Alumni Profiles
View a list of positions held by PoE alumni!
If you would like your profile featured on the PoE website, please email a brief description of what you are currently doing to poealum@u.washington.edu.
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David Aigner David is currently employed at the New YOrk City Department of City Planning, Transportation Division as a City Planner. He conducts urban transportation research studies, with particular focus on enhancing pedestrian and bicycle uses throughout the five boroughs. David completed his Master's degree in Urban Planning at Hunter College in Spring 2007 and remains active with local sustainability-related causes such as the New York chapter of the US Green Building Council. He plans to achieve LEED accreditation and will continue to pursue work supporting urban sustainability. He currently lives in Brooklyn. |
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Kirsten Anderson Kirsten is currently a Legal Assistant with the San Francisco office of Earthjustice International. Prior to that, she was a Martin Luther King AmeriCorps*VISTA member serving at the Seattle Parks Foundation where she worked with local community groups to improve and expand green space while working under an anti-racism framework. Kirsten has also volunteered at Wonderland Developmental Center in Shoreline raising funds for young children with developmental disabilities. In her free time, Kirsten enjoys biking and running. |
Cory Arce Cory graduated with a focus on Ecology & Conservation and a minor in Environmental Science and Resource Management. She spent six months living and working in Ecuador to complete her capstone project, studying the relationship between isolated indigenous Amazon tribes and international conservation NGO's. Cory now works for a Seattle wind energy consulting firm as a Project Coordinator for international and eastern seaboard wind resource assessment projects. She enjoys volunteering for Seattle Tilth and sailing (when the weather's nice), and is looking forward to graduate school and many more travels abroad. |
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Carlo Bertani After interning with the EPA for six months, Carlo joined the agency full-time as Manager of the Indian Lands Underground Storage Tank Program, working in the Office of Ground Water Compliance and Enforcement in Seattle He oversees native tribal lands that have underground petroleum storage tanks in Washington, Idaho, and Oregon. Since tribal reservations are under jurisdiction of the federal government, the EPA is responsible for conducting inspections on fuel tanks, and if they are leaking, it is his responsibility to manage the clean-up, from financing to oversight of the actual removal and mitigation of polluted ground water and soil. Prior to joining the EPA, Carlo worked in the biodiesel field for two years, doing retrofit modifications on diesel vehicles and converting gasoline cars to run on natural gas. He is originally from Houston, TX and is a certified jet mechanic. Over the past two years, he also has been a cellar master at a local winery in Woodinville, WA. |
Samantha Brower Samantha is currently completing a Master's in Education from the University of Washington with an emphasis on curriculum and instruction. This follows completion of the Islandwood Residency in Environment, Education and Community. For her graduate project she is building upon her undergraduate research into education for sustainable development. Samantha is still working in education and volunteering with local environmental groups. |
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Peter Canepa Peter recently completed an M.S. degree from the Donald Bren School of Environmental Science and Management at the University of California, Santa Barbara, specializing in corporate environmental management. Peter’s graduate research focused on developing product stewardship plans for small/medium businesses across various sectors by applying green supply chain management practices and quantitative life-cycle assessment. During the summer of 2007 Peter received an appointment to the Student Career Experience Program with the Environmental Protection Agency in Washington, DC. Prior to graduate study, Peter worked as a GIS Research Associate with The Rosenow Spevacek Group, and economic redevelopment firm. |
Ara Clark Ara is currently a Project Administrator in the Community Development business group at ESA Adolfson. She provides project accounting, budgeting, contract administration and coordination for various federal, state, local and private environmental projects. Ara was formerly a Project Administrator for SMART Association, a non-profit business association promoting occupational health and safety. She currently lives in Seattle with her husband and her dog. |
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Rina Fa'amoe Rina currently works at the Bellevue School District as the Energy and Safety Coordinator (Resource Conservation Manager) and previously worked at the City of Issaquah in the Resource Conservation Office doing outreach on recycling, food waste composting, natural yard care and alternative transportation. She enjoys her volunteer work as a King County Master Recycler Composter, steering committee member for the Seattle chapter of the NW Earth Institute, Green Sanctuary Consultant for the Pacific NW District of the Unitarian Universalist Association, and the newest member of the PoE Alumni Advisory Board. |
