Alumni of the UW-Madison Arboretum
Restoration Ecology Research Program
Graduate students who completed MS and PhD degrees
under the guidance of the Arboretum’s first Aldo Leopold
Professor of Restoration Ecology, Joy B. Zedler
How many alumni are there?
38 students earned 39 degrees (30 MS, 9 PhD)
(Jim Doherty earned both an MS & PhD)
Who are they?
20 are Botany graduates
(8 PhD, 13 MS degrees)
Chris Hirsch, M.S. (2015) Botany
James Doherty, Ph.D. (2014) Botany
Nicolas Galleguillos Katz, M.S. (2014) Botany
Caroline Oswald, M.S. (2013) Botany
Christine Sullivan, M.S. (2013) Botany
Nate Fayram, M.S. (2013) Botany
Isabel Rojas-Viada, M.S. (2013) Botany
Charles Tucker, M.S. (2011) Botany
Beth Lawrence, Ph.D. (2010) Botany
James Doherty, M.S. (2010) Botany
Sally Gallagher M.S. (2009) Botany
Cathi Bonin, M.S. (2007) Botany
Alison Varty, M.S. (2007) Botany
Aaron Boers, Ph.D. (2006) Botany
Dan Larkin, Ph.D. (2006) Botany
Christin Frieswyk, Ph.D. (2005) Botany
Andrea Herr-Turoff, Ph.D. (2005) Botany
Hem Nalini Morzaria-Luna, Ph.D. (2004) Botany
Suzanne Kercher, Ph.D. (2003) Botany
Debbie Maurer, M.S. (2001) Botany
Isa Woo, M.S. (2000) Botany
Of the 20 Botany grads,
6 completed our Botany track in Ecological Restoration
4 conducted field practica at the Arboretum, learning while managing the land
Chris Hirsch, M.S. (2015) Botany
Nicolas Galleguillos Katz, M.S. (2014) Botany
Caroline Oswald, M.S. (2013) Botany
Christine Sullivan, M.S. (2013) Botany
Two completed practica by working elsewhere
Nate Fayram, M.S. (2013) Botany
Charles Tucker, M.S. (2011) Botany
20 Botany grads were joined by
18 grads of NIES (the Nelson Institute of Environmental Studies)
Hadley Boehm, M.S. (2011) Environment & Resources
Erik Olson, M.S. (2010) Environment & Resources
Michael Healy, M.S. (2009) Environment & Resources
Steven Hall, M.S. (2008) Land Resources
Michele Cipiti (M.S. 2008) Water Resources Management
Josh Brown (M.S. 2008) Water Resources Management
Nic Jelinski, M.S. (2007) Land Resources
Emily Sievers, M.S. (2007) Water Resources Management
Michelle Peach, M.S. (2005) Land Resources
Anastasia Allen, M.S. (2004) Conservation Biology & Sustainable Development
Julia Wilcox, M.S. (2004) Land Resources
One earned a
Erin O'Brien, M.S. (2003) Land Resources
PhD. More about
Rachel Veltman, M.S. (2002) Land Resources
his career later….
Roberto Lindig-Cisneros, Ph.D. (2001) Land Resources
Katy "Werner" Wallace, M.S. (2001) Land Resources
Rebecca Miller, M.S. (2001) Conservation Biology & Sustainable Development
Tara Roeffler, M.S. (2001) Water Resources Management
Cristina Bonilla-Warford, M.S. (2000) Conservation Biology & Sustainable Development
The 18 degrees were in 3 graduate programs:
11 Environment & Resources (formerly Land Resources)
4 Water Resources Management, and
3 Conservation Biology & Sustainable Development
Where are they now?
Some continue their studies
Nick Galleguillos, MS thesis student, UW Soil Science
Dr. Cathi Bonin, PhD from Virginia Tech, now
Postdoc in Agronomy, Iowa State University
Dr. Andrea Herr-Turoff, UW Botany Student Services,
now an Art Curator in PA
Chris Hirsch, Boston, interviewing for a
natural resources management job
Isabel Rojas, PhD program at UW’s Forest & Wildlife Ecology 
For her MS degree, Isabel studied the effect of an invasive grass on
native plant diversity and was inspired to conduct doctoral research
on woody plant invasions into wetlands of her home country, Chile.
