Abigail Zettlemoyer (she/her) is a junior majoring in Environmental Science with a minor in Mathematics who aspires to make environmental science and justice concepts more accessible through contributions to the scientific community and professional environmental health spaces. Her past work with FIRST Robotics and the Department of Environmental Science’s booth at the Tucson Festival of Books has allowed Abigail to hone skills in photography, videography, graphic design, professional writing, budgeting, and community outreach. Combined with her experience as a learning assistant and a STEMM mathematics tutor, Abigail’s intimate knowledge around issues of toxicity and conservation drive her professional goals of a PhD in environmental science and advocacy work through creative writing. Through Earth Grant, Abigail will be supporting community-engaged research in environmental justice communities to help residents protect themselves from environmental health risks with the Ramirez-Andreotta Environmental Science and Health Risk Lab.
Andrew Fortman (he/him) is a junior double-majoring in Geography and Urban and Regional Development. As a proud Tucsonan, writer, and nontraditional student, Andrew continues to connect with his home in the Sonoran Desert through both creativity and environmental stewardship by developing skills in improv, creative writing, public speaking, and GIS software. His passion for community outreach, along with his interest in issues of heat and climate change, brought him to volunteer with Tucson Clean & Beautiful over the past three years and engage with the Arizona Geographic Information Council as a mentee. Andrew is a strong advocate for volunteer work, knowing how his time in community has benefitted both his personal growth and his mental health. Andrew will be expanding on his technical and community work through Earth Grant at the Sonoran Institute, where he will lead field research for an ongoing study of trash in the Santa Cruz River and manage the study’s database. Andrew aims to work towards a professional future as a GIS analyst.
Arika Peacock (she/her) is a senior majoring in Environmental Science and minoring in Soil, Air, & Water who is driven by her passion for advocacy for Indigenous communities, including topics of water rights, coal mining, and pollution. She credits her Navajo grandparents for inspiring her professional aspirations, as people who were knowledgeable about plant identification and ceremonial uses while also working as coal miners. Her previous experience in an externship for water resource management for the City of Flagstaff builds on her intimate experiential knowledge and has strengthened her interest in natural resource management and land reclamation. Through Earth Grant, Arika will be working with Pima County Conservation Lands & Resources to assist in management and monitoring of key resources within the restoration and invasive species programs through field work and environmental outreach.
Clay O’Brien Begay (they/them/she/her/he/him) is a junior majoring in Agricultural Economics and Management with an emphasis on Agricultural Economics. As a self-described gay Diné nontraditional student from Tuba City, Clay is interested in the importance of traditional ecological knowledge (TEK) and Indigenous ways of life to help understand how to write food policies that allow us to live in harmony with each other, including animals and the resources we live with. Clay has conducted broadband infrastructure research about Navajo Nation communities at a Center for Digital Humanities Lab internship that led to presenting with the Native FEWS Alliance at the 2022 AISES National Conference. They also presented at the 2024 AIHEC National Conference on research that they led during an NSF REU in Sustainable Land and Water Resources at the University of Minnesota St. Anthony Falls Laboratory. Through Earth Grant, Clay will be supporting borderlands community education and organizing at Sierra Club Borderlands, which advocates for real solutions to address the root causes of complex border problems. After graduation, Clay plans to go to law school to study their interests in utilizing agribusiness legislation to mitigate environmental degradation along the US-Mexico border and to support local Tohono O’odham and Navajo Nation communities.
Dani Jesús Herrera (he/él) is a junior, father, artist, and nontraditional student majoring in Latin American Studies whose passions are grounded by his intergenerational familial values, relationships with place, and love for the experience of sharing, learning, and growing. Throughout his time in collaborative research and warehouse management, Dani has developed skills of self-advocacy, trans-hierarchical communication, conflict resolution, creative problem solving, project synthesis, and critical thinking. He centers his actions and work in values of mindfulness, presence, and integrity with the intention of “uncovering internalized oppressive systems and finding liberated replacements to those behaviors and ways of thinking”. Through Earth Grant, Dani will be bringing his extensive knowledge and experiential learning to Flowers & Bullets, where he will support the continued development of land-based practices, community education, and physical site improvements as a farm assistant at the Midtown Farm. Here, he aims to hone skills in community outreach and organizing for a professional future centered in education, community health, migrant rights, and wellbeing.