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Ian Fair After completing the PoE program, Ian moved East into the Rocky mountains. He worked for several seasons teaching various winter sports in Steamboat Springs, CO and Jackson Hole, WY. In the summers he became involved with the Teton Science School and worked as a naturalist/instructor for the science school. Feeling the desire to learn more about the process of teaching, he returned to the Seattle Area in 2006 to pursue a masters in science education. His first year of his program involved living and working at the Islandwood school on Bainbridge Island, WA teaching environmental and community education to fifth graders from around the Puget Sound. In 2007 he returned to the UW and finished his M.Ed in the College of Education. His master's work involved developing experiential-based science curriculum aligned with Washington State education standards. Ian then took a position with the National Park Service in the North Cascades National Park teaching various natural and cultural history programs to the public. His free time was spent hiking extensively and pursuing elusive trout. Presently, Ian is back in Seattle looking for a position with a K-12 school as a science/experiential educator. He hopes to end up again somewhere in the mountain states. |
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James Freund James is currently pursuing a PhD. in forest ecology through the College of Forest Resources at the University of Washington. His research focuses on tree ring analysis to understand rates of structural development of naturally developing forest ecosystems. James actively participates in long term ecological reasearch projects and monitoring to promote the continued flow of scientifically credible information in order to guide forest management and stewardship. He has several years of teaching assistant experience and is currently helping teach ESRM425, Ecosystem Management. |
Shaina Gates Shaina is a consultant at Cascadia Consulting Group, where she is part of the education and outreach team. She assists with King County's Master Recycler Composter training and coordinates the efforts of the more than 200 volunteers who have completed the training. She also provides support to Seattle's Green Gardening program, which provides education to nurseries and landscapers, the Resource Venture program, a program that provides assistance to local businesses striving to be more sustainable, and others. |
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Natalie Graves Natalie is completing a master's degree with the UW's School of Marine Affairs and is completing the UW Environmental Management Certificate Program. Her thesis work focuses on a "triple bottom line evaluation of North American Cruise Lines". While completing her graduate studies, she also serves as the Vice President for the UW Chapter of the Coastal Society and works as a graduate intern at the Port of Seattle, where she is working on sustainability initiatives, climate change, environmental programs, and on their new 25-year startegic plan. As an undergraduate, Natalie completed an internship with the King County Wastewater Treatment Division working with their LEED and green building initiative. After she completed her Environmental Studies degree, she did volunteer work with the Sierra Club on I-937 (clean energy) and their cool cities campaign and completed a quarter-long Science Writing Fellowship with Washington Sea Grant. |
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Lucienne Guyot Lucienne is currently pursuing a Master's Degree in Environmental Studies. She works at the Washington Center for Imporving the Quality of Undergraduate Education with Jean MacGregor on the grant funded Curriculum for the Bioregion initiative. After she has completed her master's program, Lucienne would like to obtain experience working for an environmentally related non-profit. Ultimately, she'd like to gain an awareness of the industry to help her transition into either working for an environmental foundation or freelance grant-writing for such organization. Lucienne is a 2008-2009 Alumni Advisory Board Member. |
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Arece Hampton Arece is currently working for Seattle Public Utilities in the Resource Conservation division. Specifically he is a Water Conservation Program Manager for the City of Seattle, dealing with water conservation programs for commercial businesses, single-family residences, and wholesale customers (the cities that Seattle sells water to). Arece completed his Capstone project with Seattle Public Utilities. For Arece, this only proves that the leap from a Capstone experience to a career can be just a mere turn! |
Mark Hansen Mark is a Field Representative for Ecos Consulting, a company which works with utility companies on energy conservation projects throughout the western United States. As one of only 3 Field Representatives in Washington State, he works with over 70 "Energy Star" retailers for the Puget Sound Energy coupon distribution program, aimed at making it more appealing to the public to buy "Energy Star" compact fluorescent light bulbs and fixtures. He works with PSE to help improve the project as well as give feedback on what is going on in the field. |
