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Climate Hub Coordinators
Meet the Climate Hub Coordinators!
The Climate Hub Coordinators are your source for what is happening at the Hubs. They ensure that the day to day activities, events, and outputs are well documented, organized, and communicated. They are the heart of each hub and often the best place to start if you have a question. Don't hesitate to contact them if you'd like to know more about their hub.
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National Climate Hub Coordinator Rachel Steele serves as the National Climate Hubs Coordinator ensuring that the Regional Climate Hubs are well represented, efforts are organized, and that communication channels remain clear and open. Growing up on a small farm in north central Kansas, Rachel understands the challenges farmers and ranchers face in an increasingly variable climate and is passionate about the work the Climate Hubs are doing to give land managers the tools and information they need to make climate-informed decisions. Rachel has nearly a decade of professional experience working in the public, private, and nonprofit sectors gaining an understanding of the different aspects of project management, partnership building, and outreach. Prior to coming to USDA, Rachel completed her graduate work at the University of Maryland in Conservation Biology and Sustainable Development and did her graduate research at the Beltsville, ARS facility. |
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Erin enjoys her work in coordination, partnerships, and project management. Her background is with the US Forest Service primarily in National Forests-- firefighting, strategic planning, program development and ecology. Erin loves teamwork and is thrilled to be working on climate change and agriculture issues. She joined the Northeast Hub in April 2014 and has since developed relationships with land grant Universities and diverse partners. Collaborative writing, joint projects, and big picture visions are her specialty. Her most exciting current project is developing a virtual field tour demonstrating climate adaptation practices using 360 photography called, “As if you were there”. Erin grew up in Maine. She and her family aspire to plant their own apple orchard. |
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Michael is the Acting Coordinator for the Southeastern Climate Hub located in Raleigh, NC. He received his M.S. in Forestry from Virginia Tech in 1998, where he studied the influence of elevated carbon dioxide, drought, and competition on loblolly pine and native weed species. Since completing his graduate work, Michael has worked as a Biological Scientist for the USDA Forest Service, Southern Research Station’s Southern Global Change Program and Eastern Forest Environmental Threat Assessment Center. His research has focused on quantifying short- and long-term changes in forest fuel loads following prescribed fire, and the impact of management and natural disturbance on carbon and water budgets in loblolly pine plantations. |
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Isabel K. Parés Ramos is an environmental scientist, geographer, and urbanist born in San Juan, Puerto Rico, where she has been involved in environmental and social causes since an early age. Her professional and personal interests focus on human-nature interaction. She has a Bachelor’s of Science in Environmental Science and Geography from the University of Puerto Rico, whereas a researcher, she studied human dimensions of global environmental change focusing on population and land use changes in urban and rural ecosystems of Latin America. In 2008, she obtained the European Union's Erasmus Mundus Fellowship to pursue Master’s of Science in International Cooperation and Urban Development at the Technische Universität Darmstadt in Germany and at the Université Pierre Mendès in France. When she returned to Puerto Rico at the end of 2010, she founded Urbánica Estudio Inc., a non-profit organization whose mission is to design and implement sustainable urban initiatives in Puerto Rico to contribute to the economic, social and cultural development of the island through environmental and community-based projects. She has also worked as a researcher in ecology for the University of Puerto Rico and as a cartographer and scientist for Forest Service International Institute of Tropical Forestry. Since August 2014, she serves as the Outreach Coordinator for the USDA Caribbean Climate Hub. |
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Danielle Shannon is the Northern Forests Climate Hub coordinator, located in Houghton, MI. Part of the Northern Institute of Applied Climate Science (NIACS), Danielle specializes in climate change science delivery and outreach related to climate change adaptation for forests and natural resources across the Midwest and Northeast region. |
