Who We Are
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Jessica Halofsky – Research Scientist, University of Washington, School of Environmental and Forest Sciences and U.S. Forest Service, Pacific Northwest Research Station
CV | Email: jhalo@uw.edu
Jessica Halofsky is a research ecologist with ten years of experience in climate change science and applications. Jessica received an M.S. in Forest Resources from Penn State, and a Ph.D. in Forest Science from Oregon State University. Her research interests include fire and disturbance ecology, vegetation dynamics, and climate change impacts and adaptation. Recently, she has also collaborated on a number of model- based projects focused on potential shifts in fire regimes and vegetation dynamics with climate change.
Jessica has worked closely with scientists and managers on climate change vulnerability assessment and adaptation projects for years, pioneering one of the first climate change vulnerability assessment and adaptation projects with Olympic National Forest and Park. Since that initial project, Jessica has co-led six other sub-regional to regional- scale climate projects around the western U.S. Jessica lives in beautiful Olympia, Washington and keeps herself busy chasing two young boys.
Dave Peterson – Professor, University of Washington, School of Environmental and Forest Sciences
CV | Email: wild@uw.edu
Dave is a Professor of Forest Biology in the University of Washington School of Environmental and Forest Sciences, and a Senior Research Biologist (emeritus) with the U.S. Forest Service Pacific Northwest Research Station. Following his PhD at the University of Illinois, he was a career federal scientist, working with the Forest Service, National Park Service, and U.S. Geological Survey. He has conducted research on climate change and fire science throughout western North America and has published over 230 scientific articles and 4 books. As a contributing author for the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, he was a co-recipient of the Nobel Peace Prize. He recently published the book Climate Change and Rocky Mountain Ecosystems, and currently works on climate change adaptation on federal lands throughout the western United States. Dave lives on his family’s tree farm in Skagit County, Washington.
Karen Dante-Wood – ORISE Climate Change Fellow
CV | Email: skdante@fs.fed.us
Karen joined the Forest Service as an Oak Ridge Institute for Science and Education (ORISE) Climate Change fellow in March 2013. Her love for nature first surfaced while studying about pollinators during her undergraduate years at Queens University (B.S. Biology). Within weeks of graduation, Karen headed west to Boise, Idaho to take up an internship position at the Bureau of Land Management, where she conducted plant surveys in the rugged Owyhee Desert. Karen eventually returned East, where she earned a Master’s degree in Environmental Science and Policy from John’s Hopkins University. While in graduate school, she worked at the National Wildlife Federation as well as the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency. Many of her non-working hours are spent hiking, taking Zumba classes, and learning the fine art of Indian cuisine from one of the world’s true masters, her mother. Karen lives in Boise, Idaho and splits her time between working in the Washington Office and on Western climate adaptation projects.
