Meet the talented students who are involved in this program this year. Based on informal surveys, approximately 41% of the former participants in this program go on to teach in classes, become involved in other informal education programs, museum studies, join other science outreach programs, start their own outreach program, start educational programs or camps, or other otherwise become involved in other aspects of science education. This is a training opportunity for STEM teachers of the future!
Nadia Chasalow
Nadia is a senior Environment & Sustainability major with a concentration in environmental biology and applied ecology. Through work as a nature camp counselor and Cornell Outdoor Education instructor, she has developed a passion for environmental and outdoor education. She enjoys helping people become more comfortable in nature and find an appreciation for its wonders. Nadia also loves cooking, sewing, and music.
Lucas Fink
Lucas is a senior studying ecology. He grew up in the Northeastern woods and loves delving into the natural history hidden all around us. While at Cornell, he has focused on animal communication and conducted research on territoriality in cuckoos, Brazilian insect songs, and variation in the languages of Hawaiian songbirds. He also teaches wilderness survival classes with Cornell Outdoor Education, has a passion for fieldwork, and has led workshops on bioacoustics in the US and Brazil.
Isabella Hackett
Isabella is a senior studying Environment & Sustainability from Kansas City, Missouri. She is passionate about wildlife conservation and ecology, which she pursues as a teaching assistant for a course on wildlife road mortality and a research fellow at the K. Lisa Yang Center for Conservation Bioacoustics, studying killer whales. As a certified Wilderness First Responder, she loves to explore Ithaca’s natural beauty. She is so excited to share her love for the natural world with students this semester!
Josie Herr
Josie grew up in Asheville, NC, where a youth spent roaming the forests and rivers of the Blue Ridge Mountains sparked her love for ecology. After two years of coursework in Biology and Ecology at Colorado College and time spent working in agriculture, Josie transferred to Cornell College of Agriculture and Life Sciences to pursue a goal of shaping environmental policy and protecting the ecology we know and love. Now a junior Agricultural Sciences major at Cornell with a concentration in Policy Analysis, she aims to connect scientists, policy makers, farmers, and communities through a shared commitment to the natural world. Josie is excited to share her love and knowledge of all things plants with young future scientists!
Dylan Kayser
Dylan is a junior majoring in Entomology in the College of Agriculture and Life Sciences. She currently works in a lab at Cornell researching mosquitoes and spent the past summer researching arboviruses. She hopes to pursue a career in vector-borne disease and to utilize community outreach to highlight the impacts of insect vectors in public health issues.
Sean Kim
Sean Kim is a sophomore majoring in entomology. He enjoys spending summer nights in California’s deserts searching for nocturnal animals, where he developed an enthusiasm for scorpions. Through outreach, he hopes to use arachnids to show how understanding can replace fear. His interests include physiological ecology, developmental plasticity, and scientific imaging, and is a research assistant in the former.
Lani Lin-Kissick
Lani has always felt a deep connection to animals and the environment and is committed to a life’s mission of spearheading community-based conservation and environmental justice initiatives. At Cornell, she studies computational sustainability and marine biology as a second-year in CALS and works for the Cornell Lab of Ornithology’s bilingual environmental justice project, Celebrate Urban Birds. Born and raised in a small suburb of northern Virginia, Lani has grown up around east coast nature her whole life and is excited to share its hidden wonders with the Tompkins County community.
Nicholas Lo
Nick is a senior in the Agricultural Science major with a concentration in Business management and a minor in Environment and Sustainability.Through his last internship experience working at the Cornell Sustainable Weed Management Lab he developed a passion for plant biology and an interest in working in the food production industry. In his free time he likes to take care of his house plants, grow gourmet mushrooms and cook for his friends.
Anna Lovat
Hailing from the midwest, Anna studies entomology (insect science) science communication, and integrated pest management. Her favorite insects are wasps (Yes, really!) and she is always thrilled to talk about them.
Angela Marcos
Angela is an Environment and Sustainability major with a concentration in environmental biology and applied ecology and a minor in food systems. Growing up in Tucson, Arizona, she discovered her love for the environment while exploring the Sonoran Desert, where she became fascinated by the unique plants and animals of her backyard. She hopes to inspire students to develop the same curiosity and passion for their own local ecosystems.
Emma McPolin
Emma is a senior Interdisciplinary Studies major with a focus in marine science. Their current research, through the K. Lisa Yang Center for Conservation Bioacoustics, involves learning about rarely seen whales through sound. Having grown up a ten minute drive from the nearest beach, they’ve had a passion for the ocean and its amazing wildlife from a very young age and are excited to share it with others.
Leo Navarro
Leo is a sophomore studying biology and entomology from Massachusetts. Growing up, he was fascinated by the hidden worlds of insects and spent countless hours exploring the complex societies of ants and learning about nature. At Cornell, he’s involved in research on ant biodiversity and butterfly wing pattern development, and he’s hoping to pursue a career in biological research. He loves sharing his passion for the natural world with others and is excited to connect with the Ithaca community through outreach.
