TBI Staff Members

BRYAN VON LOSSBERG - Executive Director

Bryan is a former TBI volunteer and Board member. He graduated from Stanford University in 1990 with a degree in mechanical engineering and participated in Stanford's Berlin program in 1989, during which he traveled to Moscow in Russia and Kiev in Ukraine. He worked at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory on projects including the 1997 Mars Pathfinder program and in Silicon Valley at Applied Materials as an engineering manager before moving to Tahoe fulltime in 2000. In 2003 he received the Anthony Grassroots Environmental Prize from the Rose Foundation for Communities and the Environment recognizing an outstanding example of grassroots environmental stewardship in the state of California. He recently completed his M.S. in Environmental Studies with the University of Montana where he received a Doris Duke Conservation Fellowship.

JENNIFER SMITH - Programs Director

Long interested in both Russia and cultural influences on environmental issues, Jennifer graduated from the University of Vermont in 1999 with a double major in Russian language and Environmental Studies. A recipient of an IREX Young Leaders for Public Service Fellowship, Jennifer lived in Russia and studied environmental protection at Irkutsk State Technical University in 2001-2002. During her year in Irkutsk, she volunteered at Baikal Environmental Wave and led a summer ecology camp for local children. She has also taught environmental education for American middle school students in Cuyahoga Valley National Park (Akron, Ohio), and worked for a year in Washington D.C. writing Environmental Impact Statements for a government contractor. In May 2004, she received a MS in Natural Resources and Environment and an MA in Russian and East European Studies, having written her thesis on environmental perceptions and attitudes in the Lake Baikal region.

MICHELLE FERGUS - U.S. Asst. Program Coordinator

Michelle joins TBI as our 2008 Sierra Nevada AmeriCorps Partnership service member and assumes the U.S. Asst. Program Coordinator role from our 2007 service member, Jon Green. Michelle grew up in Chico, California, and graduated with a B.S. in Marine and Coastal Ecology from California State University, Monterey Bay in 2007. Michelle spent a summer in Central America, and has been on various short trips to different parts of Mexico, Spain, Morocco, Cuba, France and Belgium. She has been making a transition from marine to freshwater ecosystems through various research projects including fieldwork on periphyton and her capstone research on Vegetative Treatment Systems. In her spare time Michelle likes to be outside- walking, running, kayaking, biking, hiking, and camping.

ELEONORA EREMCHENKO - Russia Program Coordinator (Irkutsk)

A TBI SEE participant in 2005, Elya works on-site at the Great Baikal Trail Association facility in Irkutsk as one of the two TBI SEE Russian Program Coordinators. She earned a degree in biology from Irkutsk State University in 1997 and is particularly interested in environmental education. She has participated in projects involving the re-introduction of endangered species and has worked on the construction of a Flora Nature Park at the Irkutsk Botanical Gardens, where she worked as an interpretive guide and educator leading tours, as well as school programs, about plants. An avid mountaineer, Elya has climbed Mount Elbrus, the highest peak in Europe at 5,642 meters, located in the western Caucasus mountains in Russia. Her hobbies include music, literature, and tourism.

ZHARGALMA ALYMBAEVA - Russia Program Coordinator (Ulan-Ude)

Also a TBI SEE participant in 2005, Zhargalma is a senior lecturer in the department of Botany at Buryat State University and the deputy to the head of the department. She has an undergraduate degree in biological-geography and has completed graduate work in the Botany department of Buryat State University. During her studies, Zhargalma distinguished herself through active participation in scientific research projects and won a number of scholarships and grants through her own university and national Russian funds. In 2005 she defended her doctoral candidate's dissertation in the fields of botany and ecology, which was entitled "Dispersion structure of the flora of the high alpine ecosystems of the Eastern Sayan and Khamar-Daban ranges." After her SEE participation in 2005, Zhargalma spearheaded efforts to develop the new TBI Alumni Association of Ulan-Ude.

OPEN - U.S. Program Chef

The 2008 SEE Program Chef position is open.