Fellowship Program
World Forestry Center brought together a cohort of individuals from diverse backgrounds over two years to focus on wildfire. Backgrounds included public health, energy, indigenous communities, social justice, and more. During the first year, our Fellows learned from science experts and community leaders about the impacts of wildfires. In the second year, they applied their knowledge to develop personalized engagement strategies, positioning themselves as leaders in addressing wildfire issues affecting their communities.
This program is made possible thanks to support from the Institute of Museum and Library Services.
Meet the Fellows
Jamiah Adams
Vallejo, CA
Senior Vice President
of Diversity and Justice,
The Climate Reality Project
“I thought this program seemed like a great way for me to build my knowledge of forest management, while also lending my creative experience to an important public institution.”
Dr. Dodie Arnold
Slidell, LA
Chief Executive Officer, Arnold CR
“I am a consultant and activist in public health, racial justice, outdoor recreation, and climate justice spaces. I have always wanted to work on a project with a museum and this is the perfect intersection of my areas of expertise and interest.”
Leticia Cervantes
Portland, OR
Mass Timber Innovation Director, Hacienda CDC
“I joined the Fellowship to learn about the environmental impacts of building with wood and Mass Timber products and to find new ways to engage my community in the forestry culture.”
Wei-ting Chen
San Francisco Bay Area, CA
Executive Director, Office of Community Engagement, Stanford Medicine
“I joined the Fellowship because I have two young children who were born in the era of massive, and massively destructive, wildfires. I want to apply my knowledge and skills to help other people grapple with the complexity of wildfires.”
Elise Ford
San Francisco, CA
Operations Associate, Foundation Special Projects – Gordon and Betty Moore Foundation
“The Fellowship spoke to me professionally as a staff member of the Wildfire Resilience Initiative at the Gordon and Betty Moore Foundation, and personally, as someone who grew up on the rural, heavily forested California North Coast.”
Alex Konopka
Portland, OR
Senior Manager of Vegetation Management, Portland General Electric
“I see this opportunity as a great example of collaborative partnerships that involve traditional and non-traditional sectors.”
Maura R. O’Connor
Brooklyn, NY
Journalist and Author
“I am interested in joining with others to think of new ways to engage with the public understanding of forest science and ecology, especially when it comes to the history and future of fire management.”
Andrea Tulee
Wapato, WA
Public Affairs Specialist,
Columbia River Inter-Tribal Fish Commission (CRITFC)
“I am an enrolled member of the Yakama Nation which is a tribe that is heavily affected by the threat of wildfires. I’d like to bring back information to my community that can help save lives and prevent disaster for families in my community.”
International Fellowship Program (1991-2019)
Over that time, we built a robust network of over 148 program alumni from 47 countries. Fellowship alumni were typically chosen from forestry professions and spent six months in Portland, Oregon, during which they visited nearby forests, met local experts, and completed an independent project.
A Lasting Legacy
The International Fellowship Program was generously supported by the Harry A. Merlo Foundation for 30 years.
The establishment of the International Fellowship Program was the dream of longtime World Forestry Center supporter Harry A. Merlo. Merlo, who passed away in 2016, remains a legend within the forest products sector and a well-known philanthropist.
Long before others in the industry, he recognized that forestry is a global sector. Merlo understood the importance of having access to information worldwide and of developing a network of contacts abroad. He dreamed of a place where information about global forestry could be sourced and shared.
