Rebecca Goldman

Rebecca Goldman came to Stanford University from the University of Virginia where she graduated with distinction in 2003 with a double major in biology and environmental science with a membership in Phi Beta Kappa.  Prior to the University of Virginia, Rebecca lived and traveled for many years all over the world. Her father worked for the US Agency for International Development focusing on health and population. As a result, Rebecca was born in the Philippines and raised in Ecuador, Bangladesh, India and Jordan. Her travels and international lifestyle have influenced the path she took during her undergraduate as well as her current research interests.

At Stanford, she is combining her science background with economics, policy analysis, and institutional studies to research an effective way to market conservation strategies on working landscapes both in the United States and abroad. To do this, she is exploring current conservation incentives/projects, understanding their limitations, and suggesting possible improvements.  She researched and compared the mechanisms and tools used by the US Federal Government, The Nature Conservancy, and World Wildlife Fund to conserve biodiversity and ecosystem services on private landscapes in the US. She then expanded on the limitations of these programs by demonstrating the need for cross-boundary, cooperative conservation in which multiple landowners work together to promote ecosystem services at multiple scales. Most recently, she is interested in determining how conservation organizations are using ecosystem services in conservation efforts: what does it mean to take an ecosystem service approach, and where are these approaches applied successfully? 

Rebecca’s goal overall is to gain an understanding about means of enticing landowners to alter their land use to be more aligned with conservation goals and hence, to incorporate such strategies into effective, sustainable environmental policies.  Such a policy might need to include rewarding landowners for ecosystem services they provide others.  Ultimately, she sees herself in an international development career focusing on environmental policies for sustainable land use and land practices with a particular focus on conserving biodiversity and ecosystem services. 

Rebecca is a National Science Foundation Graduate Research Fellow as well as a 2006 Teresa Heinz Research Fellowship recipient. Outside of her research interests, Rebecca has a passion for traveling to, learning about, and exploring new countries and cultures. She loves being outdoors hiking, running, swimming, or walking.