Our Team

Anthony Leiserowitz

Anthony Leiserowitz, Ph.D., is the director of the Yale Program on Climate Change Communication, the Yale Center for Environmental Communication, and a senior research scientist at the Yale School of the Environment. He is an expert on public environmental beliefs, attitudes, policy preferences, and behavior, and the psychological, cultural, and political factors that influence them.

He conducts research at the global, national, and local scales, including many studies of the American public. He also conducted the first global study of public values, attitudes, and behaviors regarding sustainable development and has published more than 200 scientific articles, chapters, and reports.

He has served as a consultant to the John F. Kennedy School of Government (Harvard University), the United Nations Development Program, the Gallup World Poll, and the World Economic Forum. He is a recipient of the Friend of the Planet Award from the National Center for Science Education and a Mitofsky Innovator Award from the American Association of Public Opinion Research. He is also the host of Climate Connections.

• twitter

Sara Peach

Sara Peach is the editor-in-chief of Yale Climate Connections. She is an environmental journalist whose work has appeared in National Geographic, Scientific American, Environmental Health News, Grist, and Chemical & Engineering News. For her reporting on environmental issues, she has earned awards from the National Press Photographers Association, Pictures of the Year International, and the Society of Environmental Journalists. She joined the editorial team at Yale Climate Connections in 2016.

Previously, Sara taught for more than five years at the journalism school at the University of North Carolina-Chapel Hill, where she led courses in environmental journalism and served as the associate director of the Reese News Lab, a media entrepreneurship program.

Sara holds a master’s degree in journalism and a bachelor’s degree in environmental studies, both from UNC-Chapel Hill. More by Sara Peach

• twitter

Lisa Fernandez

Lisa Fernandez is the associate director of the Yale Center for Environmental Communication, YCEC, at the Yale School of the Environment. Lisa supervises outreach and communications related to YCEC research findings and oversees program strategy and operations.

Previously, she worked in urban environmental conservation and sustainable development in the U.S. and Latin America. She has served as a consultant to the United Nations Development Program, the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development, and the World Bank. She was a fellow at the World Wildlife Fund-USA and a city planner implementing solid waste prevention policy for the city of New York.

Her publications include “Toward a New Consciousness: Values to Sustain Human and Natural Communities” and “Institutionalizing Sustainability in Higher Education.”

She serves on the boards of the East Coast Greenway Alliance and the Farmington Canal Rail-to-Trail Association. She received her bachelor’s degree from Princeton and an MBA and a master’s in environmental studies from Yale.

Pearl Marvell

Pearl Marvell is a multimedia storyteller with over 10 years of experience as a writer, reporter, photographer, and producer. Pearl received her undergraduate degree in psychology from the University of Puerto Rico in 2011 and a master’s degree in journalism with a concentration in international reporting from the CUNY Graduate School of Journalism in 2014. Since then, she has reported in the Caribbean, the U.S., and Europe.
Pearl has reported radio stories for several NPR affiliates, including reporting and producing for a podcast on immigration called “Mosaic.” Her written work has been featured in The Providence Journal, 41ºN Magazine, and several other New England news organizations. Her photography has been featured in The Wall Street Journal and other regional publications. She moved to Rhode Island in 2015 and since then has run a storytelling marketing company and reported and produced stories primarily on the environment and immigration.

Besides English, Pearl also speaks Spanish and French.

—

Perla Marvell es periodista multimedia que tiene más de 10 años de experiencia como escritora, reportera, fotógrafa y productora. Perla recibió su bachillerato en psicología de la Universidad de Puerto Rico, Recinto Río Piedras en 2011 y una maestría en periodismo con una concentración en reportaje internacional de la Escuela Graduada de Periodismo de CUNY en 2014. Desde entonces, ella ha reportado en el Caribe, Estados Unidos y Europa.
Perla ha producido reportajes para algunos afiliados de NPR, incluyendo reportar y producir un podcast sobre la inmigración que se llama “Mosaic.” Su trabajo escrito ha salido en The Providence Journal, 41ºN Magazine y algunas otras organizaciones de noticias de Nueva Inglaterra. Sus fotografías han salido en The Wall Street Journal y otras publicaciones regionales. Se mudó a Rhode Island en 2015 y desde aquel tiempo, fundó una compañía de marketing multimedia y reportó y produjo reportajes primariamente acerca del medio ambiente e inmigración.

Aparte del inglés, Perla habla español y francés. More by Pearl Marvell

Samantha Harrington

Samantha Harrington, director of audience experience for Yale Climate Connections, is a journalist and graphic designer with a background in digital media and entrepreneurship. Sam is especially interested in sharing how climate change is affecting people, animals, the ecology, and the economy across the U.S. Midwest. She has reported and written for Yale Climate Connections since 2016.

In 2015, after graduating from the University of North Carolina, where she studied journalism and Arab cultures, she founded Driven Media, a roving newsroom, and she was a regular contributor to Women@Forbes, where she wrote about women in business. She worked at ISeeChange as a global community manager from 2018 – 2022.

