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zaks@wisc.edu
Center for Sustainability and the Global Environment
University of Wisconsin-Madison
1710 University Ave., Room 287
Madison, WI 53726
608-890-0337
608-265-4113 fax

David is pursuing a Masters degree in Land Resources at the Center for Sustainability and the Global Environment. His thesis will investigate the relationship between tropical land use / land cover change and the global carbon cycle and climate change. 

Before arriving in Madison, David attended Michigan State University where he received his B.S. in 2003 from the Lyman Briggs School of Science in Environmental Science with a specialization in Spatial Information Processing.

During his time at Michigan State, David traveled to Puerto Rico where he led an alternative spring break trip that focused on environmental issues. He also traveled to Panama where he studied tropical ecosystem ecology. During the summer of 2003, David joined a team of researchers in Barrow, Alaska studying climate change in the Arctic. He helped develop an online mapping tool to track changes in the area over time using remotely sensed images and a high-precision GPS.

After graduation, David traveled to Antarctica and southern Argentina where he studied the effects of climate change on the marine and terrestrial ecosystems.  Next, David interned at the Smithsonian Conservation and Research Center in Front Royal, VA where he analyzed satellite imagery and produced a small model to identify possible suitable habitat for the giant panda in China. The last stop before arriving in Madison, David volunteered for an environmental NGO in Panama. He worked on several outreach and research projects around the theme of educating the public on sustainable human and agricultural development.

zaks in Glacier Bay

Glacier Bay

zaks in Barrow, Alaska

Barrow, Alaska

zaks in Antarctica

Antarctica

zaks in Anchroage

Anchorage, Alaska