Careers

YSE Associate Dean for International Engagement Gordon Geballe is retiring after a nearly 50-year affiliation with the School and Yale. He is known for always keeping students at the center, his ability to build community and befriend everyone in the room, and his dedication to New Haven.

In addition to YSE students and faculty, alumni played a major role at the November 2021 U.N. climate summit, representing global organizations and taking part in negotiations aimed at stronger climate action.

Mesa, a startup run by Tony Cisneros '21 MEM and Caroline Ebinger '22 MEM, seeks to provide nutritious backpacking meals while supporting core planetary health principles. 

Margaret Williams’ M.E.Sc '93 eclectic work as director of the World Wildlife Fund's Arctic program reflects the diversity of challenges facing this vulnerable eco-region.

With nearly every sector worldwide affected by the COVID-19 crisis, Kevin Doyle offers advice for students looking to enter the job market at a difficult time and shares advice from alumni who launched their careers a decade ago during another time of economic crisis.

By the time he arrived at F&ES, Terry Baker ’07 M.F. had already learned first-hand how the U.S. Forest Service works — and about the people who make it run. But he says his time at Yale helped make him a leader.

A broad science background and some old-fashioned pluck helped Jean Thomson Black ’75 MFS build an impactful career in science publishing, for which she was honored with the School’s Distinguished Service Award at Reunion Weekend 2020.

For more than four decades, Ian von Lindern M.F.S. ’73, Ph.D. ’80 has been at the center of a massive cleanup of lead pollution in Idaho. The strategies he has helped develop are now being used to tackle health threats globally.

Robert K. Klee M.E.S. ’99, J.D. ’04, Ph.D. ’05 has been nominated to succeed Daniel C. Esty as commissioner of Connecticut’s Department of Energy and Environmental Protection.

Erik Kulleseid ’94 M.F. has been appointed commissioner of the New York State’s Office of Parks, Recreation and Historic Reservation, replacing Rose Harvey ’84 M.E.S.

By the time she arrived at F&ES, Jill Savery M.E.M. '06 had already won an Olympic gold medal. Today she is working at the nexus of sustainability and sports, helping sports organizations embed sustainable practices into their event planning.

In 2019, two centers based at the Yale School of Forestry & Environmental Studies will introduce new online certificate programs that allow emerging professionals in countries across the world to access Yale’s faculty, training materials, and networks.

Yale School of the Environment alumna Maggie Thomas ’15 MEM, who served on the climate teams of presidential candidates Jay Inslee and Elizabeth Warren, has been named Chief of Staff of the newly created Office of Domestic Climate Policy by President Joe Biden.

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.

Spring "Break" means field work for F&ES students and faculty! This time away from the classroom offers students important opportunities for research across a spectrum of environmental concerns and geographical locations. Students confront global issues in real time & space, engaging with the people who must find and implement solutions.