She has also worked on a number of international projects. In 2018, she illustrated and designed an educational workbook for Syrian children living in Jordan and Lebanon for the organization Project Amal ou Salam. In 2014, she traveled to Amman, Jordan, to study why Jordanian women study STEM subjects at twice the rate of American women, and she has reported on maternal health issues in Malawi and on counter-terrorism efforts in Morocco. More by Samantha Harrington

Jon Ozaksut

Jon Ozaksut is the digital director of the Yale Center for Environmental Communication, YCEC, at the Yale School of the Environment. He joined YCEC in 2017 with nine years of experience in the fields of digital marketing and advocacy through organizations such as Organizing for Action and Reverb.com.

In his work, Jon has developed communications strategies and marketing campaigns built around a user-centered experience and a desire to share stories in ways that resonate with audiences. Jon is inspired by the challenges inherent in communicating climate change and helps Yale Climate Connections reach a broad, diverse audience.

Jon has a bachelor’s degree in psychology from the University of Illinois at Champaign-Urbana, and in his free time, he has a passion for writing and performing music.

Bridgett Ennis

Bridgett Ennis is co-founder of ChavoBart Digital Media, an audio and video production firm with a focus on scientific and environmental media. ChavoBart Digital Media contributes original reporting, audio production, and distribution to the Climate Connections radio program and podcast.

Prior to founding ChavoBart Digital Media, Bridgett was a vice president at Finger Lakes Productions International, a company that produced and distributed media to more than 600 radio stations during its 25-year history. In that capacity, Bridgett worked directly with representatives from the Joint Ocean Commission Initiative, the Ocean Conservancy, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, the American Society for Microbiology, and others to meet their outreach needs. She also managed the planning and launch of the Everglades Radio Network, which highlighted the restoration efforts taking place in the Florida Everglades, and was project manager for Our Ocean World and MicrobeWorld, two nationally syndicated daily radio series.

Bridgett holds a bachelor of science degree from Ithaca College and a master’s degree from SUNY Empire State College. More by Bridgett Ennis

Erika Street Hopman

Erika Street Hopman is co-founder of ChavoBart Digital Media, an audio and video production firm with a focus on scientific and environmental media. ChavoBart Digital Media contributes original reporting, audio production, and distribution to the Climate Connections radio program and podcast.

Erika has diverse experience that includes work in radio, video, and print. An independent filmmaker, Erika has screened her work at film festivals around the world and on broadcast outlets such as LinkTV and Al Jazeera English. She is the director of The Orange Story, an award-winning multimedia project that educates students about the history of Japanese American incarceration during WWII.

Before founding CBDM, Erika served as a project manager at Finger Lakes Productions International, where she oversaw the writing, production, and distribution of nationally-syndicated radio series, including the EnvironMinute and Animal Instincts. Erika holds a bachelor’s degree in biology from Cornell University and a master’s of fine arts degree in film production from Boston University. More by Erika Street Hopman

Sarah Kennedy

Sarah Kennedy is an editor and content producer with ChavoBart Digital Media, a production firm with a focus on scientific and environmental media. Her work on Climate Connections includes developing story ideas, conducting interviews, and writing and editing scripts.

After graduating magna cum laude from Harvard University in 2001, Sarah worked for seven years as managing editor of Wordsmyth, a company developing language-learning resources for K-12 education and ESL learners. There, she managed projects for clients including McGraw Hill, Scholastic, and Leapfrog.

In 2012, Sarah left Wordsmyth to pursue her own writing more intensively. She earned a master’s of fine arts degree in nonfiction from Rutgers University, Camden, where she subsequently taught undergraduate composition and creative writing courses.

Sarah’s research and narrative-driven essays and articles have been published in Post Road, Chautauqua Literary Journal, Under the Sun, Hidden City Philadelphia, Fodor’s Oregon, and elsewhere. In her work with Climate Connections, she hopes to help people make new connections between global warming and its impacts on people’s lives. More by Sarah Kennedy

Daisy Simmons

Daisy Simmons, assistant editor at Yale Climate Connections, is a creative, research-driven storyteller with 25 years of professional editorial experience. With a purposeful focus on covering solutions and the humans behind them, she has written feature articles and radio scripts for Yale Climate Connections since 2016. She also helps shape content strategy for a Boulder-based marketing and communications firm focused on sustainability work.

Previously, Daisy served as editorial director for EcoMyths Alliance, a nonprofit partnering with scientists to bring environmental research to life for general audiences. In addition, she coproduced monthly myth-busting radio segments for Chicago Public Media and edited environmental science curricula with the National Wildlife Federation. She has also served as the Chicago editor for Disney’s Ideal Bite and NBC/Universal Chicago, a contributing writer to Al Gore’s “Inconvenient Sequel,” and a writer with work published in The Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists, Skeptical Science, and more.

