The Team
Heidi Ballard
Founder, Faculty Director
Heidi’s research and practice have formed the foundation for the
Center. She is leading the development of its overarching vision
and mission, and building partnerships and collaborations across
the University and beyond. She is Professor and Chancellor’s
Fellow at the UC Davis School of Education. Read more
Ryan Meyer
Executive Director
Ryan leads strategic, financial, and operational development of
the Center, and collaborates on many of its research initiatives.
He has studied science and society, and worked with governments
and scientists to improve the links between science and decision
making. Read more
Maryam Ghadiri
Postdoctoral Scholar
Maryam is the postdoctoral fellow on the LEARN CitSci project. She was
previously the director of education and research at the
Environmental Learning Center (ELC), a non-profit organization in
Vero Beach, Florida. She holds a Bachelor’s in Environmental
Science and a Master’s in Conservation Biology, both from the
University of Tehran, and finished her PhD in Ecology &
Free-Choice STEM Learning at the Center for Global Soundscapes at
Purdue University. Read more
Erin Bird
Postdoctoral Scholar
Erin is a former high school science teacher and has founded and
directed environmental education and farm-based education
programs throughout the Bay Area. Her research interests focus on
social and environmental justice through and within science
education. She is leading our research on the Our Forests
project.
Laci Gerhart-Barley
Faculty Fellow
Lecturer PSOE, Department of Evolution and Ecology
Laci is leading our work on the the City Nature
Challenge 2019. She is also using
participation in citizen and community science as a component of
a new course she is developing on the natural history of the
Davis campus (titled Wild Davis) and potentially as part of a
research program on assessing impacts of exposure to and
participation in original research on students’ scientific
literacy, interest in scientific degrees/careers, and perceptions
of scientists and scientific inquiry. Read
more
Peggy Harte
Education Program Manager
Peggy develops citizen science curriculum as well as
professional
learning opportunities for K-12 educators, engaging with students
and teachers across a variety of projects ongoing at the center.
She is former classroom teacher and elementary science specialist
with over 20 years of experience. Among many projects she
supports at the center, Peggy is currently directly supporting
educators (both formal and informal) through the CitSci on the Student
Farm project as well as the STEM Rural Valley
Partnership, focusing on how citizen science projects engage
students in deepening their connection to the environment as well
as their understanding of the Next Generation Science Standards
and the application of Common Core State Standards.
Amanda Lindell
Amanda is a PhD student at the School of Education. She is a
former high school science teacher and informal science educator
in New York City, and most recently oversaw teacher
professional development, youth programming, and in-park
interpretation at the Wildlife Conservation Society. Her research
interests focus on the interplay of formal science education and
environmental education in increasing scientific literacy.
Chris Jadallah
Chris is a PhD student and NSF Graduate Research Fellow at the
School of Education. He received his B.S. in Conservation and
Resource Studies from UC Berkeley, where he was also a researcher
and project manager studying agroecology and native bee
conservation. His research interests focus on people-place
relationships and the connections between public
participation in science and learning, with the ultimate
goal of supporting community-based conservation and
social-ecological resilience.
Eric Tymstra
Eric Tymstra is a PhD student in the Graduate Group in Ecology in
Professor Gail Patricelli’s lab. His research focuses on sexual
selection, foraging, and conservation, using the Greater
sage-grouse as a model system. In addition to research
objectives about sage-grouse biology, Eric also uses citizen
science in his work. With camera traps and Zooniverse,
Eric has spent the last two years working with high schoolers in
California’s Eastern Sierra to help the BLM monitor grouse lek
(the breeding ground male grouse display on) attendance. Students
also designed and carried out their own research projects in the
Spring of 2018. By interviewing students before and after the
project, Eric plans to use his work as a case study for how
students develop agency through participation in science both in
the field and online.
Mackenzie Carter
Mackenzie is currently volunteering with our Center while
she applies to the UC Davis Food Science and Technology graduate
program. Mackenzie’s goal is to create a citizen and community
science project to study the microbes in fermented vegetables by
developing a protocol for participants to send her samples of
fermented foods they make at home and an online community to
share questions, recipes, and results. Her research background
includes tissue engineering at the University of Georgia’s
College of Veterinary Medicine and biomedical engineering at the
University of Arizona.
Minh Tham
Minh is a fourth-year Design & Cinema and Digital Media double
major at UC Davis. Minh joined CCS in summer 2020 working
as a communications assistant also working with video and audio
editing in addition to working to implement a coherent design
style for CCS. He hopes to work to create videos and streamline
the platform of CCS in order to create more digital outreach.
