Meet Mel

Ventura California

mrw630@g.harvard.edu

+1 828-712-8574

I save wild places for wild people. My research focuses on two primary areas: saving large wild landscapes and building the human-nature connection. Currently, I am working on bold and innovative strategies to reach Wilson’s half-earth (2016), including creating ArcGIS models of potential protected area networks, developing models to define the greater ecosystems surrounding parks and wilderness areas, and employing scenic trails as continental wildlife corridors.

In May 2019, I was awarded the “Dean’s Top Thesis Award in Sustainability” at Harvard University and graduated from their sustainability program with a Master of Liberal Arts in Extension Studies. I use landscape planning, spatial ecology, wilderness conservation, outdoor recreation, and experiential STEM education to build a more sustainable world. I also hold a master’s certificate in resource management, a master's degree in environmental education, and a bachelor's degree in outdoor education with a minor in art and environmental studies. I have 22 years of teaching experience in both higher education and preschool-twelfth grade education.

Following two Category 5 hurricanes in 2017, I moved to St. John, USVI, to help rebuild a preschool-12th grade school, Gifft Hill School. My emphasis in the Caribbean is building the human-nature connection through green STEM career pathways for underrepresented students. I accomplish this through fundraising, research, and education partnerships with the National Park Service, the University of Virgin Islands, Iowa State University, Harvard University, and three NGOs. Previously, I taught undergraduate environmental science and outdoor education courses at a small liberal arts college and middle school at an inner-city charter school in Asheville, NC.

My favorite days are spent along the edge of the ocean, overlooking far vistas, hiking steep peaks, getting lost in the back woods, or paddling through a creek or mangrove. I happily live in Paradise (U.S. Virgin Islands) on the edge of a national park.