AU SABLE GRADUATE FELLOWS
In conjunction with the Au Sable Institute for Environmental Studies, CFS sponsors the Au Sable Graduate Fellows program, coordinated by the CFS director, Dr. Rolf Bouma. Intended primarily for graduate students in UM’s School of Natural Resources and Environment (SNRE) but open to other interested persons, the Graduate Fellows group meets monthly for discussions and presentations regarding Christian stewardship of God’s creation.
Each year, several graduate students are appointed as Graduate Fellows. Fellows receive a fellowship stipend of $100 per semester (for Ph.D. students) or $50 (for Master’s Degree students) explicitly for the purchase of books and reference materials on Christian environmental stewardship. These publications are to enable them to maintain their education and research in Christian environmental stewardship at a level comparable to that of their graduate study and research in the university. Au Sable Graduate fellows also meet regularly for exploration of particular Christian environmental stewardship topics in depth and emphasize the integration of Christian environmental stewardship with the Fellows’ fields of study (Botany, Conservation Biology, Zoology, Forestry, Wildlife Ecology, Land Resources, Restoration Ecology, Oceanography and Limnology, etc.). Similar Graduate Fellows groups may also be found at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, Cornell University, and Michigan State University.
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Brian Schaap
Brian is pursuing a MS degree in Environmental Policy and Planning from the University of Michigan School of Natural Resources and Environment. After graduating from Calvin College having studied both biology and religion, Brian spent a year in East Africa working with the Mennonite Central Committee in Tanzania. His work there centered on the development of an agriculture and economic development project in partnership with the local Tanzanian Mennonite church. This experience confirmed for Brian his desire to work internationally at the intersection of conservation and development, and compelled him to pursue further interdisciplinary studies at SNRE which would equip him for this work. Brian’s personal and academic interests in science and theology translate into a strong desire to educate and mobilize the church to better fulfill its mandate to be faithful and responsible stewards of God’s creation. When needing a break from reading and studying, Brian finds fulfillment and renewal in spending time in the beauty of the outdoors, either going for a walk through the woods or a long bike ride on scenic country roads.
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Erin O’Brien
Erin is a current master’s student at the School of Natural Resources and Environment at the University of Michigan. She is pursuing a degree in conservation ecology and is interested in studying the complex relationships between humans, animals, and the environment. Erin studied health science and environmental science as an undergraduate at Kalamazoo College. She loves traveling and has spent time in France, studied abroad in Kolkata, India and volunteered for a wildlife conservation non-profit in Iringa, Tanzania. As an academic, she hopes to incorporate social justice and policy issues into ecologically based work. Erin plans to embark on research this summer studying savanna vegetation dynamics under different off-take methods in Maasai-Mara Kenya. While not in the classroom or the field, you can find her running, practicing yoga, cooking, crafting or lost in a good book.
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Samantha Miller
Samantha is a first year MS student at the University of Michigan in the Environmental Justice track of the School of Natural Resources and Environment. She began exploring the intersect of environmental development and social justice issues while studying at Calvin College, where she studied Biology and International Development. Samantha’s desire to further gain an understanding of the entwining of these issues led her to an AmeriCorps program in which she served alongside others doing environmental and community outreach. She spent a year working with the Animal Rescue League of Boston before moving to New Zealand to work with the Creation Care Study Program (CCSP) as the Ethical Food Coordinator. The two years spent in the New Zealand and CCSP community confirmed her desire to both study issues of environmental justice and find ways to live out right relationships with all of creation. She enjoys hiking, cooking, dairy products, finding creative outlets, and (in warmer months) sitting on her front porch.
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Jesse Antuma
Jesse is pursuing a MS degree in Conservation Ecology from the University of Michigan, School of Natural Resources and Environment. His BS was completed at Calvin College where he studied biology and Spanish. He also was heavily involved in the Recreation Department where he managed the climbing wall and designed and led extended outdoor trips for Calvin’s Wilderness Orientation program. It was this experience that brought together his passions for the natural world, education, and outdoor recreation. Jesse believes God’s creation is a wonderful teacher, a gift that has the capability to clear one’s mind and heart, bring people closer together and ultimately, closer to God. Jesse is at SNRE to further develop his interdisciplinary studies and increase the depth of his scientific knowledge, with special interests in botany and ecology, so that he can better perceive and share God’s presence, as can be found in the natural environment, to those he is with. It is Jesse’s career goal to continue (re)introducing God’s creation to people with hopes that it will incite within them not only a greater appreciation and emotional connection to the natural world but also to the one who created it. He enjoys spending time with his wife Jorie, watching movies, reading, rock climbing at the local climbing gym, baking bread and being outdoors.
