With a background in landscape and quantitative ecology, Justin applies ecological systems thinking coupled with geographic information systems (GIS) technology to help understand the past, present, and future condition of the world around us. Special interest areas include:

By applying data science through storytelling, Justin provides innovative technical expertise to develop practical insight on ecosystems and their components for a multi-stakeholder audience that helps inform decision making for short- or long-term planning and management. He navigates projects with a holistic approach by analyzing local, site-specific attributes in the context of their integration with the surrounding landscape. GIS mapping, modeling, and analysis are frequently leveraged to derive compelling, data-driven narratives that explain how landscapes and people influence one another. His work aims to identify opportunities for improving adaptive capacity to balance the relationship between people, planet, and profit for a more sustainable, resilient future.

Justin holds a Master of Environmental Science and Management (M.E.S.M.) from the Bren School at the University of California, Santa Barbara, a Certificate in Global Sustainability from the University of California, Los Angeles, and a B.A. in Communication from Northwestern University. He resides in San Diego where he enjoys being a frequent patron of the San Diego Zoo & Safari Park and tending to his indoor jungle of houseplants.

Beverly (Bev) Law is Professor Emeritus of Global Change Biology & Terrestrial Systems Science in the Department of Forest Ecosystems and Society at Oregon State University. She is a fellow of the American Geophysical Union and the Earth Leadership Program. She has published more than 240 refereed journal articles and book chapters and is a Clarivate Analytics Highly Cited Researcher, in the top 1% in the world across fields (H index > 100). Her 30 years of research includes the effects of climate, wildfire and management on forest carbon processes, and related emissions to the atmosphere at multiple scales from ecosystems to regional and global, and forest carbon accounting. She has testified in multiple US congressional hearings on topics including climate change, wildfires, and forest management. You can find her publications here, such as “Creating Strategic Reserves to Protect Forest Carbon and Reduce Biodiversity Losses in the United States”: http://terraweb.forestry.oregonstate.edu/beverly-law.

Cole Soldo is a conservationist who is grounded in the fact that conservation is, ultimately, about people. He comes from The Ohio State University with experience in risk analysis and decision science, measuring the drivers of conservation program participation rates, and farmer conservation identity. His primary research targeted the use of constructed wetlands to address water quality challenges and farmer willingness to adopt edge-of-field conservation measures in the Western Lake Erie Basin.

Cole brings additional ecosystem stewardship and urban sustainability experience to CBI, emphasizing clear communications and finding workable, focused solutions to pressing environmental issues. He is excited to bring an additional viewpoint and expertise to help CBI’s spatial analysis tools become adopted by a wide audience.

Robin Jones is passionate about conservation and complements the CBI team’s expertise, bringing to the organization her deep experience in starting, managing, and growing technology startup companies. She has held leadership roles across a broad array of functions, including marketing, partner/developer ecosystems, IP licensing, sales operations, HR & finance, product & project management, and fundraising. Among her various business experiences, she was Senior VP Marketing & Business Development at Socrata, a platform for publishing, managing, and analyzing government open data. After Esri acquired a company called Geologi for which she served as Chief Operations Officer, she founded and grew the geospatial developer business unit at Esri.

Robin has an MBA from the Haas School of Business at UC Berkeley and a BS in Biological Sciences from Stanford. She serves on the board of directors of TiE Oregon Foundation, is a mentor for several Pacific Northwest-based entrepreneurs, and an active volunteer with several social justice organizations.  She resides in Portland, Oregon, and when she’s not tied to her desk she enjoys knitting, trail running, gardening, hiking, and spending time with her family and pets.

Tyler joined CBI in August 2022 as a software engineer. In previous lives, he has taught high school math and computer science, written software tools for computer animation, and worked as a field biology technician tracking moose calves in northern Idaho. He has always been interested in ecology, sustainability and appropriate technology. 

After growing up on the shores of Puget Sound, Tyler studied computer science at Middlebury college with a particular focus on spatial computing, exploring cartographic design alongside geospatial algorithms. His previous experiences as a GIS analyst and a wildlife technician enable him to communicate effectively with a variety of professionals, and inform the decisions he now makes as a software engineer situated in the world of conservation biology. 

Currently back in the Pacific Northwest, Tyler gets his kicks canoeing, backpacking, and checking the surf forecast.

Moriah Van Voorhis is a GIS Analyst with experience using spatial analysis to aide in the management of declining species. She takes interest in exploring the complexities and patterns present on a landscape to catalyze solutions for the restoration of natural ecosystems. She holds an M.S. in Fisheries, Wildlife, and Conservation Biology from North Carolina State University.  Her areas of expertise and interest include geographic information systems, species distribution, remote sensing, connectivity modeling, and conservation planning.

I’m a highly motivated climate change ecologist, conservation biologist, sustainability strategist, leadership and science professor, and environmental planner. I’m Chief Scientific and Policy Officer for the Conservation Biology Institute, Affiliate Professor at University of Washington’s Center for Environmental Politics and Inter-disciplinary Arts and Sciences, and Honorary Research Associate of two institutes at the University of Cape Town.

I have had a wonderful career so far, with 34 years working mostly in southern Africa, spanning academia, government, international organizations and initiatives, and national research institutes. Passionate about biodiversity and climate change globally, especially in Africa and the Americas, I operate almost equally comfortably at two levels, planetary and local, with science and society as the ‘lenses’ I use to observe.

