Melissa Motew. As a Master's candidate in the Environment and Resources program and a research assistant at the Center for Sustainability and the Global Environment, Melissa brings her background in physics and career in technology research to solving complex environmental issues. Her Master's thesis research, under the guidance of Professor Chris Kucharik, will involve dynamic vegetation modeling of the Midwest United States. This work will explore past, present and future effects of climate change on natural and managed ecosystems. By incorporating state-of-the-art climate information into the model, she hopes to understand what might be expected from ecosystems in the face of such changes and to further relate those findings to local land users.

Melissa is new to the field of environmental studies. She holds a BS in physics from the University of Massachusetts-Amherst and six years of field experience at MIT Lincoln Laboratory, a research and development center devoted to technological innovation. A strong passion for the planet's health has inspired her to apply her background in science to problems of environmental significance.