure & Hazard Mitigation
  • Bayesian Inference

M. D. Usher

Lyman-Roberts Professor of Classical Languages and Literature

Expertise

Ancient Mediterranean world, sustainable systems, orality studies, environmental humanities, ancient ecologies.

Christine Marie Velez

Associate Professor of Social Work

Expertise

Social work education and curriculum

  • Social work research methods
  • Sexuality, reproductive and environmental justice
  • Health access and inclusion
  • Critical and feminist theories

Deane Wang

Associate Professor Emeritus • Affiliate, Gund Institute for Environment

Expertise

Ecosystem ecology, carbon and climate change, sustainability, conservation and land stewardship

Maria Woolson

Gund Affiliate • Assistant Professor, College of Arts and Sciences

Expertise

Environmental humanities, cultural studies and ecocriticism. Water and water governance. Biocultural diversity and sustainability. Latin America.

Safwan Wshah

Associate Professor, Department of Computer Science

Expertise

Machine Learning, Image & Video Processing, Deep Learning, Pattern Recognition, Computer Vision, Document Imaging & Digital Signal Processing.

Eglee Zent

Gund Affiliate • Venezuelan Institute for Scientific Research | IVIC

Expertise

Ethnoecology, Human Ecology, Amazon, Indigenous Peoples, Ecogony.

UVM Faculty Fellows |  Postdoc Fellows  |   Graduate Student Fellows  | UVM Faculty Affiliates  | Global Affiliates | Advisory Board  |  Leadership Team  | Ombudsperson 


Gund Affiliates are individuals interested in participating in Institute activities and whose scholarship aligns with its mission. There are two types of Affiliates: UVM Affiliates from schools and colleges across UVM, and Global Affiliates from organizations anywhere in the world.

Become a Gund Affiliate

Global Affiliates

Bernardo Aguilar

Gund Affiliate • Executive Director, Fundación Neotrópica

Saleem Ali

Gund Affiliate • Blue and Gold Professor of Energy and the Environment

Francisco Alpizar

Gund Affiliate, Professor, Wageningen University

Molly Anderson

Gund Affiliate • William R. Kenan Jr. Professor of Food Studies, Middlebury College

Ken Bagstad

Gund Affiliate

Andrew Balmford

Gund Affiliate • Professor of Conservation Science, University of Cambridge

David Batker

Gund Affiliate • President, Batker Consulting, LLC

Colin Beier

Gund Affiliate, Associate Professor, SUNY College of Environmental Science and Forestry

Mauricio Bellon

Arizona State University

Elena Bennett

Gund Affiliate, Associate Professor, McGill University

David Bond

Gund Affiliate • Associate Director of the Center for the Advancement of Public Action, Bennington College

Kate Brauman

Water Research Working Group Lead, Climate Measurements Center of Excellence • Gund Affiliate

Leah Bremer

Gund Affiliate • Faculty Associate Specialist UHERO and Water Resources Research Center

Peter Brown

In Memoriam: Professor

Thomas Buchholz

Gund Affiliate • Senior Scientist at Spatial Informatics Group

Mark Budolfson

Gund Affiliate • Associate Professor, University of Texas at Austin

Elizabeth Calabrese

Gund Affiliate • Calabrese Architects

Marta Ceroni

Gund Affiliate • Co-Director, Academy for Systems Change

Kai Chan

Gund Affiliate • Connected Human and Natural Systems Lab

Aimée Classen

Gund Affiliate • Professor, Director of the U-M Biological Station, University of Michigan

Michael Coe

Gund Affiliate • Senior Scientist, Tropics Program Director, Woodwell Climate Research Center

Robert Costanza

Gund Affiliate • Professor, University College London

Bathsheba Demuth

Assistant Professor of History and Environment and Society, Brown University

Ian Deshmukh

Gund Affiliate, Tetra Tech Productive Landuse Project

Thomas Dietz

Gund Affiliate • Sociology Professor, Michigan State University

Michael Dorsey

Gund Affiliate • Co-Founder & Limited Partner, IberSun Solar

Paul Ehrlich

Gund Affiliate - Bing Professor of Population Studies, Stanford University

Aaron M. Ellison

Gund Affiliate • Harvard University Senior Research Fellow in Ecology

Tafesse Estifanos

Gund Global Affiliate • Research Fellow, Centre for Environmental Economics and Policy, UWA School of Agriculture and Environment, The University of Western Australia

Margarita Fernandez

Gund Affiliate • Executive Director, Caribbean Agroecology Institute

Carolyn Finney

Gund Affiliate • Storyteller, Author and a Cultural Geographer

Gary Flomenhoft

Gund Affiliate • Research Fellow | Development Minerals, University of Queensland