Dani Elizaveta Kouyoumdjian (she/her) is a senior double-majoring in Law and American Indian Studies with a minor in Russian. In Spring 2024, she completed her Associate’s degree in Tohono O’odham Studies at TOCC, where she conducted a capstone project about the empowerment of tribal communities through practices of language preservation and oral storytelling. Dani believes strongly in the importance of community action and food sovereignty, and through Earth Grant, she will be exploring these passions with Flowers & Bullets, a community organization that reclaims and amplifies their cultural roots through art, sustainability and rebellion to heal and empower their neighborhood, Barrio Centro. Dani plans to build off of this experience to eventually earn her Master’s in American Indian Studies and her J.D., so that she can work as legal counsel for a tribal government, focusing on issues of Indigenous self-governance such as water and resource rights.
Elissa Marie Ornelas (she/her) is a senior and avid wildlife photographer majoring in Public Health with an emphasis in Global Health and a minor in Sports Nutrition who strongly believes that fostering resilience in both human and ecological systems is essential in building sustainable and healthy communities for future generations. Growing up in a supportive traditional Mexican American household shaped Elissa’s character and dedication as a lifelong learner and a growth mindset-oriented self-advocate passionate about malnutrition, clean water, and food safety. Her professional experience in public health spaces as an undergraduate research assistant for the CoVHORT Cats study and an intern of the PHIRE Scholars program has allowed her to strengthen skills in facilitation, data contextualization, community engagement, and participatory research methods. Through Earth Grant, Elissa will also be bringing her extensive event planning experience with the Wildcats Events Board and The Women’s Network to her new position as Community Outreach & Events Intern for the Community Gardens of Tucson, whose programs empower people of all ages, income levels, and abilities by connecting them with their local food system, the environment and each other. In the future, Elissa aims to earn her doctorate in Physical Therapy, Master’s in Public Health, and certificate in Personal Training for a professional future in promoting health and wellbeing in diverse communities.
Emily Salgado (she/her) is a sophomore double-majoring in Integrative and Practice-Focused Medicine and Spanish with a minor in Emergency Medicine who credits her upbringing in Tucson for her outdoorsy, nature-loving personality. Her passions for ethical consumption, sustainability, and waste mitigation first started with an eighth grade school paper on deforestation and have helped her to find her love for science and medicine. At the Sustainable Hope In Real Action club (SHIRA), Emily developed a diverse skill set in fundraising, event planning, sustainable practices, and social media management, which she has built upon at her current workplace, the local bakery LeCave’s. Through Earth Grant, Emily will be bringing her experience in digital outreach to the Ramirez-Andreotta Environmental Science and Health Risk Lab, which uses an environmental justice framework to investigate the fate and transport of pollutants in environmental systems, exposure pathways, cultural models of communication, and methods to improve environmental health literacy. In her professional future, Emily aims to continue her higher education in healthcare and aspires to find new ways to minimize waste in these spaces.
Emme Cameron (she/her) is a senior majoring in Sustainable Built Environments who is passionate about mitigating climate change and air pollution through sustainable measures in green buildings. During her volunteer work for the Arizona-Sonora Desert Museum as a Junior Docent, Emme taught diverse audiences about the Sonoran Desert and contributed to the Blue Saguaro Project, an interactive community art project about the interconnectedness of our desert communities with ocean ecosystems through plastic waste. Along with her experience in environmental education, public speaking, leadership, and community engagement, Emme is skilled in written communication, ArcGIS, 3D modeling, and marketing. Through Earth Grant, Emme will be supporting Originate, a natural building materials showroom and community resource who aims to help community members make environmentally aware choices during the design and build process. As their Sustainability and Creative Design Intern, Emme will be leading the process of attaining their carbon neutral certification.
Evelyn Muñoz (she/her) is a sophomore majoring in Ecology and Evolutionary Biology whose love for nature started with a childhood filled with camping and traveling memories all made possible by her parents, hardworking fieldworkers and immigrants who always made time for their kids. Growing up in the border town of San Luis, Evelyn became intimately aware of how the absence of community resources can fuel both public disinterest and environmental degradation, and she expanded upon that knowledge during her travels to Costa Rica. Both of these experiences shaped Evelyn’s passion for environmental advocacy, agriculture, conservation, and sustainability; all of which she has brought to her work as a member of the UA Ecological Restoration Club. She has developed skills in community engagement, native species planting, and time management while also designing promotional content for her parents’ business. Through Earth Grant, Evelyn will be bringing her knowledge to BIORETS, where she will be assisting with the implementation of Santa Cruz River field trips for middle and high school students and collaborative ecological research with BIORETS teachers and UA graduate students.
