Meet the team!
Sandra De Urioste-Stone
Sandra De Urioste-Stone is an assistant professor of nature-based tourism at the University of Maine. Her research aims at enhancing resilience and sustainable rural livelihoods of natural resource dependent communities, engaging stakeholder partners in the research process, and training the next generation of applied researchers. As an applied social scientist, De Urioste-Stone’s research seeks to respond to emerging problems faced by stakeholders in the United States, Latin America, and Asia. Given the growing complexity of problems that communities and stakeholders face due to uncertainties and effects of global environmental and social change, she works with researchers from both the social and biophysical sciences. Relevant projects include the adaptive capacity of nature-based tourism destinations in Maine to climate change, resilience of forest human-natural systems in Maine to the effects of global changes, effects of climate change on rural livelihoods in Nepal, and community-based interventions for Chagas disease control Guatemala.
Before joining UMaine, she worked as an instructor and researcher at Universidad del Valle de Guatemala on sustainable tourism, global changes, collaborative management; and Ecotourism Program Manager for a conservation non-profit organization in Guatemala working with rural communities.
Phd- University of Idaho
M.S.- University of Idaho
B.A.- Universidad del Valle de Guatemala
Sandra De Urioste-Stone is an assistant professor of nature-based tourism at the University of Maine. Her research aims at enhancing resilience and sustainable rural livelihoods of natural resource dependent communities, engaging stakeholder partners in the research process, and training the next generation of applied researchers. As an applied social scientist, De Urioste-Stone’s research seeks to respond to emerging problems faced by stakeholders in the United States, Latin America, and Asia. Given the growing complexity of problems that communities and stakeholders face due to uncertainties and effects of global environmental and social change, she works with researchers from both the social and biophysical sciences. Relevant projects include the adaptive capacity of nature-based tourism destinations in Maine to climate change, resilience of forest human-natural systems in Maine to the effects of global changes, effects of climate change on rural livelihoods in Nepal, and community-based interventions for Chagas disease control Guatemala.
Before joining UMaine, she worked as an instructor and researcher at Universidad del Valle de Guatemala on sustainable tourism, global changes, collaborative management; and Ecotourism Program Manager for a conservation non-profit organization in Guatemala working with rural communities.
Phd- University of Idaho
M.S.- University of Idaho
B.A.- Universidad del Valle de Guatemala
Postdoctoral associates |
Julio Rodriguez Stimson
I am a Postdoctoral Research Associate at the School of Forest Resources, actively involved in teaching, mentoring graduate students, and communicating vital research findings from the NSF-funded 'Coupled Dynamics of Tourism and Mosquito-Borne Disease Transmission in the Americas' project. As a recent PhD graduate from the University of Oxford, my research involved a year of ethnographic exploration into the compounded risks faced by Galapagos Islands farmers, including the challenges posed by Covid-19, climate change, and agricultural pests. My Master's thesis, conducted while living with the Cofán people in the Ecuadorian Amazon, delved into the complex issues of political abandonment, ambivalent attitudes towards oil exploitation, and the struggle for an idealized tranquil life in the forest amidst external economic pressures. Additionally, I have experience as a Communications Officer for the Charles Darwin Foundation, where I played a crucial role in conveying the intricate scientific work conducted by researchers on the Galapagos Islands. I have a background in filmmaking, having produced over fifty 30-minute videos aboard National Geographic vessels in Antarctica, Svalbard, Alaska, and Iceland. I find it extremely meaningful to research, teach, and communicate investigations on human interactions with the environment. Outside of work, I enjoy reading, cooking, hiking, kayaking, and exploring the forests of Maine.
Ph.D. in Anthropology, University of Oxford, UK, 2023
MSc. in Social and Cultural Anthropology, KU Leuven, Belgium, 2016
B.A. in History, Carleton College, MN, 2011
I am a Postdoctoral Research Associate at the School of Forest Resources, actively involved in teaching, mentoring graduate students, and communicating vital research findings from the NSF-funded 'Coupled Dynamics of Tourism and Mosquito-Borne Disease Transmission in the Americas' project. As a recent PhD graduate from the University of Oxford, my research involved a year of ethnographic exploration into the compounded risks faced by Galapagos Islands farmers, including the challenges posed by Covid-19, climate change, and agricultural pests. My Master's thesis, conducted while living with the Cofán people in the Ecuadorian Amazon, delved into the complex issues of political abandonment, ambivalent attitudes towards oil exploitation, and the struggle for an idealized tranquil life in the forest amidst external economic pressures. Additionally, I have experience as a Communications Officer for the Charles Darwin Foundation, where I played a crucial role in conveying the intricate scientific work conducted by researchers on the Galapagos Islands. I have a background in filmmaking, having produced over fifty 30-minute videos aboard National Geographic vessels in Antarctica, Svalbard, Alaska, and Iceland. I find it extremely meaningful to research, teach, and communicate investigations on human interactions with the environment. Outside of work, I enjoy reading, cooking, hiking, kayaking, and exploring the forests of Maine.
