Team Adventure Scientists

Scott comes to Adventure Scientists from The GroundTruth Project, where he most recently served as Acting Director of Development. His prior experience includes The Nature Conservancy, where he worked with donors across the state of Florida and throughout the southeast. Before working in the conservation space, Scott spent years in the museum world, including serving as Executive Director of The History Center in Tompkins County (Ithaca, NY).

Scott’s career in the non-profit sector has included serving as a Governor’s Appointee to the New York State Path Through History initiative, as a panelist for the Philanthropy Roundtable, and on numerous state and federal grant review committees. Scott holds degrees from Old Dominion University and Dartmouth College.

In his spare time, he is a Dad to a very energetic kiddo and enjoys spending time with his family out among the scrub and oak hammocks of Central Florida, looking for gopher tortoises, Red-cockaded woodpeckers, and other species that make that part of the world special.

Jessica grew up in Crow Agency, MT. There she enjoyed wide open spaces, raising horses, and exploring the Pryor Mountains. After moving to Bozeman, MT, she began developing a love for science, ecology, and conservation.

This led her to the Bay Area in California, where she earned a Bachelor’s degree in Earth Systems from Stanford University. Missing the mountains, she returned to Bozeman, MT, to complete an M.S. in Ecology at Montana State University. She studied how mycorrhizal fungi can help native forbs, such as yarrow and blue flax, mediate the negative effects of climate change. 

Jessica now lives in Bozeman, where she enjoys taking her dogs to rivers, kayaking, cross-country skiing, and reading. 

Maris designs the online trainings for Adventure Scientist’s passionate volunteers. Maris grew up in the glacier-carved landscape of Upstate New York’s Finger Lakes region. There they hunted for arrowheads, raced bikes down the laneways of their family’s dairy farm, and learned about the flowers and vegetables grown by their mother.

That early immersion in the natural world set Maris on a path to share and inspire others to find meaning in the outdoors. They earned a Bachelor’s degree at Cornell University, focused on biology and writing, and attended the graduate program in science communication at the University of California, Santa Cruz. Maris spent eight years honing their skills as a freelance science journalist. Their writing and illustrations have appeared in Smithsonian Magazine, Nature, Scientific American, Western Confluence, and Spectrum News.
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Now in Bozeman, Maris loves to explore the backcountry on skis, hunt, fish, forage, garden, and play with their dog, Oliver.

Lydia grew up in the mountains of West Virginia, where she spent much of her time running around outdoors. She obtained a B.S. in Finance from West Virginia University and has built a career in business and financial analysis, product management, and consulting. She recently became a Virginia Master Naturalist to facilitate her career transition into conservation.

Outside work, she volunteers extensively by walking and training dogs and cats, building homes with Habitat for Humanity, teaching English, maintaining trails, removing invasive plants and planting native species, and much more. You can find her hiking, biking, kayaking, doing home renovations, or pet-sitting while traveling.

Ricky grew up in the central valley of California, often venturing up into the Sierra Nevadas where he eventually lived for two years before coming to Bozeman.

He volunteered as a nature docent at the Woodcreek Nature Center, and as an Earth Team Volunteer for the Natural Resource Conservation Service for two years. Ricky obtained a B.S from Montana State University in Soil and Water Sciences. Driven to take everything learned in school and apply it to the real world, Ricky was a volunteer for Adventure Scientists on the Gallatin Microplastic Project and Conserving Biodiversity Project.
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When not out collecting water samples or looking for butterflies, Ricky can be found wandering the trails near Bozeman or climbing in the local canyons.

Devynn grew up in Palmer, Alaska, on Dena’ina land. With a home nestled between the Chugach and Talkeetna mountain ranges, she spent most of her time outdoors, snowboarding, kayaking, and raising farm animals.

After receiving her B.A. in Sustainability Studies from Alaska Pacific University, her investigative research on the impact of leachate from municipal landfills led her to work in the state’s conservation sector. There, she served Alaska’s rural communities as an environmental specialist. She then went on to serve the state’s growing agriculture industry as a grant writer and coordinator for four years.

Now living in the Los Angeles area, Devynn is a proud slow hiker and finds joy in exploring California’s public lands, making art, and playing with her cat, Louise.

Pearl is a dedicated conduit of strategic team building and creative solutions who partners with CEOs, executives, and team leads to grow their personal and professional brands. She has more than 20 years of leadership experience and is an active board member on The Montana Racial Equity Project in Bozeman, Montana. 

Pearl was stationed in Point Mugu, CA, where she served in the Navy. She traveled internationally for work with Tomahawk Missile Systems before moving to Bozeman in 2012. Pearl’s passion for improving workplace environments and facilitating innovation led her to complete her B.A. in Organizational Communication at the University of Montana – Billings and an M.A. in Organizational Leadership at Gonzaga University, WA. Her skills in decision-making, global strategy, and group motivation allowed her to build and develop an internship program in 2020. It was later nominated for an outstanding achievement award in the DEI category, less than six months after launch. 

As a midwesterner, Pearl is an avid fan of the Green Bay Packers and the Chicago Bulls. When she’s not watching sports, find her at a track meet, on a mountain snowboarding, or at the soccer field.

Luis is a dedicated conservationist with robust negotiation skills, having conducted several challenging international policy processes from scratch to success. He is experienced in bringing a diversity of global, regional, and local institutions to the negotiation table including government agencies, multilateral and civil society organizations, academia, the private sector, and Indigenous and local communities among others.

