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Mellon Environmental Postdoctoral Program
The Mellon Environmental Post-Doctoral Scholars (MEPS) program supports the annual hire of one post-doctoral-scholar (for a 2-year term) to support teaching, research, and advising in the Environment & Sustainability (ENSP) program. The post-doctoral scholar is co-advised by two faculty members from different departments and works on a research project that bridges traditional disciplinary divides, in addition to offering a total of two courses in their disciplinary area and organizing the Spring ENSP 250 seminar series. The scholar’s home department- and thus field of expertise- rotates annually among the areas (Natural Sciences, Social Sciences, and Humanities). The MEPS program was initiated by a 2007 grant to the College that also provided start-up funding for the Center for Geospatial Analysis, in addition to funding for MEPS.
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Postdoctoral Program Previous Participants and Career Outcomes |
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Name |
Program Years |
Current Status |
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2008 - 2010 |
Professor in Geological Sciences at University of Alabama; recipient of the University of Alabama Outstanding Mentor Award (2022) |
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2009 – 2011 |
Assistant Dean of UGrad Ed, Projects and Data, Office of the Provost and Senior VP for Academic Affairs at Rochester Institute of Technology, NY; former Director of Analytics at Virginia Commonwealth University; former Assistant Professor of Political Science at DePauw University
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| Dr. Jes Therkelsen |
2010 - 2012 |
Professor of Documentary Storytelling at California State University, Fresno. Won Cal-State Fresno Provost’s Award for Promising New Faculty 2015 |
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2011 - 2013 |
Associate Professor in Biology at Miami University, FL; formerly at University of Georgia as Managing Director for the ECOGIG project to track the impacts of the Deepwater Horizon spill on the biogeochemistry of the Gulf of Mexico |
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2012 - 2014 |
Associate Professor of Geography at University of Mary Washington |
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2013 - 2015 |
Teaching Professor in the ENSP Department at W&M |
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2014 - 2016 |
Associate Professor of Biology, James Madison University |
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2015 - 2017 |
Senior Lecturer in the School of Earth and Environment, University of Canterbury, Christchurch, New Zealand; formerly Assistant Professor, Human Ecology at UC-Davis and postdoctoral researcher at Lund University, Sweden |
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2016 - 2018 |
History teacher at Episcopal High School, Alexandria, VA; formerly Visiting Assistant Professor at Loyola University Maryland and West Virginia University |
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2017 - 2019 |
Assistant Professor, Department of Biology at University of Mary in Bismarck, ND; formerly a postdoctoral fellow at Georgetown University |
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2018-2020 |
Assistant Professor of Environmental Economics at Peking University; formerly a research fellow at the Environmental Defense Fund |
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Dr. Abigail Buffington |
2019-2021 |
Archeologist at Chronical Heritage; formerly a Visiting Assistant Professor at William & Mary |
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2020-2022 |
Assistant Professor in the Department of Geosciences at Auburn University |
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| Dr. Jessica Jenkins | 2021-2023 |
Assistant Professor at Flagler College, St. Augustine, FL |
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2022-2024 |
Assistant Professor, School of Interdisciplinary Studies, Grand Valley State University, Allendale, MI |
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| Dr. Na Yu | 2023-2025 | Assistant Professor, Department of Communication at College of Charleston |
| Dr. Haisu Huang | 2024-2026 | Mellon Post-Doctoral Scholar at William & Mary |
| Dr. Emma Pask | 2025-2027 | Mellon Post-Doctoral Scholar at William & Mary |