Based in the foothills of Northern California’s Sierra Nevada, Daisy is committed to applying her B.A. in creative writing from Colorado College to creatively and credibly write about new ways forward in confronting today’s environmental challenges. More by Daisy Simmons

• twitter

Michael Svoboda

Michael Svoboda, Ph.D., is the Yale Climate Connections books editor. He is a professor in the University Writing Program at The George Washington University in Washington, D.C., where he has taught since 2005. Before completing his interdisciplinary Ph.D. at Penn State in 2002, Michael was the majority owner and senior manager of Svoboda’s Books, an independent bookstore that served Penn State’s University Park campus from 1983 to 2000.

While operating the bookstore, Michael periodically served as a community columnist and book reviewer for The Centre Daily Times, and he also produced and hosted Libri, The Radio Book Revue, a weekly one-hour book program, for WPSU, the NPR affiliate owned and operated by Penn State.

Over the six-years of the program, he interviewed some 200 authors, including numerous leading nature/environment writers. An avid consumer of climate change-related reports, articles, and literature, Michael has published articles, book reviews, and review essays on ancient rhetoric and on philosophy, rhetoric and composition, and environmental communication. More by Michael Svoboda

SueEllen Campbell

SueEllen Campbell created and for over a decade curated the website “100 Views of Climate Change,” a multidisciplinary collection of pieces accessible to interested non-specialists. She is especially interested in the lived human experience of climate change – and in how many different facets of our lives these changes touch on.

As co-founder and co-director of Changing Climates at Colorado State University, a decade-long program supported by CMMAP, an NSF Science and Technology Center, she organized some 120 talks on campus by as many different faculty members (drawn from over 25 departments and all 8 colleges); offered communication training for scientists and others wishing to speak clearly to non-specialists; and ran the 100 Views website.

With a B.A. in English and Art/Art History from Rice University and an M.A. and Ph.D. in English from the University of Virginia, SueEllen spent over forty years teaching university students, most of them at Colorado State, where she focused on the (mostly nonfiction) literature of nature and the environment, a choice that led her into the topic of climate change. Her books include Even Mountains Vanish: Searching for Solace in an Age of Extinction (2003) and The Face of the Earth: Natural Landscapes, Science, and Culture (2011). Now happily retired, she lives near Fort Collins, Colorado, with her husband and their dachshund. More by SueEllen Campbell

Osha Davidson

Osha Gray Davidson is a freelance writer, photographer, author, and desert rat who’s lived in the Southwest for two decades. He’s the recipient of several fellowships, including a Climate Media Fellowship from the Heinrich Böll Foundation in Berlin, which supported reporting for his book, “Clean Break,” published by InsideClimate News.

Osha’s work has appeared in Scientific American, National Geographic, the New York Times, Discover, Sierra, High Country News, Mother Jones, Rolling Stone, and Grist, among others. He served as contributing editor at Earthzine, a NASA-funded journal covering remote sensing, and blogged about the emerging clean energy market for Forbes.

His books include “The Best of Enemies,” which was a finalist for the NYPL’s Helen Bernstein Award for Excellence in Journalism and was later adapted into a film starring Sam Rockwell and Taraji P. Henson. “The Enchanted Braid” was shortlisted for the UK Natural World Book Prize, often called the “Green Booker.” “Under Fire” was a New York Times Notable Book of the Year and appeared on several “best books of the year” lists.

From 2016 to 2021, Osha was the lead photographer for the Central Arizona Conservation Alliance. Osha cowrote the screenplay for the award-winning IMAX documentary, “Coral Reef Adventure,” and produced the podcast, “The American Project,” about reparations for slavery and its legacy. He’s a longtime member of the Society of Environmental Journalists. More by Osha Davidson

Yessenia Funes

Yessenia Funes is a journalist who has covered the climate crisis and environmental racism for a decade. She’s editor-at-large for Atmos, an independent magazine. She also publishes a creative climate newsletter called Possibilities. Her work can be found in The Guardian, Vogue, National Geographic, Vox, Scientific American, and more.

Her reporting has taken her across the globe to shed light on the painful realities of climate change. She’s visited Puerto Rico to investigate pollution after Hurricane Maria. She’s reported on the aftermath of Hurricanes Eta and Iota on the coastal Indigenous Miskito communities of Nicaragua. She’s traveled to Malawi to hear from affected communities who need financial support and reparations to rebuild after Cyclone Freddy.

Yessenia prides herself on taking a community-oriented, human-centered, intersectional approach to her reporting and writing. She is also a founding member of The Uproot Project, a network by and for environmental journalists of color, with the hopes of imbuing more of these values into the field.

Yessenia Funes es una periodista que ha cubierto la crisis climática y el racismo ambiental por una década. Actualmente, es Editora en Jefe de Atmos, una revista independiente. También publica un boletín creativo sobre el clima llamado Possibilities. Su trabajo se puede encontrar en publicaciones como The Guardian, Vogue, National Geographic, Vox, Scientific American y más.