Sylvia Forsberg

Gund Affiliate • Researcher, National Council for Scientific and Technological Development

Patricia Gonzales

Gund Affiliate - Furgason Fellowship International Chair for Coastal and Marine Studies in Cuba, • Harte Research Institute for Gulf of Mexico Studies, Texas A&M University Corpus Christi

John Gowdy

Gund Affiliate • Professor Emeritus, Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute

Paul Hines

Gund Global Affiliate • Chief Scientist & VP, Power Systems at EnergyHub, Data Science and Power Systems Intelligence

Tim Jackson

Gund Affiliate • Director, Centre for the Understanding of Sustainable Prosperity

Sikina Jinnah

Gund Affiliate • Associate Professor of Environmental Studies, University of California at Santa Cruz

Neil Kamman

Gund Affiliate - Director of the Water Investment Division, Vermont Department of Environmental Conservation

Kathleen Kesson

Gund Affiliate • Professor Emerita, Brooklyn Campus of Long Island University

Mike Kline

Gund Affiliate • Principal/Owner, Fluvial Matters, LLC

Christopher Koliba

Professor Emeritus

Chandar Lewis

Gund Affiliate • Associate Professor, Department of Educational Administration, Foundations, and Research, College of Education and Human Development at Jackson State University

Seamus Lombardo

Gund Affiliate • Impact Data Scientist, Planet Labs

Eric Lonsdorf

Gund Affiliate, Senior Fellow, Natural Capital Project, Emory University

Marcia Macedo

Gund Affiliate • Assistant Professor, E3B and Columbia Climate School

Mario Machado

Gund Affiliate

Róger Madrigal

Gund Affiliate • Director, Latin American Chair on Environmental Decisions for Global Change, Tropical Agricultural Research and Higher Education Center

Deb Markowitz

Gund Affiliate • Executive Coach, Empowering Women

Alejandra Martínez-Salinas

Gund Affiliate • Tropical Agricultural Research and Higher Education Center

Pamela A. Matson

Gund Affiliate • Richard and Rhoda Goldman Professor in Environmental Studies, Stanford University

Ben McCall

Gund Affiliate • Professor of Sustainability and Chemistry at the Hanley Sustainability Institute

Kellie Merrell

Gund Affiliate • Environmental Scientist

Joshua Moses

Gund Affiliate • Department of Anthropology, Haverford College

Robin Naidoo

Gund Affiliate - Senior Conservation Scientist and Lead Wildlife Scientist at World Wildlife Federation

Rick Peyser

Gund Affiliate • Member, Board of Directors, The Tropics Foundation

Alexander Pfaff

Gund Affiliate • Professor, Sanford School of Public Policy, Nicholas School of the Environment, Duke University

Steve Polasky

Gund External Advisory Board • Gund Affiliate

Johanna Polsenberg

Gund Affiliate • Math Teacher - Career and Technical Education, Lyndon Institute

Case Prager

Gund Affiliate, Foreign Affairs Officer, United States Department of State

Edward Prutzer

Gund Affiliate • Postdoctoral Associate, Department of Sociology at Virginia Tech

Dan Quinlan

Gund Affiliate • Founder, SolaVida

Ranaivo Rasolofoson

Gund Affiliate - Postdoctoral Associate, Duke University Nicholas School of the Environment

Meryl Richards

Gund Affiliate • Senior Manager, Food and Forests, Ceres

J.B. Ruhl

Gund Affiliate • Director, Program on Law and Innovation

Jim Salzman

Gund Affiliate • Donald Bren Distinguished Professor of Environmental Law

Nathan Sanders

Gund Affiliate • Chair of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, Professor, University of Michigan

Jack Scambos

Gund Affiliate • President and CEO of Suparator International

Rachel Schattman

Gund Affiliate - Assistant Professor, University of Maine School of Food and Agriculture • Faculty, Maine Agricultural and Forest Experiment Station (MAFES)

Amanda Schmidt

Gund Affiliate • Associate Professor, Chair of Geosciences, Oberlin College

Susan Sgorbati

Gund Affiliate • Director of the Center for the Advancement of Public Action, Bennington College

Marc Simard

Gund Affiliate • Senior Scientist, NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory, California Institute of Technology

Britaldo Silveira Soares-Filho

Gund Affiliate • Professor

Laura Sonter

Gund Affiliate • Associate Professor, The University of Queensland

Stephanie Spera

Gund Affiliate • Assistant Professor, Department of Geography, Environment, & Sustainability, University of Richmond

