Matthew Barmann

An overriding love of being outdoors and studying the natural world has kept me in the field for the last dozen years working as a botany and restoration ecology technician. I have been afforded the opportunity to practice my crafts in some magnificent settings that have included the temperate coastal rain forests of Alaska, mediterranean-type ecosystems of the California Channel Islands, sub-alpine forests of Colorado's southern Rocky Mountains, and the lower-elevations of Oregon's Cascade Range. My employers have been primarily federal natural resource agencies but I have also worked with consulting firms, non-profit organizations, universities, and myself. Additionally, I have a strong interest in international development, sustainable agriculture, and cooperative processes which all came together during my stint as a Peace Corps volunteer in Mali, West Africa. My intention in seeking a degree through the PSM program and a graduate certificate in Geographic Information Science is to expand my technical expertise where I recognize gaps and opportunities while receiving a formal introduction to business and communication practices. I seek to become: a better informed conservation practitioner with a skill set that will lend itself to project management; a more competitive applicant in an increasingly tight job market; and perhaps an entrepreneur through developing a consulting business.