Su labor periodística la ha llevado por todo el mundo para arrojar luz sobre las dolorosas realidades del cambio climático. Ha visitado Puerto Rico para investigar la contaminación después del Huracán María. Ha informado sobre las secuelas de los Huracanes Eta e Iota en las comunidades indígenas costeras de los Miskitos en Nicaragua. Ha viajado a Malawi para escuchar a las comunidades afectadas que necesitan apoyo financiero y reparaciones para reconstruirse después del Ciclón Freddy.

Yessenia se enorgullece de adoptar un enfoque comunitario, centrado en lo humano y con perspectiva interseccional en su trabajo periodístico y escritura. También es miembro fundador de The Uproot Project, una red creada por y para periodistas ambientales de color, con la esperanza de infundir más de estos valores en el campo. More by Yessenia Funes

Barbara Grady

Longtime journalist and communications specialist Barbara Grady is a freelance writer focusing on sustainability, the climate crisis, and what we can do about it. She returned to reporting after retiring as senior manager of communications at Ceres, the sustainability nonprofit, where she led communications strategy and thought leadership for the Ceres Investor Network.

Earlier in her career, she was a senior writer for GreenBiz, a reporter for the Oakland Tribune, and a technology reporter for Reuters covering the heady days of the growing internet economy in San Francisco and Silicon Valley. In between, she freelanced for several outlets covering everything from homelessness and human trafficking to business, education, and unmet city needs, with stories published in the New York Times, MSNBC, Reuters, and elsewhere.

Her reporting on human trafficking for the Oakland Tribune won a national award from the Society of Professional Journalists, while her investigations into San Francisco’s earthquake preparedness for the San Francisco Public Press won a regional investigative journalism award. Barbara received a B.A. from Colgate University and a master’s from Northwestern’s Medill School of Journalism. She lives with her family in the San Francisco Bay Area. More by Barbara Grady

Sanket Jain

Sanket Jain is an award-winning independent journalist and documentary photographer based in Western India’s Maharashtra state. Sanket spends most of his time in India’s countryside, where he reports on the everyday lives of everyday people. He has been extensively reporting on climate change and its impact on marginalized communities, mental health, and public healthcare. He also reports on agrarian crises, rural sports, human-wildlife conflicts, and vanishing art forms. As part of a long-term project, Sanket is documenting vanishing livelihoods and dying art forms from India’s remote villages.

Sanket’s work has been featured in over 35 publications, including MIT Technology Review, Devex, Wired, Telegraph, Thomson Reuters Foundation, The Nation, British Medical Journal, Verge, USA Today, Progressive Magazine, and others. He has won more than 15 journalism awards, including Covering Climate Now’s Emerging Journalist of the Year Award, One World Media Award, New York University’s Online Journalism Award, Statesman Award for Rural Reporting, Ram Nath Goenka Award, International Sports Press Association’s Young Journalist Award, Prem Bhatia Memorial Award, and several others. Read his stories at www.sanketjain.in. More by Sanket Jain

Nikayla Jefferson

Nikayla Jefferson is a political science graduate student at UC Santa Barbara, where her research focuses on the intersection of climate justice, the American environmental movement, democracy, and engaged spiritual traditions. She is interested in researching, writing, and living the questions related to what it means to be a human in this moment we call the Anthropocene.

Nikayla’s work has been published in the Los Angeles Times, the Boston Globe, the Guardian, the Nation, and others. Her essay, “From the Hunger Strike, With Love,” was selected for publication in the book “Not Too Late: Changing the Climate Story from Despair to Possibility,” edited by Rebecca Solnit and climate activist Thelma Young Lutunatabua.

Nikayla previously worked for the Sunrise Movement and cofounded the San Diego chapter. She was an Op-Ed Project/Yale Public Voices Fellow on the Climate Crisis and Bernie Sanders’ 2020 campaign California co-chair. She is a lifelong Californian without plans to leave unless life asks otherwise. Nikayla spends much of her time with Rainer Maria Rilke and her journal at the beach.

Website here.

Karin Kirk

Karin Kirk is a geologist and freelance writer with a background in climate education. She’s a scientist by training, but the human elements of climate change occupy most of her current work. Karin is particularly intrigued by how people talk and think about climate change, how it divides them, and the many ways individuals and society can help carry the climate conversation forward.

Karin has worked in many facets of climate change, beginning with undergraduate and graduate studies in paleoclimatology and human influences on the climate system. Her climate-focused work includes teaching in the classroom, designing curriculum, and leading faculty workshops to strengthen teaching about climate and energy. She has migrated her efforts from the classroom to the general public, via her TEDx talk and writing for Yale Climate Connections, EARTH magazine, and other venues.

In addition to her writing work, Karin is part of CLEAN, a NOAA-sponsored project to improve teaching about climate and energy. She also worked with NOAA’s Climate Program Office to evaluate the effectiveness of the Climate.gov website. Previously, she worked for the Science Education Resource Center at Carleton College, collaborating with educators and academics to improve science teaching practices. She works on civic engagement around climate and energy issues in her home state of Montana.

