Cara Steger

Dr. Steger received her PhD from the interdisciplinary Ecology program at Colorado State University. She is a human-environment geographer with a regional specialization in Sub-Saharan Africa and technical expertise in geospatial technologies, social-ecological modeling, and collaborative approaches to environmental management. Her research examines how qualitative and quantitative models can facilitate learning among diverse groups of stakeholders for improved equity and sustainability in conservation. In her dissertation work, she used a case study of shrub encroachment in the Ethiopian highlands to better understand and apply a process of collaborative model design and validation, and to understand its impact on socially and culturally embedded learning. Following her B.S. in Forest Science at the University of Illinois, she served for two years as a Peace Corps volunteer in Senegal. She then received her M.S. from the University of Michigan, with a thesis that tested the reliability of data produced by tourists as citizen scientists in  Kenya’s Maasai Mara National Reserve. As a current NSF SPRF fellow, Dr. Steger will return to Senegal to co-produce a holistic understanding of environmental change with stakeholders living in and around Niokolo-Koba National Park.