Michelle Stewart

Short alumni updates, Spring 2021

Anonymous — Mon, 03 May 2021 22:37:02 +0000

Short alumni updates, Spring 2021 Anonymous (not verified) Mon, 05/03/2021 - 16:37

Michelle Stewart, Executive Director, Yampa Valley Sustainability Council

Michelle O. Stewart, Ph.D. 2014, is currently the Executive Director (ED) of Yampa Valley Sustainability Council (YVSC), based in Steamboat Springs, CO. YVSC is guided by the mission "to serve as a resource and catalyst for building a sustainable community in the Yampa Valley region." As ED, Michelle is responsible for strategic planning, financial growth and management, program development, staff management, and overall organizational function. Michelle uses her teaching, research, mentoring and grant-writing skills on a daily basis to develop programs, partnerships and education that bring sustainability-related knowledge to action at the community level. The organization's priority areas span Climate Action, Waste,

Energy and Transportation, Advocacy for Action and Community Education and Engagement. Having taught both in the classroom (she was the Pick Visiting Assistant Professor of Environmental Studies at Amherst College from 2013-2016) and online since 2013 (she was remote adjunct faculty in the Program of Environmental Policy and Management at University of Denver/University College as well as teaching a Geography courese for ��Ƶ Boulder Continuing Education), Michelle values the opportunity to step into practice, and the related challenges and rewards of developing programs that advance equity, impact and collaboration in the environmental realm. She regularly works with local government, businesses, nonprofit partners, and institutions to bring programs of impact to the Yampa Valley. New to YVSC in 2021 is its YVSC Internship Program, which seeks to provide young professionals with experiences, training and professional development opportunities through project-based action. Michelle is happy to talk with current graduate students who are interested in learning more about how their graduate training equips them for the nonprofit sector: michelle.stewart@yvsc.org.

Galen Murton (Ph.D. 2014), Assistant Professor, Geographic Science Program, James Madison University

It was great to see and reconnect with many ��Ƶ Boulder Geography alumni, graduate students, and faculty at the Annual Meeting of the AAG in April. Despite the very different nature of this year’s event being entirely on Zoom, I was again reminded of the vastness of the ��Ƶ Geography network and the amazing work that this community does.

Indeed, one of the most valuable post-graduate experiences I’ve had – and continue to have on a pretty regular basis – is the opportunity to collaborate with friends and colleagues from Guggenheim at conferences, workshops, classrooms, and fieldsites around the world. Beyond the annual rendezvous at AAG, this includes organizing and co-chairing panels at conferences such as the Association for Asian Studies, the Annual Conference on South Asia, Dimensions of Political Ecology, and the Himalayan Studies Conference; it is always exciting and motivating to reconnect and share research interests with both students and faculty at these kinds of events. When on the road abroad (back when we could do that – and hopefully we can do so again soon), impromptu and planned meetings with fellow PhD alumni in places like Singapore, Chengdu, and Munich have provided invaluable orientations on first visits to many new places. Over the past couple of years, I’ve also been fortunate to participate in workshops with Emily Yeh and Tim Oakes not only in Colorado but also Germany, Austria, and Nepal; the conversations we’ve continued in these venues are a helpful reminder that my dissertation project did not end with a nerve-wracking defense on campus some years ago but has instead evolved into a productive relationship of collaborative thinking (but still with a healthy dose of critique, too).

Ongoing connections with ��Ƶ Geography also go well beyond the confines of academic-oriented dialogue; interaction with alumni working as applied geographers in a variety of positions across both the public and private sectors is also a consistent reminder of that which we do – writing the earth and attending to much of what goes on (and below, and above) it. In my own experience, workshops and meetings at Esri in Washington, DC and data on wildfire hazards during increasingly devastating seasons reinforces the expert knowledge and exceptional resources that this community comprises – something that I am ever grateful (and impressed!) to be able to call upon. From the Political Geography Specialty Group of the AAG to leading scientists in Colorado at NOAA, NCAR, NREL, CIRES, USGS, and an alphabet soup of other research laboratories, we are everywhere!

I am happy to remain familiar with ��Ƶ Boulder Geography and hope that you are, too. Get involved, stay connected, and keep in touch! And I’ll come say hi at Guggenheim next time I’m in town as well.