Karin holds a B.A. in geology from Skidmore College and an M.S. in geology from Montana State University. She is a professional ski instructor and guide. More by Karin Kirk

• twitter

Michael Lowry

Michael Lowry is Hurricane Specialist for WPLG-TV, the ABC affiliate in Miami, Florida. He has 20 years of experience in tropical weather research, forecasting, and emergency management, including as senior scientist with the National Hurricane Center.

Michael’s wide breadth of experience also includes his role as Hurricane Specialist and Tropical Program Lead for The Weather Channel, where he guided a national audience through countless landfalling hurricanes. Prior to joining WPLG in his current position, Michael was an official with FEMA, where he directed response plans for disasters across the southeastern United States.

He holds a B.S. and an M.S. in meteorology from Florida State University. More by Michael Lowry

• twitter

Jeff Masters

Jeff Masters, Ph.D., worked as a hurricane scientist with the NOAA Hurricane Hunters from 1986-1990. After a near-fatal flight into category 5 Hurricane Hugo, he left the Hurricane Hunters to pursue a safer passion – earning a 1997 Ph.D. in air pollution meteorology from the University of Michigan.

In 1995, he co-founded the Weather Underground, and served as its chief meteorologist and on its Board of Directors until it was sold to the Weather Company in 2012.

Between 2005-2019, his Category 6 blog was one of the Internet’s most popular and widely quoted sources of extreme weather and climate change information.

Media inquiries: Send an email to Jeff (members of the media only, please) More by Jeff Masters

Molly Matthews Multedo

Fluent in English, Spanish, and Portuguese, Molly Matthews Multedo is the founding director of Acquazul, a nonprofit that creates multilingual broadcast and digital media on social and environmental issues for distribution throughout the Americas.

Her recent work includes Latino Verde, a Spanish-language radio and digital media series created to heighten public awareness of Latinx environmental professionals and their work through storytelling. Latino Verde was developed in collaboration with The Earth Institute at Columbia University, Project Drawdown, and Yale Climate Connections, and distributed nationally via Hispanic Communications Network (HCN).

She has been associated with Spanish-language educational media for much of her career. Her Spanish-language radio series on reproductive health garnered recognition from the Population Institute (World Media Award) and Planned Parenthood (Maggie Award) and she has developed science education media projects funded by the U.S. Department of Energy’s Human Genome Project and the National Science Foundation. She was Senior Vice President of Hispanic Radio Network from 1992-1997 and returned in 2017 as a consultant. In 2018, she joined World Voices Media (formerly Pinyon Foundation), a California nonprofit media organization that often partners with Hispanic Communications Network.

She holds two graduate degrees from Columbia University: an MA in International Affairs from the School of International Public Affairs and an MS in Journalism from the Graduate School of Journalism.

Molly has maintained a home in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, since 1998 and raised her three children there. She is an avid hiker and especially enjoys swimming in the ocean along the coast of Rio de Janeiro with the Otreino open-water swim team. More by Molly Matthews Multedo

Tree Meinch

Tree Meinch is a freelance writer, editor, and producer. Their work frequently explores the connection between humans and the natural world and how these forces shape each other.

Tree has spent the past decade-plus in journalism, specializing in multimedia news production, immersive travel content, and science writing. Former staff roles have included features editor of Discover magazine, travel editor at Midwest Living, and reporter at The Des Moines Register. They hold bachelor’s degrees in journalism and Spanish-Latin American studies from the University of North Carolina at Asheville.

Tree is based in La Paz, Baja California Sur, an epicenter for nonprofit and NGO organizations in Mexico. Off the clock, they spend an inordinate amount of time holding their breath in the Gulf of California. When not freediving, they’re typically chasing their dog on the beach — or a marine biologist in the field.

Tree Meinch es escritore, editore y productore independiente. Su trabajo explora con frecuencia la conexión entre los seres humanos y el mundo natural, y cómo estas fuerzas se dan forma.

Durante la última década, Tree se ha dedicado al periodismo, especializándose en la producción de noticias multimedia, contenido inmersivo de viajes y escritura científica. Ha ocupado roles anteriores como Editore de Características en la revista Discover, Editore de Viajes en Midwest Living y reportere en The Des Moines Register. Posee títulos universitarios en periodismo y estudios de español y latinoamericanos de la Universidad de Carolina del Norte en Asheville.

Tree está viviendo en La Paz, Baja California Sur, un epicentro para organizaciones sin fines de lucro y ONG en México. Fuera de horario laboral, dedica una cantidad considerable de tiempo conteniendo la respiración en el Golfo de California. Cuando no está practicando eso, suele perseguir a su perro en la playa, o a un biólogo marino en el campo. More by Tree Meinch

Rafael Méndez Tejeda

El Dr. Rafael Méndez-Tejeda es un destacado científico especializado en física y climatología. Posee un doctorado en Física con énfasis en Climatología de la Universidad Complutense de Madrid, una maestría en Física con enfoque en Radioastronomía de la Universidad de Puerto Rico, y realizó un Postdoctorado en la Universidad de Florida sobre el impacto del Fenómeno del El Niño en el Caribe.

