Appendix E
Workshop Speakers Biographical Sketches

Susana B. Adamo is research scientist at the Center for International Earth Science Information Network and adjunct assistant professor in the Undergraduate Program in Sustainable Development at Columbia University. She is also cocoordinator of the Population Environment Research Network, member of the Climate Change Working Group of the Group on Earth Observations, and former member of the Scientific Advisory Committee of the Inter-American Institute for Global Change Research. Her research interests spread across several fields: environmental migration and displacement; social vulnerability and environmental change; dynamics of internal migration in developing countries; and all aspects of data integration related to demography and environment links, particularly global and regional georeferenced population databases. Among other projects, Dr. Adamo has worked on the development of gridded population databases, including topics such as distribution, basic demographic characteristics, and net migration; vulnerability and climate variability in Latin America; migration, cities, and climate change; vulnerability to winter storms and air pollution in the U.S. Northwest; and land use and population change in Latin American and the Caribbean. She holds a B.S. in geography from the University of Buenos Aires, an M.S. in population studies from Facultad Latinoamericana de Ciencias Sociales Mexico, and a Ph.D. in demography/sociology from The University of Texas at Austin.

Edwin Castellanos is director of science for Latin America at The Nature Conservancy (TNC). He joined TNC’s team in 2022 after 24 years of continuous work in research and education in Guatemala and Mesoamerica in the areas of climate change and management of natural resources, with a special focus on freshwater and forests. Dr. Castellanos is coordinating lead author on the chapter on vulnerability and adaptation in Central and South America in the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change Sixth Assessment Report. He served as director of the Sustainable Economic Observatory and of the Center for Environmental Studies and Biodiversity at Universidad del Valle de Guatemala, where he is now a visiting researcher. Dr. Castellanos was a member of the External Advisory Council for World Wildlife Fund Latin America and has been lead researcher on multiple projects at national and regional levels on climate change adaptation by rural and Indigenous communities. His research also includes studying the causes of deforestation and associated carbon emissions as part of Reducing Emissions from Deforestation and Forest Degradation in Developing Countries initiatives. He is the author or coauthor of more than 50 scientific publications on these topics. Dr. Castellanos holds a B.S. from Universidad del Valle de Guatemala, an M.S. in chemistry from Michigan State University, and a Ph.D. in environmental science from Indiana University.

Iris A. Ferguson currently serves as deputy assistant secretary of defense for Arctic and global resilience. In this role, she serves as the principal advisor to the secretary of defense and senior leadership for policy matters pertaining to Arctic security and global resilience, including efforts on climate adaptation, mitigation, and energy resilience. Prior to her current appointment, Ms. Ferguson was senior advisor on Arctic and climate security issues for U.S. Air Force Futures and the Air Force deputy chief of staff for operations. In those capacities, she authored and implemented the Department of the Air Force’s Arctic strategy, including advising on strategic initiatives, operations, and international partnerships related to the region. Ms. Ferguson was also special assistant to the assistant secretary of the Air Force for installations, environment, and energy, focusing on energy security, resilience, and sustainability policies. She served previously on the Department of Commerce’s International Trade Administration, structuring and implementing the first federal investment promotion program, SelectUSA, and as a national security and foreign policy legislative aide focused on Europe, Latin America, and East Asia on the Senate Foreign

Relations Committee. Ms. Ferguson is a former Council on Foreign Relations fellow (Canada) and current term member. She holds a B.A. from the University of Arkansas and an M.A. in international economics and relations from the Johns Hopkins School of Advanced International Studies.

Sarah Gammage is director of policy and government relations for Latin America at The Nature Conservancy. She is an environmental economist with more than 25 years of experience working on economic development in Latin America, Africa, and Asia. Dr. Gammage has worked with and for several international and multilateral organizations, including the International Institute for Environment and Development, The Women’s Edge, the Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean, the International Labor Organization, the International Center for Research on Women, and UN Women. She has written academic and policy research articles on gender and trade, poverty, labor markets, migration, and the environment. Dr. Gammage earned a master’s degree in economics from the London School of Economics and Political Science and a Ph.D. in environmental economics from the International Institute of Social Studies in The Hague.