Ph.D. in Anthropology, University of Oxford, UK, 2023
MSc. in Social and Cultural Anthropology, KU Leuven, Belgium, 2016
B.A. in History, Carleton College, MN, 2011
Anup K C
Anup is a postdoctoral research associate at the University of Maine. His main research aims are enhancing sustainability of parks, tourism, and recreation projects and providing optimum benefits to local stakeholders. He has educational background, teaching, and research experience of parks, tourism, and recreation issues from environmental, economic, and socio-behavioral lenses. K C’s past research projects were related to COVID-19, community-based tourism and conservation, ecotourism and sustainability, climate change, and other emerging environmental issues in the US and Nepal. Before joining UMaine, he worked as an Assistant Professor at Tribhuvan University, Nepal and collaborated on research projects with professors of various universities inside the United States.
Ph.D. Parks, Recreation and Tourism Management-Clemson University
MA Economics-Tribhuvan University
MSc and BSc Environmental Science-Tribhuvan University
Anup is a postdoctoral research associate at the University of Maine. His main research aims are enhancing sustainability of parks, tourism, and recreation projects and providing optimum benefits to local stakeholders. He has educational background, teaching, and research experience of parks, tourism, and recreation issues from environmental, economic, and socio-behavioral lenses. K C’s past research projects were related to COVID-19, community-based tourism and conservation, ecotourism and sustainability, climate change, and other emerging environmental issues in the US and Nepal. Before joining UMaine, he worked as an Assistant Professor at Tribhuvan University, Nepal and collaborated on research projects with professors of various universities inside the United States.
Ph.D. Parks, Recreation and Tourism Management-Clemson University
MA Economics-Tribhuvan University
MSc and BSc Environmental Science-Tribhuvan University
Alyssa Soucy
I am currently pursuing a PhD in Ecology and Environmental Sciences, co-advised by Drs. Sandra De Urioste-Stone and Parinaz Rahimzadeh-Bajgiran. After completing a Masters at UMaine, I continued on and joined the NSF NRT Conservation Science program in the Summer of 2020. My research seeks to understand people's perceptions of environmental change. As an interdisciplinary scholar, this work involves social science and biophysical methods. I am originally from Massachusetts and attended UMass Lowell as an undergraduate, studying environmental geoscience and mathematics. Aside from my studies I am interested in environmental education and outreach, hiking, baking, and art.
Graduate students |
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Asha DiMatteo-LePape
I received a BS with a double major in Ecology & Environmental Science and Parks, Recreation, & Tourism from the University of Maine. My interests include human dimensions of natural resources, outdoor recreation, and landscape conservation. My current M.S. research is on how seasonality in Maine influences moose habitat selection and how changing seasonality could impact habitat selection, as well as Maine's social, cultural, and economic relationships with moose. I am utilizing social science methodology in order to better understand stakeholder connections with moose and how these relationships impact the potential support of moose management strategies. I am an avid outdoor adventurer and since moving to Maine in 2015 I have hiked Katahdin, the tallest mountain in Maine, more than ten times!
I received a BS with a double major in Ecology & Environmental Science and Parks, Recreation, & Tourism from the University of Maine. My interests include human dimensions of natural resources, outdoor recreation, and landscape conservation. My current M.S. research is on how seasonality in Maine influences moose habitat selection and how changing seasonality could impact habitat selection, as well as Maine's social, cultural, and economic relationships with moose. I am utilizing social science methodology in order to better understand stakeholder connections with moose and how these relationships impact the potential support of moose management strategies. I am an avid outdoor adventurer and since moving to Maine in 2015 I have hiked Katahdin, the tallest mountain in Maine, more than ten times!