ALEXANDRA G. PONETTE -GONZÁLEZ

							                          ALEXANDRA G. PONETTE-GONZÁLEZ
                       Department of Geography and the Environment
                                 University of Texas at Austin
                          c/o Damschen Lab, Department of Biology
                    Washington University in St. Louis, 1 Brookings Drive
                            Campus Box 1137, St. Louis, MO 63130
                  E-mail: alexandra.ponette@gmail.com, Tel: (512) 799-5877
                                Last updated August 24, 2009


RESEARCH INTERESTS
Understanding how past and present land-use activities alter the structure and function of tropical
ecosystems, interact and feedback with climatic variability and policy to shape landscapes and
regions. Identifying, targeting and prioritizing mountain watersheds for ecosystem services.

EDUCATION
2002-2009      Ph.D., Yale School of Forestry & Environmental Studies, New Haven, CT.
               Lisa M. Curran & Kathleen C. Weathers, advisors. Dissertation: “Land Cover
               Effects on Water Fluxes and Atmospheric Deposition across a Mexican
               Tropical Montane Landscape”. Subject Area: Ecosystem ecology

2000-2002      M.A., Department of Geography, University of Texas at Austin, Austin, TX.
               William E. Doolittle, advisor. Thesis: “Living on the Margin: An economic
               analysis of traditional shade coffee cultivation by the Huastec Maya of
               northeastern Mexico”. Subject Area: Geography. Disciplinary minor:
               Anthropology.

1993-1997      B.A., United States International University, Mexico City, Mexico. Subject Area:
               Psychology. Disciplinary minor: Environmental science. Honors: Magna Cum
               Laude.

PROFESSIONAL EMPLOYMENT
2009-2011      National Science Foundation Minority Postdoctoral Research Fellow, Department
               of Geography and the Environment, University of Texas at Austin, Austin, TX.
               Kenneth R. Young, advisor. Research: “Pattern and process of tree invasion
               and establishment in high-elevation tropical grasslands: land use legacies and
               forest recovery in the equatorial Andes”. September 1, 2009-August 31, 2011.

2004-present Language Staff Coordinator, Antarctic Treaty Consultative Meeting.
             - Spanish-English translation, coordination of interpretation/translation staff.

2003-2004      Teaching Fellow for “Conservation and Development in Amazonia” and “Species
               and Ecosystem Conservation”, Yale School of Forestry & Environmental Studies.
               - Coordinated and led discussion sections.



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2000-2002     Teaching Assistant for “Introduction to Physical Geography” and “Introduction to
              Human Geography”, Department of Geography, University of Texas at Austin.
              - Coordinated and led discussion sections.

2002          Summer Graduate Research Assistant for Dr. Rodrigo Sierra, Department of
              Geography, University of Texas at Austin.
              - Assisted in land use/land cover mapping and evaluation of household resource
              use in the Achuar territory, Ecuadorian Amazon.

1999-2000     Coordinator of Media Relations and Grant Writer, Sierra Gorda Ecological
              Group, Querétaro, Mexico.
              - Coordinated fund-raising activities and worked with media to broaden public
              support for environmental and community development programs.

1998-1999     Intern at Center for World Indigenous Studies, Jalisco, Mexico.
              - Conducted ethnobotanical research and worked with local women to map and
              document the use of local flora for medicinal purposes.

1996          Intern at the Mexican Center of Environmental Law (CEMDA), Mexico City,
              Mexico.
              - Assisted in the elaboration of environmental education booklets.

RESEARCH PUBLICATIONS
Ponette-González, A.G., K.C. Weathers, and L.M. Curran. In press. Water inputs across a
      tropical montane landscape in Veracruz, Mexico: synergistic effects of land cover, rain
      and fog seasonality, and interannual precipitation variability. Global Change Biology
      (Early view), doi: 10.1111/j.1365-2486.2009.01985.x.

Ponette-González, A.G., K.C. Weathers, and L.M. Curran. Tropical land-cover change alters
      spatial patterns of ion fluxes to canopies and soils: evidence from a human-modified
      mountain landscape in eastern Mexico. Ecological Applications (In review).

Ponette-González, A.G., L.M. Curran, and K.C. Weathers. In preparation. From the ground up:
      Use of empirical assessments to identify key watershed services across Mexican mosaic
      montane landscapes. For submission to Global Environmental Change.

