Joanna Chan

Internship Organization: Sustainable Travel International  

Ph.D. Student

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ENVS Graduate Program - Secondary Core prior to Fall 2012

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Joanna graduated from Indiana University with a bachelor in Business and received a Master in Software Engineering from Brandeis University. Before returning to graduate school, she worked in the IT industry for over ten years.

Joanna developed interests in environmental issues when she became a birder. Noticing the impact to wildlife population caused by habitat destruction, Joanna wants to learn more about sustainable development, and to promote sound business practices that allow developing countries to pursue economic development while protecting the natural habitat.

Joanna completed her MBA/MS degree in 2010, and she is continuing her study as a PhD candidate. Her decision to pursue further research was driven by an experience from a MBA class project on ecotourism development in Honduras. From that project, Joanna witnessed the discouraging outcomes due to the lack of knowledge in designing and implementing effective development projects. Her research will focus on understanding local ownership of community-based sustainable development projects, and identifying ways to measure and facilitate local ownership. Joanna envisions that promoting local ownership will increase the likelihood of success of sustainable development projects.