James Cole, WWNFF Faculty

James Cole is currently in his eighth year of teaching at Crossroads School, a small public middle school in New York City. Crossroads School is a progressive, inner city school which serves students of diverse ethnic and economic backgrounds. James has worked on inquiry-based curriculum development as a Coalition of Essential Schools Math/ Science Fellow. As a Science Outreach Fellow at Rockefeller University, he spent two summers working in a bio-medical research lab. A graduate of Teachers College, Columbia University, James earned a Master's in Developmental Psychology. In 1998, he was chosen as "Outstanding Teacher of the Year" by the West Side Chamber of Commerce. Currently, as a participant in the Aspiring Leaders Program, James is attending Barch College's School of Public Affairs pursueing a certificate in administration and supervision.

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John Cozza, OTS Faculty

I am currently pursuing my Ph.D. in Tropical Plant Ecology at University of Miami. Although I'm still exploring research ideas, my interests include the often-bizarre sex lives of plants and their interactions with insects, fungi and other organisms. Before returning to school I taught introductory biology (lecture and lab) at New York City Technical College (City University of New York) in Brooklyn and worked with local high school students and teachers in the Tech Prep outreach program. I also coordinated and taught horticulture and environmental science for city kids ages 6-12 and entrepreneurship for teens at the Madison Square Boys and Girls Club. Before that I ran a teaching greenhouse at Barnard College (Columbia University) that featured over 1000 varieties (in 130 botanical families) of tropical and subtropical flowers, fruits, medicinals, aquatics, carnivores and other plants. We gave daily tours of our botanical oasis in the city and held cultural festivals like Plants & Peoples of Africa; the college students started a Greenhouse Club that I served as advisor. We hosted neighborhood elementary students and teachers, and high school interns from the Science and Technology Entry Program (STEP). For STEP I also co-wrote and taught ten different ecology courses (like Ethnobotany and The Hudson River) in collaboration with high school instructors and the Black Rock Forest field station (where we did activities like stream invertebrate surveys and water quality analysis). Before all this I designed and planted urban gardens in Philadelphia.

I am committed to urban education and opening up opportunities for students who have been denied them. I also seek to increase awareness of and work on remedies for our current environmental problems. Towards these ends, I hope to one day establish an Urban Center for Tropical Ecology Education.

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Chris Davis has taught physics at Franklin High School in Somerset, NJ for 18 years. Out of curiosity and necessity, he learned to use computers. He enjoys the challenge of creating new laboratory experiments that require his students to utilize computers. Recently, Chris and a colleague started an outdoor leadership program for students at his school in which participants are taught leadership skills in an outdoor setting. Chris has put his computer knowledge to good use. He has held summer positions at the Princeton Plasma Physics Lab, Princeton University Electrical Engineering Department Photonics Lab and at Union Carbide. He is also his school district’s webmaster and has given many workshops in internet browsing, email usage and web page development. Chris received his BA in physics from Kalamazoo College.

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Tom Langen, OTS Faculty

Tom Langen's Web Site http://www.clarkson.edu/~tlangen/

Tom Langen, Ph.D., is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Biology at Clarkson University. His research focuses on the behavior, ecology, and conservation of birds. Dr. Langen teaches a variety of courses at Clarkson University, including Ecology, Conservation Biology, Animal Behavior, and Environmental Biology for Non-majors. He has been a lecturer at the Universities of California at San Diego and Los Angeles, and for the University of California Education Abroad Program in Costa Rica, and has served as a co-coordinator for an OTS graduate course in tropical biology. He has conducted professional development for secondary science teachers through the UCLA science programs in the Graduate School of Education and Information Studies. He has also conducted development work in West Africa. This is his third year with the WWNFF CORE Institute in Environmental Education.

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Evan Notman, OTS Faculty

Tropical Forest Presentation
(PowerPoint)

I am currently teaching tropical ecology and conservation for the OTS undergraduate semester abroad program in Costa Rica. My research interests include the study of plant - animal interactions, understanding factors effecting seed dispersal and survival, and tropical forest conservation and regeneration. I am particularly interested in understanding how human impacts may influence interactions between plants and animals and the role of these interactions in conservation and forest regeneration. I received my Ph.D. in Botany from Miami University of Ohio during which I investigated the influence of seed eating animals on forest regeneration in recently abandoned agricultural sites in the Peruvian Amazon. I have recently begun a study to examine how fruit production at different times in the year influences seed and seedling survival at La Selva biological station in Costa Rica.