Ignacio Madurga-Lopez is a researcher with the Alliance of Biodiversity and CIAT (International Center for Tropical Agriculture) and a climate security specialist and focal point of CGIAR FOCUS Climate Security in Latin America and the Caribbean. His current work focuses on supporting the building of robust scientific evidence on the climate–security nexus to inform policies, programming, and finance to become more sensitive to climate security risks and ensure that the transformation of food, land, and water systems contributes to food security, building sustainable livelihoods and enhancing climate adaptation while fostering peace-building efforts. Mr. Madurga-Lopez has authored academic publications, reports, book chapters, and blog posts related to climate, peace, and security. He holds a double B.A. in international relations and economics from the Rey Juan Carlos University of Madrid and an M.A. with distinction in conflict, governance, and development from the University of York.

Timothy McPherson is program manager in the Energy and Environment Directorate at the Pacific Northwest National Laboratory, where he provides technical guidance, thought leadership, and project management to key elements in the Laboratory’s research portfolio in critical infrastructure risk management. Previously, he worked at Los Alamos National Laboratory as a group leader for research on resilience in energy, water, transportation, and health care systems. Dr. McPherson earned a B.A. in economics from the University of Virginia and a doctorate in environmental sciences and engineering from the University of California, Los Angeles.

Iliana Monterroso is Mexico and Central America program officer with the Climate and Land Use Alliance (CLUA). She brings more than 20 years of experience working on rights, forest tenure, and community-based management involving indigenous peoples, Afrodescendants, and grassroots organizations, mainly in Latin America. Prior to joining CLUA, Dr. Monterroso worked as scientist and gender and social inclusion cocoordinator for the Center for International Forestry Research based in Peru and Guatemala, where she was engaged in a global comparative study on forest tenure reform and studied issues of women’s resource rights and approaches to social inclusion. Previously she worked for the Rights and Resources Initiative as Central America facilitator. She has written about collective rights and environmental governance, social inclusion, and gender equality in forest landscapes and forest tenure reforms. Dr. Monterroso earned a B.Sc. in biology from John Brown University and an M.Sc. and Ph.D. in environmental sciences, with a focus on environmental management and ecological economics, from the Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona.

Jonathan D. Moyer is director of the Frederick S. Pardee Center for International Futures and assistant professor at the Josef Korbel School of International Studies at the University of Denver.

He works across various research areas, extending and using the International Futures integrated assessment platform. Dr. Moyer studies patterns of sustainable development through funded research for organizations such as the African Union Development Agency and the United Nations. He leads the creation of new data and tools to better understand and analyze international relations, contributing to reports such as the U.S. National Intelligence Council Global Trends 2030. Dr. Moyer also researches patterns and drivers of civil war onset and was lead co–principal investigator on a 5-year Minerva grant. He earned a B.A. in international business from Bluffton University and an M.A. and Ph.D. in international studies from the Josef Korbel School of International Studies.

Fernando Riosmena is director of the Institute for Health Disparities Research (IHDR) and professor in the College for Health, Community and Policy at The University of Texas at San Antonio. Previously, he was associate professor at the Population Program and Geography Department at the University of Colorado Boulder, and director for diversity, equity, and inclusion at the Institute of Behavioral Science. Dr. Riosmena focuses on the intersection of immigration and health, and improving understanding of the theories, drivers, empirical measurement, and strategies to analyze spatial mobility, with a particular focus on the social, economic, policy, and environmental factors likely influencing international migration between Mexico and the United States. In addition, he researches the patterns and explanations of the chronic health status with which Latin American immigrants arrive to the United States, how this health status changes over time, and how and why it differs between immigrants and their U.S.-born descendants. Dr. Riosmena obtained his Ph.D. in 2005 from the University of Pennsylvania.

Horacio Riojas is director of environmental health at the National Institute of Public Health of Mexico. Previously, he worked as environmental health director at the Environment and Work Health Institute. Dr. Riojas earned his doctorate in public health sciences, with a concentration in epidemiology, from the School of Public Health of Mexico.

Marieke Veeger is scenarios and policy researcher for the Consultative Group on International Agricultural Research (CGIAR) research program on Climate Change, Agriculture and Food Security (CCAFS) at the University for International Cooperation. She leads the Future Scenarios Program in Latin America, collaborating closely with CCAFS, the University of Utrecht, the University of Oxford, and the International Center for Tropical Agriculture (CIAT). Bringing together key stakeholders and decision-makers from the public, private, and research sectors on regional, national, and local levels, she designs and coordinates scenario-guided policymaking processes. The future scenarios are created and used to improve planning and investments considering the socioeconomic uncertainties related to climate change adaptation and mitigation in agriculture, food systems, environment, and livelihoods. Ms. Veeger earned her bachelor’s degree in developmental studies from Fontys University of Applied Sciences and master’s degree in culture, organization & management from Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam.