2011-2012 Luce Scholar

Mike will graduate from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill (UNC) in May 2011 with a B.A. in Environmental Justice & Conflict Resolution (self-designed) and Political Science and a minor in Entrepreneurship. His professional interests center on the environment, most recently focused on climate change. Mike was an NGO Delegate to the UN Climate Conference in Copenhagen with the Nicholas Institute for Environmental Policy Solutions at Duke University. As a Fellow with the Center for the Study of the Presidency and Congress, he conducted research on the role of the executive branch of the American government in forming domestic and international climate change policy. Mike also independently researched the relationship between various private and public actors in the development of an international carbon market; his research included a short stay at the Center for International Forest Research in Bogor, Indonesia. He is currently teaching a university course which he developed titled “Environmental Conflict Resolution and Environmental Justice.” Mike is very interested in the field of environmental communication, especially as it relates to the use of film and photography in educational models. He has been a contracted correspondent and photographer for a National Geographic subsidiary and has interned with an entrepreneurial broadcast network. At UNC, Mike is a Morehead-Cain Scholar and was also named a 2010 Udall Scholar for his environmental work. He is interested in pursuing work that relates to carbon market development, payment for ecosystem services models, conservation, and anti-poaching efforts. Mike is an avid outdoor adventurer and enjoys sports, cooking, gardening, poetry, singing, and meeting new people. He also enjoys traveling and has visited or worked in several nations.