Meet Global Locust Initiative's new interns
Please welcome our new Global Locust Initiative interns, Braedon Kantola (left) and Teddy Gonzalez (right), who began interning for GLI in January 2019. They cannot begin to describe how enthusiastic they are to be given the opportunity of joining the GLI team to help further the development of research, partnerships and solutions for transboundary pest management.
At Arizona State University, Braedon is currently in the 4+1 Accelerated Master’s Program pursuing his Master of Sustainability Solutions along with a bachelor’s degree in sustainability with a focus on ecosystems, and a certificate in energy and sustainability. Teddy is pursuing concurrent degrees in sustainability and philosophy. In the fall, she will start a Juris Doctor degree from the Sandra Day O’Connor College of Law's Law and Sustainability program.
Our new interns are working on two distinct projects. First, relating to the recently awarded United States Agency for International Development (USAID) grant, our interns will champion construction of locust and grasshopper identification booklets for Senegalese farmers and create a database of current Early Warning Systems and Area-Wide Integrated Pest Management (AW-IPM) programs that are already in place for managing other migratory pests. Second, our interns will be assisting with GLI member engagement through researching platforms to better connect GLI members, running the GLI’s Twitter account, assisting with news updates, and developing a GLI bulletin.
In their words: “We wanted to not only introduce ourselves to our network of collaborators but also wanted to give an insight into some of the work we will be completing. We are extremely excited to be working alongside GLI and its members towards a common goal of maintaining a global network as well as developing solutions to the challenge of locust plagues.”
GLI members: please reach out to Teddy and Braedon via email and/or Twitter to welcome them to GLI, and to share your news updates and any ideas you have for GLI.