School Notes: School of the Environment
July/August 2018

Initiative empowers female woodland owners

The F&ES-based Sustaining Family Forests Initiative (SFFI)—and a cadre of school alums—are leading an effort to empower female landowners across the US to become better stewards of their woodlands. Aiming to change a forestry sector that many say remains a male-dominated world—even as the number of female woodland owners is increasing, the SFFI last fall convened a first-of-its-kind gathering of natural resource organizations that have shown an interest in programming specifically for female landowners. In the months since, SFFI has helped galvanize and connect the group, establishing training and mentoring opportunities to disseminate best practices nationally. “I meet women all over the country who say, ‘I inherited my land and I really want to be a good caretaker but I don’t know what to do with it,’” says Mary Tyrrell ’97MFS, former director of the SFFI. “That’s why it’s so important to have these women meet each other. It really helps them to see that they aren’t alone.”

Research scientist honored for “Inspiring Yale”

The Yale Graduate and Professional Student Senate in April presented Alark Saxena ’07MEM, ’15PhD, an associate research scientist and lecturer at F&ES, with the 2018 Inspiring Yale Award for his work with Yale students both inside and outside the classroom. Saxena, who is also the program director of the Yale Himalaya Initiative, is a social-ecologist, complex system scientist, and systems modeler. “The world that we live in is complex, it’s dynamic, and it’s evolving,” Saxena said during the award ceremony. “Solutions that come out of a single disciplinary approach, which do not understand the complexity, naturally create more problems than solutions.” In his work, Saxena focuses on developing solutions to increase the sustainability of natural resources, reducing risks of vulnerable populations to potential disasters, and improving the well-being of poor and vulnerable communities across the world. Launched in 2015, Inspiring Yale celebrates the discoveries and accomplishments of faculty members from each of the graduate and professional schools.