Candice Carr Kelman
Assistant Research Professor

Candice Carr Kelman is an Assistant Research Professor and Program Lead for the Actionable Science Program with the Center for Biodiversity Outcomes. She also teaches for the School of Sustainability, where she served as Assistant Director for 7 years. Currently she is managing the SOS-DCI grant with CBO’s Actionable Science team, which is currently focused on understanding how conservation practitioners use science and other types of knowledge to implement conservation programs. She specializes in qualitative research methods and her current research interests include institutions for biodiversity conservation, knowledge-to-action pathways, science-policy interfaces, co-production of knowledge and policy, collaborative governance, co-management, knowledge partnerships, sustainable development, and protected areas and communities. Previous work includes studies on integrated conservation and development projects in Indonesia, and collaborative environmental governance projects in Arizona.

Her PhD in Environmental Policy is from the University of California, Irvine (2010) and her BS in Environmental Policy is from the University of North Carolina, Asheville (2004). She teaches courses on policy and governance for sustainability, international development and sustainability, and methods for sustainability problem-solving. She has also taught courses on environmental politics, biodiversity conservation and sustainable livelihoods, and corporate social responsibility.

Gwen Iacona
Assistant Research Professor

Gwen Iacona is an applied conservation scientist who uses quantitative and empirical approaches to understand how biodiversity outcomes can be improved by better decision making. Her current work aims to improve endangered species recovery by better understanding the risks and costs associated with recovery planning. Gwen specializes in using theoretical tools to study how the costs of conservation interventions influence the choice of actions and the resulting outcomes for conservation agencies. Past projects include predicting invasive plant cover, modelling protected area effectiveness and prioritizing conservation action.

Prior to rejoining Arizona State University as an assistant research professor, Gwen was a postdoctoral research associate working with Professor Leah Gerber. Gwen has a PhD from the University of Tennessee, where she studied with Professor Paul Armsworth, and an MS from the University of Florida. In her current role, Gwen serves as Conservation Investment Program Lead for the Center for Biodiversity Outcomes.

Katie Cramer
Assistant Research Professor 

Katie Cramer is an Assistant Research Professor at the Julie Ann Wrigley Global Institute of Sustainability at Arizona State University and an Ocean Science Fellow at the Center for Oceans at Conservation International. Katie is a marine conservation ecologist whose work reconstructs long-term change in marine ecosystems and predicts their future states to motivate and inform conservation. Her current research is focused on improving the health of coral reef ecosystems by pinpointing the social and ecological mechanisms of recent declines and identifying market-based strategies that can improve the sustainability of coral reef fisheries. Her work is interdisciplinary, spanning the fields of marine ecology, marine policy, paleobiology, and environmental economics.

Katie received her Ph.D. in Oceanography from Scripps Institution of Oceanography. Prior to joining ASU, she was a Knauss Marine Policy Fellow in the U.S. Senate, an ecologist at Global Coral Reef Monitoring Network, and a Postdoctoral Fellow at Smithsonian Institution and Scripps Institution of Oceanography.