UC Davis Affiliates
If you are interested in becoming an affiliate of the Center, and
becoming an active member of our campus community, let us know
about it here.
Alfonso Aranda
PhD Student, Geography Graduate Group
Alsfonso is working on a community-based participatory research
(CBPR) project focused on environmental health in farmworker
communities.
Monique Borgerhoff-Mulder
Professor, Department of Anthropology Evolutionary
Wing
Professor Borgerhoff Mulder is a human behavioral ecologist (HBE)
working on projects relating to life history, inequality, natural
resource management, and patterned cultural variation. Together
with Professor Tim Caro and the Department of Forestry and
Non-Renewable Natural Resources (Revolutionary Government of
Zanzibar), and with support of Max Planck Institute funding, she
is developing an education and citizen science centre in Pemba
(Tanzania)”. Read more
Pernille Sporon Boving
Academic Coordinator, Wildlife, Fish & Conservation
Biology
I coordinate all the outreach, engagement and logistics for the
APPLES workshops. APPLES is an NSF-funded project that provides
hands-on training for K-12+ educators in research methods used to
study plant phenological responses to climate change in the
Arctic. We would like to broadcast our professional development
workshops to K-12+ science teachers through a formal UCD
interface. Read more
Jeffery Clary
Associate Director, UC Davis Natural Reserves
Read more
Jonathan Eisen
Professor, UC Davis Genome Center
Medical Microbiology and Immunology Population Biology
Eisen’s research focuses on the ecology, evolution and function
of communities of microbes (aka microbiomes). Dr. Eisen has
run or been involved in a diversity of participatory/citizen
microbiology projects including ones involving microbes that live
in and on cats (aka Kittybiome), the Space Station (Project
MERCCURI), and humans. Read
more
Carmia Feldman
Assistant Director, UC Davis Arboretum and Public Garden
The UC Davis Arboretum and Public Garden (APG) is interested in
collaborating on citizen science projects. The Arboretum and
Public Garden has incredible resources for projects related to
plants, biodiversity, horticulture, conservation, restoration and
more. We are interested in working with faculty, staff and
students to develop appropriate projects. Read more
Benjamin Finkelor
Executive Director, UC Davis Energy and Efficiency Institute
Benjamin Finkelor is Executive Director of the UC Davis Energy
and Efficiency Institute, an institution advancing impactful
energy and energy efficiency solutions. Prior to joining the EEI,
he served in a variety of roles within the clean technology
sector.
Sara Giordano
Assistant Professor
HATCH Feminist Science Shop
College of Letters & Science; Humanities, Arts and Cultural
Studies; Gender, Sexuality and Women’s Studies
They with Dr. Rana Jaleel are co-founder and co-director of the
first and only U.S. based feminist arts and science shop, HATCH:
Feminist Arts and Science Shop at UC Davis, which is currently
funded through the Mellon Foundation. Science shops typically
provide space for non-academic communities to participate in the
creation of scientific and technological research agendas. HATCH
builds on this by including the arts and specifically orienting
our research agendas towards social justice ends.
Read more
Skye Kelty
PhD Candidate, Center for Health and Environment
The Knights Landing Environmental Health Project is a
collaboration between UC Davis Environmental Health researchers
and the residents of Knights Landing. We are connecting
university researchers and resources to meet needs in the Knights
Landing Community. Read more
Ben Houlton
Professor and Chancellor’s Fellow, Global Environmental
Studies;
Director, John Muir Institute of the Environment
Ben’s research interests include ecosystem processes and climate
change. Most recently, Ben has been leading the new “OneClimate”
initiative, which envisions a interdisciplinary, team-based
approach to reduce greenhouse gas pollution and help people and
ecosystems adapt to an uncertain climate future. Read more
Jonathan London
Associate Professor, Community and Regional Development
Director of Center for Regional Change
Jonathan London is an educator, researcher, and community-builder
with experience in participatory research, rural community
development, and community engaged planning. Read more
Lee Martin
Associate Professor, School of Education
Lee Martin studies participation in making and the maker movement
as activities that may help youth become more flexible and
adaptive in their thinking and problem solving. In addition, he
examines processes of identity development and sense of
connection to STEM fields. Read more
Sarah McCullough
Associate Director, LWOS Science & Technology Studies
I work on participatory research in mobility justice, with a
strong emphasis on making planning processes more engaged with
local residents. This is part of a broader motivation to make
research more responsive to community needs and involve
communities in the process of undertaking research. Read more
Colin Milburn
Gary Snyder Chair in Science and the Humanities; Director,
Science and Technology Studies Program; Professor of English,
Science and Technology Studies, and Cinema and Digital Media
From an STS perspective, I have studied citizen science projects
in nanotechnology, focusing on the role of narrative frames for
engagement. I also work on video games for citizen science. I am
currently involved in a re-design of Foldit. Read more
Sarah Oktay
Director of Strategic Engagement, Natural Reserve System;
Stebbins Cold Canyon Director
Sarah’s research focuses on climate change, carbon transport and
harbor processes. After 9-11, she mapped the chemical signature
of the World Trade Center ash and tracked it in the Hudson River.
