biosketches of authors
Biosketches of Authors
Bradford S. Gentry is the Associate Dean for Professional Practice at the Yale School of Forestry & Environmental Studies, a Professor in the Practice at the Yale School of Management
and Director of the Yale Center for Business and the Environment. Trained as a biologist
and a lawyer, his work focuses on strengthening the links between private investment and
improved environmental performance. He has worked on land, water, energy, industrial
and other projects in over 40 countries for private (GE, Suez Environment, Working Lands
Investment Partners), public (UNDP, World Bank, Secretariat for the Climate Change Convention) and not-for-profit (Land Trust Alliance, The Trust for Public Land) organizations.
He holds a B.A. from Swarthmore College and a J.D. from Harvard Law School.
Jazmine da Costa is a native New Yorker who has spent the last five years in the Pacific
Northwest. She holds a B.A. from Princeton in Anthropology and is currently, a joint degree
M.B.A. and Master of Forestry candidate at the Yale School of Management (SOM) and Yale
School of Forestry and Environmental Studies (F&ES), respectively. At F&ES she serves as
the President of the Land Use and Urban Coalition and is a member of the Equity, Identity
and Diversity Committee. At SOM she serves as a leader of Special Projects for the Design
and Innovation club. Her interests lie in the design, stewardship and funding of parks and
recreational spaces that serve people and wildlife.
Katie Holsinger is pursuing her Master of Environmental Management (’16) at the Yale
School of Forestry and Environmental Studies. She was recognized as a Wyss Scholar in 2015
for her work in and commitment to conservation of the American West. Katie has worked
on conservation initiatives as a part of the Northern Rockies Conservation Cooperative
(Jackson, WY), the Project WET Foundation (Bozeman, MT), and Montana State Extension Water Quality (Bozeman, MT), among others. At Yale F&ES, Katie is the Senior Arts
Editor of the school’s environmental publication, Sage Magazine, and serves as the Program
Coordinator of the Yale Farm’s Seed to Salad education program. She is also writing a book,
The Artist’s Field Guide to Greater Yellowstone, expected out Summer 2016. Katie is interested
in issues of large-landscape conservation and human well-being.
W. Colby Tucker has spent nine of the ten last academic calendar years in Connecticut
schools. Graduating Trinity College in 2009 with a B.S. in Environmental Science, he then
taught Chemistry and Environmental Science at the Pomfret School from 2010-2013. Most
recently, he completed a Master’s of Environmental Science from the Yale School of Forestry and Environmental Studies in 2015. In the summers, Colby has worked on a variety
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increasing access to natural areas: connecting physical
and social dimensions
of field research projects, including animal behavior in Costa Rica, wildlife conservation in
Wyoming, stream restoration in California, and watershed protection/biogeochemistry in
Alaska. Colby is a co-author of the 2014 Berkley Workshop Background Paper which piqued
his interest in viewing land conservation through the lens of human health. As a recipient
of the 2015 Presidential Management Fellowship, Colby now combines his varied experience
working on Clean Water Act enforcement at the regional Environmental Protection Agency
office in San Francisco.
Matthew Viens is a second-year Master of Environmental Management candidate at the
Yale School of Forestry & Environmental Studies. While at Yale, Matthew is focusing his
studies on community forestry and the ways in which traditional forestry and land conservation techniques can be adapted to urban areas to provide joint socio-environmental
benefits. These studies have been supplemented by Matthew’s involvement with the Urban
Resources Initiative, a non-profit organization working on street tree and neighborhood
greening initiatives throughout the city of New Haven, CT. Prior to coming to Yale, Matthew
spent two years working in the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s Office of Research
and Development as part of a small innovation skunkworks. In addition to his interests in
urban and community forestry and land conservation, Matthew enjoys hiking, biking, soccer, basketball and playing and writing music.
yale school of forestry & environmental studies