People

I am a documentary filmmaker and home gardener who has been volunteering at the North Carolina Botanical Garden for more than ten years.

Irma Vazquez

36 year dual immersion bilingual education teacher. I'm currently teaching 3rd grade in Inglewood Unified School District and working towards earning my EE certificate so that I can integrate language learning best practices with EE. I'm most interested in helping newcomers enjoy outdoor learning while acquiring a target language. 

Michele Archie leads Harbinger Consulting’s public deliberation, economic analysis, and Geotourism work. Michele holds a Master’s Degree in environmental studies from the University of Montana.

Michele has been involved with NAAEE’s Environmental Issues Forums program from its inception, contributed to the Environmental Education Community Engagement Guidelines, and has developed curricula and conducted trainings related to community engagement in public deliberation.

Since 2003, Michele has led Harbinger’s work engaging communities and public lands managers in understanding and expanding economic relationships between national parks and other public lands and their gateway communities. Harbinger has conducted more than 25 of these economic studies, where effective engagement has frequently spurred collaborative sustainable tourism and economic development efforts.

Etibar Mikayilov is a PhD researcher, EU project manager, and youth climate advocate whose work has secured over €7.5M in international funding for climate and STEAM education. As author of Solar4Future+ (€250,000) and CLIMACT (€400,000), he leads consortia spanning the Technical University of Munich and partners across Europe, reaching 10,000+ students in solar energy and climate literacy. A BRICS Youth Energy Expert, WSA Youth Ambassador, and Mercedes-Benz beVisioneers Fellow, Etibar mentors young changemakers while building Farmlign, his own climate-tech venture. He holds a PhD in Mechanical Engineering (Politecnico di Bari & Imperial College London) and an MBA.

Jimena Cuenca supports NAAEE's digital presence, helping maintain and improve our websites like eePRO so that it serves as a welcoming and useful space for environmental educators. Jimena brings a deep curiosity about how online communities grow, connect, and collaborate. She enjoys learning new digital tools and is always looking to make our web spaces more engaging. When not at work, she's walking her huskies and birding.

I work at the Research Group at the Lawrence Hall of Science. My interests lie in the intersection of structural racism, equity, inclusion, and STEM education, and how we understanding learners' experiences. Current projects: BEETLES and Working Towards Racial Equity in Environmental Education.

Krysta works to advance environmental literacy in the Chesapeake Bay Watershed through online and in-person training for educators and network building with government and nonprofit partners.

I am the Adopt-A-Stream Director for the state of Mississippi. I am also the Chairman for the MS Environmental Education Alliance (MEEA)

Preethi Mony is a specialist in the field of environmental education, program evaluation and grants and has a wide range of experience from developing resource matierials, conducting programs with children and adults, as well as evaluating programs and grant reporting.

Growing up in the busy metropolis of Mumbai, she quickly recognized the importance of the social aspects of conservation in protecting the natural world. She has worked with organizations in India and the US to help with environmental education program planning and resource development. She has over 20 years of experience working with zoos and museums to evaluate programs and exhibits and recommend strategies to improve the overall visitor experience. Over the last 2 years, she has worked at a local community college to support grant work (federal, state, and private) as well as to inform data driven decision making in the diversity, equity, and inclusion space. She brings all of these experiences to her current role of EE Grant and Program Manager at NAAEE.

Preethi holds a Ph.D. in Natural Resources from The Ohio State University. She earned her M.S. in interdisciplinary Ecology from the University of Florida, and a B.Sc. in Life Sciences from the University of Mumbai, India.