Our team

Faculty Director

Veronica Cassone McGowan

Dr. Veronica Cassone McGowan is a research scientist at the Goodland Institute for Educational Renewal at the University of Washington Bothell, and a faculty member at the UWB School of Education Studies. Her research is focused on designing justice-centered STEM teaching and learning environments across contexts, including outdoors and in partnership with community, with a focus on how patterns of decision-making impact humans and ecosystems at multiple scales. Prior to moving into educational research, Veronica worked as a sea turtle biologist, and as a state and national park ranger.

Program Manager

Maddie Iem

Madeline (miem@uw.edu) is passionate about connecting people with nature and strengthening relationships with community partners. Growing up in the Pacific Northwest, she developed a deep love for the region. Before joining UW Bothell, she taught special education in Chicago, witnessing the transformative impact of outdoor experiences on children with disabilities. This fuels her commitment to inclusive outdoor education. She believes fostering a love for nature early instills lifelong appreciation and advocacy. Madeline is also an MEd candidate in Special Education at UW Seattle.

David Stokes

Dave Stokes, Professor Emeritus at UW Bothell, is an ecologist and conservation biologist whose research spans habitat selection, biodiversity conservation, and human perceptions of nature. Since 2018, he has led field research at St. Edward State Park, using wildlife cameras to study urban landscapes as wildlife habitats. His work, involving UW students and citizen scientists, has revealed rich vertebrate diversity. Though retired from teaching, Dr. Stokes continues advising students on research supporting human-wildlife coexistence.

Michele Price

Dr. Michele Price is passionate about the outdoors and has a special love for insects. She earned her Ph.D. in Entomology from the University of Wisconsin-Madison in 2009 and now teaches at UW Bothell, helping students explore animal form and function through hands-on learning. Her research focuses on the systematics of Coleoptera, particularly handsome fungus beetles and sap beetles, analyzing their morphology, distribution, and evolution to better understand biodiversity and ecological processes.

Camelia Bejan

Camelia Bejan is a Professor of Economics at UW Bothell’s School of Business. She holds a Master’s in Mathematics from the University of Bucharest and a Ph.D. in Economics from the University of Minnesota. Her research bridges cooperative game theory and financial economics, exploring coalition formation, resource sharing, and financial bubbles. She also examines corporate governance, analyzing how businesses balance shareholder and stakeholder interests. Outside academia, she enjoys hiking, biking, and spending time with family and friends.

Susan Carlson

Susan Carlson is an environmental educator and community activist who has supported the Environmental Education and Research Center at St. Edward State Park since its inception. With over 30 years of experience in conservation, advocacy, and education, she has worked nationally in Washington, DC, and locally with E3 Washington, Mountains to Sound Greenway Trust, and Finn Hill Neighborhood Alliance. Passionate about connecting people to nature, she is dedicated to building CoSEE as a community-driven initiative that fosters stewardship and nature-rich neighborhoods in Northshore and Puget Sound.

Jordan Sherry-Wagner

Jordan is a postdoctoral scholar on the Learning in Places project with a Ph.D. in Education from UW. With a background in psychology, philosophy, and early childhood education, his research explores how culture, development, and identity shape learning in place-based education. He studies ethical speculation in socioecological inquiry and how educators support diverse sensemaking. Previously, he earned an M.Ed. while working as a curriculum specialist and co-directing a mixed-age family childcare center for over a decade.

Jeff Jensen

Jeff Jensen grew up less than a mile from St. Edward State Park when it was still a working seminary, spending much of his childhood exploring local streams in search of salmon, trout, and other aquatic life. His fascination with fish, especially returning adult salmon, led him to UW Seattle, where he earned degrees in Zoology and Fisheries, followed by a Ph.D. in Organismic and Evolutionary Biology from Harvard. Now a professor at UW Bothell, his research focuses on the genetics and conservation of Lake Washington kokanee, a native population once thought lost. He works to restore these fish to their historic streams, where they once thrived in the thousands each fall. View Jeff’s Salmon Watchers website.

Santiago Lopez

Dr. Lopez broadly studies the physical and human dimensions of global change with a particular focus on intersections between climate and human land use change. Much of this work emphasizes the dynamic intersections of changes in land use and land cover, how they occur, and their implications for ecosystem processes and services, and human welfare. Dr. Lopez uses a variety of geospatial tools and geographic information science approaches in his research. His teaching emphasizes active learning and small-group outdoor experiences that lead students through problem solving challenges.

Christopher H. Wade

Dr. Wade is an Associate Professor in the UW Bothell School of Nursing & Health Studies and also serves as an Adjunct Associate Professor with the School of Interdisciplinary Arts and Science. He received a B.A. from Wesleyan University, where he later completed a Ph.D. in Molecular Biology and Biochemistry. He was selected for a postdoctoral fellowship at the National Human Genome Research Institute in a dual position with the Social and Behavioral Research Branch and the Genome Technology Branch. While a fellow, he concurrently earned a M.P.H. from the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health with a focus on health behavior.