Research Assistants
Nora Hawkins is a Master of Environmental Management candidate. She graduated from Whitman College in 2008 with a Bachelor of Arts in English and a minor in chemistry. Prior to commencing her studies at Yale, Nora worked as a paralegal in the Environment and Natural Resources Division of the U.S. Department of Justice in Washington, DC. At FES she is focused on environmental policy and is committed to building a richer, more genuine dialogue between scientists and policymakers. She is excited to be working as a research assistant at YCELP and is interested in exploring how environmental metrics can catalyze solutions to environmental issues that balance competing interests and are grounded in science. Nora is a native of Seattle, Washington.
Laura Johnson is a master's student at the Yale School of Forestry & Environmental Studies, where she is focusing on biogeochemistry and pollution analysis of aquatic systems. She is interested in the science and policy of environmental issues and their impacts on human health and welfare.
Marissa Knodel grew up in Rochester, Minnesota, and has been fortunate to live and study in a variety of other locations, including Alaska, Belize, South Africa, and France. She earned her B.A. in Environmental Studies and International Public Policy from Dartmouth College in 2009. After graduation, she worked as the Sustainability Programs Specialist at Dartmouth College and indulged her passion for food and wine with a summer internship at Jewell Towne Vineyards in South Hampton, New Hampshire. She enrolled in the dual degree program with Vermont Law School and the Yale School of Forestry and Environmental Studies in 2010 to explore her interest in the definition and intersection of justice and sustainable development in the climate change context.
Ainsley Lloyd holds a Masters of Environmental Management from the Yale School of Forestry & Environmental Studies. At the Center, she focuses on environmental and development economics, with particular attention to metrics and environmental governance. If there’s one thing that drives her work, it’s the exploration of innovative solutions to social and environmental problems. She did her undergraduate work at the University of Arizona in Economics and in Spanish and Portuguese.
Omar Malik is a master's student at Yale's School of Forestry, focusing on the global environmental policy of climate change. He studied biology at the University of California at Berkeley and was driven to take action after learning about the biodiversity crisis. He has a background in museum research and now actively engages in science communication.
William Miao is a first-year Master of Environmental Management (MEM' 14) candidate at the Yale School of Forestry and Environmental Studies. His research focus is on the application of integrated environmental tools and frameworks at corporate, industrial, and national levels. Originally a chemical engineer from Auckland, New Zealand, his previous work involved risk management for oil and gas production, waste to energy research, and life-cycle assessment for the steel industry.
Aaron Reuben holds a Masters of Environmental Management from the Yale School of Forestry & Environmental Studies and is a former Editor-in-Chief of the Yale environmental journal, SAGE Magazine. At the Center, he studies the policy impacts of environmental health indicators.
Gabe Scheffler is a second-year student at Yale Law School. He graduated from Harvard in 2009 with a degree in History and Literature, and then worked for two years as a research assistant for two economists at the Harvard Kennedy School. His research at the Center for Environmental Law and Policy focuses on the regulatory framework for hydraulic fracturing.
Breanna Lujan is a third year Environmental Studies major at Yale College. She is concentrating on biodiversity conservation and sustainable development, especially as these topics pertain to environmental policies in Brazil. At the Yale Center for Environmental Law & Policy she is looking forward to learning more about how the interaction between scientific data and policymaking can be used to resolve environmental issues.
Monika Ehrman is pursuing her Master of Laws at Yale Law School. In the fall of 2013 She will join the University of Oklahoma College of Law as an Associate Professor of Energy Law. She has perviously served as General Counsel of CERES Resource Partners, L.P, Senior Counsel with Pioneer Natural Resources, and Associate Attorney in the Dallas office of Locke Lord LLP. Prior to law school Monika was a petroleum engineer in the upstream, midstream, and pipeline sectors of the energy industry. She recieved her B.Sc in Petroleum Engineering from the University of Alberta and her J.D. from Southern Methodist University's Dedman School of Law.
Sarah Wegmueller is a first year MEM candidate at Yale’s School of Forestry & Environmental Studies, where she is focusing on opportunities for industrial symbiosis in free-market systems. She is a joint degree student with Pace Law School and is the Development & Acquisitions Editor of the Pace Environmental Law Review. Sarah graduated from Carleton College in Northfield, MN with a B.A. in International Relations and minors in Mandarin Chinese and East Asian Studies. Between undergraduate and graduate school Sarah spent time wwoofing in Corsica, interning for the USDA in Shanghai, and sailing the Pacific and Atlantic Oceans. She also worked as a Research Associate at the Environmental Law Institute in Washington, DC, which inspired her to head to F&ES and Pace Law.
Connie Vogelmann is a third year joint degree student with the Yale School of Forestry and the Yale Law School. She grew up in Sioux Falls, South Dakota, then went to college at Johns Hopkins to study biology. After realizing how little scientists and policy makers communicate, she decided to study both fields, in order to “bridge the gap” between scientists and policymakers. Connie is interested in a variety of environmental issues, but is particularly interested in land conservation and scientific accountability.
Halley Epstein is a second-year student at Yale Law School, where she serves as President of the Yale Environmental Law Association. She graduated from the University of Virginia with a B.A. in Environmental Thought & Practice. At Yale, her research focuses on climate change policy and state environmental law. Having worked with YCELP on the annual New Directions in Environmental Law Conference, she looks forward to contributing to the Center's goal of forging stronger connections between YLS and F&ES.
Bo Uuganbayar is a first year Master of Environmental Management candidate at the Yale School of Forestry and Environmental Studies. Her research focuses on natural resource management and integrative applications of energy economics and industrial ecology. She graduated magna cum laude from Yale College with a B.A. in Ethics, Politics and Economics. Her senior thesis centered on the natural resource curse theory and the impact of mining developments in Central Asia. She is particularly interested in finding innovation-driven solutions to large-scale environmental issues and is excited to be a part of the YCELP team.