Saturday, April 27, 2024 | Grainger Hall
Watch the Keynote here:
About the speakers:
Frank Biasi ’06:
Conservationist and award-winning product director, producer, and editor creating platforms and stories to help people explore, understand, and cherish nature and culture. With degrees in Geography, Studio Art, and Environment, Frank spent the past 30 years creating maps, apps, and websites at National Geographic and The Nature Conservancy. Some of his notable works include VisitWorldHeritage.com, produced in partnership with UNESCO, the European Commission, the Korea International Cooperation Agency, and hundreds of heritage and tourism experts across Europe and Asia. I also directed National Geographic’s Geotourism Program (natgeo.com/geotourism) and the production of numerous sustainable travel websites, map guides, and marketing campaigns.
Now, Frank is creating a transformative new digital platform, Go Good, to help thoughtful travelers discover, explore, and sustain Earth’s treasured places—and help the owners of authentic, sustainable places and experiences reach and guide those travelers. A not-for-profit venture, the platform’s goal is to reduce barriers to sustainable travel and amplify the trend toward sustainability by consumers, destinations, and the travel industry. Launching in October 2024, the Go Good app will be the world’s best digital atlas and travel guide, for use at home and while traveling. Designed to be beautiful and engaging, it will deliver destination profiles, guides, and virtual tours in the style of National Geographic and the world’s top publishers and storytellers. It will seamlessly combine maps, multimedia, and narrative to tell stories of Earth’s treasured places—their history, nature, and culture—and how thoughtful travelers can visit them in ways that enrich their experience and help to sustain and enhance the place.
Learn more, sign up for updates, and get involved at GoGoodTravel.org
Shannon Switzer Swanson ’15:
I am a waterwoman, marine social ecologist, and TV host from San Diego, California. In my research, I blend theory and practice from the fields of anthropology, psychology, and ecology to address today’s most pressing marine conservation issues. My research broadly focuses on community-based management of marine resources in Southeast Asia and Oceania, primarily in the Philippines and Indonesia. My current research explores how different ways of knowing (epistemologies) and ways of being (ontologies) influence how fishing families engage with their seascapes. As an Assistant Professor of the Environment at Cal State University San Marcos, the goal of my work is to support coastal communities in caretaking their resources at all levels of governance to sustain both prosperous livelihoods and healthy ecosystems. To achieve this goal, I apply mixed methods from both the social and natural sciences. Additionally, drawing on my experience as a photojournalist, I explore anticolonial research methods using film and photography to engage community members as equal partners in a collaborative research process. Finally, I am passionate about engaging the public in environmental conservation, and as a National Geographic Explorer, I share this work through extensive speaking engagements and various forms of media.
Catherine Workman ’10:
Catherine grew up in Nashville, TN with a passion for animals. Trained as an anthropologist, she has conducted fieldwork with colleagues in Southeast Asia, Central America, and Central Africa and has more than 15 years experience in the strategic planning, research, policy, impact evaluation, and communication of biodiversity conservation, combating wildlife crime, and global grant-making.
Prior to joining Adventure Scientists, Catherine oversaw the National Geographic Society’s research, conservation, and technology funding as the Vice President of Science, served as a AAAS Science & Technology Policy Fellow in the Office of Forestry and Biodiversity at USAID, and worked in Denver Zoo’s Conservation Biology department. She currently serves on the Board of the Antarctic and Southern Ocean Coalition and on the Editorial Board of the Vietnamese Journal of Primatology. Locally, Catherine volunteers with Lights Out DC to monitor buildings downtown for bird strikes during migration. She holds a MA in anthropology from the University of CO, Boulder and a Ph.D. in evolutionary anthropology from Duke University.
Catherine lives in Washington DC and loves spending time in forests, reading, tinkering in her pollinator garden, listening to podcasts, running, and adventuring with her husband and son.
