Mia Rose Maltz -- Co-Founder, Board Member

Mia studied at the University of California, Irvine where she received her Ph.D. in Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, with an emphasis on Ecological Restoration and Fungi. Her dissertation work in Kathleen Treseder’s Lab of Fungi, Ecosystems, and Global Change looked at the effects of habitat fragmentation on fungal community composition and function. For her dissertation research, she investigated whether restoration techniques affect fungi and she evaluated the efficacy of methods for restoring mycorrhizal fungal function within degraded landscapes. Mia is interested in how microbes mediate important biogeochemical reactions relevant to global change studies. She previously taught undergraduate Ecology Lecture and Lab and the Biology Capstone course entitled: Underground Currencies: Plant and Microbial Exchange at Chapman University’s Schmid College of Science and Technology. She is also a postdoctoral scholar at UC Riverside, co-advised by the Aronson and Allen labs. In Emma Aronson’s Lab, she explores microbial biogeochemical reactions within the Southern Sierra Critical Zone Observatory. Through UCR’s Center for Conservation Biology, she has been collaborating with Edie Allen and Mike Allen to investigate the potential for smut fungi to control invasive brome grasses. Mia currently collaborates with Sydney Glassman's fungal ecology lab to investigate the effects of catastrophic wildfires on microbial community composition and function.

Maya Elson -- Executive Director, Board Member
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Maya is a teacher, naturalist, mycologist, organizer and lover of the wild. As the Executive Director of CoRenewal and Amazon Mycorenewal Project, she is dedicated to enacting effective and just solutions to environmental and social crises. She holds a Bachelor of Arts degree in Environmental Studies from The Evergreen State College. As one of the founding members of the Radical Mycology network, she’s worked on various fungal cultivation and educational projects in Olympia, WA and the San Francisco Bay area. She’s worked as a campaign organizer with a number of climate justice and wilderness defense struggles over many years. Maya is the founder and a guide for Wild Child Santa Cruz, a nature immersion program for homeschoolers. As an instructor of Mycopermaculture, Fungal Biology, Mycorenewal and Mushroom Identification for both adults and children, she has experience writing curriculum and giving mycology-related workshops. She is available for giving workshops and consultations. 

Jacquelyn Burmeister -- Finance Director

Jacquelyn has recently received her MBA and an M.S. in Environmental Science and Policy from Clark University, and has a passion for working on sustainable community development projects both domestically and internationally.  She received her B.S. in Biology from Duke University, where she studied soil biogeochemistry and went on to work as a technician in limnology, marine biotechnology and herpetology laboratories. Jacquelyn has worked throughout Central and South America on projects ranging from protected areas management and water infrastructure to waste management and microfinance.  In 2015 Jacquelyn spent five months working with the Amazon Mycorenewal Project in Ecuador. There, she worked with the Program Manager to develop organizational structures and establish local contacts, as well as initiate a feasibility assessment for establishing a network of mushroom cultivators for environmental remediation and economic development.

Danielle Stevenson  -- Board Member
Danielle is an applied mycologist and the founder of D.I.Y. Fungi, which offers education and mushroom cultures to help people of all ages grow mushrooms for food, medicine, and earth renewal. Through D.I.Y Fungi, and her diverse work as a food systems consultant and community organizer, Danielle develops projects which build community capacity to address interconnected environmental problems of waste and soil and water pollution, especially where they interact with food systems, ecological systems and community well-being. Currently these include ‘Healing City Soils’- a soil science literacy project which provides free heavy metal testing for farmers and gardeners, and several low-tech, accessible myco-remediation protocols to address specific toxic waste products in partnership with colleges, businesses, and townships. She is a board member of CoRenewal, and other efforts to incorporate fungi into food security and remediation programs in North America and around the world, including South Africa and a food waste to myco-protein project at UC Riverside through the Global Food Initiative. Danielle is currently a PhD Student in Environmental Toxicology at University of California, Riverside as part of the Soil Biogeochemistry Group, where she studies how arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi can inhibit heavy metal uptake into food crops. She is also fundraising chair for the Association for Women in Science (Riverside Chapter), a Foundation for Food and Agriculture Fellow, a Global Food Initiative fellow, an EDGE institute award recipient, and a previous Public Lab Community Soil Science Fellow.

Athena Vescott holds a B.A. in Cultural and Linguistic Anthropology with a minor in Appropriate Technology from Humboldt State University where she took the Graduation Pledge of Social and Environmental Responsibility. In August 2018, Athena completed the Advanced Mycorenewal Course through CoRenewal in Wingdale New York. She is dedicated to provide education and research opportunities in ecosystem restoration, health and healing, and sustainable community dynamics. She has involved herself in the local fungal community as she volunteers with the Bay Area Applied Mycology group on mycoremediation projects. Her current role is a workforce and youth program coordinator with Manufacture: San Jose. In this role, she coordinates with workforce partners to provide a strong workforce to our San Jose manufacturers; helping people who have overcome barriers to employment get employed. Her strengths involve community outreach, social media content, grant reviewal, and developing volunteer engagement. ​

Sarah Phillips -- Board Member

Sarah is a CoRenewal Board Member who received a degree in Environmental Studies & Planning: Restoration & Conservation with a minor in Biology from Sonoma State University in 2009. Soon after graduation, Sarah traveled to Ecuador with AMP (Amazon Mycorenewal Project) to help instruct students and volunteers on experimental design in addition to explore the vegetation among the oil pits in curiosity of the potential for phytoremediation. In daily practice, Sarah works as the Urban Streams Program Manager in Marin County and is charged to; facilitate streamlined permitting approaches to restoration, educate the public on the value of habitat rehabilitation, execute the implementation of restoration projects in the county and manage projects around salmonid habitat enhancement. Sarah has years of experience around fostering collaborative processes, grant writing, project management, volunteer recruitment and management, facilitation, public speaking, education, permit compliance and native plant nursery management. From California's diverse ecosystems to Ecuador, Sarah is thrilled to assist and support habitat rehabilitation and community involvement every step of the way. 

Brendan O'Brien -- Board Member
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Brendan is a CoRenewal Board Member and a graduate student at The
University of Vermont’s Rubenstein School of Environment and Natural Resources. Brendan is interested in soil and aquatic ecology, biogeochemistry, nutrient cycling, and applied mycology.  His research focuses on decomposition of organic wastes and how application of fertilizer products may affect native soil microbial communities and water quality.  His work also investigates experimental methods designed to integrate fungi into waste management and resource recovery practices. Brendan earned a Bachelor’s of Science degree from The Evergreen State College in 2008, where he focused on environmental analysis and water quality. In 2012 Brendan ventured to the Bolivian Amazon as part of a fungal biodiversity survey, where he developed a deep affinity for the region’s astounding biological and cultural diversity. Brendan is excited to work closely with CoRenewal to remediate petroleum contamination in Ecuador, and to engage local stewards in research that promotes soil health and water quality.