Ponette-González, A.G. 2007. 2001: A household analysis of Huastec Maya agriculture and
      land use at the height of the coffee crisis. Human Ecology 35: 289-301.

NON-PEER-REVIEWED PUBLICATIONS
Weathers, K.C., A.E. Elliott, and A.G. Ponette- González. 2008. North American Wet
      Deposition Mapping Project Final Report. Commission for Environmental Cooperation,
      Montreal, Canada.




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Ponette, A. 2004. Coffee, Cattle, and Colonialism: Historical effects of markets and agricultural
       policies on cloud forests in central Veracruz, Mexico. Tropical Resources Institute
       Bulletin 23: 37-44.

RESEARCH PRESENTATIONS
“Water, nutrient, and pollutant inputs to a complex mountain watershed in Mexico”. Research
      to be presented at Colloquium series, Department of Geography and the Environment,
      University of Texas, Austin, TX, 2 October 2009.

“Synergistic effects of land cover type, rain and fog seasonality, and climatic extremes on water
      inputs to a tropical mountain landscape in eastern Mexico”. Paper presented at the 2nd
      International Conference on Forests and Water in a Changing Environment, Raleigh, NC,
      14-16 September 2009.

“Ecosystem and biodiversity response to climate change in the Andes”. Invited speaker,
      International workshop “Adapting to a world without glaciers: realities, challenges and
      actions”, Lima, Peru, 8 July 2009.

“Land cover, rain and fog seasonality, and interannual precipitation variability alter water inputs
       across a tropical montane landscape in Veracruz, Mexico”. Paper presented at the
       Conference of Latin Americanist Geographers Meeting, Granada, Nicaragua, 7-9 January
       2009.

“Environmental conservation across a human-modified tropical montane landscape in central
       Veracruz, Mexico”. Invited speaker, Applied Biodiversity Seminar Series, Texas A&M
       University, College Station, TX, 6 October 2008.

“Land use change effects on water fluxes and atmospheric deposition across a Mexican
      tropical montane landscape”. Dissertation research presented at the NASA Graduate
      Student Researchers Program Symposium, Greenbelt, MD, 24-26 September 2008.

“Spatiotemporal effects of land use/land cover type on water and atmospheric inputs across a
       Mexican tropical montane landscape”. Poster presented at the Association of American
       Geographers Meeting, Boston, MA, 15-19 April 2008.

“Spatial and temporal effects of land cover type on water atmospheric inputs across a tropical
       montane landscape”. Poster presented at the NASA Graduate Student Researchers
       Program Symposium, Greenbelt, MD, 19-21 September 2007.

“Coffee, cattle, and cloud forests: Land cover effects on rain and fog water fluxes across a
       human-inhabited landscape”. Poster presented at the Ecological Society of America
       Meeting, Mérida, Yucatán, MX, 9-12 January 2006.

“Land cover effects on water fluxes and atmospheric deposition across a Mexican tropical
       montane landscape”. Research presented at the Conference of Latin Americanist
       Geographers Meeting, Morelia, Michoacán, MX, 26-28 October 2005.


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“Costs and benefits of Huastec coffee cultivation: role of land availability in household
       economic decisions”. Paper presented at the Association of American Geographers
       Centennial Meeting, Philadelphia, PA, 14-19 March 2004.

“Shade coffee plantations: Are they economically sustainable?” Paper presented at the
      Southwestern Division of the Association of American Geographers Meeting, Ft. Worth,
      TX, 14-17 November 2001.

ACADEMIC AWARDS & FELLOWSHIPS
2009          Geo-Informatics and Space Technology Development Agency. “Spatial patterns
              of tropical montane forest cover across national park boundaries in the northern
              Peruvian Andes”. THEOS satellite image data grant.

2009          LPDAAC, “Land Cover Effects on Water Fluxes and Atmospheric Deposition
              across a Mexican Tropical Montane Landscape”. ASTER data grant.

2009-2011     National Science Foundation Minority Postdoctoral Research Fellowship,
              $120,000.

2006-2009     National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) Graduate Student
              Research Fellowship (NNX07AK37H), Goddard Space Flight Center, $84,000.

2006-2008     National Science Foundation Doctoral Dissertation Improvement Grant (DEB-
              0608184), $12,000.

2005          U.S. Department of Education Fulbright-Hayes Doctoral Dissertation Research
              Award (P022A050039), $17,334.