Many work with agencies and nongovernmental organizations
Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources (DNR) hired several graduates; here are 3 examples:
First:
Julia Wilcox improved wetland mitigation for DNR, then moved to France
2008
Then
 Sally Gallagher wrote new mitigation guidelines;
she is now a Water Mgt Specialist at DNR
Nate Fayram joined DNR’s 
Natural Heritage Program
More conservation work is underway by
Erin O'Brien, Wetlands Policy and
Conservation Specialist, for
Wisconsin Wetlands Association
Anastasia Allen, Writer and Editor,
US Forest Service, Columbia Falls, MT
Conserving and restoring the land
Debbie Maurer restores lands in her role as 
Restoration Ecologist for Lake County IL
Forest Preserve. She recently led the effort to
list Chiwaukee Prairie as a “Wetland of International
Importance” under the Ramsar Treaty.
Dr. Hem N.Morzaria-Luna, first helped a nongovernmental organization survey threatened salt
marshes along the Gulf of California. She is now at
NOAA’s Northwest Fisheries Science Center, Seattle

 Mike Healy, created a new firm,
Adaptive Restoration LLC, in Mt.
Horeb, WI, then acquired BioLogic to
help fill the need for science-based
restoration.
Dr. Aaron Boers is an environmental consultant in Houston, TX.
Isa Woo is a Biologist for the U.S. Geological Survey, San Francisco
Bay Estuary Field Station.
Rachel Veltman, Natural Resources Consulting, Inc., Madison, WI.
Michelle Peach managed TNC's Tug Hill Reserve in NY, but is now
Wetland Scientist with Rhode Island Natural History Survey
(and she is completing a PhD).
Katy Werner Wallace merged her knowledge of humans and nature to
create Human Nature, in Madison, WI.
Cristina Bonilla-Warford was last seen as Coordinator, Teacher
Resources, Peggy Notebaert Nature Museum in Chicago.
Dr. Christin Fireswyk was a researcher for Cleveland Botanical
Garden; moved to MI in 2008
Chris Hirsch, the most recent graduate of the Ecological Restoration track in Botany, spoke about
long-term research in Curtis Prairie after completing his practicum at the Arboretum. His talk
represented the Arboretum at the Ecological Society of America, Baltimore, MD, August 2015.
Nine are in academia
 Dr. Steven Hall, PhD UC-Berkeley, now
Assistant Professor, Department of Ecology,
Evolution, and Organismal Biology, Iowa State U.
Dr. Dan Larkin, fist a postdoc, Loyola U., 
Chicago; now Assistant Professor of Wildlife
Ecology & Conservation Biology + Aquatic
Invasive Species Research Center, U. Minn.
 Dr. Nic Jelinski, US Army Reserves,
then PhD, University of Minnesota, now
Assistant Professor, Department of Soil,
Water, and Climate, U. Minnesota
Dr. Beth Lawrence, postdoc, Loyola U., 
then Asst. Prof. at DePaul U., Chicago;
now Assistant Professor at U. Connecticut
Alison Varty, Loyola U., Chicago;
now Assistant Professor, at
College of the Siskiyous, California 
Dr. Erik Olson, Assistant Professor 
Natural Resources Dept., Northland
College, Ashland, WI
 Dr. James Doherty, Science Instructor,
Online High School for Gifted Students,
Stanford University, California
Dr. Suzanne Kercher, Environmental Science,
Columbia College, Missouri. No photo, but the web
touts her students who build solar cookers, test their
designs & cooking methods, then present results at a
Science Fair.
And one more alumnus who
was the first PhD graduate of
the Restoration Research
Program. Please read on….
For his PhD research,
Roberto set up the
first mesocosm
experiment at the
Arboretum (read
more in Leaflet 38
(arboretum.wisc.edu
/science/research)
Dr. Roberto Lindig-Cisneros, was an assistant and associate professor at Universidad Michoacana
de San Nicolás de Hidalgo. He is now Professor, Instituto de Investigaciones en ecosistemas y
Sustentabilidad, UNAM-Morelia (Mexico’s National University). As Mexico’s first PhD
Restoration Ecologist, Dr. Lindig-Cisneros has graduated 19 PhD and MS students, published 110
papers, and synthesized restoration science & practice in his forthcoming text book (in Spanish).
Restoration Research alumni carry on our mission
to conserve and restore…lands, advance restoration ecology,
and foster the land ethic.
Note: Aldo Leopold dedicated Arboretum lands to research and teaching, and later, the Leopold
Chair was charged with taking advantage of Arboretum lands to conduct long-term research
with widespread applicability. It was recognized that “a long-term restoration research program
requires continuity” (Ewel 1984), and continuity has led to 38 alumni. The above record
documents the many graduates who are multiplying both restoration research and practice
within and beyond the borders of Wisconsin. I am grateful to the Leopold Family, who made it
all possible by lending their name to the Leopold Chair position—Joy Zedler, Feb. 2016.