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Charlene’s ‘raison d’etre’ is to connect people to usable science. As USDA Midwest Climate Hub Coordinator, she brings over 10 years of very diverse professional experience to the Ames, IA position. After receiving her BS from the Ohio State University in Natural Resource Management, Charlene joined the US Peace Corps. She lived 2 years in Togo, West Africa working as a Natural Resource Management volunteer, teaching and conducting outreach on environmentally safe agricultural practices and AIDS awareness. Prior to joining the Climate Hub Team, Charlene was a commissioned officer in the NOAA Corps providing platforms for scientists to conduct research and delivering actionable science to decision-makers and stakeholders. She has been an Operations Officer and sailor on a fisheries research vessel, an outreach professional for climate change in the US affiliated Pacific Islands for the NWS, a science operations officer for a National Marine Sanctuary, a working and Master SCUBA diver, and a consultant for National Marine Fisheries. Her passion however has always stayed with Climate Outreach. She finished her MA in Sustainable Development at Hawaii Pacific University with a focus on Climate Change Denial and its mitigation in policy-making. Charlene still loves the water, but is looking forward to bringing her skills back to her home region here in the Midwest. |
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Windy Kelley was born and raised in Wyoming. She learned early on the value of Wyoming’s industries and developed a passion for the outdoors as the daughter of a coalminer, growing-up in the country among ranches, and with a family who loves outdoor recreation. Windy earned a Bachelor’s of Science in Natural Resources, and a Master’s of Science in Rangeland Ecosystems both at Colorado State University. She returned to Wyoming in 2010 to work for the Wyoming Department of Agriculture in the Jonah and Pinedale Anticline interagency offices in Pinedale. Windy accepted a position with the University of Wyoming Extension as a rangeland educator in western Wyoming in 2012, and in the spring of 2015 she transitioned into a new position with the University as the Weather Variability and Agriculture Resiliency Specialist, and the USDA Northern Plains Climate Hub Regional Extension Program Coordinator. |
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Clay Pope served in the Oklahoma House of Representatives from 1994 through 2004 and as Executive Director of the Oklahoma Association of Conservation Districts from 2004 to 2014. Prior to his service in the Legislature, Mr. Pope served as Agriculture and Trade Assistant to Congressman Glenn English in Washington D.C. During his tenure in the Oklahoma House of Representatives, Clay served as chairman of the Agriculture and International Trade Committee of the National Conference of State Legislatures and as Vice Chairman of the Oklahoma House Agriculture Committee. He also served on the Intergovernmental Advisory Panel to the United States Trade Representative, representing state legislatures. Clay is a farmer and rancher and holds a B.S. in Agriculture Communications from Oklahoma State University. Clay, his wife Sarah and his four children live on their family ranch near Loyal, Oklahoma. In 2014, he and Sarah formed CSP, LLC a full-service consulting company that focuses on natural resource issues. They are currently facilitating the work of the USDA Southern Plains Climate Hub. |
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Holly is the Coordinator of the USDA Pacific Northwest Climate Change Hub. Previously, Holly was a Research Geneticist with the Forest Service at the Pacific Northwest Research Station testing the efficacy of seed zones developed for bluebunch wheatgrass in the Intermountain West. This work will facilitate restoration by providing guidelines to identify plant material that is adapted to the local climate and resilient to climate change. As a Postdoctoral Research Associate at the University of Virginia, Holly investigated variation in plant reproductive phenology of the American Bellflower among populations across the range of the species in the eastern US. Holly obtained a Ph.D. from the University of Nebraska-Lincoln in Ecology, Evolution and Behavior. Her Ph.D. thesis examined the ecological risks of virus-resistant transgenic squash by studying the effects of virus and the virus-resistant transgene in wild squash. |
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Amber Kerr is the coordinator of the USDA Climate Sub Hub for California, based at UC Davis. She received her Ph.D. in 2012 from the Energy and Resources Group at the University of California, Berkeley. Although her doctoral research focused on drought resilience of agroforestry systems in southern Africa, Amber is a third-generation Californian and has worked on a variety of California land use issues, including effects of global change on California grasslands and greenhouse gas emissions inventory methods for California. Before joining the Climate Hub, Amber worked as a consultant for CCAFS (the Research Program on Climate Change, Agriculture, and Food Security) and as an instructor at California State University, Monterey Bay. She lives in Mountain View, CA, with her husband, three-year-old daughter, and baby son. |
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Helena Deswood grew up in a rural area in northern Arizona. As a daughter of a small farmer and rancher on the Navajo Nation, she developed an interest in livestock, farming, and horses. Helena received a Bachelor’s of Science in Agriculture with an emphasis in Animal Science, and a Master’s of Science in Environmental Science from New Mexico State University. She has worked as an Agriculture Research Assistant at New Mexico State University. She accepted a position as Biological Science Technician and USDA Southwest Climate Hub Coordinator. |