She strongly feels that scientists should communicate with the
public and provide education services to all ages, and that
place-based learning is the best route to achieve that. Read
more
Gail Patricelli
Professor and Chancellor’s Fellow, Department of Evolution and
Ecology
Professor Patricelli is collaborating with the Center to involve
youth in research on sage grouse mating behavior. Read
more
Eric Post
Professor, Department of Wildlife, Fish and Conservation
Biology
Post studies climate change, wildlife conservation, Arctic
ecosystems, phenology, and species interactions. He is also
involved in running the program APPLES, which is preparing middle
school, high school, and undergraduate educators in polar
research to engage their students in similar studies in the
classroom. Read
more
Erin Satterthwaite
PhD Candidate, Bodega Marine Laboratory & Environmental
Science and Policy
Erin works on the California Collaborative fisheries research
project at Bodega Marin Laboratory, UC Davis. She has
an interest in connecting graduate students with people in
agencies who need monitoring and are thinking about
community/citizen science efforts; understanding ways its been
done and resources (ie: intro to comm/citizen science
workshop/short course); and in marine and watershed
programs. Read more
Mark Schwartz
Professor of Environmental Science and Policy
Professor Schwartz advises the Center, and has collaborated on a
citizen science initiative at Stebbins Research Reserve. Read more
Kate Scow
Professor, Land and Water Resources
I direct the Russell
Ranch Sustainable Agriculture Facility, a long term research
experiment on agricultural sustainability and resilience. We host
many workshops and field days, and connect to broad network of
farmers, public and private sector actors, researcher and
students. We are interested in doing much more in the area of
citizen science particularly around the areas of regenerative
agriculture, agroecology and climate change. We are a hub that is
in the position to do a lot more. Read more
Heather Seagale
Education and Outreach Director, Tahoe Environmental
Research Center
Heather and colleagues have developed the Citizen Science Tahoe
app to collect data on nearshore of Lake Tahoe (water
quality/color/clarity, algae, litter, various species, aquatic
invasive species). Read
more
Jay Stachowicz
Professor, Department of Evolution and Ecology
I am a field ecologist and help run a distributed ecological
network of seagrass communities throughout the northern
hemisphere: zenscience.org Read more
Keith Taylor
Assistant Economic Development Specialist in Cooperative
Extension,
Department of Human Ecology
Dr. Taylor is a Community Economic Development (CED)
Specialist, interested in economic development approaches
that are enduring, build localized self-reliance, and account for
volatile market and political forces by breaking dependency.
Toward these ends, Keith focuses on three CED relevant areas in
the context of Californian, American, and international
communities:
- Community participation and governance.
- Economic development through local and alternative business
development.
- Market access and community power through scale.
Shane Waddell
Quail Ridge Reserve Director, John Muir Institute for the
Environment, UC Davis Natural Reserve System
I am interested in place-based research and educational programs
cutting across many disciplines and departments on campus, and
willing to host citizen and community science projects. Read more
Anthony Wexler
Director, Air Quality Research Center; Distinguished Professor,
Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering, Civil and Environmental
Engineering, & Land, Air and Water Resources
Anthony Wexler works as director of the Air Quality Research
Center, supporting collaborative research that educates and
informs decision making around issues of air quality and climate
change. His research interests include air pollution and applying
engineering concepts to physiological systems. Read more
Neal Williams
Professor, Department of Entomology and Nematology
Professor Williams interests include Pollination ecology, bee
biology with emphasis on foraging behavior, ecology and evolution
of trophic specialization and plant-pollinator Interactions,
landscape change and community dynamics, ecosystem services and
conservation. Read
more
Louie Yang
Associate Professor, Department of Entomology and Nematology.
Professor Yang’s work on Monarch butterflies has engaged youth in
monitoring activities as part of an after school program.
