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Dr. Nora Bynum, PhD, is academic director of the Organization of Tropical Studies (OTS). Prior to joining OTS, Dr. Bynum held faculty positions at the Nicholas School of the Environment at Duke University and the University of the South. She received her PhD in a joint program in anthropology and the School of Forestry and environmental studies at Yale University. She has conducted field research at several sites in Indonesia. Her areas of expertise include conservation and development, tropical community ecology, ecology and evolution of the macaques of Sulawesi, and the role of education in building capacity for informed decision making.
James Cole is currently in his sixth year of teaching at Crossroads School, a public alternative middle school in Manhattan, New York, that serves students from ethnically and economically diverse backgrounds. He has worked on inquiry-based curriculum development and school reform as a Coalition of Essential Schools Math/ Science Fellow at Brown University and a Science Outreach Fellow at Rockefeller University. A graduate student in Developmental Psychology at Teachers College, Columbia University, he is researching the connection between inquiry-based education, earth science computer software, and the needs of early adolescents. In 1998, he was chosen as Outstanding Teacher of the Year by the West Side Chamber of Commerce.
Philippe Hensel, PhD, is an instructor in the OTS Undergraduate Student Program in Costa Rica, where he has used inquiry-based instruction to help students think critically about the complex issues surrounding management of the natural environment. His specialization is in river ecosystems, and he has applied knowledge gained studying rivers throughout the world to the environment of Costa Rica. His current investigation in the mangroves of the Tempisque River has revealed large changes in wetland structure, due to the intervention of man, which have been tied to decreases in bird populations and other indicators of ecosystem quality in and around Palo Verde National Park.
Tom Langen, PhD, is a lecturer in the department of Organismic Biology, Ecology and Evolution at the University of California – Los Angeles (UCLA). He conducts professional development for secondary science teachers through the UCLA science programs in the Graduate School of Education and Information Studies. His research focuses on the behavior, ecology, and conservation of birds. Dr. Langen has been a lecturer at the University of California - San Diego and the University of California Education Abroad Program in Costa Rica, as well as co-coordinator for an OTS graduate course in tropical biology. He also conducted development work in West Africa.
Lisa Forman Novemsky, EdD, is an educational consultant and professional developer, specializing in the areas of science education, hands-on science, technology and society, philosophy for children, early childhood, music and movement, and psychology and human development. A former faculty member at Montclair State University and the New Jersey Institute of Technology, she has researched and presented many issues in both science and education, including a special project on public understanding and acceptance of environmental risk assessment. She is a former Director of the Females in Engineering Methods Motivation Experience (FEMME) program for gifted middle school girls.
David Silverberg, PhD, is a researcher, manager, and practitioner in environmental education based in Denver Colorado and working in middle school, high school, college, and continuing education programs. He designed and taught the University of Connecticut’s first Global Change and Earth System Sciences course, was one of the original staff of the Corporation for National and Community Service, and served as founding field director for the Boston University-affiliated School for Field Studies campus in the coastal temperate rain forest of British Columbia.
James Wetterer, PhD, is an OTS instructor and an Associate Professor at Honors College, Florida Atlantic University, where he teaches biology and ecology. His research interests focus on biogeography, environmental impact, and the control of alien ants. His current research examines ants and their relationships with other species, and most recently he has begun studying the impact of >invasive fire ants on hatchling sea turtles in Florida. He has also written biological articles for children, has traveled to over sixty-eight countries, and has had his nature photos published in magazines, newspapers and calendars.
Program Evaluators
Michelle Frankel is a doctoral student in Behavioral Ecology and Conservation Biology at Boston University, where she is engaged in research on "Avian Community, Population, and Behavioral Patterns in a Forested, Suburban Landscape." She has written, published, and presented many papers on the behavior and biology of birds. Additionally, she has taught Introductory Biology at Boston University, has been Chairperson of the Education Committee of the Massachusetts Society for Conservation Biology, and is Director and Founder of the Greater Boston Chapter of the Coalition on the Environment and Jewish Life.
Michael Levandowsky is a marine ecologist. He received a B.A. degree in mathematics from Antioch College, Ohio, followed by an M.A. in Zoology and a Ph.D. in biology from Columbia University, New York, and an M.S. in applied mathematics at New York University. He teaches at New York University and the School of Visual Arts and has been a visiting scientist at the University. He has been a Research Scientist at the Haskins Laboratories, Pace University since 1970. Major research interests have included the chemical and behavioral ecology of marine protists and mathematical models of ecological communities. He has done field work in: Bermuda, Barbados, Jamaica, Kenya, Hudson's Bay and the Canadian Arctic. Recent work has involved the lower Hudson River, the East River and other waters in the New York area, and oil-impacted salt marshes in Staten Island. He is a member of a number of editorial advisory beards and advisory committees for educational and environmental institutions.