2023 Speakers
Pete Marra
Dr. Pete Marra is the Dean of the Earth Commons: Georgetown University’s Institute of Environment and Sustainability. He is the Laudato Si’ Professor in Biology and the Environment, and Professor in the McCourt School of Public Policy. Pete uses birds to help us define and understand broad environmental issues, like the effects of climate change, invasive species, and emerging diseases on people and the planet. Prior to Georgetown, Pete spent 20 years at the Smithsonian Institution, most recently as Director of the Migratory Bird Center. He has published over 270 papers and two books with a 3rd forthcoming all on the various aspects of the biology and conservation of birds and other animals. Pete lives in Takoma Park with his wife and two kids, is an avid fisherman, a gardener and cook.
Subhankar Banerjee
Subhankar Banerjee is a photographer, writer, curator and conservationist. He is a professor of Art & Ecology and director of the Center for Environmental Arts and Humanities at the University of New Mexico. Since 2002, he has been working closely with Indigenous Gwich’in and Iñupiat elders (who are among his most important teachers), scientists and conservationists in Alaska. He is the author of Seasons of Life and Land: Arctic National Wildlife Refuge, and the editor of Arctic Voices: Resistance at the Tipping Point. His photographs have been exhibited in more than fifty museums around the world, including the 18th Biennale of Sydney, the Anchorage Museum, and the University of Alaska Museum of the North. He has received a number of conservation awards for his contribution to conservation of Alaska’s Arctic and Indigenous rights, including an inaugural Greenleaf Artist Award from the United Nations Environment Programme; a National Conservation Achievement Award from the National Wildlife Federation and a Special Achievement Award from the Sierra Club; a Housberg Award from the Alaska Conservation Foundation; and was named an Arctic Hero by the Alaska Wilderness League. Subhankar is currently working on a book on the global history of shorebirds.
Tuula Hollmen
Dr. Tuula Hollmen is a scientist at the Alaska SeaLife Center and the College of Fisheries and Ocean Sciences at the University of Alaska Fairbanks. Much of her research is centered around physiological ecology—exploring connections between physiology and ecological processes. She mostly works with marine birds and has a strong interest in applied ecology and seeking to address conservation and management objectives for marine species. Her research aims to understand individual and population level adaptations and responses to environmental change from interdisciplinary and integrative perspectives and by applying a variety of experimental and observational research methods. She is also passionate about participatory research and community sciences. She is honored to be a recipient of research and conservation awards including the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service’s Recovery Champion Award, the International Wild Waterfowl Association Outstanding Achievement Award, the Alaska Ocean Leadership Award for Marine Science, and recently to be spotlighted among Fowl Women – a group of colleagues dating back to 1800s trailblazing a path in the field of waterfowl conservation.