Greta Cotraccia (she/her) is a junior majoring in Environmental Studies with a minor in Sustainable Built Environments who is passionate about implementing community-wide practices to sustain future generations. Originally from New York, Greta took a gap year before college to work at various small organic farms in Europe, and she continues to incorporate values of sustainability and community throughout her work. As team leader of the Compost Systems Specialists at the Office of Sustainability’s Compost Cats, Greta has supported the maintenance and improvement of three demonstration sites located throughout Tucson that are used for education about composting and sustainable practices. Throughout her leadership, Greta has strengthened her skills in project management, mediation, organization, and interpersonal communication skills. Through Earth Grant, Greta will be strengthening and expanding on her ongoing work with Compost Cats. In the future, she plans to pursue a career in environmental consulting, working to facilitate connections and build resilient communities.
Isabela Santos (they/them) is a queer Chicane, native Tucsonan, and junior majoring in Landscape Architecture with a minor in Sustainable Built Environments. Their experiences as a member of the LGBTQ community navigating their wellbeing in both California and Maryland throughout their childhood have informed Isabela’s passions for giving back to their communities by working to close gaps in resources amongst POC (People of Color) communities. While volunteering for Habitat for Humanity, Isabela has collaborated with Habitat Tucson’s marketing department as Public Relations Director of the UA Habitat for Humanity Campus Chapter and will be continuing their involvement as Vice President. Through Earth Grant, Isabela will be supporting Watershed Management Group, which develops community-based solutions to ensure the long-term prosperity of people and health of the environment by providing people with the knowledge, skills, and resources for sustainable livelihoods. In the future, Isabela plans to earn a graduate degree in urban planning and become a licensed landscape architect focusing on community education and access to green water infrastructure.
Isabella Erlenbach (she/they) is a sophomore majoring in Natural Resources who believes that science communication is vital for public awareness and support of wildlife conservation. Having grown up in Yuma, Isabella’s positive experiences with science and nature actually came mostly from their time volunteering at the Liberty Wildlife Rehabilitation Center, and the curiosity that she was able to nurture there, both in herself and in community, eventually brought her to the UA Fish & Wildlife Society. As a Research Committee member, Isabella developed field research, academic writing, professional communication, and wildlife surveying skills. Through Earth Grant, they will be able to expand on their skillset at Tucson Audubon, which works throughout southeast Arizona to identify threats to birds and wildlife and their habitats, research the most effective approaches to reducing or eliminating those threats, and take action to implement solutions.
Lachlan Josef Craddock (they/them) is a senior majoring in Biosystems Engineering with an emphasis in Water Resources Engineering who wants to help people learn and grow in community through sustainable practices. Lachlan’s experiences as a queer nonbinary individual have shaped their perspectives and taught them the importance of building community to create work that touches more people’s lives. Their coursework in sustainable system design has proven very useful in their past two years of work with UA Compost Cats, a student-focused and community-based program of the University of Arizona’s Office of Sustainability concentrating on organic waste reduction and diversion, community outreach and engagement, public education, and research facilitation. Here, Lachlan has developed additional skills in composting systems, communication, teamwork, and adaptability. Through Earth Grant, Lachlan will be continuing to support Compost Cats and finding new ways to expand their impact throughout different projects. In the future, Lachlan aims to pursue a professional career in water resources and sustainable water systems.
Lily Beauchamp (she/her) is a senior majoring in Animal Sciences with a Science and Pre-Professional emphasis as well as a minor in Biochemistry who believes that environmental resilience cultivates community resilience. Growing up in a family of teachers, Lily explored her curiosity through camping, hiking, and building connections with local animals. She was able to work with her passions for education, nature, and conservation in college as a Bio/Diversity Project intern, generating and implementing place-based, culturally relevant curriculum at local Title I schools. Through Earth Grant, Lily will be utilizing her skills in science communication at the National Parks Conservation Association, the leading citizen advocacy voice of the National Park System working to protect and enhance national park sites across the country. As the Southern Arizona Parks Advocacy Intern, Lily will be supporting advocacy, resource collection, communications, and campaigning for park units primarily in southern Arizona. In the future, she plans to earn a Master’s degree in wildlife biology and work professionally as a wildlife biologist and conservationist.
