Alexander (Sascha) Petersen (he/him)
Founder and Director

Sascha has been working specifically on climate change for more than 15 years. He has partnered with, and has led dozens of projects with western municipalities and Tribal communities, Governments, and organizations. He has also helped develop field-wide resources such as a Tribal Climate Change Adaptation Guidebook and a private sector focused climate change academy.

He was the first managing director of the American Society of Adaptation Professionals, a Lead Author for the Great Plains Region (2014 and 2023) and Pacific Northwest Region (2018) of the National Climate Assessment (2014). He enjoys working on the leading edge of climate resilience, building new partnerships, developing innovative solutions and digging into the realities of what it takes to make this work successful.

Sascha has a Bachelor's degree in physics from Pomona College and a Master's degree focusing on climate change science and policy from the University of Washington. Prior to working on climate change, he trained astronauts at the Johnson Space Center. When not working on climate change, Sascha enjoys having new adventures with his family and being reminded of his place in the universe by big nature.

sascha@adaptationinternational.com  

Liz Rohlich (she/her)
Founder and Owner

With experience working as a health care provider in different parts of the world, Liz is concerned with how climate change will affect human health. She supported our project working with the Yurok Tribe to assess the health impacts of climate change and has a particular affinity for working with low-income and underserved segments of communities that are likely the most vulnerable to climate change. 

She has worked in a small town clinical setting in Homer, Alaska and a large level-one trauma hospital in Austin, Texas. As a Peace Corps volunteer, she delivered vaccinations to communities in rural Bolivia, worked with local communities to grow their small businesses, and coordinated cross-country communication with volunteers. Liz's clinical and life experience can help communities design effective resilience strategies.

Liz is a Clinical Nurse Specialist with a Doctor in Nursing Practice, a Master in Nursing and a Bachelor’s degree in Economics from the University of Texas in Austin with a minor in Latin American Studies and Business administration.

liz@adaptationinternational.com

Teal Harrison (she/her)
Climate Resilience Specialist

Teal joined AI in 2020 and specializes in flood adaptation, community engagement, and coastal science. An advocate for equitable climate change adaptation, she currently works with municipalities and community members in the Gulf Coast Region to assess climate risk and proactively plan for future storms, floods, and coastal hazards. Teal led the engagement team who worked with 54 small and mid-sized communities in the Gulf South to complete a locally led stormwater vulnerability assessment as part of the Floodwise Communities project.

Teal has worked in advocacy, outreach, and research capacities on regional flood planning, nature-based solutions to flooding, equitable disaster recovery, nonpoint source pollution, water quality stewardship, and food justice in the Gulf Coast and Great Lakes Regions. 

Trained in both social and natural sciences, Teal holds a B.A. in Behavioral Biology from Johns Hopkins University and a M.S. in Ecology and Evolutionary Biology from the University of Michigan.

tealharrison@adaptationinternational.com

Dr. Cassandra Jean (they/she)
Climate Resilience Specialist

With over ten years of experience working with historically marginalized and underrepresented individuals and communities, Cassandra’s (they/she) work examines behavioral risk perceptions of extreme hazards and environmental justice events, community development and adaptation needs, and opportunities for building youth and community engagement. As a researcher and practitioner, their motivations lie in the intersection of collaboration, social justice, truth, and collectivity to promote equitable services, practices, and policies.

Before working with Adaptation International, she worked on projects with the Washington, D.C. National Park Service, AARP, the NOAA Cooperative Center for Atmospheric Sciences and Meteorology at Howard University, the Bill Anderson Fund, and the New York Department of Education, Office of Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion. Academically, Cassandra has earned a Bachelor's in Criminal Justice from Adelphi University, a Master's in Public Policy and Administration, a Ph.D. in Sociology and Criminology at Howard University, and held a postdoctoral scholar position at the University of Washington, School of Public Health.

cassandra@adaptationinternational.com

Celine Rendon(she/her)
Climate Resilience Specialist

Celine has been deeply involved in sustainability and environmental planning efforts, anchoring her background knowledge in environmental science and experience in grassroots environmental justice efforts. With Adaptation International, she is currently leading our partnership with historically underserved communities bringing an equity first approach to climate resilience collaborations.