Dan Spethmann

Gund Affiliate • Managing Partner, Working Lands Investment Partners LLC

Jennie C. Stephens

Adjunct Associate Professor

Dominik Thom

Gund Affiliate • Research Scientist, Technical University of Munich, Germany

John Todd

Professor Emeritus, Ecological Design

Austin Troy

Adjunct Professor/University of Colorado-Denver

Raffaele Vignola

Gund Affiliate - Assistant Professor, Water Systems and Global Change Group, • Department of Environmental Science, Wageningen University, The Netherlands

Ferdinando Villa

Gund Affiliate • Research Professor, Basque Center For Climate Change

Martin Volaric

Gund Affiliate - Environmental Scientist, San Francisco Estuary Institute

Rob Werner

Gund Affiliate - New Hampshire State Director, League of Conservation Voters

Alissa White

Gund Global Affiliate • Senior Manager for Climate and Agriculture, American Farmland Trust

Easton R. White

Gund Affiliate • Assistant Professor, College of Life Sciences and Agiculture

Ellen Wohl

Gund Affiliate • Professor of Geology and University Distinguished Professor, Department of Geosciences, Colorado State University

UVM Faculty Fellows |  Postdoc Fellows  |   Graduate Student Fellows  | UVM Faculty Affiliates  | Global Affiliates | Advisory Board  |  Leadership Team  | Ombudsperson 


The Advisory Board has 8–12 members. Members are appointed by the Vice President for Research, upon recommendation from the Director.  Members may be internal or external to UVM.

The Advisory Board has four key roles: 

  • Review brief twice-annual updates from the Director on achievements and challenges 

  • Advise the Director and staff on strategy, focal themes, partnerships, and global trends 

  • Connect the Director and Institute staff to external partners and supporters 

  • Assist the Director and UVM Foundation with fundraising and networking 

Advisory Board

Todd Barker

Gund External Advisory Board • CEO, Meridian Institute

Hilary Flint

Gund External Advisory Board • Senior Research Scientist, University of Wyoming

Grant Gund

Gund External Advisory Board • Managing Partner, Coppermine Capital

Ali Hartman

Chair, Gund External Advisory Board • Head of Tiger Global Philanthropic Ventures

Mario Herrero

Gund External Advisory Board • Professor, Cornell University

Zoraya Hightower

Gund External Advisory Board • Equity Consultant

Amy Luers

Gund External Advisory Board • Senior Global Director Sustainability

Cheryl Pinto

Gund External Advisory Board, Global Values Led Sourcing, Ben & Jerry's

Steve Polasky

Gund External Advisory Board • Gund Affiliate

Karen Seto

Gund External Advisory Board • Professor, Yale University

Leadership Team

Taylor Ricketts

Director of the Gund Institute for Environment • Professor, Rubenstein School of the Environment and Natural Resources

Dale Henderson

Policy and Partnership Specialist

Lauren Milideo

Strategic Communications Manager

Ben Morgan

Office Manager

Brittany Patterson

Director of Communications, Gund Institute for Environment

Bailey Rowland

Program Specialist

Amanda Sardonis

Director of Policy and Partnerships

Marie C. Vea

Assistant Dean for Student Services and Staff Development

Julianna M. White

Director of Operations and Programs

UVM Faculty Fellows |  Postdoc Fellows  |   Graduate Student Fellows  | UVM Faculty Affiliates  | Global Affiliates | Advisory Board  |  Leadership Team  | Ombudsperson 


The Ombuds is an impartial and independent third party designated to assist students, staff, and faculty for discussing and resolving diversity, equity, and inclusion challenges or any disputes they may encounter while participating in the Gund Institute.

Ombudsperson

Marie C. Vea

Assistant Dean for Student Services and Staff Development

Marie Vea is the Gund Institute’s Ombuds for Diversity, Equity, Inclusion, and Belonging (DEIB). 

Main roles and responsibilities for the Ombuds are: 

  • Be available to students, postdocs, staff, and faculty affiliated with the Gund Institute and respond quickly to queries.
  • Play  a mediating role, if appropriate, between members of the community and those with whom they are in conflict.
  • Refer members of the community to additional resources, people, and support, at UVM and beyond, as appropriate.
  • Brief the Gund Director and/or leadership team regularly about concerns and issues that have come up and activities undertaken to address them. These briefings can be anonymized at the sole discretion of the Ombuds to ensure privacy and safety of community members.
  • Advise the Gund Institute leadership periodically on developing or improving polices/practices to enhance the experience of institute community members.
  • When appropriate, report  dangerous behaviors or situations to authorities as required by Vermont and federal law and UVM's compliance reporting policy. 

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