The Guarini School of Graduate and Advanced Studies welcomes the new Graduate Student Communications Coordinator, Braden Elliott. Elliott is a PhD candidate in the Ecology, Evolution, Ecosystems, and Society (EEES) program at Dartmouth.
Elliott, who grew up in Bolivar, Missouri, completed his undergraduate studies in anthropology and music at Missouri State University. He went on to complete an MA in applied anthropology at Oregon State University. During his graduate studies in Oregon he worked in environmental impact assessment as an archaeological technician, and studied the link between indigenous cultural geography and the geographic distribution of a native food plant. His interest in working across the divide between the social and natural sciences next led him to study with Nicholas Reo, Associate Professor of Native American and Environmental Studies at Dartmouth.
“The EEES program demonstrates the promise of an interdisciplinary approach to defining and addressing complex problems in our changing world. As a young program within a young graduate school, it is well-positioned to merge a strong history in biological scholarship with a broad spectrum of other disciplinary insights to study the whole web of life on Earth—humans included,” Elliott said.
Elliott’s current research explores meadows in the Oregon Coast Range, seeking to understand how long they have existed within temperate rainforest and what keeps trees from growing in them. He actively collaborates with Tribal and Federal land managers in this work. In his new role as Graduate Communications Coordinator, he will collaborate with GRAD staff to produce writing, video, and social media engagement to represent GRAD and its accomplishments.
He looks forward to connecting with graduate students, postdoctoral fellows, and other advanced scholars in this role. While Elliott doesn’t have set plans for his path after graduation, he hopes to continue connecting knowledge systems and improving our understanding of out world through some combination of research, applications, and teaching.