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.
Kathleen Pollett is a Biologist with more than 20 years of experience specializing in endangered species, landscape ecology, and restoration. She has designed, permitted and carried out scientifically credible wildlife improvement projects throughout Central and Southern California. She has worked implementing large scale Habitat Conservation Programs in Southern California and designed research projects for stream breeding amphibians in Oregon. She has prepared trainings for Federally and State listed species to assist in project design and assessment. She has conducting extensive fieldwork throughout her career.
Sesha received his Master of Technology in Computer Science from Jawaharlal Nehru Technological University and Master of Science in Physics from Osmania University and is currently pursuing his MBA from Oregon State University in Corvallis, Oregon. He is an active member of Project Management Institute (PMI) Willamette Valley Chapter, Oregon. He brings over 10 years of experience in the software industry with a focus on IT web applications, quality assurance and management. His highly positive attitude and passion for learning and mastering new technologies makes him an asset for the team.
Sesha’s interests include volunteering and reading fictional and non-fictional books. His two sons study at Oregon State University and he lives with his family in Corvallis.
Lisa Alley joined CBI as an Administrative Assistant in May 2014. She is new to the conservation community, but has spent the last 15 years providing back office support for an organization that provided software used internally within credit unions. She is an incredible asset to CBI, providing support and assisting with deadlines. During her free time she enjoys scrapbooking, camping throughout Oregon and spending time with her wonderful husband, beautiful daughter and equally beautiful son-in-law.
Barry received a Ph.D. from Colorado State University in 1991 where his research focused on the effects of climate change on grassland/livestock ecosystems. Since then, he has worked in Argentina, China, Mongolia, and the US for the United Nations’ Development and Environmental Programmes, the US Environmental Protection Agency’s Country Studies Program, and more recently The Nature Conservancy. His research interests include bioclimatology, biogeography, and the influence of climatic variability on the distribution and conservation of plants and animals in grassland and alpine ecosystems.
Dustin Pearce joined the Conservation Biology Institute in December of 2015. His background in geospatial sciences has focused on the interplay of working agricultural lands, natural lands, and renewable energy development in the San Joaquin Valley of California. Growing up in the San Joaquin Valley, his connection with agricultural and working lands initiated his interest in biology. Watching the seasonal shifts in crops and the wildlife that surrounded the valley all developed his curiosity for the natural world that still drives him today. Finding just as much comfort in plowed fields as the backcountry of the Sierra Nevada, his upbringing has helped him understand the truly complex nature of humans’ interaction with different landscapes.
Dustin holds a M.E.S.M. in Economics and Politics of the Environment from the Bren School of Environmental Science & Management, and a B.S. in Conservation Biology from Arizona State University. His work with the Conservation Biology Institute is focused on stakeholder engagement and smart planning for renewable energy development throughout California.
Dustin lives and works remotely in Santa Barbara, California. He enjoys getting outside as much as possible, woodworking, metalworking, and exploring paved roads on his motorcycle.
Melanie Brown joined the Conservation Biology Institute in July of 2015. She has a B.S. in Natural Resource Management with a focus on science and research from Oregon State University (OSU), and an A.A.S. in Water Conservation from Lane Community College (LCC). Melanie is originally from Rhode Island and moved to Oregon in 2008. She has a broad interest in conservation issues including how climate change and invasive species effect land management, and how sustainability and urban ecology affect natural resources. Her background includes a diverse mix of conservation, horticulture, and marketing. As an undergraduate she conducted research alongside her mentor Dr. Dominqiue Bachelet about how Oregon and Idaho Bureau of Land Management (BLM) managers perceive the usefulness of web-based climate tools for sagebrush management. Prior to attending OSU Melanie worked for ten years in various horticulture and vegetation management positions that include assisting in silviculture field studies; a horticulture internship focused on integrated pest management (IPM); manager of marketing and merchandising for an Oregon plant nursery where she integrated native plant species into nursery stock and gave numerous workshops on incorporating wildlife, IPM and xeriscaping into home gardens; and as an entrepreneur who started and managed a landscape design company focused on the incorporation of native and non-invasive species to New England home landscapes. Other experience includes an internship in conservation marketing and development for an Oregon non-profit where she created a neighborhood conservation marketing plan and conducted grant research; an internship in zoology where she cared for a diversity of animal species including threatened and endangered species and worked on animal enrichment and habitat displays; and work with the American Burying Beetle Species Survival Plan where she cared for and tracked American Burying Beetle populations and assisted in their catch and release on Martha’s Vineyard. In her free time Melanie enjoys hiking and exploring the Northwest, photography and spending time with her two young children.