I hail from Salisbury, North Carolina where I observed the tensions between agricultural, rural communities and suburban sprawl firsthand.  My undergraduate degree in environmental sciences and policy furthered my interests in land use and environmental planning, and I am now pursuing a master’s degree for urban and environmental planning at UVA.  As the daughter of two government workers who specialized in education, I believe that I will continue the family tradition by working in municipal or regional planning, academia or a wonderful combination of the two.  I am excited about leading and participating in IEN projects because I wish to develop my skills in group management, problem-solving and negotiation.

I am originally from Rhode Island, but I have been living in Charlottesville and working for an environmental consulting firm for the past few years. In my free time, I enjoy hiking, visiting the farmer’s market, photography, playing with my dog, and taking in some of the great concerts that come through town.

I am a first year graduate student in the Urban and Environmental Planning program, and my role at IEN includes helping to organize the upcoming 2nd Virginia Food Security Summit. This event will be the launch of the Virginia Farm to Table plan and is a great opportunity to discuss the food security in Virginia. I am interested in local food systems and sustainability so this work has been a great fit!

As a conservationist interested in the public process of managing our natural resources, IEN has had no shortage of fascinating projects to work on. While I have worked on many GIS mapping and other research projects for the Institute, my favorite duty here is helping IEN staff with facilitation work.I have recently just finished helping IEN’s facilitators work on a four month process with Virginia’s Department of Game and Inland Fisheries and a diverse group of stakeholders to determine how to better the state’s kill permit system. Kill permits are a method to help farmers alleviate predation of crops by pest deer, elk and bear outside of the animal’s respective hunting season. The project mostly focused on agricultural interests, hunting, property owners, and wildlife management. I have also helped with similar meetings ranging from incorporating stakeholder concerns into federal forest management plans in Virginia to helping the state field concerns of local government and an advisory group of stakeholders for the new Chesapeake Bay TMDL rules. All of these public processes have not only helped me understand how democracy works at a variety of different scales, but have also given me faith in the power of rational discussion leading to consensus.

My interest in environmental and social justice issues led me to the IEN. Since I have been here I have worked on issues that involve fisheries in the Chesapeake Bay, community food systems, and sea level rise. While I am here at the IEN I hope my work helps to advance the projects we are working on.

Over the past year, IEN has helped bridge my interests in land use, growth management, and various environmental issues. Opportunities for public engagement have further complemented my graduate work in urban and environmental planning. In addition, I have enjoyed building on my past experience in public policy and economic research. Among the projects I have been involved in at IEN, I am currently assisting in preparation for the Virginia Natural Resources Leadership Institute and a stormwater dialogue among cities in the Elizabeth River watershed.

The Institute for Environmental Negotiation has a long history here at UVa working with a wide array of community organization helping to facilitate resolutions to complicated situations.  The internship that I entered into this semester allows me to participate in this process and gain real world experience while pursuing my graduate degree in Urban and Environmental Planning here at Mr. Jefferson’s University. Through my undergraduate studies in Sustainable Development I learned the interconnections between social, environmental, and economic issues; seeing these connections is what allows ideas to be formulated and problems to be solved. I am currently involved in the Building Local Economies Initiative in Southwest Virginia; the project is set up to assist community members in that area achieve greater economic prosperity through a diversification of their economic drivers and opportunities. This initiative allows me to contribute to the quality of life of others and gain experience facilitating the process.

As IEN’s Visiting Scholar, I am engaged in learning about the scope and breadth of work accomplished here. I hold my doctorate in Geographical and Earth Sciences from the University of Glasgow, where I investigated political violence in neoliberal Nigeria. My research is currently focused on climate change and natural resource conflict in Africa, and I am interested in exploring how programs and approaches at IEN can be adapted and applied as part of an international career in development and environmental justice.

My interest in food systems and healthy communities brought me to the Urban & Environmental Planning program at UVa, and then to the Institue for Environmental Negotiation. At IEN, I am working on the 2nd Virginia Food Security Summit and on the Virginia Food Heritage Project. I am also working with Tanya Denckla Cobb to create a new planning applications course on Virginian food heritage and urban planning. I will graduate from the Master’s program in 2012 and return to North Carolina, where I hope to continue working to improve access to healthy food and preserve local food heritage.

This year I am serving as office coordinator and assisting with a variety of projects including VNRLI, Civil Public Participation Training, Blue Moon Fund, and Virginia Food Heritage Project. Last year, I served as project manager for Sea Level Rise in Hampton Road: Virginia Beach Listening Sessions. IEN proved to be a valuable experience last year and this year my goal is to improve upon my project management and facilitation skills.

I am a fourth-year student in the University of Virginia’s dual law and master of urban and environmental planning degree program.  As a graduate student intern, I have worked for the Southern Environmental Law Center in Charlottesville, Virginia and the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency in Boston, Massachusetts.  My chief interests are the intersections of environmental regulation and land use policy.  At IEN, I am working to draft issue briefs on the Clinch River and corporate responsibility.

I hail from the beautiful Tacoma, Washington. I am excited at the opportunity to work at IEN and hope to use the experience to learn more about social and environmental issues in Virginia. Currently, I am working with the Virginia Food Heritage Project. VFHP seeks to build knowledge about heritage foods in hopes of enhancing regional sustainability and resilience. Recently, VFHP participated in the Heritage Harvest Festival and Old Farm Day, “mapping” community members’ food stories. This information will go a long way in identifying at-risk, threatened or endangered foods, agricultural sites, food production areas and practices.

I am a South Carolina native, and I received a Bachelor of Arts in Architecture from Clemson University in 2010. Currently I am a 2^nd year graduate student in the Master of Urban and Environmental Planning program at U.Va., along with a Certificate in Historic Preservation.  I have a deep interest in community and economic development, history, design, and sustainability.  The institute provides a plethora of opportunities to get involved in these activities in many ways. Here I am the Project Manager for UCARE, providing supervision, research, website development and materials design. I am also working on distribution materials design for the 2^nd Virginia Food Security Summit.