Advisory Board
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Chair Michael Carvalho Michael Carvalho is an environmental and energy attorney with over 23 years of technical, business and legal experience. Mr. Carvalho regularly advises business clients on environmental and related transactional matters involving risk allocation and transfer (Brownfields), as well as regulatory, permitting and licensing. He is also an experienced trial lawyer and has recovered millions of dollars on behalf of individual clients in connection with violations of the federal Clean Water Act, Superfund, and the Clean Air Act, among other environmental laws. He is admitted to practice in state and federal courts in Michigan, Georgia and Washington, D.C., to include the U.S. Supreme Court. Mr. Carvalho is a frequent national speaker and author on matters relating to the cleanup and transfer of contaminated property. Mr. Carvalho’s pro bono interests include the Washington D.C.-based EnvironMentors Program where he sponsors a scholarship for inner-city high school students interested in environmental careers and serves as General Counsel to the EnvironMentors National Advisory Board of the National Council for Science and the Environment; Wheeler High School’s Magnet Mentor Program where he serves as a Mentor; General Counsel to Riverstone Montessori Association, Inc. and Hospice. He can be reached at (678) 354-0066 or via email mpc@carvalholawfirm.comand www.carvalholawfirm.com |
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Janet Ady Ms. Ady began her career with US FWS at the San Francisco Bay National Wildlife Refuge as an Environmental Education Specialist. She served on the Refuges Comprehensive Conservation Planning teams in Alaska and as the Alaska Regional Environmental Education Specialist. She began working for the National Conservation Training Center in its planning stages, on national policy, and education programming. Ms. Ady led the Education and Outreach training team during the initial curriculum development and opening of the National Conservation Training Center in 1997, in Shepherdstown, West Virginia. Currently, Janet is serving on the Conservation Education Committee for the Association of Fish and Wildlife Agencies, the Leadership Committee for the North American Association of Environmental Education, the Education Committee for the Wildlife Habitat Council, and the LEAD Green Advisory Team for the National Audubon Society.
Janet received a Bachelors degree in Natural Resource Planning and Interpretation, with an emphasis in Environmental Education, and a high school biology teaching credential from Humboldt State University and a Masters degree in Natural Science and Environmental Education from San Jose State University. |
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Lisa Beal Ms. Lisa Beal is Director of Environment and Construction Policy for the Interstate Natural Gas Association of America (INGAA) and Secretary of the INGAA Foundation, Inc. in Washington, DC. Ms. Beal has been with INGAA for 12 years and currently manages the environmental and construction policy agenda for the interstate natural gas pipeline industry. As staff to the INGAA Foundation, Ms. Beal manages many of the environmental and construction related research programs. Ms. Beal has over 20 years of environmental policy experience; specializing in the areas of air emissions, clean water, transportation and waste management. She is also experienced in Right-of-way management, stakeholder communications, Native American issues, and intergovernmental coordination. Prior to joining INGAA, Ms. Beal served as manager of transportation and safety for the Hazardous Waste Management Association (HWMA) where she directed the environmental, health and safety program for the hazardous waste transportation industry. Ms. Beal has also worked for the American Trucking Associations where she managed environmental issues for the truck transportation industry. In addition to her association experience, Ms. Beal spent time with the Washington, DC based Geo/Resource Consultants where she provided support to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency Office of Water and was a compliance inspector with the Interstate Sanitation Commission inspecting wastewater treatment plants in the New York tri-state area. Ms. Beal is an active member of the Women's Council on Energy and the Environment and the American Association of Blacks in Energy. In addition, she sits on the advisory board of the EnvironMentors project, an environment-based mentoring program aimed at preparing high school students for college programs and careers in science and environmental professions. A native New Yorker, Ms. Beal holds a Masters of Business Administration from the University of Phoenix and a Bachelor’s of Science in marine and environmental science from Hampton University. |
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Sidney Draggan, PhD Dr. Sidney Draggan, an Ecologist and Science Policy Analyst, served most recently as Senior Science and Science Policy Advisor to the Assistant Administrator for Research and Development at the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency. He joined the staff of the Immediate Office of the Assistant Administrator in 1997 after serving for two years as Special Assistant for Science to the Administrator of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency. Currently, he is a member of the Environmental Information Coalition's Stewardship Committee for the Encyclopedia of Earth. He is a Systems Ecologist with special interests in science policy research and analysis; environmental assessment, monitoring and management; chemical testing and control; and international environment policy. He has served as Research Ecologist at Oak Ridge National Laboratory, Environmental Sciences Division; and Senior Research Fellow at the Monitoring and Assessment Research Centre in London, UK. During 1987, Dr. Draggan became the first National Science Foundation (NSF) staff member to winter over on the Antarctic Continent, managing activities at McMurdo Station of the U.S. Antarctic Program. The following year he served as NSF Representative, New Zealand. |
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Meredydd Evans Ms. Evans has a B.A. from Columbia University’s Barnard College and an M.A. from Harvard University. She is fluent in five languages and has published over 35 articles and books.
