Conservation International - Suriname

Project leaders: Katherine Culbertson and Chinmay Sonawane

HCCS has collaborated with CI for the past three years, focusing our work primarily on the Ocean Health Index. This year, the HCCS CI team will engage in work at the intersection of marine and terrestrial conservation through collaborating with Conservation International Suriname in their mangrove restoration and education programs. Through working on this project, members will research ecosystem-based climate adaptation, create educational material on mangroves, and help ensure the health and abundance of these important coastal wetlands. 

The Nature Conservancy - Grasslands Pilot Project

Project leaders: Sabrina Deveraux and Neil Philip
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HCCS is partnering with the the Nature Conservancy to conduct research in understanding how climate change impacts grasslands in Patagonia, Argentina. This project will include data analysis (with data provided by the Nature Conservancy) to promote the sustainable management of grasslands given the face of anthropogenic pressures.  

Planetary Health Alliance

On hold for Spring 2018
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The Planetary Health Alliance is a consortium of universities, NGOs, and partners that share a mission of furthering the growth of a rigorous, policy-focused, interdisciplinary field of applied research aimed at understanding and dressing the human health implications of  changes in the Earth's systems. Our project team works with PHA's Health and Education Fellow, curating course materials and resources in order to launch an educational platform for planetary health topics. We also help coordinate student engagement for the Global Scholars program, which will bring planetary health experts to campus to deliver lectures to be recorded and made available online.
The World Wildlife Fund
Project Leaders: Mary Katherine DeWane and Daniel Sherman
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​As HCCS embarks on our second semester working with the World Wildlife Fund, we are excited to continue and deepen our impact through our involvement with the Climate Crowd website. Our WWF project synthesizes reports gathered from around the world on climate change into readable summaries. We use the website wwfclimatecrowd.org to find reports from areas as diverse as Kenya and Mexico, which our contact at WWF can then upload to the site. This allows scientists/researchers in the field to quickly view the general trends of certain areas affected by climate change. The trends we cover in our reports include changes in climate that local people have noticed, the effects of those changes on their lives, their responses to those changes, and the effects of climate change on wildlife.
The Harvard Forest
Project leaders: Maria Park and Sophie Pesek

This project includes advancing the Wildlands and Woodlands initiative of the Harvard Forest and researching/managing land protection and conservation in New England to create programming that can serve as a national model. This project is helping the Harvard Forest and ALPINE expand their reach to other New England colleges and universities. Project members will also complete work to conserve the Northern Appalachian Trail.
Last semester, this team helped organize HCCS's fall retreat to the Forest where members learned about forest conservation, brainstormed management ideas, and bonded with other HCCS members.
The Kasiisi Project
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Project Leaders: Scout Leonard and Anthony O'Neil

An exciting new collaboration, this initiative will include developing an elephant Conservation Curriculum that will be implemented in Ugandan schools. This project will work closely with Ugandan Conservation Education Staff to design an execute a comprehensive education plan. This semester, this project is helping the Kasiisi Project with website updates and is compiling a list of sustainable products to be supported in Uganda.

Special Projects : 

The Women in Nature Network
Project leader: Angelica Torres

The Women in Nature Network is a project-turned student organization. It functions differently from a normal project structure, yet is still connected to HCCS. WiNN is a global network of professional and collegiate women who combine their knowledge skills and talents to work toward conservation goals by empowering female leaders. Our role in this semester is to maintain the network's quarterly newsletter to all of it’s members, develop a website, and establish new chapters of the network in other collegiate settings to host events and nurture future conservationists through resources and mentorship. 
Careers in Conservation

Project Leaders: Amy Li, Remi Gosselin, and Katherine Culbertson

This annual project's goal is to plan and execute a conference for Boston-based students interested in professionally pursuing, as the title suggests, careers in conservation. Our team consists of students interested in the outreach and development of young adults wishing to educate themselves on how to best prepare for a profession in conservation. Working within Harvard University resources and beyond, we will recruit speakers, panelists, advisers, sponsors, and partner organizations to fulfill one of HCCS's primary mission statements, which is "to unite undergraduate students, Harvard professors, PhD researchers, and actively campaigning scientists to pool resources and ability in an effort to make a difference in the environmental movement" by investing in future conservationists.