I am a modeler scientist at CIRAD. As member of the Green Research Unit, I contribute to promote the Companion Modeling approach (http://www.commod.org). Through the development of CORMAS, a Framework for Agent-Based Models (http://cormas.cirad.fr), I have been focusing on the development and the use of multi-agent simulations for renewable resource management issues. I have been based several years in Brazil, at the University of Brasilia and at the PUC-Rio University, until 2014. I developed models related to environmental management, such as breeding adaptation to drought in the Uruguay or as breeding and deforestation in the Amazon. I am currently based in Costa Rica, firstly at the University of Costa Rica working on adaptation of agriculture and livestock to Climate Changes, and now at CATIE, working on coffe rust.

Dr. Lilian Alessa, University of Idaho President’s Professor of Resilient Landscapes in the Landscape Architecture program, is also Co-Director of the University of Idaho Center for Resilient Communities. She conducts extensive research on human adaptation to environmental change through resilient design at landscape scales. Much of her work is funded by the National Science Foundation, including projects awarded the Arctic Observing Network, Intersections of Food, Energy and Water Systems (INFEWS) and the Dynamics of Coupled Natural Human Systems programs. Canadian-born and raised, Alessa received her degrees from the University of British Columbia. She also uses her expertise in social-ecological and technological systems science to develop ways to improve domestic resource security for community well-being, particularly through the incorporation of place-based knowledge. Her work through the Department of Homeland Security’s Center of Excellence, the Arctic Domain Awareness Center, involves developing social-technological methods to monitor and respond to critical environmental changes. Lil is a member of the National Science Foundation’s Advisory Committee for Environmental Research and Education and is on the Science, Technology and Education Advisory Committee for the National Ecological Observing Network (NEON). Professor Alessa also teaches a university landscape architecture capstone course: Resilient Landscapes with Professor Andrew Kliskey. Professor Alessa’s collaborative grant activity with Professor Andrew Kliskey, since coming to the university in 2013, exceeds 7 million USD to date. She has authored over a 100 publications and reports and has led the development of 2 federal climate resilience toolbox assessments, the Arctic Water Resources Vulnerability Index (AWRVI) and the Arctic Adaptation Exchange Portal (AAEP).