Morgan Purefoy
Morgan is a junior majoring in Biology with a concentration in Biodiversity & Systematics. Early childhood memories of visiting the Fernbank Museum of Natural History and the Grand Canyon laid the foundation for her interests in conservation paleoecology and global protected areas. Currently, she’s a technician for a field study examining the impacts of wildlife road mortality on salamanders. Along with being a certified Wilderness First Responder, Morgan adores bats, trivia games, and watching old movies.
Joanna Ray
Joanna grew up surrounded by the central and upstate New York environment, and is excited to share some of her favorite local backyard science that sparked her interest in the field with youth in the Ithaca area. Majoring in biological sciences within CALS, she studies mainly ecology and marine biology, and hopes to turn her environment and sustainability minor into a second major studying human-environment relations. Joanna’s outreach experience includes serving as an exhibit guide and caretaker for butterflies, as well as working at a children’s camp for outdoor experiential learning. She plans to continue serving as a science educator throughout her career, where she hopes to pursue conservation research.
Anna Siegel
Anna Siegel is an Environment & Sustainability major at the College of Agriculture and Life Sciences, studying environmental biology and applied ecology with the goal of going into conservation ornithology and public policy. She is keen on researching phylogenetics, evolution, and ecological systems to understand how the climate crisis has and will continue to impact the natural world. Anna is a keen birder with experience in science communications and naturalist outreach, with past roles as the Outreach Lead for a study on forestry and birds in Northern Maine and a Naturalist Instructor at a nature camp for kids and adults.
Pilar Seielstad
Pilar Seielstad grew up in Montana, where she developed a love for the outdoors and an interest in how science can shape the world around us. Now a senior in the College of Agriculture and Life Sciences, she is majoring in Biology with a concentration in Genetics and Genomics. Pilar is especially passionate about the intersection of science and policy, particularly in tackling environmental and public health challenges. Outside of academics, she loves to write, read, run, and play hockey, and she’s always excited to connect with people who share her curiosity and energy.
Tiffany Situ
From tiny insects to massive deep-sea fish, flora and fauna of all kinds have forever fascinated Tiffany from her humble town in Delaware (the 49th largest state). She started inspired by fantasy creatures in movies like Nausicaa and games like Subnautica. Now, she studies environmental science to discover and connect with the real-world wonders of nature!
Breawna Smith
Breawna is a senior in agricultural sciences with a focus in sustainable cropping systems. From Florida, she has spent her time at college learning about plants and farming systems around the world. While each region is incredibly unique, there’s unity and community in food. Breawna found her interest in agriculture through science outreach as a middle school student and enjoys sharing science with kids in hopes that she will introduce people to something they can be passionate about.
Christopher Soliz
Chris is a senior biology major with a concentration in animal physiology. His time spent in the forests of upstate New York inspired a commitment to protecting animals and local ecosystems from human impact. Aspiring to become a veterinarian, he combines his academic interests with community engagement by working in a veterinary clinic and volunteering at local Head Start daycares through Big Red Buddies. Chris is dedicated to fostering positive ecological change through both professional and community efforts.
Diane Stonestreet
Diane is a 4th year PhD Candidate in Mechanical Engineering. She is originally from Maryland and received her Bachelor’s from the University of Maryland Baltimore County (UMBC) in 2022. In undergrad, she was highly involved as a teaching fellow, McNair Scholar, civic engagement coach, and more, and since coming to Ithaca her community involvement has leaned more towards ecological/conservation volunteering and outreach. She has volunteered at the Ithaca Sciencenter, participated in the Tompkins County Amphibian Migration Patrol, and become an avid birder who frequents the Cornell Lab of Ornithology. After receiving her PhD she hopes to pursue further research opportunities at the intersection of insect biology and solid mechanics.
Ted Wilbur
Ted, originally from Iowa, is now a Junior studying Entomology here at Cornell. He has long had a passion for sharing his love and knowledge of the natural world. From wildlife camps to a butterfly house and countless outreach events, he’s been consistently sharing his knowledge with the public for years. He spent the past summer researching bees in Fargo, North Dakota, and is now working in a lab researching Colorado Potato Beetles. He hopes his future career allows for the combination of his love of outreach with his interest in studying agriculturally significant insects.
Brandon Yoon
Coming from Busan, South Korea, Brandon as a naturalist grew marveling at the lush insect fauna of his hometown. Deeply passionate about behavioral ecology, he explores arthropod predator-prey interactions from both perspectives. His current fascinations lie in specialist spiders and tool use in assassin bugs. He spent last summer in Seoul researching as well as antipredatory strategies of microlepidoptera against jumping spiders. As a strong advocate in citizen science and outreach, he never misses an opportunity to stand on stage to talk about what he loves with the world. As an international scholar, Brandon is beyond excited to share stories of hunters and the hunted – both from here and from home.
Louis Zavala
Louis is from the Midwest, all the way from Waukegan, Illinois. He is a senior studying environment and sustainability. He has a cat, but his favorite animal is Kangaroos. He hopes to find ways to make the world more sustainable and passionate about the outdoors/nature. He is always ready to yap about anything science and outdoors-related!