Katrina Lewandowski joining The Nature Conservancy’s Michigan Board of Trustees

The Nature Conservancy (TNC) — a global conservation organization dedicated to conserving the lands and waters on which all life depends — today announced Katrina Lewandowski is joining its Michigan Board of Trustees as a Trustee Fellow. Lewandowski is a Ph.D. student at Wayne State University where she is pursuing a dual degree in Biology and Urban Sustainability.

“Katrina will bring a unique perspective to The Nature Conservancy, and I am thrilled to welcome her to our Michigan Board of Trustees,” said Helen Taylor, TNC state director in Michigan. “She represents the leaders of tomorrow and I have no doubt her skills, expertise and experiences will be invaluable to our board as TNC works to create innovative solutions to the toughest environmental challenges in Michigan.”

The Nature Conservancy’s Michigan Board of Trustees created a graduate student Trustee Fellows program in 2018 to enrich and diversify its leadership in Michigan. Trustee Fellows are contributing members to the Board. The program is open to graduate students with an interest in conservation and environmental policy.

“The Nature Conservancy has a strong track record of walking the walk when it comes to protecting our land and water, and I am very excited to join TNC’s Michigan Board of Trustees,” Lewandowski said. “With the growing threat of climate change, it’s more important now than ever to work together to find a way to preserve our planet and I am eager to roll up my sleeves, get to work and help make a difference.”

Lewandowski received her Bachelor of Science degree in Ecology and Evolutionary Biology from the University of Michigan in 2015. She went on to work with researchers in the Urban Wildlife Department at the Lincoln Park Zoo in Chicago, which inspired her to return to graduate school to pursue further education in biological research.

Lewandowski is a fellow in the Transformative Research in Urban Sustainability Training (T-RUST) program funded by the National Science Foundation where she collaborates with a team of multidisciplinary graduate students on a research project studying the impact and function of green stormwater infrastructure. Recently, she and other members of the team were awarded the Ford College Community Challenge (FC3) fund to install a bioswale and native plants at a local nonprofit.

Lewandowski has also worked with researchers at the NOAA Great Lakes Environmental Research Laboratory where her research projects focused on invasive zebra and quagga mussels and their impact on Great Lakes fishes’ early life stages.

Her term as Student Fellow begins in March 2022 and runs for two years.