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Melanie Phelps, WWNFF Faculty

Melanie Phelps (B.A. University of Northern Colorado, M.S. Intergrated Sciences, Colorado College) is a science teacher in Harrison District in Colorado Springs, Colorado, where she works with students from very diverse cultural and socioeconomic backgrounds. The focus of her research on teaching is how inquiry based science instruction impacts academic achievement for at risk students. She has been a leader of science teaching reform and was awarded Harrison Teacher of the Year Award. Melanie has also held offices within the Colorado MESA Program (Mathematics, Engineering, Science Achievement) which mentors minority youth to prepare them for careers in math and science and is closely affiliated with CMEA, the Colorado Minority Engineering Association. Her scientific area of research is the study of the enviromental changes of river systems as the water flows through multiple biomes. One of the essential componets of this research is how the water quality and ecosystem are affected as the rivers are entrapped by dams. She has taught classes on river systems through Colorado School of Mines, in which students conduct field inquiry based research by following the rivers for hundreds of miles, often with canoes and white water rafts, collecting data on water quality, pollution, biome analysis, and human water usage.

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David Silverberg, WWNFF Faculty

David Scott Silverberg (B.Sc., Western Washington University, M.Sc., Western Washington University, Ph.D., MIT, 1990) is an earth scientist and environmental educator working in universities, non-government not-for-profits and government agencies for 25 years.  He was the executive director of The Center for Field Research – Earthwatch, helped launch the Americorps program as Associate Director for Environmental Programs and was founding Field Director for The Center for Coastal Studies-School for Field Studies in coastal British Columbia.  David has taught environmental sciences at the University of Connecticut, Boston University, and Colorado State College.  At the Colorado Outward Bound School, he supervised environmental training of instructors and edited their instructor publication resources.  He has worked in 75 countries and specializes in environmental education start-ups, including most recently the Woodrow Wilson Foundation’s Costa Rica program and the Institute for Village Studies’ Bhutan program.  He lives in Taos, New Mexico, where he is executive director of the Taos Environmental Learning Institute.

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Nancy Vawter, WWNFF Faculty

Nancy Vawter is the associate director for Science In Motion at Alabama State University. She trains high school teachers on chemistry instrumentation in six counties of Alabama. She has done field research in the Appenine Mountains of Italy, the Red Desert of Australia and research at the Department of Energy Berkeley. She has a B.S. in Education and a M.S. in Biology Biochemistry with additional coursework in Enviromental Science U.C. Berkeley.

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James Whelan, WWNFF Faculty

James Whelan has taught biology, chemistry, environmental science, life science and physical science over his seventeen year teaching career. He worked for six years as a nature center naturalist and nine years as the director of a natural history museum. He is a Woodrow Wilson Teacher participating in the 1999 Costa Rica Environmental Science Institute. In the summer of 2000 he conducted a TORCH program. He currently teaches eighth grade science in a magnet program for gifted students at Westdale Middle School in Baton Rouge, LA. In his spare time he is working on a Ph.D. in science education. Two current research interests are students using computer-interfaced sensors for inquiry science, and the development of an integrated math science curriculum for middle school. He became a National Board Certified Teacher in November of 2000.

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Carol Zucca has a B.S. in Biology with a minor in Chemistry, a M.S. in Biology with an ecology emphasis, and is ABD towards a Ph.D. in Math/Science Education. She conducted plant ecological research in both Puerto Rico and Florida investigating nutrient cycling in both the rain forest and mangrove ecosystems. Carol taught Biology, Chemistry, Marine and Forest Ecology at high school and Bacteriology and Cellular and Molecular Biology at the university. Her award winning Forest Ecology class conducted research at Big Trees State Park and analyzed data for park management using an expeditionary learning model. She directed a Science/Math Magnet School, lead after school tutoring programs for underachieving students, and developed and taught computer courses for students and teachers, to name a few of her activities. She is also fluent in Spanish and was a faculty member of last year's leadership team in Costa Rica.

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