In South Africa, I held posts at the South African National Biodiversity Institute of Lead Scientist for Climate Change BioAdaptation and Head of Biodiversity Futures (the latter one of numerous programs I’ve founded and led). From 2013-2016 I was also Honorary President of BirdLife South Africa, and I remain Honorary Research Associate at the University of Cape Town, in both the African Climate and Development Initiative (ACDI) and the Centre of Excellence at the FitzPatrick Institute of African Ornithology.

On science: my main scientific interests are in the spatial and temporal responses of biodiversity and ecosystems to global change. Through 2016, I ran for 9 years a research team jointly between a university research institute and a government funded science-policy institute, to understand the vulnerability and adaptation of endemic species to complex global changes. To understand their responses, I used biogeography, population, community, behavioural and evolutionary ecology lenses, and collaborated with modellers, geneticists, and statistical ecologists.

On society: my main interests are in envisaging societal and environmental futures, in enabling powerful policy and behavioral change, and in bringing about (peaceful) tipping points for a new economy and sustainable society. Science is a key element in the sustainability transition ahead, but only really quite a small one. Far greater elements are economics, human needs and wants, perception, emotion, faith and how ordinary people make decisions in complex situations. To understand these issues in Africa, I used systems analysis, horizon scanning, trends analysis, early warning systems, citizen science, leadership studies, and complex models (in collaboration with modellers!).

My work blends strategic planning, leadership, research, teaching, publication, writing, editing, public speaking, mentorship and citizen science. I teach young scientists and implementers in spatial ecology, biodiversity conservation, land use planning, climate change, environmental policy, conflict resolution, and leadership. I’ve been fortunate to work with some of the best minds on the planet, and hope a few of their ideas and skills rubbed off.

Apart from my day job, I’m a loving parent (to Cat and Julia Barnard Simmons) and wife (to filmmaker John Bowey), a climber of active volcanoes, modest mountaineer, haphazard trail runner, community volunteer, and film co- producer. I love good music, eclectic and diverse people, beauty and diversity in nature, and yummy vegan cuisine.

Affiliate Professor, University of Washington, Bothell, School of Interdisciplinary Arts & Sciences – https://www.uwb.edu/ias/faculty-and-staff/phoebe-barnard

Affiliate Professor, University of Washington, Seattle, Center for Environmental Politics – https://depts.washington.edu/envirpol/?page_id=21

Honorary Research Associate, University of Cape Town (UCT) FitzPatrick Institute of African Ornithology – http://www.fitzpatrick.uct.ac.za/fitz/staff/research/barnard

Honorary Research Associate, UCT African Climate and Development Initiative – http://www.acdi.uct.ac.za/acdi/affiliates-people/dr-phoebe-barnard

Alliance of Leading Environmental Researchers & Thinkers page: http://alert-conservation.org/key-people/

Film co-producer, writer, and storyteller, Transmediavision USA – tmvusa.net/ and https://www.phoebebarnard.com/conservation-writing-filmmaking  

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/phoebe-barnard/

personal portal – www.phoebebarnard.com

Hannah joined Conservation Biology Institute in January 2020 and primarily contributes to a project assessing and mapping grassland dynamics within the USDA Conservation Reserve Program. With a M.S. in Geography from Oregon State University and a B.S in Geography and Geographic Information Science/Cartography from the University of Wisconsin – Madison, Hannah is excited to extend her geospatial analysis skills with Google Earth Engine and random forest modeling to contribute to geospatial mapping and analysis efforts at CBI using open-source tools and data. 

After completing her Bachelor’s degree, she made maps for a transportation engineering firm, a self-driving car company, and participated in the NASA DEVELOP Program to study estuarine vegetation patterns in the Bay Area. While completing her Master’s degree, Hannah worked on the NASA-funded Missing Millions project with which she studied satellite image time series analysis and disturbance detection algorithms to analyse establishment and growth trends of refugee settlements in Northern Uganda. Hannah’s interest in using satellite image analysis for land cover change couples with her passion for studying people and environment dynamics, and human migration and development. With a curiosity for studying the power of maps, old and new, Hannah plans to continue studying satellite imagery through a critical geographic lens.  

Hannah lives in Corvallis and spends her free time trail running with her partner and dog in the McDonald-Dunn forest, cooking, seeing live music and exploring new places in Oregon. 

Charlotte is interested in harnessing spatial data, remote sensing, and data science tools to answer questions concerning conservation to improve conservation outcomes and human wellbeing. Charlotte earned an M.S. in Natural Resources and Environmental Management at the University of Hawaii at Manoa where she investigated the role of High Conservation Value areas in reducing deforestation within oil palm landscapes in Indonesia.  Before joining CBI, Charlotte worked on a variety of remote sensing, climate science, and conservation impact analysis projects ranging from validating MODIS and VIIRS vegetation indices to developing a deforestation alert monitoring framework in Google Earth Engine. Having experienced some of the remaining wild places left on earth like the Bornean rainforests, and America’s temperate forests in which she was raised, Charlotte feels an ardent need to support conservation efforts. Charlotte lives in Honolulu, HI, with her many house plants, and enjoys being outside in nature whether surfing, hiking, or free diving.

Jesudas (Jess) Joseph joined CBI in August 2021 as a software engineer and will be responsible for IT administration. He was born in Corvallis, Oregon, but moved to Bangalore, India, at the age of one. After living in India for 16 years, Jess and his family moved back to Corvallis. Jess graduated from Oregon State University in June 2021 with a major in computer science. He enjoys spending his time outside hiking, taking photos, and running sound and other tech at his church.