Arren Allegretti, Senior Project Manager, Live Oak Associates, Inc
Arren Mendezona Alegretti is a senior project manager and plant and wetland ecologist with Live Oak Associates, Inc. Formerly, she was a postdoctoral research consultant with Professor Nicole Ardoin’s Social Ecology Lab. Arren holds a PhD in Ecology and an MS in Human Dimensions of Natural Resources from Colorado State University (CSU). Her research interests include community-based natural resource management, local ecological knowledge, transdisciplinary research communication, and environmental conflict management. As a social-ecological researcher and educator, she is interested in how people interact with their social and biophysical environment, experience environmental change, and collaborate to manage natural resource issues. Arren has taught Environmental Studies, World Geography, and Human Dimensions of Marine Protected Areas (MPAs) at Santa Clara University. She is a former fellow of the Center for Collaborative Conservation at CSU, where she worked with fish wardens, educators, and policy makers to shape sustainable fishery policies and integrate field-based MPA education in the Philippines. Prior to becoming a researcher, Arren led community development projects for a nature-based volunteer tourism organization in Costa Rica and collaborated with local governments in the Philippines to learn about and experience firsthand neighboring marine protected areas.