People – 2023 – Dust on Snow Workshop

Jake Kurzweil, PhD is an ecohydrologist and the Associate Director of Water Programs at Mountain Studies Institute. His research focuses on creating climate resilient ecosystems and water supplies. Jake received his B.S. from the University of Oregon in both Environmental Science and Sociology and shortly after began a career in environmental stewardship. Jake worked as a science educator, ornithologist, and natural resource program manager before returning for his master’s and PhD in Hydrologic Science and Engineering at Colorado School of Mines (Mines). Jake’s research has included creating and implementing monitoring protocols for freshwater springs, understanding the observed hydrologic response to wildfire mitigation, and modeling possible impacts of climate and forest change on hydrologic systems. Jake has expertise in watershed and snow science, statistical analysis, computer modeling, geospatial and remote sensing analysis, and wetland ecology. Jake is also incredibly passionate about community outreach and STEM education. Jake is currently an adjunct professor at Fort Lewis College teaching Environmental Studies.

Heidi Steltzer, PhD, is a dedicated environmental scientist, science storyteller, and mountain and Arctic expert. She has spent over two decades conducting field studies in Colorado, Alaska, Greenland and most recently China to understand the impacts of climate change on mountain and Arctic regions with a focus on ecosystem function. She conducts research and talks about how changing snow affects plants and people through water supply. Heidi is a lead author on the high mountain areas chapter of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change’s Special Report on the Ocean and Cryosphere in a Changing Climate. Her work aims to spark conversations that illuminate the connection of science and society.

Dr. Lea Rekow is executive director of the Wright-Ingraham Institute and the Program director for the 2023 Icelandic Field Stations program. Lea is the founder of Green My Favela, an urban agriculture project in Rio de Janeiro, co-lead of the international online publication BifrostOnline, and is on the steering committee for the Humanities for the Environment Circumpolar Observatory. She formerly taught sustainability through immersion learning at FGCU, and has been an advisor to the Integrated Media and Art and Technology programs at Cal Arts, a member of the Institute for Australian Geographers and of New York Women in Film and Television. She has previously held positions as executive director of the Center for Contemporary Art in Santa Fe (NM), executive director of Gigantic ArtSpace (NY), media director at the former Center for Peace and Human Security (NY), adjunct professor of media and communications at Pratt Institute (NY), director of Harmonic Ranch (NY), producer at Simon & Schuster (NY), and cultural advisor for Advance (Australian consulate in NY). She has also been a special envoy for the European-based Open & Agile Smart Cities, an advisor to the European Urban IxD program, a research fellow at the Center for Art and the Environment (NV), and a consultant for the international sustainability network GlobalCAD. Lea has sat on numerous advisory panels including for NYFA, SVA, Parsons, Amnesty International, the MacArthur award, and the Lower Manhattan Cultural Council. Her research focuses on creative, transdisciplinary socio-environmental inquiry and applied practice.

Dylan Gauthier is an artist, curator, designer and educator whose practice investigates relationships between ecology, architecture, landscape, pedagogy, collaboration, and social change. Gauthier is a founder of the boatbuilding and publishing collective Mare Liberum (www.thefreeseas.org) and of the Sunview Luncheonette (www.thesunview.org), a co-op for art, politics, and poetics in Greenpoint, Brooklyn. His individual and collective projects have been exhibited at the Centre Pompidou-Musée national d’art moderne, The Parrish Art Museum, CCVA at Harvard University, 2016 Biennale de Paris, Center for Architecture, The International Studio and Curatorial Program-ISCP, EFA Project Space, Pioneer Works, Walker Art Center, the Schuylkill Center for Environmental Education, and at numerous other venues in the US and abroad. He holds an MFA in Integrated Media Arts from Hunter College, CUNY in 2012.