Eric Lovell, ESRI

After spending 2012-2018 interpreting the delicate, sometimes convoluted intersection of Science and Technology Studies and Political Ecology, I departed academia only to find myself at the beck and call of a technoscientific giant often associated with the discipline of Geography – Esri. I am on the Nonprofits & Global Organizations team at Esri, where I support the US Agency for International Development (USAID), USAID implementing partners, and humanitarian affairs NGOs with integrating GIS into their enterprise IT systems. From advising on the latest field data collection tools to managing unstructured data (like oral narratives related to livestock mobility), I still put on my geographer’s cap to help organizations develop their spatial literacy and understandings about how GIS can be used in everyday business operations. When I am not at work, I escape to my home states of West Virginia and Pennsylvania to bike backroads and forage for ramps (wild leeks) and other Appalachian delicacies. Despite missing the camaraderie of the graduate seminar, I have come to embrace the life of a cyborg in all its glory.

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Michelle Stewart Receives a Fellowship at Harvard Kennedy School’s STS Program

Anonymous — Thu, 17 Feb 2011 16:49:20 +0000

Michelle Stewart Receives a Fellowship at Harvard Kennedy School’s STS Program Anonymous (not verified) Thu, 02/17/2011 - 09:49

Michelle will receive a non-stipendiary fellowship in the Harvard Kennedy School's Program on Science, Technology and Society (STS) for academic year 2011-2012. While there, Michele will continue her work on how "expertise" and "sustainability" take form in the local context of harvesters' daily interactions and livelihoods in Northest Yunnan, China. She will work with Sheila Jasanoff, the director of the STS program.

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Michelle Stewart receives Research Associate Award University of Wisconsin-Madison

Anonymous — Sat, 02 Jan 2010 02:35:46 +0000

Michelle Stewart receives Research Associate Award University of Wisconsin-Madison Anonymous (not verified) Fri, 01/01/2010 - 19:35

Michelle Stewart receives Research Associate Award University of Wisconsin-Madison NSF IGERT Training Program on Biodiversity Conservation and Sustainable Development in Southwest China: The faces of â€œgoldâ€: Towards greater understanding of the ecological and social aspects of Tibetan harvesting of Cordyceps sinensis in NW Yunnan: (PI) $3000

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Michelle Olsgard awarded a 2009 NSF Graduate Research Fellowship

Anonymous — Thu, 02 Apr 2009 17:49:11 +0000

Michelle Olsgard awarded a 2009 NSF Graduate Research Fellowship Anonymous (not verified) Thu, 04/02/2009 - 11:49

Michelle Olsgard and Natalie Koch, both graduate students in the ��Ƶ-Boulder Geography department, received an award despite there being only five such fellowships awarded in all of Geography in the US.

The National Science Foundation's Graduate Research Fellowship Program (GRFP) helps ensure the vitality of the human resource base of science and engineering in the United States and reinforces its diversity. The program recognizes and supports outstanding graduate students in NSF-supported science, technology, engineering, and mathematics disciplines who are pursuing research-based master's and doctoral degrees in the U.S. and abroad. The NSF welcomes applications from all qualified students and strongly encourages under-represented populations, including women, under-represented racial and ethnic minorities, and persons with disabilities, to apply for this fellowship.

GRFP Fellows Receive the Following:

Three years of support
$30,000 annual stipend
$10,500 cost-of-education allowance
$1,000 one time international travel allowance
TeraGrid Supercomputer access

See NSF Graduate Research Fellowship Program (GRFP) for more information.

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Michelle Stewart receives IIE Fulbright Award

Anonymous — Thu, 01 Jan 2009 17:12:14 +0000

Michelle Stewart receives IIE Fulbright Award Anonymous (not verified) Thu, 01/01/2009 - 10:12

Michelle Stewart receives IIE Fulbright Award: â€œAssessing the sustainability of Tibetan harvesting of rare endemic fungus Cordyceps sinensisâ€ (PI) USD $18,200

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Michelle Stewart receives Research Associate Award University of Wisconsin-Madison

Anonymous — Mon, 01 Sep 2008 18:30:18 +0000

Michelle Stewart receives Research Associate Award University of Wisconsin-Madison Anonymous (not verified) Mon, 09/01/2008 - 12:30

Michelle Stewart receives Research Associate Award University of Wisconsin-Madison NSF IGERT Training Program on Biodiversity Conservation and Sustainable Development Southwest China: â€œExploring the â€˜Himalayan Goldâ€™ Rush: Tibetan Harvesting of Cordyceps sinensis and Implications for Managementâ€ (PI) USD $2000

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