Gretchen Miles:

Gretchen Miles is a senior at AU, completing a major in Environmental Studies. During the summer of 2004, Gretchen was chosen to receive a very competitive undergraduate research fellowship from the Department of Energy's Office of Biological and Environmental Research through their Global Change Education Program. Gretchen's program began with a one-week orientation program followed by nine weeks of research at Los Alamos National Laboratory, where she studied carbon uptake by forests and the relationship to global climate change.
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Skylar Pais:

Skylar Pais is a junior at AU working toward a double-major in Environmental Studies and Geology. Skylar was the recipient of a prestigious research internship in Environmental Molecular Science at SUNY Stony Brook during the summer of 2004. The research in that program focuses on understanding mechanisms that govern the behavior of chemical contaminants in the environment.
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William Kappel:

William Kappel received his undergraduate and graduate degrees from the Pennsylvania State University in physical sciences and forest hydrology. He worked for several years as a hydrologist for the U.S. Forest Service in Missouri and Wisconsin before moving to the U.S. Geological Survey in Ithaca, New York. Mr. Kappel served as project chief of the Rochester, NY National Urban Runoff Program (NURP) study and the project chief of the West Valley, NY nuclear waste site study. He has done several ground-water mapping investigations throughout New York state, studied mudslides in central New York, served as a member of the Retsof Mine Collapse-Genesee Valley Aquifer study team, and done research on potential contamination of lake bottom sediments in Lake Ontario due to the disposal of World War II material during the 1940s-1950s.
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Virginia Rasmussen:

Dr. Virginia Rasmussen received her bachelor's degree in chemistry from Dickinson College and Ph.D. in inorganic chemistry from Syracuse University. Formerly associated with the Environmental Studies Program at AU (and we hope she will be in the future, too!), Dr. Rasmussen is currently working with the Program on Corporations, Law and Democracy and active in the Women's International League for Peace and Freedom, where she is most directly involved with their campaign to Challenge Corporate Power, Assert the People's Rights. Dr. Rasmussen has recently moved back to Alfred after living in Massachusetts for several years.
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James Curatolo:

Jim Curatolo has a B.S. from SUNY College of Environmental Sciences and Forestry, Syracuse and an M.S. in Wildlife Management from University of Alaska, Fairbanks. Since 1996 he has been Watershed Coordinator of the Upper Susquehanna Coalition, which is a county-based organization working on nonpoint-source water quality issues in the headwaters of the Chesapeake Bay in NY and PA. He is a research biologist and entrepreneur with previous experience working for the Nature Conservancy in the Lower Hudson, developing watershed management plans for lakes in the Finger Lakes of western NY and as a partner in a biological consulting firm, conducting caribou, grizzly bear and peregrine falcon studies in northern Alaska.
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Tim Lowenstein:

Tim Lowenstein received his bachelor's degree in geology from Colgate Unversity and his Ph.D., also in geology, from Johns Hopkins University. He worked for Conoco Research for a few years after receiving his graduate degree and joined the faculty at Binghamton University in 1985, where he now serves as department chair. Dr. Lowenstein's current research interests include paleoclimates, long-term preservation of life on Earth and Mars, fluid inclusions and their use in the study of ancient surface waters (including seawater), chemistry of ancient seawater, and the origin of shell-building organisms.
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John Slater:

After completing a B.A. in Environmental Studies at Alfred University, John Slater went on to complete his M.S. and Ph.D. with the Climate Change Research Group at the University of New Hampshire. Dr. Slater's research interests include characterization of carbon in Greenland snow and ice, New England air quality, and the impact of aerosols on the Earth's energy budget.
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Magaret Davis:

Margaret B.Davis, now retired from her position as Regents Professor at the University of Minnesota, was research associate and professor at the University of Michigan, and professor at Yale University before coming to the University of Minnesota as Head of the Department of Ecology, Evolution and Behavior. She is a member of the National Academy of Sciences, a fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, and a recipient of the Nevada Medal. Throughout her career she has been interested in forest history and ecosystem development, using the fossil record preserved in lake and bog sediments to trace the northward migration of tree species at the end of the Ice Age, dispersal across geographical barriers, and changes in forest community composition resulting from individualistic species responses to changing climate. She received her education at Harvard University and spent a year in Denmark on a Fulbright Fellowship, learning techniques for studying microfossils, which she has utilized throughout her career.
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David Lytle:

David Lytle is a Research Ecologist with the Northern Forest Silviculture Unit of the North Central Research Station, U.S. Forest Service. His current research efforts center on the development and evaluation of forest stand and landscape management strategies that provide multiple ecological and social benefits. In this work, Dr. Lytle makes extensive use of forest dynamics simulation models and GIS technology. He is currently doing research on the cumulative effects of forest management on fire risk in mixed-ownership landscapes in northern Minnesota. Dr. Lytle earned his Ph.D. in Ecology from the University of Minnesota and holds an M.S. degree in Botany and Plant Pathology from the University of Maine and a B.A. degree from Macalester College.
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Eugene Wahl:

Eugene Wahl is an Assistant Professor of Environmental Studies at Alfred University. His professional background includes teaching at the high school, undergraduate, and graduate levels, in the areas of environmental studies, earth history, environmental ethics and philosophy, economics, and mathematics. Dr. Wahl's research specialties focus on: 1) reconstruction of past climate over the last 12,000 years, both at regional and global scales; 2) evaluation of global climate models using paleoclimate reconstructions; 3) use of global climate models to examine technical issues in paleoclimate reconstruction; 4) examination of ethical issues in the preparation and dissemination of weather and climate forecasts; and 5) consideration of ethical, religious, and spiritual dimensions of generating long-term climate change impacts for future generations. Dr. Wahl took his PhD at the University of Minnesota, completed a post-doctoral fellowship in the Advanced Studies Program at the National Center for Atmospheric Research (NCAR, USA), was a visiting scientist at NCAR, and is Adjunct Graduate Professor of Environmental Ethics at St. Mary-of-the-Woods College, Indiana.
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Clarence Lehman:
Clarence Lehman is a member of the faculty at the University of Minnesota and the Associate Director of the Cedar Creek Natural History Area. He received his Ph.D. from the University of Minnesota. Dr. Lehman's research interests include theoretical ecology and computation in biology, biodiversity and ecosystem functioning, and habitat restoration.
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Matt Hall:

Matt Hall was born and raised in Hermann, Missouri -a small town (smaller than Alfred) that is located on the Missouri River and was recently voted the Most Beautiful Town in Missouri for the second year in a row. Matt left the pastoral town of Hermann to attend the University of Missouri-Rolla, where he received a B.S. degree in Ceramic Engineering in 1998. He arrived in Alfred in July of 1998 and, after receiving M.S. and Ph.D. degrees in Glass Science (2000 and 2003, respectively), joined the Alfred University faculty in June of 2003.
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