Ha ocupado roles importantes en la Universidad de Puerto Rico en Carolina, incluyendo la dirección del Centro de Investigación Multidisciplinaria y el Decanato Académico. En la actualidad es miembro de la Junta Universitaria de la Universidad de Puerto Rico, contribuyendo a decisiones institucionales. Lidera proyectos de investigación sobre erosión costera, gestión del clima y huracanes en el Atlántico Norte. Ha fundado el Laboratorio de Investigación en Ciencias Atmosféricas y participado en comités gubernamentales sobre sequía. Es miembro de comité de Expertos y Asesores en cambio climático (CEACC) del Puerto Rico.

Además, ha publicado libros sobre calentamiento global y gestión del clima en el Caribe, así como numerosos artículos sobre temas climáticos en revistas indexadas. Su trabajo ha tenido un impacto significativo en la comprensión y gestión de los fenómenos climáticos extremos en el Caribe.

Dr. Rafael Méndez-Tejeda is a scientist with a specialization in physics and climatology. He holds a Ph.D. in physics with an emphasis on climatology from the Complutense University of Madrid and a master’s degree in physics with a focus on radio astronomy from the University of Puerto Rico. He also completed a postdoctoral fellowship at the University of Florida on the impact of the El Niño phenomenon in the Caribbean. He has held important roles at the University of Puerto Rico in Carolina, including director of the Multidisciplinary Research Center and interim dean of academic affairs.

He is a member of the board of trustees of the University of Puerto Rico, contributing to institutional decisions. He leads research projects on coastal erosion, climate management, and hurricanes in the North Atlantic. He founded the Laboratory of Research in Atmospheric Sciences and has participated in government committees on drought. He is also a member of the Expert and Advisory Committee on Climate Change (CEACC) of Puerto Rico.

Additionally, he has published books on global warming and climate management in the Caribbean, as well as numerous articles on climate-related topics in indexed journals. His work has had a significant impact on the understanding and management of extreme climatic phenomena in the Caribbean. More by Rafael Méndez Tejeda

Dana Nuccitelli

Dana Nuccitelli, research coordinator for the nonprofit Citizens’ Climate Lobby, is an environmental scientist, writer, and author of ‘Climatology versus Pseudoscience,’ published in 2015. He has published 10 peer-reviewed studies related to climate change and has been writing about the subject since 2010 for outlets including Skeptical Science and The Guardian.

Dana received a bachelor’s degree in astrophysics from UC Berkeley and a master’s degree in physics from UC Davis before becoming an environmental scientist. He says he was inspired after seeing ‘An Inconvenient Truth’ in 2006 to find out if the science presented in the film was accurate. He devoted several years to reading books, articles, and peer-reviewed studies about climate change.

In 2010, Dana began contributing to the climate blog and myth debunking website Skeptical Science, from which The Guardian picked up several of his timely debunkings of climate myths perpetuated by influential individuals and interest groups. In early 2013, he joined with John Abraham of St. Thomas University in St. Paul, Mn., on the Guardian’s new international environmental blogging network. From then through most of 2018, he co-published with Abraham on a weekly basis until the blog network was discontinued in late 2018. Dana has also published several climate-related studies, most notably on the 97 percent expert “consensus” among climate scientists that humans are primarily responsible for the observed global warming since 1950. More by Dana Nuccitelli

• twitter

Neha Pathak

Neha Pathak, MD, FACP, DipABLM is dual board-certified in internal medicine and lifestyle medicine. She is on the medical team responsible for ensuring the accuracy of health information on WebMD and reports on topics related to lifestyle, environmental, and climate change impacts on health.

Pathak is co-founder of Georgia Clinicians for Climate Action and Co-Chair of the Global Sustainability Committee for the American College of Lifestyle Medicine. She is a Public Voices Fellow on the Climate Crisis with the Op-Ed Project and Yale Program on Climate Change Communication.

Pathak is a graduate of Harvard University and Weill Medical College of Cornell University. She completed her certificate in climate change and health communication from Yale School of Public Health. She lives in Atlanta with her husband and three daughters. More by Neha Pathak

• twitter

Johani Ponce

Johani Carolina Ponce, una experimentada periodista, editora y profesional en comunicaciones multiculturales, cuenta con más de 25 años de dedicación en su campo. Su sólida trayectoria abarca estrategias de participación latina, relaciones con los medios, comunicaciones estratégicas y campañas integradas de mercadeo en diversos medios como televisión, radio y prensa escrita. Además, ha demostrado su pericia en el desarrollo de proyectos y defensa de temas clave, destacándose especialmente en áreas como la prevención de la violencia armada, el cambio climático y los derechos de los inmigrantes.

El inicio de la carrera periodística de Ponce se remonta a sus 21 años, cuando se unió a uno de los periódicos más prestigiosos de Venezuela, El Universal. A lo largo de su destacada carrera, desempeñó un papel crucial como estratega de participación latina en Olán Media Group, una consultora especializada en medios y comunicaciones culturales. Uno de sus logros más destacados incluye liderar el desarrollo y la dirección de “Huella Zero”, un servicio innovador de noticias diseñado para concienciar a la comunidad latina sobre las devastadoras consecuencias del cambio climático.

