Robin Sears, Ph.D., Project Science Advisor
Robin R. Sears is a forest ecologist and dean at the School for Field Studies, an environmental field study abroad program based in Salem, Massachusetts. She has fifteen years’ experience working with smallholder farmers in tropical rainforest countries on issues related to agriculture and forestry production, development, and biodiversity conservation. Her research is on ecological and land use dynamics at the aquatic-terrestrial interface in seasonally flooded environments along the Amazon River and its major tributaries. Having climbed four glacial peaks in the Andes and Mexico, kayaked on the coasts of Canada and the US, and hiked along and fished in innumerable mountain streams around the world, Robin appreciates the critical and complex nature of freshwater services.
Thomas Stoneback, Ph.D.
As a scientist, publisher and entrepreneur, Tom Stoneback was Chief Environmental Officer for Rodale, Inc., for 25 years. A national environmental leader, Dr. Stoneback focuses on economics, the environment and its sustainability. Dr. Stoneback is a communications industry leader and a direct/interactive marketing expert who has established seven successful non-profit organizations focused on community impact, civic health, and quality of life.
Milbry Polk
“Exploration has informed most of what I have done in my life. I am a Fellow of The Explorers Club and of the Royal Geographic Society and honorary Fellow of the Royal Canadian Geographical Society. I have authored/edited 10 books, including Egyptian Mummies. With Mary Tiegreen, I co-authored Women of Discovery on the accomplishments of women explorers over the past two thousand years; and with Angela Schuster I co-edited The Looting Of The Iraqi Museum. I founded the Margaret Mead Film Festival at the American Museum of Natural History, co-founded the Film Festival of the Museum of the American Indian and judged numerous festivals. I have traveled extensively, led expeditions, lectured worldwide and created educational programs. Currently, I am a contributing editor for The Explorers Journal and executive director of Wings WorldQuest, a nonprofit I founded to celebrate women explorers and promote scientific exploration and education. Having offered $250,000 in grants, Wings has 29 Fellows, a Flag Program, and soon a website on women’s contributions to the world through exploration. I am married, have 3 daughters and live on the Hudson River where I try to row as often as possible.”
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Laly Lichtenfeld, PhD
Dr. Laly Lichtenfeld is the executive director and co-founder of the People & Predators Fund, an international non-profit based in Tanzania and New Jersey. She received her Ph.D. from Yale University’s School of Forestry and Environmental Studies for her unique work describing human-lion relationships and conflict in Tanzania. Laly lives in northern Tanzania in the village of Loibor Siret on the boundary of Tarangire National Park with her partner and PPF co-founder, Charles Trout.
She has worked extensively with the Maasai and Hadzabe to reduce human-wildlife conflict and is an African lion specialist. Last year, PPF made history when it was the first non-profit in Tanzania to be donated village land for a field center. A passionate conservationist, Laly spends every possible moment working in the bush in the Tarangire and Selous-Niassa ecosystems. She has been featured in a program aired on Discovery Channel Canada, is a recipient of the Fulbright Award, and is currently working on writing her first book. Laly feels fortunate to be living her life’s dream every day that she wakes up.
Cristina Mittermeier
Cristina Mittermeier is a Mexican marine biologist, conservationist and photographer. As a photographer and writer since 1996, Cristina has co-edited 8 books, including a series published with Conservation International and Cemex. Megadiversity: Earth’s Wealthiest Countries for Biodiversity (1996), Hotspots: Earth’s biologically richest and most endangered ecoregions (1998), Wilderness Areas: Earth’s Last Wild Places (2002), Wildlife Spectacles (2003), Hotspots Revisited (2005), and Transboundary Conservation: A New Vision for Protected Areas (2005), and Pantanal: South America’s Wetland Jewel (2005) are all part of that series. Her latest book project, The Human Footprint was produced with the Wildlife Conservation Society in New York in conjunction with her own organization, the ILCP. Cristina serves on the Advisory Board of Nature’s Best Magazine, is a Board Member of the WILD Foundation and a member of Conservation International’s Chairman’s Council. She is also the Executive Director of the International League of Conservation Photographers (ILCP), a prestigious consortium of some of the best photographers in the world.
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