Dr. Dorceta Taylor, Program Director and Principal Investigator
Dr. Dorceta Taylor is a distinguished professor at Yale University’s School of the Environment. She oversees the programming and strategic development for the Yale Conservation Scholars - Early Leadership Initiative and the Environmental Fellows program. She authored the most comprehensive report on diversity in the mainstream environmental movement, “Diversity in the Environmental Institutions: Mainstream NGOs, Foundations & Government Agencies,” commissioned by Green 2.0, which called for programs like YCS-ELI to diversify the conservation workforce. She is also the author of three books focused on environmental history and environmental justice.
Kayla Morin Sternberg, Program Manager
(she/her/hers)
Kayla Morin Sternberg completed her master’s degree in Biodiversity and Conservation Biology at the University of Connecticut. She specialized in anadromous fish, science communication, and museum studies. She oversees various aspects of the program, including recruitment, summer curriculum development, and partnership-building with external environmental and conservation organizations. She also assists with other programming in the Justice, Equity, Diversity, and Sustainability Initiative, including food access research and the New Horizons in Conservation Conference. Kayla can usually be found outside with her dog, Percy, or on the couch with a good book.
Te’Yah Wright, Program Manager
(she/her/hers)
Te’Yah Wright is a Yale School of the Environment graduate, where she worked on environmental policy, local and regional urban planning, community engagement, and environmental justice. While in school, she worked with the City of New Haven for local anti-gentrification strategies and environmental justice organizations for COP27 youth programming. Before that, she received a Bachelor of Agriculture Sciences with a concentration in environmental ecology and biology. She is a Doris Duke Conservation Scholars Program at the University of Michigan alumnus and an Environmental Fellows Program alumnus. She enjoys reading good books with her cats, cooking, or being in nature in her free time.
For inquiries regarding the Yale Conservation Scholars - Early Leadership Initiative at Yale University, please email: ycs-eli@yale.edu.