Además, Ponce ha sido corresponsal especial, cubriendo eventos de gran envergadura como la Copa Mundial de la FIFA en 1994, 1998 y 2006, la Copa América en 1995 y 2007, los Campeonatos Abiertos de Tenis de Estados Unidos, el Maratón de la Ciudad de Nueva York y el Abierto de Tenis de Miami. También ha proporcionado cobertura detallada de las elecciones presidenciales en Venezuela y Ecuador, consolidando aún más su destacada presencia en el periodismo internacional.

—

Johani Carolina Ponce is a veteran journalist, editor, and multicultural communications professional with over 25 years of experience. She possesses a strong background in Latino engagement strategy, media relations, strategic communications, and integrated marketing campaigns across television, radio, and print media. Additionally, she has expertise in project development and issue advocacy, particularly in areas such as gun violence prevention, climate change, and immigrant rights.

Ponce embarked on her journalism journey at one of Venezuela’s most prestigious newspapers, El Universal. Throughout her career, she has served as a strategist for Latino participation and engagement for Olán Media Group, a cultural media and communications consultancy. One of her notable accomplishments includes spearheading the development and direction of “Huella Zero,” an innovative news wire service aimed at raising awareness in the Latino community about the devastating consequences of climate change.

Ponce has covered sports — including the FIFA World Cup, Copa América, the U.S. Tennis Open Championships, the New York City Marathon, and the Miami Tennis Open, as well as presidential elections in Venezuela and Ecuador. More by Johani Ponce

Kristen Pope

Kristen Pope is a freelance writer and editor who frequently writes about climate change, ecology, wildlife, conservation, and many other topics for a wide variety of publications. She has a masters degree in natural resources planning and interpretation from Northern California’s Humboldt State University (now known as Cal Poly Humboldt), as well as a bachelor’s degree in history from the University of California, Davis.

Kristen enjoys spending time in the field with researchers, from those studying wildfires close to her home in the Greater Yellowstone Ecosystem, to those collecting vital climate data at Greenland’s Summit Station.

She is particularly fascinated by the Arctic and Antarctic, and is always looking for a way to delve deeper into the realm of the cryosphere, including how climate change is impacting the world’s ice caps and glaciers – as well as what those changes mean for people living far from the poles.

Before becoming a full-time freelance writer and editor, Kristen educated park and museum visitors about science and history. In these roles, she did everything from teaching people about the past to helping excited kindergartners learn how to gently touch a Madagascar hissing cockroach. More by Kristen Pope

Luis Alexis Rodríguez-Cruz

Luis Alexis Rodríguez-Cruz is a social scientist and writer, based in Juana Díaz, Puerto Rico. His writing covers food, the environment, science, and policy. On every Sunday, Luis Alexis cooks and publishes La Fiambrera, a newsletter where he writes about social, cultural, and scientific topics related to Puerto Rico’s food systems. You can find his bylines in NextCity, El Nuevo Día, among others, and his research in several scientific journals. He also writes fiction and has published two short story collections, being Al otro lado the most recent.

Luis Alexis works with farmers, fishers, and diverse organizations on applied research, capacity-building strategies, and science communication projects that support climate adaptation and public health. He is a 2021 Grist 50 and a 2023 Public Voices fellow on the Climate Crisis with the Op-Ed Project in partnership with the Yale Program on Climate Change Communication.

Luis Alexis holds a PhD in food systems and a graduate certificate in agroecology from the University of Vermont, a MS in food science and technology and a BS in biology from the Mayaguez and Ponce campuses of the University of Puerto Rico, respectively. Currently, he teaches at the University of Puerto Rico at Utuado and works on different research and outreach projects. You can know more at www.luisalexis.com.

—

Luis Alexis Rodríguez Cruz es un científico social y escritor. Vive en Juana Díaz, Puerto Rico. Trabaja temas relacionados a sistemas agroalimentarios, al ambiente, a la ciencia y a la política pública. Todos los domingos cocina y publica La Fiambrera, su newsletter sobre temas sociales, culturales, científicos y políticos, enlazados al sistema agroalimentario puertorriqueño. Ha publicado en NextCity, El Nuevo Día, entre otros medios y también en revistas científicas. También es escritor de ficción. Recientemente publicó Al otro lado, se segunda colección de cuentos cortos.

Trabaja con distintas personas, organizaciones e instituciones del sector agrícola y pesquero, en diversos proyectos que apoyen la adaptación al cambio climático y a la salud pública. Luis Alexis es un Grist 50 y becario del programa Public Voices on the Climate Crisis de The Op-Ed Project, en colaboración con el Programa de Comunicación sobre el Cambio Climático de Yale.