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Jerry Farris, PhD Dr. Jerry Farris is the Chapter Director at EnvironMentors’ Arkansas State University Chapter since its inception as a chapter in 2009. Previous Dr. Farris was the Associate Dean at the College of Science and Mathematics, and the Director of both the Environmental Sciences Graduate Program and Ecotoxicology Research Facility. The Arkansas State University EnvironMentors chapter has thrived under Dr. Farris’ guidance. He has reached out into the community to establish partnerships with local industry to recruit mentors, provide working professionals as role models for students, and develop industry ties for future fundraising. In addition, Jerry has established a strong partnership with a local high school, engaging multiple lead teachers in the program. Dr. Farris has his bachelors and masters in Biology and Zoology from Arkansas State University, and his PhD in Zoology from Virginia Tech. His primary research and teaching interests include the interaction of disturbance with contaminant effects on freshwater aquatic communities, specifically on isolating responses in biomonitored systems. Some recent investigations have concentrated on edge of field processes affecting large scale drainage and wetland structures. |
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Larry Feldman, PhD GZA GeoEnvironmental
Dr. Larry Feldman is a senior principal at the environmental and geotechnical consulting firm of GZA GeoEnvironmental, Inc., working primarily out of the firm’s Norwood and Boston offices. His work has focused primarily on the assessment and remediation of sites contaminated by oil and/or hazardous material, and on providing litigation support in cases involving such sites. He is an appointee to DEP’s Hazardous Waste Site Cleanup Advisory Committee. He served on the Board of Registration of Hazardous Waste Site Cleanup Professionals (“Licensed Site Professionals”) from its creation in 1992 until 2004, and served on the Board of the LSP Association from 2004 until 2009, including a term as President. |
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Mason Bryant Howard Mason Bryant Howard is Executive Director of Ecopact (The Environmental Impact Alliance) and Producer of Maggie’s Earth Adventures (MEA). Howard is one of the founding members of Ecopact, a not-for-profit 501 (C) 3 corporation dedicated to raising environmental awareness in South America through education. Originally developed in Chile in 1997, the mission of the program is to provide vocational school teachers assistance in integrating environmental issues into their curriculum. Howard was also a founding director of MEA, a free, online educational resource created to help teachers and parents address environmental themes in the classroom through language arts, math, social studies and environmental sciences. Initially launched in English in the fall of 2000, and in Spanish in 2001, the award-winning website now boasts over 17,000 weekly subscribers. Howard brings to these programs a wealth of practical experience having taught in a variety of classroom settings instructing all ages from elementary to the adult. Howard is a member of the Board of Directors of the National Wildlife Federation. Howard is a graduate of the University of Virginia and is currently pursuing a Master’s in Social Foundations of Education at the University of Virginia, Northern Virginia Campus. Fluent in English and Spanish, Howard has lived and taught in Spain and Chile and continues to travel abroad extensively. She now resides in McLean, Virginia with her husband, their fourteen-year-old daughter and twelve-year old twin boys. She served as Vice President of the Parent-Teacher Association at Chesterbrook Elementary from 2005-2007. Together with her husband, Howard successfully climbed Mt. Kilimanjaro in 2002 and Howard completed the 2003 Marine Corp. Marathon. |
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Veronica Johnson Veronica Johnson is a meteorologist with News4's Weather Plus team. Her forecasts can be seen weekdays on News4 at 4 and on Weather Plus and Weatherplus.com. She also hosts America This Week, a weekly 30-minute news show. Prior to joining News4 in 2000, Johnson worked in Baltimore, both at WMAR and WBFF, in New York at WABC, and at The Weather Channel. She has contributed to local radio shows, programs on The Discovery Network, and Bob Ryan's Guide to the Weatherwise. Johnson holds a degree in Atmospheric Science from the University of North Carolina at Asheville. She is an American Meteorological Society (AMS) seal holder and served on the AMS board from 2005 until 2007. Johnson is also a board member for the Inaugural Board of Enterprise Communication and will serve as its Chair in 2008. Johnson also serves on the advisory board of Eyes on the Environment and is a member of the AMS Station Scientist Group. Her newest role outside of the office is serving on D.C.’s Joint Center Advisory Committee on Climate Change. In the community, Johnson volunteers for several youth development programs, including EnvironMentors and The Sister Program. She was honored by the New York City Chapter of the NAACP as Black Journalist of the Year and received the Women's Pioneer Award from the DC Female Firefighters in 2006. Johnson is an avid fitness buff and enjoys rock-climbing, skydiving, and running. One of Johnson’s new hobbies is outdoor photography. |
