Congratulations to Environmental Science Policy and Management alums Rebecca Peters, Marianne Cowherd, Paige Stanley, and Katherine Siegel on being named among 11 Women to Watch in Science by The Story Exchange.
Nominated by their peers, the 2026 list highlights women whose work and research help to protect the environment, address climate change, and solve pressing issues such as flooding, wildfires, and pollution.
BS ’14 Society and Environment; BA ’14 Interdisciplinary Studies
Peters was initially interested in addressing water and environmental issues, such as droughts, in California. However, after witnessing poverty and destitution on a trip to Guatemala, Peters decided to address the systemic inequality caused by climate change.
As the Earth Action Lead for NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center, Peters now leads about 1,400 researchers to develop practical solutions to real-world problems. She currently leverages NASA’s Earth observing satellite missions to monitor droughts, make long-term meteorological forecasts, and track changes in Arctic sea ice. Her work has helped countries like Bolivia and Guatemala improve water availability and safety.
Courtesy of Rebecca Peters
PhD ’25 Environmental Science, Policy, and Management
Originally from snowy Ann Arbor, Michigan, Cowherd said she was unfamiliar with the impact of long-term droughts on people and the environment until she moved to the Bay Area in 2015. As an ESPM PhD student, she conducted research at Berkeley's Central Sierra Snow Lab, which measures snow and collaborates with the California Department of Water Resources on water supply issues. She credits that experience with influencing her career in snow hydrology.
Now an assistant professor at Montana State University, Cowherd works on questions related to snow’s presence and absence and how that affects water supply. This includes exactly how much water will be available from snowfall in any given year and how that might change in the future, due to climate change.
PhD ’22 Environmental Science, Policy, and Management
Stanley grew up in rural Georgia and began her academic career as a cell biologist, but later developed a passion for food and agriculture. For her, the simple act of eating has a huge impact on everything around her, since soils can capture and absorb more carbon than the plants and atmosphere combined.
Now a rangeland agroecologist at Colorado State University, Stanley studies how grazing management affects soil health and climate change. Stanley works to help ranchers understand how practices like rotating livestock and allowing land to rest can improve wild carbon storage. Stanley also works on a project called 3M that examines how grazing management influences a variety of ecosystem functions.
Courtesy of Paige Stanley
PhD ’21, Environmental Science, Policy, and Management
Siegel attributes her interest in environmental stewardship to both her family and her reform synagogue. Growing up on the East Coast, she was unfamiliar with wildfires until her doctorate at UC Berkeley, where nature conservation was at the heart of her studies. That experience opened her eyes to what an interesting and urgent case study fire is for how humans can learn to live in a changing climate.
Now an environmental scientist at the University of Colorado Boulder, Siegel researches how ecosystems change after fires. Her work combines big geospatial datasets with on-the-ground conversations with forest managers, policymakers, and local communities. She currently leads a project working with land managers in the Greater Yellowstone ecosystem, examining how to better predict where ecosystems might be on the verge of tipping into a new state as wildfires become more frequent and intense.
Read more about the full list of nominees at The Story Exchange website
Courtesy of Katherine Siegel