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Youth Advisory Board

Katherine-Aria Close

Our Lady of Good Counsel
Olney, MD

Email: kacwicket@yahoo.com

Katherine-Aria “Kat” Close is a junior at Our Lady of Good Counsel in Olney, Maryland and is in the IB program. She has a love of animals, particularly horses, which has extended to caring about the loss of habitats and a concern for the overall health of our planet. In middle school, she was a member of the school’s Green Club. Her 8th grade social studies class focused on human interactions with the environment and the interrelation between human populations and geography. Currently, Kat is taking an interdisciplinary environmental science class which she finds engaging. A few times this year, she is responsible for recycling her high school’s paper. In her free time, Katherine loves art and creative writing. She is Co-President of her school’s Creative Writing Club and Vice President of the school’s National Art Honors Society, which she helped establish. Her weekends are spent horse riding and helping to care for the horses of the Montgomery County Mounted Unit of the National Capital Area Park Police. Here her love of horses and the environment are merged. Kat also enjoys spending time with her friends and her family; she lives with her parents, sister, and two cats in Montgomery County, Maryland.

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Youth Advisory Board

Savannah Churlik

Walker Valley High School
Cleveland, TN

Email: sachurlik@hotmail.com

Savannah Churlik is a senior at Walker Valley High School in Cleveland, TN and a WYSE 2016 alumna. She is an officer in her school’s FFA chapter, a member of STEM leadership team, and on the executive committee for her school’s drama club. She is also the backstage manager for the drama club’s theatrical productions. Savannah is on a competitive swim league where she spends her summers mentoring the younger swimmers. Savannah has dreams of going to North Carolina State University after graduation to pursue a degree in Veterinary Medicine, in hopes of becoming a veterinarian at the Smithsonian Conservation Biology Institute.

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Speakers

Alonso Aguirre, PhD, DMV

Associate Professor

Dr. Alonso Aguirre heads a program of collaborative research that focuses on the ecology of wildlife disease and the links to human health and conservation of biodiversity. His research has been instrumental in revealing the impact of emerging diseases of marine wildlife populations. Dr. Aguirreā€™s international experience brings applied solutions to ecological health issues accomplished through trans-disciplinary teams, innovative research, scientific excellence, and long-term monitoring of sentinel species. Dr. Aguirre served as the Executive Director of the Smithsonian-Mason School of Conservation and Director of the Mason Center for Conservation Studies.

He has authored three books, published over 160 professional papers, monographs and scientific reports, and advised government agency and NGO leaders of several countries in the Americas, Southeast Asia and Western Europe. He currently serves as co-editor of EcoHealth, Journal of Wildlife Diseases and European Journal of Wildlife Research.