Jane Zelikova, PhD
Science Advisor
Soil Carbon + Biodiversity
Meet our world-class science team
Our scientists will guide your organization to achieve its climate goals with the right carbon management program.
Dr. Jane Zelikova is a Carbon Direct science advisor, contributing her expertise in soil science, ecology, and environmental justice.
Dr. Zelikova works with other members of the science and broader Carbon Direct team to review the scientific merits of carbon removal projects, to develop our climate justice initiative, and to broadly support all our work streams.
Background & Bio
Dr. Zelikova received her PhD from the University of Colorado and has worked across academia, government, and non-profit organizations to address climate change, from fundamental science to application and the development of climate solutions.
Dr. Zelikova is also the founder of 500 Women Scientists, a global non-profit organization working to make science open, inclusive, and accessible. In addition, she is a filmmaker and founder of Hey Girl Productions as well as a contributor to the climate anthology “All We Can Save.”
Education
B.S.
University of Georgia
PhD
University of Colorado
Awards
Grist Fixer 2017, 2018
Grist 50
Bitch Media Bitch 50, 2018
Bitch Media
TED speaker, 2021
TED Talks
Dr. Letty Brown is a Science Advisor for forest management.
Background & Bio
Dr. Brown is a forest scientist with formal training in ecology, carbon measurement, reforestation, conservation planning, and nature-based solutions to climate change. She has worked on land-based carbon projects for approximately 9 years in the forests of Cambodia, Indonesia, Kenya, Brazil, Costa Rica, Colombia, Ecuador, Guatemala, Peru, and the US. Dr. Brown holds a Ph.D. from the Environmental Science, Policy, and Management (ESPM) Department at UC Berkeley and conducted post-doctoral work in Brazil. Dr. Brown currently teaches at UC Berkeley. She is also a Fulbright Scholar.
Dr. Brown currently works on the land-based sequestration projects seeking credit for emission reductions and removals, in California and abroad, through reforestation, avoided deforestation and forest degradation, improved land management, and climate-smart agriculture.
Education
PhD, Environmental Science, Policy, and Management
UC Berkeley
MS, Environmental Science, Policy, and Management
UC Berkeley
BS, Biology
UC San Diego
Awards
Fulbright Scholar
Fulbright Program
Dr. Matthew Potts leads Carbon Direct’s international science team in their work on decarbonizing the global economy.
Specifically, Dr. Potts helps clients assess high quality carbon removal from managed landscapes and works to ensure climate actions are just and equitable. He also works closely with Carbon Direct’s technology team to integrate science, software and product.
Background & Bio
Dr. Potts draws on his interdisciplinary background with formal training in mathematics, ecology, and economics to inform his work in nature and community based climate solutions.
Dr. Potts has over two decades of experience in resource management issues in low- and middle-income countries. Though currently on leave from UC Berkeley, this expertise supports his work as the S.J. Hall Professor in Forest Economics at the Department of Environmental Science, Policy, & Management and as the Associate Director for Sustainable Development, Blum Center for Developing Economies, where he leads an interdisciplinary lab that focuses on the co-production by human and natural systems of ecosystem services and natural pathways for carbon sequestration.
Dr. Potts recently served as a coordinating lead author on the Intergovernmental Platform on Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services Land Degradation and Restoration Assessment.
Education
Ph.D. Applied Mathematics 2001
Harvard University
A.M. Applied Mathematics 1999
Harvard University
B.S. Mathematics 1996
University of Michigan
Awards
NRT-AI: Digital Transformation of Development (DToD), $3,000,000 (2021-2026)
US National Science Foundation
INCLUDES Alliance: Broadening Career Pathways in Food, Energy, and Water Systems with and within Native American Communities (Native FEWS Alliance), $7,071,915 (2021-2026)
US National Science Foundation
Coordinating Lead Author, Intergovernmental Science-Policy Platform on Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services, Land Degradation and Restoration Assessment (2015-2018)
Publications and Features
Dr. Sarah Federman has cross-sector expertise in analytics, sustainability, and landscape resiliency.
She has a track record of building analytical approaches to understanding complex systems that drive equitable and climate-smart solutions to challenges facing humans and the environment.
Background & Bio
Combining passion with a deep technical knowledge of the patterns and processes underlying ecological dynamics, Dr. Federman contributed to Federal R&D Policy for landscape resiliency, agricultural innovation, and the circular carbon economy as a AAAS Science & Technology Policy Fellow with the USDA’s Office of the Chief Scientist. Subsequently, in private industry she led, developed, and implemented data-driven continuous improvement frameworks for sustainability strategy to enable responsible vertical scaling for Plenty, an indoor agricultural technology startup.
As a consultant, Dr. Federman developed educational materials for massive open online courses on plant biology for the Oak Spring Garden Foundation. She has additionally consulted for the Natural Resources Defense Council in Beijing on Sino-African illicit wildlife trafficking and Earth Justice on chemical pesticide use in New York State. Dr. Federman holds a Ph.D. from Yale University’s Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, a M.S. in forest science from the Yale School of the Environment, and a B.A. in Biology from Barnard College. Her graduate studies were supported by the National Science Foundation’s Graduate Student Research Fellowship Program. She has managed multilateral teams and collaborations in Peru, Madagascar, and Trinidad and Tobago.
Education
Ph.D.
Yale University’s Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology
M.S. in Forest Science
Yale School of the Environment
B.A. in Biology
Barnard College
