Though Italian-born Flavio Sutti spent most of his life hiking, studying, and working in the mountains that surround his hometown in the central Alps, he was looking for an opportunity to broaden his wildlife biology experiences. A natural sciences major at the University of Milan, his first job was working as a consultant biologist in Northern Italy.

"I was looking to learn and broaden my experience in the wildlife biology and education fields," says Flavio, "And I felt the need to learn a new language to use to communicate and interact with people."

He began applying to job postings all over the world which led him to the U.S. for the first time in January of 2003 to work at Glen Helen Raptor Center in Yellow Springs, Ohio--a fortuitous move as he met his wife in Ohio.

After moving around the U.S. for a few years Flavio, landed in Vermont in 2007 and became part of the UVM and Rubenstein community where he's been pursuing advanced studies.

Flavio earned a Master's degree in Wildlife Biology at UVM in 2009 with a thesis that identified priority conservation areas for grassland birds in the Champlain Valley of Vermont. Now a Ph.D. candidate in Natural Resources, Flavio is working with his advisor, Allan Strong, on a project that is using landscape context as a framework to quantify multifunctionality of agricultural systems. Even though he loves visiting his mountains in Italy, he is now happy to call Burlington home.