Lyndale Bondoc (she/her) is a junior majoring in Environmental Science who is passionate about ecological restoration of degraded land and community environmental education. As a former student of the Diana Liverman Scholars program, Lyndale collaboratively organized and promoted a fundraising show and silent auction with Flowers & Bullets, where she learned the importance of prioritizing sustainable practices within cultural communities. In Spring 2024, she volunteered abroad in Thailand and Laos, supporting ecological restoration initiatives and elementary English education in local communities. Through Earth Grant, Lyndale will be bringing her skills in partnership building, community outreach, and environmental communication to the Cooper Center for Environmental Learning, a nonprofit environmental organization that works primarily with PreK-5th grade students from across Southern Arizona with hands-on, discovery-based programs in environmental learning.
Maddie Janis (she/her) is a junior majoring in Environmental Science with an emphasis in Soil, Air, and Water and minors in Spanish and Business Administration. Originally from Chicago, her journey of new experiences and ecosystems has helped her to become more confident about pursuing a professional future in climate adaptation and equity in resource availability. During her time with the Bio/Diversity Project, she taught lessons about pollinators in the Sonoran Desert at Title I schools , while also managing a project where local students made seed balls and established a school garden. Through Earth Grant, Maddie will be using her skills in collaboration, teamwork, public speaking, leadership, and project management to support Southwest Decision Resources, a Tucson-based organization that works with a variety of partners to collaboratively address conservation and community issues throughout Arizona and the Southwest. In the future, Maddie aims to change mindsets and cultivate awareness through a career in environmental consulting.
Mia Drucila Ferring (they/she) is a senior majoring in Landscape Architecture with a minor in Studio Art who describes themself as a very creative half-Mexican lesbian with strong roots in the Sonoran Desert. Beyond caring for four thriving fish tanks, Mia has developed a wide variety of skills ranging from technical landscape and design softwares to writing and public speaking. They’ve worked with various mediums of art both physical and digital, including watercolor, charcoal, ink, and digital graphic design. Through Earth Grant, Mia will get to expand on her passions in water harvesting and architectural design with Emma Stahl-Wert LLC, a one-woman company who installs rainwater and gray water harvesting landscapes, does certified arborist tree work, teaches classes to community groups, businesses, and municipalities, and works to educate each client on water harvesting in the Sonoran Desert region. In the future, Mia plans to own a plant nursery where they can help clients and local community members design sustainable water systems and native landscapes to help remove invasive species and preserve native ecosystems.
Michelle Hein (she/her) is a Latina researcher, teacher, learner, and junior majoring in Bioinformatics who is deeply interested in interdisciplinary work that merges environmental research and diversity initiatives. During her two years of work with a conservation genetics lab, Michelle conducted a study that genetically proved, for the first time, that a threatened species of the raptor Caracara is non-monogamous, a huge learning moment for vital breeding programs working on population revitalization. That incredibly rewarding experience encouraged Michelle to move from computer science work to more hands-on impact at the Bio/Diversity Project, where she developed skills in interpersonal communication and found her passions for learning and teaching. Through Earth Grant, Michelle will be supporting the Arizona Department of Forestry and Fire Management’s Arizona Magnificent Tree program with database management, tree measurement, community outreach, and more. In the future, Michelle aspires to earn a PhD and work as a conservation genetics researcher conducting studies to understand wildlife and advancing environmental justice through community and youth involvement in conservation.
Nicole Caris Marking (she/her) is a junior majoring in Natural Resources with an emphasis in Wildlife Conservation and Management and a minor in Ecology and Evolutionary Biology. Before starting her journey as a first gen college student, Nicole volunteered at Liberty Wildlife in Phoenix, handling and caring for young and orphaned birds. There, she gained critical knowledge in wildlife phenology and population ecology that she brought to her work with the UA EMIGRA multidisciplinary research team. Combined with her involvement in the Epsilon Eta professional fraternity, Nicole has been able to strengthen her skills in academic writing, plant identification, coding, and project management. Through Earth Grant, Nicole will be further exploring her passions for urban wildlife conservation and community knowledge sharing at Tucson Audubon as the Urban Conservation Intern, assisting with the creation of high-quality community habitat and improvement of access to nature in the urban realm. In the future, Nicole plans to pursue a professional career in wildlife rehabilitation and community building.
