Speaker Biography: Mary Rowen

Dr. Mary Rowen is the Wildlife and Biodiversity Advisor in USAID's Bureau for Economic Growth, Agriculture and Trade. Her areas of expertise include wildlife ecology, dryland management, and transboundary/landscape scale conservation. Dr. Mary Rowen received a Doctor of Forestry and Environmental Studies from Yale University's School of Forestry and Environmental Studies for her work on Grevy's zea in northern Kenya. As a post-doctoral fellow with Jacob Blaustein Institute for Desert Research, Ben-Gurion University of the Negev, Israel, she conducted research on a reintroduced population of Asiatic ass. Dr. Rowen began working with USAID in 1997 as an AAAS Science and Diplomacy Fellow after which she remained with the Agency as a technical advisor. Dr. Rowen's work currently includes managing cooperative agreements with conservation organizations, participating on US Delegations for the UN Conventions on Biological Diversity and Combating Desertification, and providing technical support on conservation and natural resource management planning.