About me

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I am a passionate sustainability advocate, and an international expert in pedagogy for sustainability. I began my academic career studying primate behavioral ecology,  but my experiences in the rainforests of Zaire (1996) and Sumatra (1999-2000) highlighted the importance of global sustainable development for the future of bonobos, orangutans, humans, and other species. [Bio]

I am always seeking new opportunities to practice, promote, and/or research effective education for sustainability. I have over 15 years experience in teaching, training and research around higher education systems and pedagogies. I am on the advisory board of the National Ecology and Environment Foundation (NEEF, India). I won the 2013 John D. Hurd Award for Teaching Excellence at Cabrillo College. I have developed and delivered novel courses and training programs, in addition to over 20 international conference presentations and dozens of workshops, seminars and guest lectures on sustainability, social learning or evolutionary anthropology (see CV  for details).

My interests are teaching, learning, the evolution of culture and culture change, and applying those concepts to sustainability: facilitating ways to connect with, learn from and teach one another to co-create a resilient, regenerative future. I engage principles, examples and metaphors from ecology and evolutionary biology in solving human design problems in both the social and technological arenas, especially systems thinking and biomimicry.

I’ve taught and lectured on evolutionary biology, social networks, anthropology, sustainability and communication for groups ranging from junior high school students to advanced university and professional audiences. I’ve studied animal behavior, evolutionary biology, tropical ecology, and social networks.  I’m fascinated with applied complexity science, resilience thinking, and the future of technology and society.

“The major problems in the world are the result of the difference between how nature works and the way people think.”
~Gregory Bateson

Lead Editor, Education and Sustainability: Paradigms, Policies and Practices in Asia (Routledge, Singapore; ISBN 9781138681415)
latest publication: Connecting Competences and Pedagogical Approaches for Sustainable Development in Higher Education Sustainability 2017, 9(10), 1889; doi:10.3390/su9101889

PhD in Biological Anthropology, Duke University
BA in Anthropology, UC Santa Cruz

RESUME (3pg)  | CV (9pg) | BIO
LINKEDIN PROFILE | GOOGLE SCHOLAR | ACADEMIA.EDU
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