Nicole Richards (they/she) is a queer first generation Romanian American and junior majoring in Natural Resources with an emphasis in Conservation Biology and a minor in Entomology. Born in Cottonwood, Nic began to see the connections of city design and importance of nature through their hobbies of tabletop roleplaying games and video games. They came to appreciate the outdoors through hiking, which opened them up to the opportunity to become a UA STAR Lab student researcher designing, conducting, and presenting a scientific study about bumblebee landing preferences and pollinator behavior. Through Earth Grant, the skills that Nic has developed in science communication, academic writing, and public speaking will be very useful in their work at the Sonoran Institute, which works directly with residents and the environment in southern Arizona and northern Sonora to create a healthy, flowing Santa Cruz River from Mexico to Marana. Nic will be leading field research for an ongoing study of trash in the Santa Cruz River, and contribute to and maintain the study’s database.
Oskar Peter Anderson (he/him) is a proud Tucsonan and junior majoring in Natural Resources whose classroom was also his home, the Sonoran Desert. The experiential knowledge that Oskar gained growing up homeschooled helped to foster his love for desert wildlife and ecology, a science that he sees as an opportunity to study the ways in which humans are a part of a larger ecosystem. In his two years at Pima Community College, Oskar organized volunteer-led buffelgrass pulls and native planting events while earning an Associate’s degree in Biology and supporting fellow students as a peer STEM mentor. He has also interned with Sky Island Alliance, primarily contributing to their border wildlife study by analyzing and interpreting trail-camera data. Through Earth Grant, Oskar will be supporting the Ecological Monitoring program of the Pima County Conservation Lands & Resources Department, which is tasked with tracking the health of the County's open space lands and is an important part of the County's compliance with the federal Endangered Species Act.
Paulina Lazcano (she/her) is a first gen college student and junior majoring in Landscape Architecture with a minor in Spanish who is deeply inspired by her childhood in Sonora, Mexico. She learned the importance of water storage and conservation from an early age, but it wasn’t until she moved to Tucson that she began to understand the Sonoran Desert’s unique value and the importance of sustainable methods of water usage like stormwater drainage. For her first landscape architecture project, Paulina led a hands-on volunteer operation designing a backyard with stormwater management techniques to address flooding issues. She has also volunteered with Lazos de Amor, where she developed cross-cultural communication and project management skills while working with local communities of Nogales, Sonora to implement sustainable and healthy practices. Through Earth Grant, Paulina will be supporting Watershed Management Group, which helps connect people of all ages to nature and to foster care for the earth and our waterways.
Stephanie Winick (she/her) is a senior double-majoring in Environmental Science and Spanish with a minor in Portuguese who is passionate about water purification and waste diversion. She contributed to a University of Arizona Graduate Study Project focused on aquaponics in Spring 2023, primarily focusing on fish and plant health monitoring and maintenance. knowledge of greenhouse operations, nutrient cycling, aquaculture and hydroponics, in addition to overall water quality management. She worked as a field researcher and database coordinator for the Sonoran Institute’s Santa Cruz River Trash Study and presented her findings in Spanish at the Santa Cruz River Research Days. Stephanie also volunteers her time as the Vice President of Programming and Service Events for Epsilon Eta, a pre-professional environmental fraternity, where she builds partnerships with local organizations and plans community events. Through Earth Grant, Stephanie will be supporting Productive Patches, an ecology based landscaping company in Tucson, Arizona, focused on the restoration and stewardship of our desert landscapes.
Woods Nystedt (he/him) is a senior majoring in Natural Resources with an emphasis in Wildlife Conservation and Management, and a minor in Film and Television. Born and raised in Flagstaff by nature-loving parents in a diverse family, Woods has come to learn the importance of unique perspectives in wildlife conservation, and he is very passionate about making the field more accessible to the public through visual media and science communication. At his previous internship with the Coalition for Sonoran Desert Protection, Woods strengthened skills in database management, professional writing, data analysis, problem solving, and data interpretation that helped him develop a way to share camera-trap data to the public online. He was also a scholar in the 2022 cohort of the Conservation Collaborative Scholars program, where he worked with a team of UA graduate students and the Alaska US. Fish and Wildlife department on conservation initiatives. Through Earth Grant, Woods will be working as a program assistant for the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service’s Partners for Fish and Wildlife program, which provides free technical and financial assistance to landowners, managers, Tribes, corporations, schools, and nonprofits interested in improving wildlife habitat on their land.