Evelyn Strombom

Evelyn Strombom just started the third year in her Ph.D. in the Ecology, Evolution, and Behavior (EEB) department co-advised by Dr. Dave Tilman and Dr. Steve Polasky. She received her bachelor's in Biology and Latin American Studies from Swarthmore College in 2012. After graduating she worked studying collective behavior (fish schooling) at Uppsala University, and modeled fisher cooperation to manage risk and avoid bycatch at the Beijer Institute for Ecological Economics in Sweden.

Currently, Evelyn is in Sweden at the Stockholm Resilience Centre learning about dynamical systems modeling of marine fisheries, how to incorporate social information into models, and how to design surveys and conduct interviews. From there she will travel to Norway to collect data about the cooperative responses to climate change in the northeast arctic cod fisheries off Norway. Using the cod fisheries as a case study, Evelyn is examining how human behavior is a driver of control and change in social-ecological systems. Eventually, she will compare this case study to others in Colombian, Mexican, and Baltic fisheries. Evelyn captures the complexities of conservation, economics, culture, and community in her work and is able to explain it in an engaging and interesting way. She will be abroad for the greater part of a year, but is excited to have a chance to become more involved with ICGC when she returns.