When Deciding Which Endangered Species to Prioritize, What Role Do Biodiversity and Ecosystem-Level Assessments Play?

Amro Ali worked as an environmental engineer at the state and local government levels in North Carolina to enforce the laws and regulations that govern air and water quality. He holds a bachelor’s and a master’s degree in chemical engineering. He is currently pursuing his master’s degree in sustainability at Wake Forest University.

Melanie Benesh is a legislative attorney at the Environmental Working Group. She provides legislative and regulatory analysis of federal food, farm and chemical law. Full bio.

Michelle Bryan is a professor of Law at the University of Montana, and teaches in the school's Natural Resources & Environmental Law Program. Full bio.

Chanté Coleman is the Director for the Choose Clean Water Coalition, where she leads the Coalition’s work to protect the Chesapeake Bay by bringing together 200+ organizations in the watershed, which includes Maryland, Virginia, Pennsylvania, Delaware, West Virginia, New York, and the District of Columbia. She focuses on planning and development of grassroots/grasstops outreach, political strategy, federal policy and analysis, lobbying, media outreach, organizing conferences and workshops, research, writing and fundraising. Full bio.

Thomas Cluderay is general counsel at the Environmental Working Group. He leads EWG’s legal team and oversees all of the organization’s legal matters. He also works with the government affairs team to develop strategies for advancing EWG policy initiatives, represents EWG before lawmakers and other government bodies and provides regulatory and legislative analyses with an emphasis on public health, consumer protection and environmental policy. Full bio.

Mariah Davis is Field Manager of the Choose Clean Water Coalition. A Virginia native, she has led and executed clean water and climate action strategies to engage elected officials on the importance of protecting and sustaining programs most viable to the Chesapeake Bay. She strives to promote environmental justice to ensure overburdened communities share equitably in the benefits of clean water.

Kerry Darragh is a senior associate at The Hatcher Group, where she works with environmental and health care clients such as the Maryland Clean Agriculture Coalition, Behavioral Health Coalition of Maryland, American Rivers and Maryland Pesticide Education Network to help them achieve their policy and communications goals.

Elise Desiderio is a law student at the University of Maryland Carey School of Law.

Elizabeth Grossman is the author of Chasing Molecules: Poisonous Products, Human Health, and the Promise of Green Chemistry, High Tech Trash: Digital Devices, Hidden Toxics, and Human Health, and other books. Her work has appeared in a variety of publications including Scientific American, Salon, The Washington Post, The Nation, Mother Jones, Grist, and the Huffington Post. Chasing Molecules was chosen by Booklist as one of the Top 10 Science & Technology Books of 2009 and won a 2010 Gold Nautilus Award for investigative journalism.

Melissa Kelly is the staff director and attorney at the Center for Land, Environment, and Natural Resources (CLEANR).

Robert Meltz is Special Counsel at Defenders of Wildlife.

Monte Mills is an assistant professor of law and co-director, Margery Hunter Brown Indian Law Clinic at the University of Montana. Full bio.

Celeste Monforton joined the Milken Institute School of Public Health in 2006. She is a regular contributor to the "Pump Handle," a blog known as "a water cooler for the public health crowd." She continues her work in occupational health and maintains her ties to The George Washington University by serving as a professorial lecturer. Full bio.

Kevin Morris is a J.D. candidate at the University of Hawaii at Manoa William S. Richardson School of Law. He serves as a research assistant for CPR Member Scholar Maxine Burkett.

Alexi Nathan is a rising third-year law student studying environmental law and human rights at American University Washington College of Law.

Hari M. Osofsky is dean of Penn State Law and the Penn State School of International Affairs and Distinguished Professor of Law, professor of international affairs, and professor of geography. Dean Osofsky’s more than 50 publications focus on improving governance and addressing injustice in energy and climate change regulation.

Jarryd Page is an intern at the Center for Progressive Reform. Before interning at CPR, he earned a B.S. from the University of Maryland's Environmental Science & Policy Program in 2017. He has previously worked at National Geographic and served as Adjunct Lecturer at Marymount University. He also holds a B.A. in Art History from University of Wisconsin-Madison and an M.A. in Art History from the University of Kansas.

Eric Panicco is a candidate for Master of Arts in Sustainability at Wake Forest University. Full bio.

Shannon Roesler is a Professor of Law at the University of Oklahoma City School of Law. Before joining the law school faculty, she served as a law clerk to the Honorable Deanell Reece Tacha on the United States Court of Appeals for the Tenth Circuit. She was also a staff attorney and teaching fellow in the International Women’s Human Rights Clinic at Georgetown University Law Center and a visiting faculty member at the University of Kansas School of Law. University bio.

Michael Robinson-Dorn is the founding Director of the Environmental Law Clinic, Interim Director of the Center of Land, Environment, and Natural Resources (Winter 2018), and Clinical Professor of Law, at UC Irvine School of Law. He and his Clinic students represent clients on a wide range of environmental and natural resources matters, and have appeared on behalf of those clients in trial and appellate courts across the country. Full bio.

Vanessa Zboreak is a Professor of Practice at Wake Forest University School of Law. Her research centers around land use law as a public policy instrument, particularly state and local government land use policies influencing food systems, environmental justice, environmental health, sustainable communities, and demographic shifts. She received a B.A. from Grinnell College and a J.D. from Wake Forest. Full bio.