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Eva Hershaw |
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Leila Katirayi Leila is currently attending graduate school in Sweden studying Internatinal Develpment & Management. Her focus is public health, specifically HIV/AIDS prevention and policy. She became interested in it when she studied abroad in Cape Town South Africa in 2003. During Summer 2007 she interned with the World Health Organization in Copenhagen. In 2008, she worked with the United Nations in Botswana and Lesotho implementing national strategies towards HIV/AIDS prevention. |
Sam Knox Sam is pursuing a career at ONE/Northwest, a non-profit technology consulting group that serves the environmental community in the Northwest. ONE/Northwest serves a wide variety of environmental non-profits from national campaigns such as Green for All to local land conservation orgnizations like the Cascade Land Conservancy. Sam manages support, training, and documentation services for the online organizing and content publishing tools that client organizations use on a day to day basis. Sam graduated UW with an Environmental Studies degree with a minor in Environmental Science and Resource Management from the College of Forest Resources. He also obtained a certification in Restoration Ecology, after completing a year-long restoration project at White Center Heights park. He currently lives in Seattle with his wife and three cats. |
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Allison Leighton Allison has built a successful career in the field of energy conservation over the past 5 years. Currently, she works at Seattle City Light in their Commercial & Industrial Conservation Resources Division. Before returning to Seattle she spent 3 years in Chicago, where she worked at a private energy consulting firm, as well as a non-profit energy-efficiency organization. |
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Marisa Lown By day Marisa works in the wireless IT field as a Project Manager; by night and on the weekends, she is the owner of The Radical Cupcake, a special order bakery service that primarily uses organic, seasonal, and locally sourced ingredients. They bakery also specializes in vegan, gluten and dairy free, and allergy friendly products. Marisa is the former paralegal and office manager for the Washington Forest Law Center, a non-profit environmental law firm. |
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Lisa Lurie After completing a Master of Environmental Management degree at Duke University, Lisa joined the Monterey Bay National Marine Sanctuary (a NOAA program) as an Agriculture Water Quality Specialist. She coordinates a partnership working to reduce agricultural non-point source pollution in the watersheds that drain to the Monterey Bay Marine Sanctuary. She enjoys working to bridge the gap between land managers and marine biologists. As a 2003-2004 Fulbright Fellow in Ecuador, Lisa worked with government agencies to conduct an inventory of the community-based natural resource management projects in the Mojanda area and participated in reforestation and agroforestry projects. Lisa's Fulbright-funded work in Ecuador was inspired by her Capstone project, which she completed via a year-long study abroad program in Ecuador. |
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Linda Lyshall Following graduation from PoE, Linda earned a master's degree in Environmental Policy and Natural Resource Management at the Evans School of Public Affairs. She currently lives in Edmonds and works for the Puget Sound Action Team, Office of the Governor, as a regional liaison helping to protect and restore Puget Sound. |
Meg Matthews Meg graduated in 2004, after studying English and Environmental Studies and receiving a Udall Scholarship. In 2005, she was awarded a Gates-Cambridge Scholarship to Cambridge University, England and studied river policy and wastewater management in a master's program in Geography (Environment, Society, & Development). Now, Meg works as the Communications Specialist for the UW Botanic Gardens, doing everything from writing grants to managing the website and developing outreach and educational materials as well as acting as a Program Guide, teaching botany and plant conservation to grade schoolers. In addition, she works as a Solid Waste Program Specialist for the City of Renton. Furthermore, she works with the Udall Foundation's "Parks in Focus" program in Arizona, taking under-served youth on week-long trips to national parks, teaching them everything from nature photography to botany, geology, and environmental science. |