Tiene un doctorado en sistemas agroalimentarios y un certificado graduado en agroecología de la Universidad de Vermont, una maestría en ciencia y tecnología de alimentos y un bachillerato en biología con subconcentración en biotecnología de los recintos de Mayagüez y Ponce de la Universidad de Puerto Rico, respectivamente. Actualmente, enseña en la Universidad de Puerto Rico en Utuado y trabaja en distintos proyectos de investigación y alcance. Conoce más de él en www.luisalexis.com. More by Luis Alexis Rodríguez-Cruz

Alexandra Steele

Alexandra Steele has more than 20 years’ experience as an on-air meteorologist. She has worked both nationally and in local television markets forecasting the weather, including on the Weather Channel and CNN.

Alexandra is a member of the American Meteorological Society and has earned the Television Seal of Approval. She is also an Emmy-nominated meteorologist.

Alexandra earned her bachelor’s degree from Brown University and has a master’s degree in journalism from Northwestern University. She completed her meteorology degree in Connecticut concurrent to working at WJLA-TV.

Prior to her on-air television work, she worked in both London and New York City for ABC News.

Alexandra is married, has a daughter, and is pursuing a master’s degree in climatology. More by Alexandra Steele

Tom Toro

Tom Toro is a cartoonist and author. He has published over 200 cartoons in The New Yorker since 2010. His cartoons appear in Playboy, the Paris Review, the New York Times, American Bystander, and elsewhere. In 2020, he was a finalist for the National Cartoonist Society Reuben Award for gag cartoonist of the year. He is the creator of the syndicated comic strip Home Free.

Tom wrote and illustrated the children’s picture book “How to Potty Train Your Porcupine” (Little, Brown 2020) and the political cartoon collection “Tiny Hands” (Dock Street Press, 2017). He illustrated the civics book “A User’s Guide to Democracy” (Celadon Books, 2020), and he is illustrating Simon Rich’s debut picture book “I’m Terrified of Bath Time” (Little, Brown 2022).

Tom has written short stories for the New Haven Review, Slush Pile and Litro (UK), as well as contributing a dozen essays to the New Yorker Cartoon Encyclopedia. His fiction has been shortlisted for the Disquiet International Literary Prize. Tom was an inaugural fellow at the Orchard Project Episodic Lab in screenwriting, where he developed a mixed animated TV series “The Strip.” He was also awarded a playwriting residency at the Berkeley Repertory Theatre Ground Floor. Tom is a lecturer on cartoon art, represented by the Cassidy & Fishman speakers bureau.

Tom attended NYU graduate film school, where he co-created films that played at Sundance, Tribeca and Cannes. Before that, Tom graduated cum laude from Yale, receiving the Betts Prize for his literary work while also serving as captain of the national-champion lightweight rowing team and cartoon editor for the Yale Herald. Tom grew up in El Cerrito, California. He lives in Portland, Oregon, with his wife, kid, and cat. More by Tom Toro

Sarah Wesseler

Sarah Wesseler is a writer and editor with more than a decade of experience covering climate change and the built environment. Originally from Ohio, she now lives in Brooklyn. More by Sarah Wesseler

Bud Ward

Bud Ward was editor of Yale Climate Connections from 2007-2022. He started his environmental journalism career in 1974. He later served as assistant director of the U.S. Congress’s National Commission on Air Quality, before founding The Environmental Forum magazine in 1982. In 1988 he established Environment Writer for journalists covering natural resources and environmental issues.

A co-founder of the Society of Environmental Journalists in 1989, he served as a frequent environmental analyst for NPR’s “All Things Considered” and “Morning Edition,” and he founded and managed the foundation-funded Central European Environmental Journalism Program.

An advisory editor for the Oxford University Second Edition of Encyclopedia of Climate and Weather (2007), and an adviser in 2007/2008 to the United Nations Development Program, he administered the jury for the Grantham Prize for Excellence in Reporting on the Environment throughout the six-year history of that prize. George Mason University Center for Climate Change Communications in 2009 named him its “Climate Change Communicator of the Year.”

An elected fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS), he is a member of SEJ and of the American Geophysical Union (AGU) and the American Meteorological Society (AMS). He earned bachelor’s and master’s degrees from Penn State University. More by Bud Ward

Jan O'Brien

Jan O’Brien was assistant editor and website manager at Yale Climate Connections from 2007-2022. She brought more than three decades of experience in environmental publishing and policy research and more than 20 years of experience in website management.

She started her environmental career in 1979 as special assistant to the assistant director of the U.S. Congress’s National Commission on Air Quality, under the Clean Air Act, and later served as assistant editor of the Environmental Law Institute’s monthly policy magazine, The Environmental Forum.

After two years as assistant editor with the Government Finance Research Association in Washington, D.C., she joined the nonprofit Environmental Health Center, a component of the National Safety Council. Jan was promoted to the newly formed position of manager of website communications in 1997 and relocated to the Council’s Chicago-area headquarters office, where she guided all web activities associated with Council divisions, members, chapters, board, and partnerships.

She established her own web management and communications business in 2004, and in 2007 began work with Yale Climate Connections. Her fields of expertise include website development and management; environmental communications, writing and editing; web analytics, design strategy and implementation, and project oversight.