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Leah Zimmerman
Leah is a dual degree student at the University of Michigan, jointly pursuing an MS at the School of Natural Resources and Environment and an MBA at the Stephen M. Ross School of Business. She is motivated professionally by both a deep appreciation for her role as a steward of Creation and by a desire to provide faith-enriching experiences in nature for future generations. Leah received a BA in Russian and East European Studies from Yale University and studied Russian Language and International Relations as a Rotary Ambassadorial Scholar at Far Eastern State University in Vladivostok, Russia. After an adventure-filled conservation career in Siberia and the Russian Far East, Leah realized that she wanted to return to her home state — Michigan — and to spend her efforts protecting the region’s rich natural resources and growing vibrant local communities. Before coming back to Michigan, Leah served as Russia Program Director and Interim Executive Director for San Francisco-based Pacific Environment, worked as an independent consultant for Portland-based Wild Salmon Center, taught English and volunteered for organizations in Siberia, and interned for Yale Students for Christ. In her spare time, Leah enjoys playing and coaching soccer, experimenting in the kitchen, backpacking, and cycling on quiet country roads.
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Mozhgon Rajaee
Mozhgon is pursing a joint Master of Science in Environmental Policy and Planning and Master of Public Health in Environmental Quality and Health at the University of Michigan. She graduated from Spring Arbor University in 2007 with a BA in Biology and global studies. Her current research is on mercury exposure (in humans and the environment) in a small-scale gold mining community of northeast Ghana. She is actively involved with Trinity Church of Livonia and sits on their Blue-Green Committee, an environmental ministry of the church. She is most connected to nature in the quiet moments she takes to escape to wooded areas with creeks or rivers when she wants to feel the most engulfed by nature.
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Josh Miller
Josh is a current MS student in Environmental Policy and Planning at the University of Michigan SNRE. His love for the natural world began in rural Michigan on camping, hunting, and fishing trips with his father. His love for spiritual restoration began in a small, rural youth ministry, and grew during his years as an undergraduate at Huntington University, IN. Following graduation, Josh and his wife, Andrea, moved to Syracuse, NY, where he served as an associate pastor. Disillusioned with a faith that separated the spiritual and the physical, he moved to Asbury Theological Seminary, KY, where he earned a MA degree in Biblical Studies, focusing on religion and the environment. This experience birthed a desire to work as a person of faith toward environmental stewardship and justice revolving around freshwater policy. He is interested in pursuing a career with a NGO in watershed policy and management, and plans to eventually work with an international NGO that aids community-based organizations in developing countries with education, networking, resources, and expertise. He is especially fond of his three children, of gardening, of health, and of sustainable living.
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Aaron Iverson
Aaron is a current PhD student at the University of Michigan studying tropical ecology and agroecology, where his research takes him to southern Mexico to study biological control in coffee agroecosystems. He is interested in the intersection of ecology and social justice, which has led him to pursue issues relating to farming and food systems. Prior to beginning his graduate studies he worked as an intern at ECHO, a faith-based tropical agriculture training and resource farm, afterwhich he worked in agricultural development for a year in Mozambique. Aaron enjoys any opportunity he can get to escape into the outdoors and especially enjoys backpacking trips with friends. He currently attends the Campus Chapel in Ann Arbor.
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Allyson Green
Allyson is working on a joint MS in Environmental Justice and MPH in Environmental Health at the University of Michigan. Her love for nature and interest in environmental justice stems from growing up in Baraboo, WI, a town rooted in a strong conservation history yet facing controversies over land use and environmental health issues. After graduating from Calvin College, where she spent a semester in New Zealand and Samoa with the Creation Care Studies Program, she moved to southwest Virginia to serve as a VISTA volunteer with the Appalachian Coal Country Watershed Team. She put her Secondary Science Education degree partially to work writing curriculum, doing community outreach, and learning birding and mandolin playing tips from her neighbors. She then spent a couple years doing environmental education and community outreach near Milwaukee before heading back to school. Allyson finds immense joy in small wonders and takes every opportunity possible to help cultivate a sense of wonder in others, even if that just means taking a minute to watch the squirrel antics during the morning walk to school.
