Science
Ethan H. Freid, Ph.D.
Ethan H. Freid Ph.D. is a botanist specializing in terrestrial ecology and plant taxonomy of the angiosperms. He grew up in California, graduating from Humboldt State University in 1992 with a Bachelors of Science degree in Botany. He attended graduate school at Miami University (Ohio) graduating with a Ph.D. in Botany in 2000. Ethan has worked and traveled throughout the Caribbean, Central and South America as well as Central and Southern Africa on vegetation and ecological projects.
After graduate school he taught at the College of the Bahamas (2 years) and at the University of Tampa (7 years) and is now working full time for Jadora International LLC. Ethan is also currently on the Science Advisory Committee of the Bahamas National Trust and the Board of Directors of the Bahamas Environment Fund.
Ethan has published 7 papers and 25 technical reports on projects in the Bahamas and the Caribbean. He has worked as a consultant for the Bahamas National Trust, Coastal Systems International, Applied Technology Management. SEV Consulting, Islands by Design, and Wilson Miller.
Joseph Wasilewski
Joe Wasilewski is a renowned wildlife biologist specializing in the natural history of large reptiles within wetlands of southern Florida, the Caribbean and Tropical Latin America. His 1981 undergraduate Biology degree from Florida International University served to open up many professional doors associated with his life-long love of tropical wildlife.
He is an active member of the International Union for the Conservation of Nature serving in both the Iguana Specialist Group as well as the Crocodile Specialist Group. He serves as the resident wildlife biologist for Florida Power & Light at their Turkey Point nuclear power plant. He consults in the field on critically endangered species for governments and NGOs.
Recent projects include developing and constructing nesting habitat for American crocodiles, a project
he completed in December 2007 resulting in successful crocodile nesting in 2008. Joe works extensively through the Caribbean with Rock iguanas, Central America (Costa Rica) with American crocodiles and South America (Guyana) with Black Caiman. He is a frequent guest on television and has consulted and provided animals for Animal Planet, National Geographic, the Discovery Channel, the History Channel, and Florida Public Television, among others.
Duncan Earle Ph.D.
With a doctorate in development anthropology (1985 Albany), Dr. Earle's career has involved research, teaching and direct engagement with international development and indigenous cultures, beginning with setting up and helping to direct an NGO in Guatemala, another in Mexico, and consulting for numerous other projects and programs over a 30 year span. He has taught development theory and practice at the undergraduate and graduate level (Clark, Vanderbilt, Texas A&M, American University) and researched alternative approaches to tropical region development, environmental protection, and eco-tourism, in Mexico, Guatemala, Nicaragua, Brazil, Bolivia, Ecuador and Southern Africa. He has also carried out research and administered development and environmental awareness programs in low-income peri-urban settlements (colonias) in the US-Mexico border region.
A Fulbright scholar, recipient of Rockefeller, Melon, HUD, EPA, and Ford Foundation grant support and former director of a University-based scholarly center, Dr. Earle has traveled to over 50 countries, and speaks fluent Spanish, as well as some Portuguese,Italian, French, and two indigenous languages. He is the author and/or co-author of over 40 articles and book chapters, one book, and numerous field reports. He has also been associate director and director of university-based centers, done research for the US Census, served as an advisor for development NGOs, and spoken about development alternatives to such institutions as the Organization of American States, USAID, and the Ford Foundation. He is an editor for the Library of Congress and a Fellow of the Society for Applied Anthropology.