Jeanne Boland has traveled all the way from New York City to earn her Master’s Degree at the Donald Bren School of Environmental Science and Management. Originally a native of California, Ms. Boland earned her B.A. from the University of California, Los Angeles in French Language with a focus in International Marketing. Immediately following graduation, she moved to New York City to pursue a career in the advertising industry. Ms. Boland worked at Grey Worldwide where she organized and managed TV, radio, and print campaigns for various consumer products. After September 11, 2001, Ms. Boland felt compelled to follow her true passion of working in wildlife and habitat conservation. She is now completing the final phase of her educational journey at the University of California, Santa Barbara, pursuing her dreams and enjoying ocean kayaking and bird watching along the Central Coast.

Dawn Cunningham is from a small town located in the interior of British Columbia, Canada. She is currently pursuing her Master of Environmental Science and Management specializing in Conservation Planning from the Donald Bren School of Environmental Science & Management at the University of California, Santa Barbara. Dawn has worked at a number of acclaimed research institutions. She studied Influenza and HIV-1 at the University of Washington, conducted experiments on riparian and rainforest ecosystems in Costa Rica, and has worked for Weyerhaeuser as an Environmental Forestry Technician. Dawn has participated in five scientific research papers, two of which are now published in The Journal of Virology. In August of 2002, Dawn married Chris Conover, her sweetheart of over five years. Chris currently lives in Seattle and works for Real Networks as a software engineer. In her spare time, Dawn can be found painting with oils, going for long hikes, and in the hills mountain bike riding on her Santa Cruz Superlight.

Christina Danko moved for the first time from her life-long home in Maryland to pursue a Master’s Degree in Environmental Science and Management at the University of California at Santa Barbara. She completed her Bachelor of Arts degree in Biology at Hood College, a women’s college located in Frederick, Maryland and began her career as a biologist in a small company called the Institute for In Vitro Sciences. There she conducted studies to test the safety of cosmetics and household products, using methods alternative to testing on animals. As an only child, raised in a rural area with hiking trails and creeks to explore only a short walk away, her love of nature developed early and continues to guide her life goals. After a seasonal position as an environmental educator with The Audubon Society in Santa Fe, New Mexico, she chose to turn her career in the direction of environmental management. Christina still loves to hike, not simply to reach the top of the mountain, but to observe the diversity of plant life along the way. In addition, she enjoys photography and writing, as well as all kinds of dancing.

Heather Imgrund received a Bachelor of Science in Evolution and Ecology from UC Davis in 2002. While completing her Bachelor’s degree, Heather held an internship with the California Department of Pesticide Regulation in the Environmental Monitoring Branch. Upon completion of her B.S., Heather worked as an Environmental Scientist, in hazardous waste, at Tetra Tech EM Inc. During this time, Heather decided to further her knowledge of the environmental field by continuing her education. In fall of 2003, Heather began her Master’s degree at the Donald Bren School of Environmental Science and Management. Heather was born in Ventura in 1980 and moved to Bakersfield in 1994. She hopes to settle in the Santa Barbara/Ventura area upon completion of her Masters degree.

 

 

Jason Kreitler is first and foremost a student of environmental science at the Bren School at UCSB. His interests in conservation are ranging, but generally fall into the category of observing ecological pattern and process over scales ranging from small nature reserves to eco-regions. The use remote sensing and GIS technologies are at the forefront of his interest in solving applied conservation problems. Jason received a BA in Biology from The Colorado College, and has since worked for The Nature Conservancy of Idaho, and as a groundwater consultant. When not in school he can be found surfing, flyfishing, cycling and skiing (though not all necessarily in Santa Barbara- he’s still searching for that perfect location).

 

 

Joshua Levine is currently receiving his Master’s Degree at the Donald Bren School of Environmental Science & Management at the University of California, Santa Barbara. Prior to enrolling at Bren, he was an investment banking Associate at Scotia Capital (USA), Inc. where he specialized in leveraged finance. Mr. Levine spent time in both the Corporate Finance department and then in Syndicated Loan Sales and Trading, where his investor coverage responsibilities encompassed Italian, Taiwanese, and Irish Banks. He now endeavors to work in the field of conservation finance where he will utilize his finance and business experience in a conservation capacity. Mr. Levine received his B.S. in Civil & Environmental Engineering from the University of California, Los Angeles. In his spare time he enjoys golfing, surfing, skiing and anything else that leads him into the great outdoors.

Bruce Kendall has been an Assistant Professor at the Donald Bren School of Environmental Science & Management since 1998. He is a quantitative ecologist with a focus on animal and plant population dynamics. He received his B.A. in Physics, with an Environmental Studies minor, from Williams College (Massachusetts) in 1986, and a Ph.D. in Ecology & Evolutionary Biology from the University of Arizona in 1996. His dissertation work focussed on chaos theory, spatial population models, and models of small populations. From 1996 through 1998 he was a postdoctoral fellow at the National Center for Ecological Analysis and Synthesis (UC Santa Barbara), where he studied the causes of population cycles. The highlights of his years between college and grad school include bicycling across the country, working at the environmental education center for the San Francisco Bay National Wildlife Refuge, spending a year as an agricultural intern at the Land Institute in Kansas, and working at a commercial trout hatchery in Massachusetts.

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Hillsides Group Project, 2004
Last Modified: 02/01/2005