Profiles / Features

Louisa Willcox ’84 M.F.S. never imagined that she would make a career out of conservation advocacy. But she's spent more than three decades protecting the wild lands of the western U.S.

As the African continent continues to modernize in the coming decades, striking a balance between development and conservation will be paramount. Helen Gichohi, this year’s McCluskey Visiting Fellow in Conservation, is at F&ES this semester to further her research on possible threats to the environment such rapid development could pose.

A few years ago a group of F&ES students designed a “hypothetical” solar project for a class assignment, but for team leader Timothy White ’15 M.E.M. the ambitions were never really hypothetical. He would eventually bring it to his hometown of Cheshire, Connecticut, which recently made the proposal a reality.

Some of the things that made Prof. Liza Comita want to study tropical forests in the first place are the same things that can make it a rather daunting field of research. And they raised some of the questions she has been trying to answer during more than a decade as researcher and professor.

Lewis Cullman ’41 B.A. funded a fellowship that provided opportunities for students to earn a joint doctoral degree with F&ES and the New York Botanical Garden.

About 15 percent of all coal burned in India each year is used to produce the bricks that supply the country’s ongoing building boom. F&ES alum Kunal Sharma is leading a project to make this ancient industry cleaner and more energy efficient.

In the forest canopy of the Panamanian rainforest, F&ES doctoral student Kevin McLean is documenting the “canopy highways” that tree-dwelling animals use to get around. His findings may help conservationists protect species that are rarely seen and can be nearly impossible to study.

While many frame the debate over environmental conflict in terms of economics or natural science, Prof. Justin Farrell believes it often reflects much deeper cultural, moral, and spiritual questions. Exploring these questions has become his life’s work.

As an F&ES student, Jim Lyons ’79 M.F. was advised to branch out and take classes that didn’t focus on just forestry. After 40 years in education, conservation, and politics, the Distinguished Alumni Award winner reflects on how important that advice has been for his career.

Since completing his Ph.D. at F&ES in 1965, Jeffery Burley has helped to improve forestry practices in vulnerable forest regions across the world.

Maria Ivanova M.E.Sc '99, M.A '99, Ph.D. '06 has been appointed to an international panel that will advise top United Nations leaders, including UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon, on issues related to sustainable development.

On July 1, the Yale School of Forestry & Environmental Studies will be known as the Yale School of the Environment. Simultaneously, we will establish The Forest School at the Yale School of the Environment in recognition of the ongoing importance of forestry. The new Forest School builds upon Yale’s traditional strength — and creates exciting new opportunities.

Growing up in California, Diana Madson spent much of her youth exploring the great mountains of the Sierra Nevada.  At 19 she fell in love with skiing, which made her particularly attuned to the weather.