Jorge Ramos
He/Him
I am queer and I am an environmental scientist and an educator that loves learning and teaching outdoors!//
I am the Associate Director for Environmental Education at the Jasper Ridge Biological Preserve of Stanford University. I oversee the education program at Jasper Ridge that can amount to more than 8,000 educational and outreach visits a year by people from very diverse ages, interests, careers and backgrounds. I earned a B.S. at The University of Texas at El Paso (UTEP), a M.S. at University of Washington (UW), and a PhD at Arizona State University (ASU).
After my PhD, I worked at Conservation International (CI), where I was the manager of the Blue Climate team where I helped develop, implement, and manage coastal community conservation projects and teams worldwide. This job exposed to the much greater need to accessible and available scientific information to wider communities worldwide. This sparked a new enthusiasm for environmental science communication and hands-on experiential teaching. I had some experience with STEM education and outreach through activities such as developing curricula, teaching at levels from K-12, university and leading workshops with NGOs and governments. Now at Jasper Ridge, I get to do it directly with the next generation of scientists.
I have been fortunate in my academic career to have been supported as a Latino queer man by most of my mentors and peers. Because of this I have founded, lead and continue paying it forward by supporting organizations that promote the inclusion and retention of a diverse population in science. I serve in many leadership and advising roles with Latino Outdoors, Ecological Society of America SEEDS Program, Society for Advancement of Chicanos/Hispanics and Native Americans in Science (SACNAS), International Network of Next-Generation Ecologists, (INNGE), NSF GK-12 Sustainability Schools Program, Long-Term Ecological Research (LTER) network and Save the Redwoods League.