Research

Over the years, I have done a variety of projects in secondary academic and non-academic research. A few field projects included collecting primary data.

I was a researcher at the Office of Environmental Awareness, Smithsonian Institution, 1992-3. I researched the Sea Store Module of the travelling exhibition, Ocean Planet, in the form of an 80-page position paper, “Marine Biomedicine: Past, Present, and Future.” I produced a series of six fact sheets on the oceans. All research was done to the high standards of the Smithsonian, under curator Judith Gradwohl.

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Public Use Planning Manual

RARE’s Public Use Planning Program. The creation of this program over three years required researching best practices throughout the ecotourism, park, interpretive, and strategic planning fields as well as methods in participation and facilitation. The sum total of this project resulted in the 1,000-page manual, Park Planning for Life, that won second place in the 2003 National Association for Interpretation Media Awards as well as positive external reviews by field eminents, Drs. Stephen McCool of the University of Montana (park and leisure planning) and Dr. Sam Ham of the University of Idaho (strategic communications, training, park planning). 2000-2003.

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Academic Research

I received As on all major research papers at Dartmouth and Yale. See details. One team research project involved diagnosing based on social and biophysical data interaction and proposing solutions to communication problems in a New Haven area park. See comments by Dr. William Burch. Also see my academic publications.

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Magazine Research

I worked on a number of prolongued research-intensive cover stories for magazines. I researched for an entire summer to write the cover story “Dartmouth and the Environment” for The Dartmouth Alumni Magazine (1991). I also worked as part of a research team at Oceanus magazine (Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution) to produce an historical issue about the famed German WWII Battleship Bismarck that had just been discovered by Explorer Robert Ballard (1989). After publication the editor of National Geographic sent us a personal letter congratulating us on our speed and quality. National Geographic, on the other hand, had the rights to the current story and photography. I also researched for more than a year on zoos and conservation resulting in a paper for which I won the Yale-Gloria Barron Wilderness Scholarship and publication in the International Journal of Wilderness.

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Field Research

I led two different teams to collect field data using rapid rural appraisal-type techniques. For my Master's thesis, I recruited and led three other master’s students from three different universities to carry out a participatory rural appraisal-like process in a farming community in the mountains of Ecuador. Similarly, I designed and led a 5-person field data collection team in and around Tikal National Park as part of RARE's first site assessment. I wrote the research report on the site. See also process facilitation.

I designed and evaluated surveys for RARE in a number of contexts. This built upon my having studied survey design at Yale. I have studied adaptive management under the Foundations of Success.

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Editor of Others’ Research

Dartmouth Organic Farm

I was lead editor of a research team consisting of 25 students that produced the proposal to establish the Dartmouth Organic Farm, which came into existence in 1995. I earned an academic citation for my work (my only citation at Dartmouth).

Science Journal Editor

I was editor of Yale University’s Tropical Resources Institute Bulletin. I helped doctoral and master’s candidates prepare their research into articles for publication in the journal.

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Grant Research

I researched and wrote a grantseekers directory (doc) for the Stevens Point Area Public School District. The directory outlined the major sources of grantseeking information, both online and at the Foundation Center, for staff of the District. The directory also listed nearly 200 potential charitable organizations.

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