1. What do you study related to biodiversity (what are your research questions, what organisms do you work on)?
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2. How do you study biodiversity (for example, what technological tools and methodologies do you use in your research)?
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The methodology in our conservation communication work is called "participatory communication," which means we try to include local people as much as possible in the communication process—so that their "local knowledge" (also known as "indigenous knowledge") and experiences help to inform the types of educational materials that we produce.
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3. Where do you study biodiversity?
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The lowland tropics of South American—Bolivia, Peru. and Ecuador. I also only focus on adults, people living in small rural villages. Although I work in an area of education, I don’t do “environmental education.” I’m specifically concerned with providing people with technical knowledge/improved practices or information linked to behavioral change.
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4. How might your research have implications for biological conservation?
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 People can't make informed decisions about natural resource use and management without the right kind of information getting to them (and in a form that they can understand). Real conservation will never take place until local people take responsibility for the work themselves, the types of communication programs I do help them to learn how to do that.
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5. How did you become interested in science? What made you want to be a scientist, and how did you get to The Field Museum?
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I grew up on a farm in Northwestern Illinois, and my father was an agronomist and extension agent for the University of Illinois at Champaign-Urbana. From an early age I saw first-hand how people receive information about agriculture within a rural social system (group meetings, field days in farmers' fields, use of farmer test plots; fairs and small table-top exhibits, in addition to other extension media and print materials).
My background obviously influenced me in terms of a career choice, so I studied extension methodology, anthropology, and rural sociology in both undergraduate and graduate school. I also combined this academic interest with art—I studied graphic design and painting, but always have considered art useful only in a very applied sense—visual communication in order to provide science information for rural people who better understand pictures and images, rather than printed text.
I specialized in teaching farmers about soil conservation and worked in that area for a time in Peru for USAID; later I started working at the Field Museum because I was interested in learning how to build exhibits, plus I just wanted to take a break from graduate school, have some fun and earn some money. I ended up staying at the museum and never finished my Ph.D. work in rural sociology, and never will.
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6. Describe important collaborations for your scientific endeavors (describe your work with other researchers, organizations, or scientific groups, local or indigenous peoples, etc.)
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The manner in which we work implies that a great deal of training must take place. Our collaborating institutions and groups are really responsible for the actual work in those countries where we are working, we only serve as trainers and technical advisors. Our success will only be measured in how well we are able to help people in other countries to take on this work for themselves.
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