REBECCA PAYNE
Project Manager
Rebecca Payne is a master's student at the Bren School of Environmental Science & Management. She is an experienced wetland specialist with expertise in delineating waters of the State and waters of the United States, including wetlands. She also has expertise in the California Rapid Assessment Methodology. Rebecca was the technical specialist for waters of the State and Waters of the United Stated for Caltrans from 2008 to 2016. She has conducted wetland and ordinary high water mark and wetland delineations in simple and complex situations, and assisted in wetland and ordinary high water mark trainings.
elizabeth chen
financial manager
Elizabeth graduated from the Chinese University of Hong Kong in 2016 with a B.S. in Environmental Science. She interned at an environmental consulting firm and worked on EIA projects back home during the summer. With a childhood interest in grassland ecosystems, she participated and organized green workshops and projects during her undergraduate, and did fieldwork in rural communities and butterfly reserves. Her broad interests developed from undergraduate internships and activities led her to the Bren School of Environmental Science & Management, where she is deciding between Economy and Politics of the Environment and Conservation Planning with a Strategic Communication focus. In the future, Elizabeth hopes to work in the conservation field and gain experience before going back to her home country and contribute to environment protection there.
tia kordell
Outreach Manager
Tia Kordell is a master's student at the Bren School of Environmental Science & Management. She is focusing on Economics and Politics of the Environment, and specializing in Strategic Communication. Tia holds a B.S. in Ecology, Conservation, and Environmental Biology, and a B.A. in Journalism from Indiana University of Pennsylvania (IUP). During her undergraduate degree, she spearheaded a research project that investigated environmental violations of hydraulic fracturing in Pennsylvania. She has gained professional experience in a variety of environmental outreach media, including website management, social media, periodical writing, and graphic design. In the future, she hopes to build creative outreach programs that will lead individuals to shift behaviors and mindsets toward sustainability.
christin palmstrom
data manager
Christin Palmstrom is a master’s student at the Bren School and is pursuing a specialization in conservation planning, with a focus on strategic environmental communication and media. She earned her bachelor’s degree in biology from UCSB’s College of Creative Studies in 2015. While at UCSB, she co-authored a research paper on grackle skulls, studied aboard in Australia and Costa Rica, catalogued herbarium specimens, and helped curate the herpetology collection . She has an interest in environmental communication, and helped produce two environmental-based documentaries, Black Tide and The Snowy Plovers of Coal Oil Point Reserve. Christin has also worked as a Guest Experience Specialist at the Santa Barbara Zoo, which is a customer service position that includes educating guests about conservation, zoo animals, and California history.
The advisers
JOHN MELACK, Faculty Adviser
Dr. Melack’s research emphasizes ecological processes in lakes, wetlands, and streams, and hydrological and biogeochemical aspects of catchments. He has conducted multi-year studies in eastern Africa, tropical South America and California, including research at Mono Lake, on Amazon wetlands and their ecology, on high-elevation ecosystems in the Sierra Nevada, and on the hydrology and solutes of streams bordering the Santa Barbara Channel. He is an elected Fellow of the American Geophysical Union and American Association for the Advancement of Science. He played a seminal role in the creation of the Bren School, and is the faculty advisor of the University of California’s Valentine Eastern Sierra Reserve near Mammoth Lakes.
ELIZABETH HIROYASU, PhD Mentor
Elizabeth Hiroyasu is interested in the ecology of invasive wild pigs in California and the implications for the communities they invade. She plans to study the population dynamics of this prolific invasive to determine its effects across the landscape, including such sensitive natural environments as oak woodlands, riparian corridors, and native grasslands. Wild pigs also have important economic consequences for ecosystem services, ranching operations, and agriculture in the state, and Elizabeth hopes that her research will be useful in developing more efficient and robust management techniques for invaded habitats in California.
MAX MORITZ, External Adviser
Much of Max's work is focused on understanding the dynamics of fire regimes at relatively broad scales and applying this information in ecosystem management. He uses quantitative analyses of fire history, examining the relative importance of different mechanisms that drive fire patterns on the landscape, to develop a variety of fire models. Research in his lab ranges from local to global scales, and we have recently published new projections of fire activity under climate change scenarios.
FRANK DAVIS, External Adviser
Frank Davis brings conservation science and geographical analysis to bear in land use planning and the conservation of wild species. Davis heads the Biogeography Lab at the Bren School, and his research focuses on the landscape ecology of California plant communities, the design of protected-area network, rangeland and farmland conservation, and the biological implications of regional climate change.