Among his main achievements, Luis promoted the declaration of one of the largest Ramsar Sites, which are wetlands designated as areas of international importance. The “Llanos de Moxos” complex encompasses 7 million hectares. Luis personally led the Pantanal Declaration signed by Bolivia, Brazil, and Paraguay at the World Water Forum in 2018 and coordinated the preparation of the recently approved Pantanal GEF project with the three governments, the Inter-American Development Bank and UNEP.  

Luis works internationally to establish protected areas conservation, economics, management, and policy. As a member of global policy teams, Luis participated in and helped negotiations at United Nations conventions and processes including the Sustainable Development Goals, the Rio +20 conference, the Climate Convention, and IUCN congresses. Luis supported the global policy team at WWF, was part of the private-public partnership team, and a member of the Latin America and Caribbean policy cabinet.

Isabella grew up in Napa Valley attending a Spanish bilingual school and adventuring into the Sierra Nevada mountains to hunt and fish with her naturalist father. She interned with World Savvy and Ashoka, partnering social entrepreneurship in action with climate change education. In 2015, she moved to South-East Asia to attend the International School of Yangon in Myanmar. 

A fascination with ecology and life science led Isabella to earn a B.S. in Soil and Water Science at Montana State University. While in college Isabella worked at an entomology research lab focussed on integrated pest management as an important practice for sustainable farming. The pollinators and aphid-eating machines known as syrphids are her favorite terrestrial insect. 

Most commonly found fishing her favorite rivers and alpine lakes, Isabella also makes appearances on the ski hill and climbing trees to get a better view.

Lindsey Schwartz  is dedicated to building Adventure Scientists’ network of support so that the organization can increase its already significant impact during this critical time for our planet. Lindsey has spent her 30-year career with a variety of innovative and impactful foundations and nonprofits addressing education, public health, social justice issues and more. This includes the Johns Hopkins Center for Indigenous Health, DRK Foundation, Share Our Strength, Milagro Foundation and Eastside School. Lindsey loves helping people and institutions connect with meaningful ways to further their passion and interests.

Lindsey attended Colgate University where she was on the crew team and remains an active alum. She enjoys skiing and hiking anywhere/anytime she can and being on the ocean in her home state of Massachusetts. 

Jessica is a native Montanan who spent part of her childhood in Northern California, climbing redwoods and exploring the Sierra Nevada Mountains. Lured by beautiful peaks, big skies, and abundant recreation opportunities, her family later moved back to the Treasure State.

Her initial educational pursuits, along with a desire for travel and a love of art, brought her to Marbella, Spain were she studied interior design and architecture. She later worked as an interior designer for several years before deciding that her true passion is for the outdoors, conservation and environmentally focused work.

Never short on hobbies, Jessica spends her free time hiking and camping, cross-country skiing, sewing, gardening, or attempting to hone her watercolor skills.

​​Michelle oversees volunteer data collection for all Adventure Scientists projects. She works closely with volunteers to train, manage, and ensure that they’re having a blast in the field. Michelle holds a MS in in pollination ecology from Simon Fraser University in Vancouver, British Columbia. Her research focused on the effects of surrounding landscape and farming practices on wild pollinators and birds.

She began working on butterfly conservation in 2008, when she inventoried butterfly species in the North Cascades and Mt. Rainer National Parks. The study transitioned into a citizen science effort called the Cascades Butterfly Project and she worked as the Field Coordinator to train and manage volunteers. The North Cascades have been her most explored mountains, where she has conducted field work on owls, pikas, and butterflies.

Michelle loves trail running, mushroom hunting, and lives on a farm. She just completed running the Monarch Ultra, which followed the migration path of monarchs to central Mexico.

Gregg founded Adventure Scientists in 2011 with a strong passion for both scientific discovery and exploration.  

National Geographic named Gregg an Adventurer of the Year in 2008 when he and a friend completed a 7,800-mile trek along the spine of the Andes Mountain Range. He was included on the Christian Science Monitor’s 30 under 30 list in 2012, and the following year became a National Geographic Emerging Explorer for his work with Adventure Scientists. In 2013, he was named a Backpacker Magazine “hero”, in 2015, a Draper Richards Kaplan Entrepreneur and one of Men’s Journal’s “50 Most Adventurous Men.” In 2017, he was named an Ashoka Fellow and in 2018 one of the Grist 50 “Fixers.”  Gregg was named a Young Global Leader by the World Economic Forum in 2020 and is a member of their Global Futures Council on Sustainable Tourism. 

Gregg holds a biology degree from Montana State University and a sociology degree from CU-Boulder. He thru-hiked the Appalachian Trail in 2004.  

Lindsay left the Motor City for Big Sky Country to pursue her passion for conservation. She has worked across Montana conducting trail work, studying huckleberries, and collecting data on rivers and streams. She also worked as an educator and crew leader in Idaho, New England, Texas, Alaska, Utah and Mexico. Nothing brings her more joy than helping people develop relationships with the outdoors and become advocates for nature.

She earned her M.S. degree in Environmental Studies, with a certificate in Natural Resource Conflict Resolution, from University of Montana. In 2016, she was recognized as a Wyss Conservation Scholar for her work on community engagement in watershed health. In 2018, she became the Union of Concerned Scientists’ Science and Democracy Fellow for Montana.

Lindsay loves wandering through the woods following tracks, learning about edible plants, and playing in and on rivers. She’ll never pass up an opportunity to go backpacking – she loves seeing how far her feet can take her with all life’s essentials on her back.