Dara Albrecht joined the Environmental Law Institute as a Research Associate in August 2023. She is currently working on the Climate Judiciary Project and the Global Marine Protected Areas project. Dara is also the host of People Places Planet Podcast. She has previously contributed to the Environmental Law Reporter, the Belize Fisheries Project, and ELI’s Global Environmental Facility (GEF) Evaluation. Prior to joining ELI, Dara pursued desert ecology research at the University of Sydney in Australia and served as a reviewer and writer for articles published in “Biodiversity Islands: Strategies for Conservation in Human-Dominated Environments (2022).” She co-authored “The biogeochemical boomerang: Site fidelity creates nutritional hotspots that may promote recurrent calving site reuse,” published in August 2024. Other work includes translating the Reef Environmental Education Foundation’s citizen science material to Spanish to increase accessibility for Latinx communities and leading conservation planning projects with the US Forest Service and California Bureau of Land Management. Dara is a two-time awardee of the Richter Fellowship, and is also a Curtis Travelling Fellow, Bruce M. Babcock Travel Research Fellow, and Tetelman Fellow for International Research in Sciences. Dara is passionate about using science to develop successful conservation planning and shape policy. As a Peruvian citizen with roots in the Amazon, she is an advocate for cross-cultural environmental collaboration and developing just solutions for vulnerable communities who are impacted by climate change. Dara is a 2023 graduate from Yale University with a B.S. in Environmental Science with a concentration in Biodiversity and Conservation. Her senior thesis was an independent research project focused on the stoichiometry of caribou diet across Newfoundland and its conservation implications. Dara would like to honor with gratitude all the ancestral stewards of this land, past and present, and acknowledge the ancestral and unceded native territory on which ELI sits today.

Georgia Ray joined ELI as a Research Associate in August 2021. She is currently working on projects related to best practices in sustainable land-based aquaculture, wetlands for hazard mitigations, wetland regulation, and digital economy and the environment. She is also the People Places Planet Podcast host. Previously, she was involved with projects related to environmental crimes in Peru and intergovernmental environmental enforcement. Before coming to ELI, Georgia worked with the Penn Program in Environmental Humanities studying the environmental justice legacy of fossil fuel in Philadelphia and was a Kleinman Center for Energy Research Leadership Fellow. She also researched the impact of public transportation on refugee integration in the Denver area, used GIS technology to understand public perception of Green Stormwater Infrastructure in Philadelphia, and authored a report for the Philadelphia City Planning Commission surrounding best practices for Urban Climate Change Mitigation. She grew up in Denver, Colorado and graduated from the University of Pennsylvania with a BA in Urban Studies, Cognitive Science, and Philosophy.

Sarah Backer joined ELI as a Research Associate in September 2022. Her current work includes assisting with the Municipal Climate and Waste Reduction Project and supporting the CWA 303(d) Training Workshops. She is also the new host of the ELI People, Places, Planet Podcast. Prior to joining ELI, Sarah interned for the EPA’s Green Power Partnerships, where she researched the program’s contributions to energy equity and developed educational content for stakeholders. Sarah is a recent graduate from Wesleyan University with a BA in Government, specializing in environmental global policy and a minor in the College of East Asian Studies and Mandarin. Her senior thesis analyzed public opinion on democracy and capitalism promotion in the United States since 2016, to evaluate the public’s shifting attitudes about America’s international role. Before college, she grew up in New York City, where she attended a K-12 French immersion school and specialized in French literature and philosophy.

Colin Gipson-Tansil joined ELI in January of 2014 by way of the Great Lakes State. Colin serves as ELI’s Senior Digital Media Producer where he oversees digital media needs at seminars, webinars, and events, manages social media sites, assists with support of ELI’s various websites, and produces videos as well as podcasts. Colin earned his M.A. in Producing for Film, TV and Video from American University. Prior to his Master's degree, received his B.A. in Media Arts and Technology with a concentration in Film, Radio and TV from Michigan State University.