Working with various community groups and city municipalities, she spearheaded community engagement and climate planning efforts focused on racial equity, sustainability education, and strategy development. Initiatives she helped drive include Austin’s 2021 Climate Equity Plan, the Austin Youth Climate Equity Council, and the City of San Antonio’s Mayor’s Youth Engagement Council. As a student, Celine conducted research and engagement focusing on the environmental, economic, health, and cultural impacts of land use and community development with PODER in addition to the City of Austin’s early foundations of resilience planning. Celine holds a BS in Environmental Science and a Bridging Disciplines certificate in Public Policy from the University of Texas at Austin.

celine@adaptationinternational.com

Dr. Trevor Even (he/him)
GIS and Spatial Analyst Lead

Trevor is an applied researcher focusing on issues of how humans and environments interact, and how we as a global society can learn to manage these interactions in ways that ensure long-term social and ecological sustainability. He is a spatial data and systems vulnerability analysis expert and interdisciplinary social scientist. Trevor’s previous work has included assessing community recovery from natural disaster and the vulnerability of land-based livelihoods (such as ranching, outdoor recreation, and farming) to changes in climate. His dissertation work blended anthropological, geographic, climate, and ecosystem science to investigate how different value systems, technologies, ways of understanding nature, and modes of resource governance shape water security and sustainability at the hydrological basin scale in Colorado. 

Trevor has his Bachelor’s and Master’s Degrees in Cultural Anthropology and Ph.D. in Human-Environment Interactions Ecology at Colorado State University, where he worked on projects housed in the Department of Anthropology & Geography, the Natural Resource Ecology Laboratory, and the North Central Climate Adaptation Science Center. In 2018 he was named as a Sustainability Leadership Fellow by the School of Global Environmental Sustainability.

trevoreven@adaptationinternational.com

Damon Coppola (he/him) Hazard Mitigation Lead

Damon is an accomplished emergency management systems engineer. He has guided the development of programs and policy from the most local communities to the national government level in countries throughout the Americas, Europe, Asia, and the Pacific, as well as for regional and international organizations including the United Nations and the World Bank. For Adaptation International he has pioneered the development of a values based and culturally sensitive risk assessment process for hazard mitigation planning with Tribal communities. He also provides programmatic and planning assistance to major private-sector clients, nonprofit organizations, and academic institutions, including enterprise risk management and private sector involvement in disasters.

Mr. Coppola is a recognized specialist in emergency management training and education, having developed and co-developed higher education and professional training programs for the FEMA Emergency Management Institute and for the Department of Homeland Security National Training and Education Division.

Damon holds a Master of Engineering Management (MEM) in Crisis, Emergency, and Risk Management from George Washington University.

Keith Williams (he/him) Spatial Analysis and Equity Support

Keith is a climate resilience and equity consultant and awarded educator based at Wageningen University in the Netherlands where he coordinates several programs in the Earth Systems and Global Change research group. Keith is an advocate for equity in climate adaptation and supervises research at several universities in the Netherlands on indigenous responses to climate change, equity in the climate movement, and coastal resilience.

 Beyond his teaching experience, Keith's career has been very diverse. He has worked in the field as an AmeriCorps volunteer managing land, rivers, dams, and endangered species for the US Bureau of Reclamation; supported disaster resilience programs for the American Red Cross; consulted as a sustainability expert for cities and provinces in the Netherlands; and spent a decade facilitating and training facilitators for UN Habitat and Erasmus+ funded programs between participants in the US, EU and MENA regions.

 Keith holds a Bachelor’s degree from California State University at Monterey Bay in global politics and economics and a Master’s degree in Sustainability Science & Policy from Maastricht University. He seeks to bridge the gap between science and policy in all his work.

Sophia Kestell Amaya (she/her) Climate Resilience Intern

Sophia is an undergraduate student at Claremont McKenna College, where she is majoring in Environment, Economics & Policies (EEP) with a sequence in Film Studies.

She is deeply passionate about using the power of storytelling to raise awareness of environmental issues and inspire action. She has previously interned at the Smithsonian National Zoo and Conservation Biology Institute’s Communications Department and Friends of Alemany Farms (FOAF). At Adaptation International, Sophia has worked on graphic design for various projects and designed a series of icons to help weave together Traditional Knowledge with western sectors. She is extremely excited to collaborate with the AI Team on a variety of projects as part of her internship.