Junior Associates
Earthmind offers a Junior Associates programme which enables university students and young professionals to intern and gain work experience based at the Earthmind office just outside of Geneva, Switzerland. Junior Associates engage substantively in Earthmind projects and administration. They attend selected events pertinent to sustainability at the many international agencies based in Geneva in order to better understand sustainability challenges and opportunities across issues and constituencies.
Current
Deanna Karapetyan recently earned her MA in International and Development Economics from the University of San Francisco, and received honors for her thesis entitled “Determinants of Conservation Among the Rural Poor: A Charitable Contributions Experiment”. Within development economics, she has a strong desire to focus on sustainable development and conservation policy, though her interest in sustainable development isn’t limited to low income countries. Utilising her knowledge and training in experimental economics for use in conservation policy is another strong passion she wishes to pursue in her career. She has over 6 years of experience, including 3 years in economics research with a focus on applied microeconomics and econometrics. After recently moving to the Geneva area with her family, the desire to pursue a career in sustainable development has led her to Earthmind where she is undertaking research on topics such as biodiversity-responsible area management. Deanna is fluent in English and Armenian, and a beginner in French.
dkarapetyan@earthmind.net
Tamaliyapo Mphande, a Columbus Ohio USA, native, is a 3rd year student at Miami University of Ohio studying Geography, with minors in Communications and Global Perspectives on Sustainability. After graduation, she hopes to pursue a Master’s Degree and then work for an NGO where she can apply her interests of sustainable urban development and population studies. Her internship for the Spring of 2012 is focusing on the Green Development Initiative , preparations for the 4th GDI Expert Meeting, and the broader topic of BioTools for Business.
tmphande@earthmind.net
Daniel Taylor is in his fourth and final year at Cambridge University, where he studies Modern and Medieval Languages. He specialises in German, and consequently spent his third year abroad studying as an Erasmus exchange student at the University of Tübingen in South-West Germany. Here he took the opportunity to change the focus of his academic studies, pursuing courses in Economics and Business Administration. Having gained experience in areas as diverse as archaeology, finance and the UN, he is now also working at Earthmind with a focus on accounting. His interests include music and outdoor pursuits, and he is a Duke of Edinburgh Gold Award holder.
dtaylor@earthmind.net
Alumni
Ilana Cohen was a Master of Environmental Management student at Duke University’s Nicholas School of the Environment. During her time with Earthmind, Ilana largely focused on advancing the Green Development Initiative and contributing to the The Economics of Ecosystems and Biodiversity (TEEB) Report for Business. Carrying her work with the GDI beyond the summer, Ilana wrote her Master’s thesis on the topic of a GDI pilot study, incorporating both policy and GIS-based quantitative analysis. She is now a Presidential Management Fellow and is working on environmental conservation for the United States government.
Brittany Gillen was a student at University of Illinois with plans to graduate in May 2011. She has lived in the Chicago area her entire life. Her interest in the innovative ways environmental concerns can blend with business led to double majors in Earth Systems, Environment and Society, and Economics. After graduation, Brittany hopes to become employed by a company that helps businesses move toward more eco-friendly operations and raise awareness of how environmental and business goals can coincide. Her internship with Earthmind in early 2010 focused on the The Economics of Ecosystems and Biodiversity (TEEB) Report for Business and the GDM 2010 Initiative.
Adrian Macias is a Master of Public Policy student at the Sanford School of Public Policy at Duke University. Originally hailing from Southern California, Adrian has spent several years devoted to environmental activism. These activities have included co-chairing San Diego Surfrider Foundation’s Blue Water Task Force and fieldwork as a watershed captain with San Diego Coastkeeper. His current interests include sustainable development and the tension between green energy markets and social equity. Upon the conclusion of his studies, Adrian plans to build upon his time with Earthmind to pursue a career in environmental consulting. He graduated with a BA in Communication from California State San Marcos.
Daniel McGreevy was a student from Kent State University and an intern at Earthmind from January to May 2011. He was born in Cleveland, Ohio, and graduated from Kent State with a Bachelor’s Degree in Finance and Economics in May. He is interested in obtaining a position in the financial services industry as well as pursuing a Master’s Degree in either Business or International Development Economics. As an intern in the Spring, Dan contributed research assistance to both the Green Development Initiative and the Wetland Carbon Partnership.
Katy Sater was a Masters student at the Nicholas School of the Environment at Duke University with an undergraduate degree in Political Science specializing in International Relations. She is interested in the economic and policy applications of building linkages between biodiversity and business. Additionally she is interested in applying the principles of biodiversity business in sustainable use of natural resources, particularly marine and coastal resources. Based on her work at Earthmind in the summer of 2010, including applied research on the economics of marine biodiversity conservation, Katy completed her Masters’ thesis on bio-tools for business.
Evan Tyner is a student at St. Andrews University, Scotland. He is currently doing a Masters of Arts degree in International Relations with a focus on foreign policy, international terrorism and warfare. He has spent several years studying Sustainable Development and, although not a course he will pursue to Masters level, he has maintained a keen interest in the subject. After already gaining experience at the United Nations last summer he now wants to expand on this and obtain experience in the domain of sustainable development and biodiversity. At Earthmind, he worked on e-communication, web development and PR, as well as assisting with the GDI project.
Constanze Weik was Earthmind’s first intern and joined us for January and February 2009. She was born in Cologne, Germany, took her A-levels in 2007 and then went on to study English and business economics at the University of Mannheim. During her internship, Consi’s main tasks included research on private sector partnerships with IUCN’s NGO members, due diligence research on the social and environmental performance of GDF Suez, and research on building biodiversity business.
Jason Wilhelm was Earthmind’s second intern and joined us from January to May 2009. He was born in Cleveland, Ohio and graduated from Kent State University in May with his Bachelor’s Degree in Business Management. With a passion for business and environmentalism, Jason hoped to take his career to Chicago and do his part to better the world we live in. During his internship, Jason’s main tasks included building a research library for the IUCN/Shell Building Biodiversity Business.
