Alumnae

 

What are Our Alumnae Doing?

Catlin Powers '09, sustainability entrepeneur  more

Catlin is the co-founder and COO of One Earth Designs, a community inspired innovation company that has engineered multiple social and environmental projects. Their first product, SolSource, is a high-performance parabolic solar concentrator that harnesses the energy of the sun for outdoor cooking, which was developed in collaboration with Himalayan families. This summer, One Earth Designs raised $142,000 on Kickstarter to bring this product to market in the U.S. Catlin is also pursuing a PhD in environmental health sciences at the Harvard University School of Public Health and has won awards from the American Institute of Chemical Engineers, the US Environmental Protection Agency, and the US National Science Foundation.

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Serena Ryan '11, environmental health researcher  more

After Serena graduated, she used funds from the Madeleine Albright Institute to intern with an environmental non-profit based in Cameroon, working to promote sustainable resource use, reduce poverty, and protect water supplies. In the fall of 2011, she started work for a private consulting firm in Northborough, MA, where she provided technical support on environmental remediation projects throughout the country. In June 2013 Serena transitioned to her current “dream job” as a Research Assistant at Silent Spring Institute, an independent environmental health research group based in Newton, MA. Her current work focuses on coordinating research related to environmental exposure and human health.

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Catrina Huynh-Weiss D'03, freelance producer  more

As an ES major with a focus on cinema and media studies, Catrina has made her career as a producer, writer and educator promoting environmental themes in her work. Recently, she co-produced the “Habitat Havoc” episode for the Emmy-Award Winning PBS show, SciGirls. Between such freelance projects, Catrina also collaborates with Lake Climate Group, LLC, a climate change finance and policy organization started by her spouse and based in Minneapolis. Her family recently moved back to Minneapolis after living abroad in London and Costa Rica.

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Genea Foster '12, community organizer and future urban planner   more

Genea has been a part of the Massachusetts Promise Fellowship, a state AmeriCorps program, where she ran afterschool youth programs focusing on scientific literacy, environmental awareness, agriculture, food justice, social justice, and leadership. Her host sites included the Northeastern University Marine Science Center, The Girls Incorporated of Lynn, and The Food Project. Her service led her to pursue a Master's Degree in City Planning at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, and she now works for the MAPC (Metropolitan Area Planning Council) as a Regional Land Use Planner. She hopes to work closely with community members in low-income/communities of color to develop environmentally-conscious infrastructure that can fulfill community needs and promote self-sufficiency.

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Lauren Fink '10, PeaceCorps volunteer and epidemiology grad student   more

The summer after graduation, Lauren began her term with the PeaceCorps as a community health educator in the Manyara Region of Tanzania. She provided family planning and HIV/AIDS counseling to hundreds of families, and devised and conducted a life skills training program. She was also able to author a grant and supervise the implementation of a water and sanitation job-skill development program for at-risk youth, funded by the President's Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief (PEPFAR). Her experiences at Wellesley and in the PeaceCorps inspired her to continue her education by enrolling in an MPH program in global epidemiology at Emory University - one of the top programs in the nation.

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Kate Doiron '05, GIS consultant  more

Kate began her post-Wellesley career at the Maine Natural Areas Program using GIS to identify key conservation areas across the state. Kate continued to develop her love of all things mapping, obtaining a Masters Degree in GID for Development and Environment from Clark University where she created datasets for the Silent Spring Institute and Massachusetts Health and Environment mapping service. Currently, Kate is a GIS specialist for Industrial Economics, an economic and environmental consulting firm in Cambridge, MA that provided analysis, advice, and project management services to government agencies, private firms and organizations across the world. 

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Phoebe Handler '12, nurse practitioner student and published scholar  more

At Wellesley, Phoebe completed a thesis that explored the role of dietary deficits in childhood lead poisoning. Her research has been co-published in the International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health with Prof. Dan Brabander. She also participated in a project examining the lead content of common Indian, Middle Eastern, and North American eye cosmetics, which may uncover an understudies exposure pathway of lead poisoning. Currently, Phoebe is pursuing her passion for environmental health issues at the University of Pittsburgh where she is studying to become a nurse pratitioner.

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Jennifer Redfearn '01, filmmaker  more

Jennifer directed and produced the 2011 Oscar nominated documentary Sun Come Up, a film following the relocation of climate change refugees in the South Pacific. Over the past seven years, she has produced documentaries for National Geographic, PBS, CNN, the Discovery Channel, and TLC and has field-produced stories from across the states, Central America, the Middle East, Afghanistan, and Papua New Guinea. Jennifer is the recipient of a Pulitzer Center on Crisis Reporting Fellowship, and the National Endowment for the Arts, Jerome Foundation, Chicken and Egg Pictures, and the NYSCA individual artist grants. In addition to her bachelor's degree in environmental studies from Wellesley, she has a master's degree in journalism from Columbia University. 

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Other Wellesley alumnae who have thought and acted on behalf of the environment over the decades include:

  • Claire Schlemme '06, local food entrepreneur
  • Dorrie Pizzella '80, environmental administrator
  • Wendy Paulson '69, birder, conservationist, and educator
  • Eva Sommaripa '63, organic farmer and champion of sustainable living
  • Elizabeth Barlow Rogers '57, urban planner
  • Helen Hays '53, ornithologist and environmentalist
  • Kathryn W. Davis '28, philanthropist and environmentalist
  • Marjory Stoneman Douglas 1912, conservationist and naturalist

Graduate School

  • Columbia University
  • Duke University
  • Nicholas School of the Environment
  • Yale School of Forestry and Environmental Studies
  • Yale University Nurse/Midwifery
  • UC Santa Cruz Tulane University
  • Tulane University
  • University of Florida
  • Harvard Law School
  • Harvard School of Public Health
  • University of Colorado
  • Veterinary School
  • University of Pennsylvania Veterinary School
  • Vermont Law School
  • University of Oregon Law School

Other jobs and fellowships

  • Environment America
  • Environmental Consulting
  • Surdna Foundation (Environmental Grant-making)
  • Curu National Wildlife Refuge in Costa Rica
  • Documentary Filmmaking
  • Third Grade Teaching
  • High School Teaching
  • Natural Resources Defense Council
  • Cheese making
  • Watson Fellowship
  • Environmental Journalism
  • National Parks Service
  • Outward Bound
  • Peace Corps
  • Chicago Environmental Commission
  • Maine Natural Areas Program
  • California Audubon Society
  • Instituto de la Nauraleza y la Sociedad de Oaxaca Organic
  • Organic Farming
  • Geoscience research