Research Assistants & Interns

Current

Research Assistants

Ernest Habanabakize is an international development enthusiast who believes in working together to leverage our strengths and values to inspire transformational change and provide opportunities for all, while placing people at the center. He is currently working with Sustainability in the Digital Age, Future Earth, and McGill University’s Institute of International Development on a project advocating nature-based solutions while supporting small-scale farmers (with special focus on women) and related agencies in Rwanda, to access and adopt data-driven decisions in their everyday activities. Ernest holds a Master’s in Bio-resource engineering from McGill University, Canada and received an Executive Master’s in Business Administration (Project Management) from the National Institute of Business Management, India. He is the co-founder  at Agri-Research Rwanda, a youth-led organization promoting digital and market oriented agriculture in Rwanda.

Wynona Acco-Barron is a research assistant at Sustainability in the Digital Age and Future Earth and a BSc student in Environmental and Sustainability Sciences at Concordia University. She joins the Landscape Analysis team with a focus on bridging the gap of Indigenous and western sciences in the application of Nature-based Solutions and Nature Climate Solutions. She has also aided in the carbon rights project with the Conservation Through Reconciliation Partnership, which seeks to delineate rights and identify opportunities for Indigenous communities in carbon offset projects. In an effort to reconnect with her late grandmother’s Métis heritage, she looks forward to strengthening her connection to the land and advancing sustainable and equitable futures for Indigenous Peoples.

Poonam Maskeri is an environmental scientist with a passion for multi-disciplinary, collaborative climate solutions that bring domain experts, policy makers and local communities together to push for systemic change. She is currently working as a research assistant for Sustainability in the Digital Age and Future Earth,  as part of the Data-driven Insights in Agriculture (DISA) and Coalition for Digital Environmental Sustainability (CODES) projects. She has a B.Sc from McGill University in Environmental Sciences and Agriculture, specializing in Renewable Resource management. Her cross-sectoral work experience ranges from geospatial analysis and habitat modelling for wetland conservation, to most recently, helping a start-up company design and launch courses on ESG and Sustainable finance. She also initiated an urban habitat restoration program for pollinators at Net Impact Montreal, an environmental non-profit organization, to promote integrating biodiverse green spaces in cities and she hopes to help build sustainable cities.

Mélisande Teng is a PhD student in Computer Science at Mila/Université de Montréal and is passionate about using machine learning as a tool to tackle societal and environmental challenges. She is currently working on biodiversity monitoring using satellite images and citizen science data, and on an educational tool to visualize the impacts of climate change. Prior to Mila, she worked in the fields of public health, environment and democracy. She completed a MSc degree in Engineering and Applied Mathematics at Ecole Centrale Paris, a MSc in Management and Social Entrepreneurship at ESSEC Business school, and a Master’s degree in Machine Learning at Ecole Normale Supérieure. As part of the Leadership in Environmental and Digital Innovation for Sustainability- LEADS fellowship program, she joins Future Earth/ Sustainability in the Digital Age on the initiative CODES (Coalition for Digital Environmental Sustainability). She also likes sharing her knowledge through teaching and mentoring, playing music and drawing.

Interns

Erin Gleeson

Breanna Byrd

Megan Joyce