Ph.D., Columbia University, Ecology

Robin Sears joined the staff of SFS as Dean in August 2007 after several years on the Board of Trustees as an alumna (SFS '90, Ecuador). Robin's role at SFS is to monitor and ensure the high quality of our research and academic programs at the five SFS centers.

Robin is a forest ecologist and has fifteen years of experience working with smallholder farmers in tropical rainforest countries on issues related to agriculture and forestry production, biodiversity conservation, and rural development. While at Columbia University, in addition to engaging in field research activities, Robin was involved in the United Nations Millennium Project Task Force on Environmental Sustainability and worked with the governments of Papua, New Guinea and the Dominican Republic on implementation of the Millennium Development Goals. Her current research interest centers on the ecological and social dynamics of land use and land cover change in Amazonia.

Robin holds degrees in Forestry and Botany and a Certificate in Environmental Policy. She has taught courses in forest ecology and conservation, restoration ecology, and sustainable development in classroom and field environments, most recently in the Peruvian Amazon as a Fulbright Scholar.

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