2005          Compton Foundation Research Fellowship, $10,000.

2004          Smithsonian Institution Conservation GIS Fellowship.

2004          Yale Institute of Biospheric Studies Research Fellowship, $5,000.

2003-2004     Ford Foundation Predoctoral Diversity Fellowship, $54,000.

2003          Yale Institute of Biospheric Studies Field Ecology Award, $300.

2003, 2001    Tinker Foundation Field Research Grant, $1,500.

2003          Yale Tropical Resources Institute Research Fellowship, $2,500.

2002-2009     Yale School of Forestry and Environmental Studies Graduate School Fellowship.

2002, 2001    University of Texas International Education Fee Scholarship, $600.


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2002          University of Texas COLA/LLILAS Field Research Grant, $630.

2001          University of Texas E.D. Farmer Fellowship, $6,000.

2000          University of Texas Donald D. Brand Predissertation Fellowship, $1,000.

2000-2002     McArthur-Hewlett-Ford Foundation Graduate Fellowship in the Social
              Sciences, $10,800.

CONFERENCES ATTENDED
Association of American Geographers Meeting, Las Vegas, Nevada, 22-27 March 2009.

Association of Tropical Biology Meeting, Morelia, Michoacán, MX, 15-19 July 2007.

Conference of Latin Americanist Geographers Meeting, Colorado Springs, Colorado, 31 May-3
      June 2007.

First Annual Congress of the Mexican Ecological Scientific Society, Morelia, Michoacán, MX,
       26-30 November 2006.

Ecological Society of America’s 88th Annual Meeting, Workshop “The Role of Scientists in the
       International Coffee Crisis”, Savannah, Georgia, 3 August 2003.

COURSES ATTENDED
Biogeochemistry (audit), Washington University, St. Louis, Missouri, 13 January-16 April 2009.

Fundamentals of Ecosystem Ecology, Institute of Ecosystem Studies, Millbrook, New York, 3-
      13 January 2007.

Introduction to Meteorology (audit), University of Texas at Austin, Texas, 30 August-13
       September 2007.

Conservation Geographic Information Systems Spanish Language Course for Latino and Latino-
      Americans, Smithsonian Conservation Research Center, Front Royal, Virginia, 27
      August-8 September 2004.

Tropical Field Botany, Costa Rica, 8-15 March 2004.

Conservation and Development in Amazonia Field Course, Brazil, 27 April-8 May 2003.

SPSS Basics and Beyond, University of Texas at Austin, 6 June 2002.




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SYNERGISTIC ACTIVITIES
2009           The Global Observation Research Initiative in Alpine Environments (GLORIA),
               Río Abiseo National Park, Peru.

2009           Interdisciplinary collaborative research in Río Abiseo National Park, Peru, with
               Kenneth Young (Geography & the Environment, UT Austin), Mariella Leo
               (Peruvian Association for the Conservation of Nature, APECO), Matthew Fry
               (Anthropology, Washington University), Blanca León (UT Austin), and José
               Roque (Natural History Museum, Peru).

2009           Collaborative research with Maria Uriarte (Columbia University), Kathleen
               Weathers (Cary Institute of Ecosystem Studies), and Christian Little (University
               of Valdivia), and also with Lisa Curran (Stanford University), to examine the
               effects of land-use change on nutrient/pollutant fluxes in southern Chile and
               Borneo, respectively.

2009           Member of the Society for Advancement of Chicanos and Native
               Americans in Science (SACNAS) and MentorNET (one-on-one mentoring to
               minority students)

2009           Member Association for Women in Science, St. Louis chapter.

2005-present Adhoc reviewer for SACNAS, Association of American Geographers Latin
             American Specialty Group, National Science Foundation, and The Southwestern
             Geographer.

2006-2008      Secretary, Ecological Society of America Mexico Chapter.

2004           Conference Organizer, 20th Annual Doctoral Student Conference, Yale School of
               Forestry and Environmental Studies, New Haven, Connecticut.

1996           Conference Organizer, Environmental Forum, United States International
               University.

PROFESSIONAL AFFILIATIONS
2005-present           Conference of Latin Americanist Geographers
2005-present           Ecological Society of America
2000-present           Association of American Geographers
2006-2008              Sociedad Científica de Ecología Mexicana

LANGUAGES
Spanish (bilingual from birth) - fluent in speaking, reading, and writing
French – fluent in speaking, intermediate reading and writing skills



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