People

External Reviewers

Our sparkling team of External Reviewers have a key function in our system. They are independent and well qualified reviewers of the final portfolio of each Capstone Associate. External Reviewers carefully judge if the work done is of appropriate quality for the degree sought by the candidate. This team also comments on the quality of services Gaia University provides and we incorporate their feedback into our Continuous Quality Improvement process.

Dr. Susan Canney
Dr. Susan Canney
England

Dr. Susan Canney has worked in science and conservation for a variety of projects in Africa, Asia and Europe. She currently directs the Wild Foundation’s Mali Elephant Project, studies coastal British fish populations with Pisces Conservation and collaborates with researchers at the Wildlife Conservation Research Unit modeling Africa-wide lion distribution and the decline of the wild dog population in Zimbabwe.

In her dedication to addressing environmental issues using an integral approach, Dr. Canney earned a series of master’s degrees – in zoology, landscape design and environmental policy. She earned her doctorate from Oxford University for research on changing patterns of human land use and their impact on a protected area in Tanzania.

Dr. Canney teaches at Oxford University and the Green Economics Institute and has served as a research officer at the Green College Centre for Environmental Policy & Understanding. She is the secretary and a co-founder of the Earth Systems Science Special Interest Group of the Geological Society of London, and of the Gaia Network. Dr. Canney is also part of Forum for the Future’s  ‘Reconnections’ team, which delivers programs for business leaders that focus on the values needed for a sustainable world and the importance of human reconnection to nature.

Prof. Dr. Ralf Otterpohl
Prof. Dr. Ralf Otterpohl
Germany

Ralf Otterpohl is a professor of civil and environmental engineering at the Hamburg University of Technology in Germany. Since 1998 he has been director of the Institute of Wastewater Management and Water Protection, which researches reuse-oriented sanitation concepts for both rural and urban contexts. He won his doctorate in civil engineering at RWTH Aachen for research on mathematical modeling and computer simulation of large waste-water treatment plants.

Dr. Otterpohl is Chairman of ZERI (Zero Emissions Research & Initiatives) Deutschland, which views waste as a resource and seeks regenerative waste solutions inspired by nature's own design principles. He is also co-owner of the consultancy Otterwasser GmbH, which specializes in innovative sanitation concepts, and co-founder and co-chair of the International Water Association specialist group, ‘Resources Oriented Sanitation’.

Dr. Prof. Otterpohl’s current research is focused on the rediscovery of Terra Preta Sanitation as it was practiced for thousands of years in the Amazon. He considers this model for the conversion of bio-waste and human excreta, with the addition of biochar, into highly fertile soil, as the most successful system of waste management, sanitation and agriculture of all time. Dr. Otterpohl has started to develop a social entrepreneur’s network which promotes increased local productivity and water quality through soil improvement brought about by Terra Preta Sanitation enhanced by plant diversity and the application of permaculture principles.

Peter Schmid
Prof. Peter Schmid
Holland

Over the course of his prolific career, Peter Schmid has worked as an architect and engineer, designing and realizing major building projects across Europe and the US. In the sixties he was a pioneer in sustainable building design in Vienna, serving as a researcher on environmental health for the Austrian Ministry of Building; in the early seventies he became chairman of the first Belgian Association for Healthy Building and Living. In 1975 Schmid founded the Association for Integral Bio-Logical Architecture, based in the Netherlands.

Since 1972 Prof. Schmid has been a professor and, for a time, chairman of the Department of Building Technology at Eindhoven University of Technology in the Netherlands. His previous academic appointment was at the Institute for Higher Technical National Education in Krems/Donau, Austria.

Prof. Schmid has written many publications and several books, including Bio-logische Architektur, with three editions. He is decorated with the Austrian ‘Cross of Honor for Arts and Sciences, 1st Class’ and received a gold medal at the 1987 4th World Biennale of Architecture.

Prof. Schmid continues as an active contributor to research and educational design in the architecture and planning industry, specializing in sustainable architecture, teamwork according to Method Holistic Participation and peace garden design. He is president of the Global Network of Organizations for Environmentally Conscious and Healthy Buildings and chairman of the Eindhoven Peace Centre Foundation

Dr. Lee Klinger
Dr. Lee Klinger
United States

Dr. Lee Klinger is an independent scientist living in Big Sur, California. Since 2005 he has served as director of Sudden Oak Life, a movement aimed at using ecologically-minded techniques to address the problem of oak mortality in California and elsewhere. In this role he strives to balance his activities between research, education, and practice of tree and soil science.

Dr. Klinger has over 30 years of academic experience in the environmental sciences and has held scholarly appointments at the National Center for Atmospheric Research, the University of Colorado, the University of Oxford, and the Chinese Academy of Sciences. He has led numerous scientific field campaigns in the continental US, Alaska, Canada, Africa, and China, and has published over 50 peer-reviewed papers and book chapters in the fields of plant ecology, soil science, atmospheric chemistry, Gaia theory, and complexity.

Much of Dr. Klinger’s academic focus has been in the science of Gaia. He has taught courses on Gaia theory at the University of Colorado and at Naropa University, and from 1996 to 2000 served as Vice-Chair of the Gaia Society, now the Earth Systems Science Special Interest Group of the Geological Society of London.

Dr. Klinger also serves on the board of Teleosis Institute, a non-profit organization devoted to developing effective, sustainable health care provided by professionals who serve as environmental health stewards. He is also a Fellow of the Geological Society of London.

 

Ann Kindfield
Ann Kindfield

Dr. Ann Kindfield is an experienced university instructor, research scientist, assessment developer and evaluator. She has taught biology, genetics and various science education courses, including work with pre-service secondary science teachers, at UC Berkeley, Montclair State University, and Vanderbilt University. She also has extensive experience in K-16 science assessment R&D in academic settings and at the Educational Testing Service, has conducted research on elementary science and secondary biology teaching and learning. In addition, she has served on advisory panels and as the evaluator for a number of science education research projects. Throughout her career, Ann has focused on the role that representations play in learning and reasoning.

Ann and her family moved to The Farm in Sumertown, TN in 2004 where she has been delighted to teach her daughter and daughter's friends math a the The Farm School, work with her husband Peter (the Farm School principal), and continue her career as a science educator, primarily as a consultant. It was at The Farm that she was introduced to Gaia University, resonating with its alternative approach to higher education and recognition of non-traditional life paths.