Associate Director, Program Strategy, E-IPER
Mele is the Associate Director of Program Strategy in the Emmett Interdisciplinary Program in Environment and Resources (E-IPER) at Stanford. In this role, she oversees program strategy, develops new initiatives, and provides guidance on curriculum development and instruction. Formerly, she was a senior research associate with the Ardoin Social Ecology Lab for more than a decade. Her research interests include environmental behavior, social learning, and equity and inclusion in conservation education. Mele has managed numerous research projects on a range of topics including exploring the various pathways to environmental literacy, connecting research and practice in land management, and environmental behavior change in nature-based tourism programs. In 2020, Mele led a seed grant initiative to lay the foundation for a social science/sustainability incubator focused on interdisciplinary scholarship and practice as Stanford was making an initial transition to the new school focused on climate and sustainability. In addition to research, she has been a lecturer in the Graduate School of Education and E-IPER. Throughout her time at Stanford, Mele has mentored graduate and undergraduate students. She has served as an advisor on the Haas Center for Public Service’s Place-Based Climate Justice in the Bay initiative, directed professional development for educators, and organized workshops with the d.school, using design-thinking approaches to creatively tackle sustainability challenges. Mele has extensive experience in evaluation and assessment, conducting workshops for nonprofit organizations and foundations as well as consulting for the Doris Duke Conservation Scholars Program. Prior to her work as a research scholar, Mele was a field biologist and taught in a variety of outdoor education settings. She is a former fellow of both the NSF-funded Center for Informal Learning and Schools and the Robert and Patricia Switzer Foundation for Environmental Leadership. Mele has a BA in Biology and Environmental Studies, MA in Education, and PhD in Science Education.