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Sonia Ortega, PhD Dr. Sonia Ortega is a Program Director for the Graduate STEM Fellows in K-12 Education (GK-12) Program in the Division of Graduate Education at the National Science Foundation (NSF). The GK-12 program supports graduate students in science, mathematics and engineering to bring their scientific research to K-12 classrooms and help graduate students communicate science to lay audiences. For the last 20 years Dr. Ortega has been at the NSF where she has directed several large and complex programs. She has been involved in programs that span the gamut of education levels and disciplines. For postdoctoral support she was program director for the Postdoctoral Fellowships in Science, Mathematics, Engineering and Technology Education and the NSF- NATO Postdoctoral Fellowships. For faculty development she directed the Minority Research Initiation Program, Presidential Faculty Fellows (PFF) Program, and Faculty Awards for Women Scientists and Engineers (FAW) Program. She represented NSF at Palmer Station Antarctica. Prior to coming to NSF, Dr. Ortega was a Research Associate at Duke University Marine Laboratory where she conducted research in her field of marine ecology. She holds a BS in Biology from the University of Costa Rica, a Masters in Zoology from Duke University, and a Ph.D. in Biology from the University of South Carolina. For three years, Dr. Ortega was on leave from NSF and worked as Director of Education and International Programs at the Long Term Ecological Research (LTER) Network Office at the University of New Mexico in Albuquerque, New Mexico. Dr. Ortega has been enthusiastically involved in many committees and organizations aimed at increasing the representation of women and minorities in the sciences. She received the 2008 Distinguished Professional Mentor Award from the Society for the Advancement of Chicanos, Latinos and Native Americans in Science (SACNAS). Dr. Ortega is also a private pilot and is involved in The 99s, an International Organization of Women Pilots focused on bringing more women into flying. Dr. Ortega has extensive knowledge of science and engineering research and education policies and has represented NSF at national and international science and education meetings. |
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Wendy McAllister Prior to launching Evolution Consulting Group, Inc., Wendy McAllister was Director of Business Development for National Geographic.com, a division of the National Geographic Society, where she initiated and expanded strategic partnerships to generate revenue and reduce expenses. During her tenure, Wendy was responsible for the re-launch of the National Geographic News Service in conjunction with the New York Times Syndicate, National Geographic Channel and National Geographic Maps. Earlier in her career, Wendy worked in managerial capacities with some of the most well-known names in media, including America Online, Inc. (AOL); Discovery Communications, Inc.; Warner Bros.; Paramount Digital, a division of Paramount Studios; Oprah.com; MTV; ABC; E! Entertainment Television; Entertainment Weekly; and Newsweek. Career highlights include overseeing the production of AOL’s first-ever online cinema awards; collaborating on the development and implementation of the marketing campaign that launched Discovery Channel’s flagship retail store in Washington, DC; and coordinating international media relations for Discovery Channel’s Eco-Challenge Race held in Australia. Wendy holds a Bachelor’s degree in Broadcast Production from Howard University and a Master’s degree in International Management and Marketing from the University of Maryland, University College. |
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Susan Pultz Susan Pultz, the Interim Chair of the EnvironMentor’s Advisory Board, is the National Endangered Species Recovery Coordinator at NOAA’s National Marine Fisheries Service (NMFS). She has worked on endangered species issues since March 1993, when she started working for the Fish and Wildlife Service’s (FWS) Pacific Islands Office in Honolulu. Since then, she worked for the FWS in Olympia, WA, and Washington DC, moving to NMFS Headquarters in 2001. Prior to that, she held various internships and jobs on Capitol Hill, with the National Wildlife Federation and with the EPA Chesapeake Bay Program. Susan has served as a mentor in the EnvironMentors program and has been a member of the Advisory Board since 2006. She received a Masters in Environmental Studies from Yale School of Forestry and Environmental Studies in 1992. |