Read
more
Tabatha Yang
Education and Outreach Coordinator, Bohart Museum of
Entomology
I helped coordinate the MMMILC (Monitoring Milkweed-Monarch
Interactions for Learning and Conversation) project that connects
teenagers with research on monarchs and milkweeds. Read more
Alumni and External Affiliates
Meg Pannkuk
Meg received her Masters’ in Community Development at UC
Davis, studying policy implications of shelter practices for the
unhoused. At the Center, she coordinated research on citizen
science and civic participation with Public Lab. Her former lives
as baker, rafter, farmer, and carpenter help inform her work and
curiosity about how knowledge is expressed and used for action.
Sara Ludwick
Sara recently received a degree in Environmental Science and
Management studying Climate Change and Air Quality. She is
curious about the factors that contribute to people’s attitudes
toward the environment and the ways people can be motivated to
act as environmental stewards. As a student intern with CCS, she
researched climate-related community and citizen science projects
with Ryan Meyer.
Sinead Brien
Sinead’s background is in secondary level science education and
environmental education in Mozambique and the United
States. Her current focus is on ways citizen science can
support formal science education and contributes to youth
development of science identity. She is pursuing her PhD at
Michigan State University.
Colin Dixon
As an educator and researcher, Colin’s research at CCS
examined youth development and science learning as a tool
for young people to use in their lives and communities. Colin has
completed his PhD and is now a Research
Associate at the Concord Consortium.
Cristian Galindo
Cristian is a sociology student here at Davis with a passion
for the outdoors. His first exposure to CCS was through Dr.
Ballard’s environmental education class where the students were
involved in downloading the iNaturlist app and taking pictures of
creatures seen on a daily basis. This experience sparked his
interest to become more involved in learning how CCS benefits
science today.
Emily Harris
Emily is a researcher and teacher educator interested in teacher
and youth science learning, and identity work in the context of
citizen science and school gardens. She received her PhD from UC
Davis in 2017, and worked on the Youth-focused Community and Citizen
Science project from its inception. Read more
Jennifer Metes
Jen completed her MS with the Community Development Graduate
group at UC Davis. Her work at the Center focused on the
recruitment and retention of participants in coastal citizen
science and how the use of citizen science data informs natural
resource management and decision-making. Previously, Jen taught
environmental education in several National Parks and worked as a
field technician for the US Forest Service.
Déana Scipio
Dé served as a postdoctoral fellow for the first year of the
Center’s LEARNCitSci project. She received her PhD at the
University of Washington, and recently completed a postdoctoral
fellowship at TERC, a nonprofit education research and
development organization based in Massachusetts. Dé now directs
the Graduate Program in Education for Environment and
Community at
Islandwood.
Lina Yamashita
Lina is the Medical Programs Director for Volunteers in Asia,
based in San Francisco. She received her PhD from UC Davis in
2017, and worked with Heidi Ballard on the NSF-funded EESIP
project. Lina is interested in using the food system to
explore as well as deepen students’ and teachers’ understandings
of the social, environmental, cultural, and economic aspects of
sustainability. Read more
Michael Montgomery
Michael is a fourth-year undergraduate at UC Davis. His major is
Marine and Coastal Science – Oceans and the Earth System, and he
plans to declare two minors: Professional Writing and History.
Since 2018, he has been editor and lead author of the Monterey
Audubon Society’s quarterly newsletter, The Sanderling. He
joined the Center fall 2019 as a writing intern.
Juliana Yee
Juliana is an undergraduate Environmental Science and Management
major studying Ecology, Biodiversity and Conservation, with a
minor in Education. She was interested in how citizen
science can help change people’s attitudes towards environmental
conservation. Juliana was working as a student intern with
CCS as part of the organizational team for the Sacramento Region
City Nature Challenge.
McCall Fellows
McCall Fellows is an undergraduate Economics major. She is
interested in youth engagement in science and how citizen science
can lead to civic engagement. McCall was working as a
student intern with CCS providing support with communication
surrounding the center’s research.
Rabida Abduwali
Rabida is an undergraduate Design major. She is interested in
visual communication and wants to deliver important
information to the public in an interesting way. She
was working as a student intern with CCS and hopes to expand
her knowledge of scientific research.
Teska Hapig-Ward
Teska is an undergraduate student studying ecological management
and restoration. She is primarily interested in education and
community-based approaches to conservation. Teska
was working on the community-based monitoring project
focused on dam removals, and she hopes to continue exploring the
relationship between community, education, and social sciences as
a tool for restoration practices.
