Jacob Strittholt works as a Ecologist and Geospatial Analyst. Originally from Corvallis, OR, Jacob finished his B.S in Biology specializing in ecology from Oregon State University. He is passionate about contributing towards CBI’s efforts to solving ecological problems and advancing the conservation of biodiversity. Jacob loves spending time outdoors, gardening, cooking, and playing guitar!
Dr. Dominick A. DellaSala has worked for several nonprofit conservation organizations for >40 years as a global biodiversity and climate change scientist while also serving as President of the Society for Conservation Biology, North America Section. He is an internationally renowned author of >300 peer-reviewed articles and 9 co-authored award-winning books, including Temperate and Boreal Rainforests of the World: Ecology and Conservation; Mixed-Severity Fire: Nature’s Phoenix; and Conservation Science & Advocacy for a Planet in Peril: Speaking Truth to Power. Dominick has given keynote talks ranging from academic conferences to the United Nations (Earth Summit II). He has appeared in National Geographic, Science Digest, Science Magazine, Time Magazine, Audubon Magazine, National Wildlife Magazine, High Country News, Terrain Magazine, NY Times, LA Times, USA Today, Jim Lehrer News Hour, CNN, MSNBC, “Living on Earth (NPR),” and several PBS documentaries. He has testified as an expert witness at numerous congressional hearings in defense of the Endangered Species Act, roadless areas, national monuments, old-forest protections, and climate change remediation among others. For his efforts to help foster national roadless areas conservation and designation of new national monuments, he received conservation leadership awards from the World Wildlife Fund in 2000 and 2004, the Wilburforce Foundation in 2006, and was twice nominated for conservation awards for his work as a whistleblower while on the U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service spotted owl recovery team. Dominick is motivated by leaving a living planet for his 2 daughters, 4 grandkids, and all those that follow.
John Waugh is an adviser on conservation strategies and planning, with a focus on the role of information in conservation policy, and on sustainable finance mechanisms. He has been involved in protected area management for 30 years, as a park ranger, manager, planner, and strategist. He is the author of several publications on invasive species and a contributor to several on protected areas, all with IUCN. After 20 years with IUCN, he is working for Integra LCC based in Washington, DC. His current interests include risk assessment, eco-informatics, climate adaptation strategies, sustainable finance mechanisms, and learning networks for conservation. He lives in the Virginia Piedmont hunt country, where he has not yet succeeded in mediating between foxes and hounds.
William (Bill) Ripple is a University Distinguished Professor of Ecology in the Department of Forest Ecosystems and Society as well as the Director of the “Trophic Cascades Program” at Oregon State University. He has published more than 200 journal articles and was co-lead author of the “World Scientists’ Warning of a Climate Emergency 2021”. He is the director of the Alliance of World Scientists which has 26,000 members from 180 countries.
As the Systems Administrator for Conservation Biology Institute, Robert brings 14 years of GNU/Linux, Windows and Mac administration and interoperability to CBI in a relentless quest to be a prime enabler.
His experience encompasses various forms of Systems Adminsistration and support of GNU/Linux, Mac and Windows based computing environments. This has ranged from the server side to the desktop with both custom and off the shelf software and hardware solutions.
Taylor is an Eastern Oregon native and has been interested in mathematics and computers since a young age. While at college, he studied computational geometry, topology, probability and computer graphics, as well as mathematical fundamentals of cryptography. He has since blended those interests by integrating computer graphics and the web with data visualization and environmental science, developing desktop- and web-based software to assist scientists in leveraging their data.
Annie joined the CBI team in July of 2016. She has a B.S. in Environmental Science with a minor in Environmental Law and Policy from Oregon State University and a graduate certificate in GIS from Penn State University. While working as an intern under environmental lawyers with the intention of becoming one herself, Annie recognized the power of data and spatial analysis in the conservation planning field and changed course to a career in geospatial sciences. She is particularly interested in the management of water resources and sustainable city planning. Prior to joining CBI, Annie worked as an assistant data manager for the National Park Service’s Sonoran Desert Network, developing databases and performing data analysis for the network’s birds, groundwater, springs, and streams protocols.
Annie is a native of Santa Barbara, CA and currently resides in Corvallis, Oregon. She spends her free time rock climbing, hiking, baking, and traveling.
Dr. Thompson’s background includes a blend of landscape and wildlife ecology, specializing in the relationship between large-scale habitat change and the interactions between predators, competitors, and prey. He has worked with a wide variety of sensitive carnivore species, including black-footed ferrets, island fox, swift fox, bald eagles, and mountain lions in numerous western states. He has served as a technical advisor for wildlife-related issues to numerous organizations and efforts, including the Dinkey Collaborative Forest Landscape Restoration Project in the Sierras, the Blackfoot-Swan Landscape Restoration Project in northern Montana, and the California Academy of Sciences. Currently, he lives in Missoula, MT and is applying this background to the development of resiliency-based forest management regimes in both the Sierra Nevada and Rocky Mountain regions.
Deanne DiPietro is a geographer and conservation biologist with extensive experience applying science and information technology to conservation planning. Deanne has a B.S. in Botany and M.A. in Geography from University of California, Davis.
As Senior Science Coordinator at CBI Deanne manages projects with multi-disciplinary teams that deliver practical solutions for a wide range of conservation issues from endangered species recovery to community wildfire resilience. Her areas of expertise include science communications, data management, decision-support tools, stakeholder engagement, and digital libraries. Deanne’s current focus is conservation action prioritization, wildfire resilience planning, and endangered species monitoring and recovery.
Deanne lives and works in Sonoma County, California.
Stephanie joined the CBI team in August, 2017. She has an M.S. in Marine Resource Management from Oregon State University. Prior to joining CBI, Stephanie supported research projects at the Environmental Protection Agency’s Research Laboratory in Corvallis, Oregon by working as a researcher and project manager for the EPA’s on-site contractor. In this capacity, she managed and participated in studies comparing created and naturally occurring wetlands to provide regulators with information to improve management strategies and wetland mitigation project design. She also managed research to determine the health and status of streams and rivers across the twelve contiguous western states, research in Oregon Coast Range watersheds to evaluate and quantify the influence of human activities on native fish habitat, and managed Rapid Ecoregional Assessments (REA) for the BLM in the Colorado Plateau and Sonoran Desert ecoregions. For these and other projects, she trained and managed field crews, performed field work, managed project budgets, tracked and evaluated project deliverables, and managed and facilitated the activities of technical support staff and sub-contractors. A native Oregonian and avid equestrian, Stephanie lives in Corvallis with her two- and four-legged family members.