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Safiya Samman, PhD Dr. Safiya Samman is the Director of the Conservation Education program for the US Forest Service. As Director, Dr. Safiya Samman leads an active and wide-ranging program that reaches more than four-million children and their educators each year. Although she has held various challenging professional positions, a strong thread of youth and education is woven throughout her 30+ year career. Dr. Samman received her PhD in genetics, and has worked in the natural resources field for more than 30-years. A focus of her work has been on improving and protecting forest health through genetic principles. As a member of the Pacific Southwest Research Station's genetic resources program, she was responsible for the development and management of disease resistance breeding and gene conservation strategies for the five-needle pines in California .She is proud to be a pioneer member of the “rust-busters” – a handful of people who worked on developing tree resistance to exotic disease white pine blister rust. In the early 1980s, Dr. Samman founded and chaired the Department of Botany at King Saud University in Saudi Arabia. While at the university, she developed an outreach program to create employment opportunities for graduates and encourage high school students to pursue careers in natural resources. |
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William Winner, PhD |
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Gwendolyn Wright Dr. Gwendolyn Wright holds undergraduate and graduate degrees from Albany State University, a graduate certificate in women's studies from Duke University and a doctoral degree from North Carolina State University in higher education administration. Dr. Wright's experience in external affairs, higher education and business extends more than 20 years and she currently serves as the Director of Corporate, Foundation and Government Relations for the Organization for Tropical Studies (OTS), an international consortium of more than 60 colleges and universities based at Duke University. In this position, she works closely with OTS education and research staff to develop and administer private and federal grants. Dr. Wright serves as the administrator coordinating activities for the OTS Advisory Committee for Academic Diversity (ACAD), which is responsible for identifying, recruiting and mentoring students underrepresented in the sciences. In 2004, she organized a national symposium at Howard University that brought together students, faculty and administrators to discuss strategies to foster greater participation of underrepresented students in the sciences, particularly in ecology-related disciplines. Most recently, Dr. Wright co-edited a Manual of Best Practices for Recruiting and Retaining Underrepresented Groups in Ecology and the Environmental Sciences funded by the National Science Foundation Louis Stokes Alliances for Minority Participation. As a result of these efforts, OTS received the first annual Human Diversity Award in 2007 by the Organization for Biological Field Stations, an international organization of field stations and research centers, acknowledging OTS' outstanding work in broadening participation of underrepresented groups. Dr. Wright's research interests focus on women's issues broadly, with an emphasis on understanding the role gender, race and class plays in influencing women of color status as presidents in higher education. |
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Thomas L. Windham, PhD Dr. Windham a Psychologist, at Boulder Colorado is renowned for creating transformative learning and mentoring communities. Career appointments include Senior Advisor, National Science Foundation Office of the Director, Director and Principal Investigator for UCAR NCAR Significant Opportunities in Atmospheric Research and Science (SOARS) program, Boulder Valley School District Director for Pupil Services, and CEO of Northeast Denver’s Comprehensive Community Mental Health Center. In December 2001, Windham accepted The Presidential Award for Excellence in Science, Mathematics, and Engineering Mentoring in Washington, D.C. on behalf of the SOARS program. He has served as a Lecturer for the American Psychology Association’s Distinguished Visitor Program, President of the Boulder Valley School District Board of Education, and Invited Science Education Columnist for The Boulder Daily Camera. Dr. Windham was awarded Boulder County’s Ninth Annual Multicultural Award for Science for his achievements in diversity and systemic change (1997) along with The Boulder Daily Camera Pacesetter Award for Science, Medicine and Health (1993). The American Meteorological Society recognized Dr. Windham "for his vision and determination to promote diversity, especially among students in the field of atmospheric and related sciences through mentoring, research, and outreach" by awarding him its prestigious 2006 Charles E. Anderson Award. |