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Yemaya Maurer Yemaya is a freelance writer living in Seattle. She often writes about conservation issues and the outdoors in publications such as Seattle magazine, Northwest Home & Garden and Best Places Seattle. She is currently writing a guide book about winter hiking and camping, which will be published by Appalachian Mountain Club Books in October 2008. Yemaya also does PR work for her family's organic cotton clothing company, Happy Green Bee. Prior to transitioning into a writing career, she was a program manager with the Student Conservation Association, a non-profit organization engaging young people in hands-on service to the land. She still finds great joy in sharing the outdoors with others, even if these days that happens most often through the written word. |
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Eric Mendenhall Eric is an Associate Planner with the City of Sumner's Community Development Department, and he is President of an environmental consulting firm that performs wetland analysis and reports. Before beginning his current position, Eric worked as an Associate Planner for the City of Gig Harbor. |
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Emily Morris Emily lives in Tacoma and has been with the Washington State Department of Ecology since August of 2004. She helps manage Ecology's Water Quality Grant and Loan Program, which is funded from three difference sources. Since the advent of the Puget Sound Initiative, she has been working closely to create a Low Impact Development grant program. She works with local governments to help improve water quality through building wastewater treatment plants, creating environmental education programs and low impact development areas, restoring riparian buffers, and helping homeowners with on-site septic systems. |
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Fatima Oswald Fatima is currently a Development Manager for Fairmount Ventures, Inc. in Philadelphia. She completed a Master's in Public Affairs at the UW's Daniel J. Evans School of Public Affairs. One of PoE's first graduates, Fatima has several years of environmentally related work experience in the private, non-profit and public sectors. She worked as a Public Policy Assistant with The Mountaineers in Seattle and with the King County Department of Natural Resources and Parks, Solid Waste Division. |
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Amanda Gonzalez Raziano Amanda is currently a Policy Analyst at the Association of State and Territorial Health Officials in Washington, DC where she works on Environmental Health issues. She primarily supports state environmental health programs by addressing workforce issues, healthy places, environmental health preparedness as well as the State Environmental Health Directors’ activities. She began her career at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and has five years of work experience in federal, private, and non-profit environmental health. She is working to complete her MPH from George Washington University. |
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Joshua Reese Josh is a Senior Consultant with Booz Allen Hamilton. Josh primarily works on the client-site at the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) Region 10 office. Josh has also worked on environmental projects with the U.S. Air Force and U.S. Navy. Josh is currently working with the EPA Office of Regional Counsel and is conducting a Potentially Responsible Parties search on the Portland Harbor site. |
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Teresa Silvernail As a 2nd Lieutenant in the U.S. Army Medical Service Corps, Teresa is the Division Medical Logistics Officer for the 82nd Airborne Division, Fort Bragg, NC. She coordinates medical supplies, manages an annual budget of over $800,000, and serves as an airborne paratrooper. When not jumping out of airplanes, she is completing a M.S. in Environmental Management the University of Maryland. She received the Bronze Star for meritorious service for her service in Operation Iraqi Freedom. |
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Andrew Tarter Andrew graduated from the University of Washington in 2004, with a focus |
Rose Thornton Rose joined King County's Department of Natural Resources and Parks as a Communication Specialist shortly after her graduation from Program on the Environment and Community, Environment, and Planning in June of 2008. There she provides support for the Natural Yard Care program; writes and manages our KCTV show "Yard Talk"; assists with planning for a regional stormwater public education campaign; and does a fair bit of writing. Before starting at King County, Rose had internships both with the Duwamish River Cleanup Coalition and with Synergy Design Studio. When Rose isn't working, she's developing a TV show about green lifestyles- perhaps hitting a TV station or website near you in 2009. Her mission in life is to communicate the ideals and practice of urban sustainability, particularly here at home in Seattle. |
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Jackie White Jackie works as the Environmental Steward for Seattle Art Museum, based at the Olympic Sculpture Park. Prior to joining SAM Jackie worked for the Pacific Science Center in several capacities, including work with the Mercer Slough Environmental Education Center and the Science On Wheels van program. At the UW Jackie studied both Environmental Studies and Biology, worked with the Earth Club, and completed research projects on Olympic oysters and deep sea hydrothermal vents. |
