Dr. Jessica Pratt is an Associate Professor of Teaching in the School of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology. Within this school, she focuses on conservation, ecology, and environmental sustainability. In reference to her own STEM journey, Pratt references her childhood in the Rural Midwest. Coming from a first-generation background, Pratt never had her eyes set straight on what she could achieve with a degree. However, combined with her passion for nature, she studied ecology in her undergraduate experience. Moving toward her current research efforts Dr. Pratt is very excited to learn more about the student interaction with education about climate change. Specifically, she hopes to gain insight into the effect of current pressing issues like eco-despair and climate anxiety. To achieve this, she hosts numerous workshops to address student affect in the classroom. She believes it will be a critical component to ending the climate crisis by studying the effects of “bad news” on the upcoming generation.

In thinking about what brought her into this field, she remembers a flashbulb moment from her home when her fort in the forest was destroyed for residential development. It led and motivated her to question the different impacts we, as humans, are having on the environment. Looking toward the future, Dr. Pratt relays her worries about the interaction between education and political ideologies. For instance, she believes it is inappropriate to apply political lenses to the social and climate issues our society is facing. On a note of hope, she is grateful for organizations and mass movements such as ECCLPs who are placing an emphasis on the preparation and engagement of climate solutions. In her closing remarks, she apologizes to students for the current state of the world but hopes that we are making the right movements to help prepare the future generation of the world.