Alumni Updates: 2007

Elizabeth Burroughs started a career in fundraising first for democratic candidates in the Virginia governor's race and now for the Virginia interfaith center - a social justice advocacy organization based in Richmond that focuses on healthcare, housing and homelessness, environmental stewardship, criminal justice, and other issues that affect low and middle income Virginians.

Starting in May of 2007, Stefanie Gera began a Master's degree in marine science at W&M's Virginia Institute of Marine Science. At VIMS, she examined egg capsule hatching success in Rapana venosa (an invasive gastropod) and Urosalpinx cinerea (a native gastropod) in relation to temperature and salinity. Stefanie completed her Master's degree in January 2010 and is currently looking for employment in marine, biological, and/or environmental science fields.

Courtney Leisner graduated from W&M with a BS in Biology and Environmental Science. She completed her Masters in Botany in 2009 from Washington State University studying salinity tolerance in the single-cell C4 species Bienertia sinuspersici. Currently, Courtney is in her first year of a PhD program at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign. She works on the reproductive development in soybean and Arabidopsis under ozone exposure and also works at the SoyFACE research facility located outside of campus.

Katie Luciano has pursued a Masters degree in Environmental Science (with a focus in Coastal Geology) from the College of Charleston, and graduates in May. Her project has given her the chance to collect data in an area that includes three barrier islands and their marsh, backbarrier, and adjacent marine offshore areas. While in Charleston, Katie has also had the chance to intern with South Carolina Sea Grant Consortium, helping them with research efforts and outreach. After graduating Katie hopes to take a little time off to travel before her next step (either a job or continuing with a Ph.D).

After graduating from the University of Oxford this past summer with a MPhil in Development Studies, Laura Sauls moved back to Washington, DC and started working at the U.S. EPA's Office of International and Tribal Affairs (OITA) as a Presidential Management Fellow (PMF). As a member of the Climate and Energy Program, Laura focuses on climate change adaptation in developing countries, ways to address non-CO2 climate forcers internationally, and the UN negotiations process.