Corporate Social Responsibility Statement
Mother Nature can survive without us, but we cannot survive without her.
We are building the Pierella Rainforest Reclamation Project, a not for profit organization, to deliver these outcomes: biodiversity, carbon sequestration, ecosystem services, sustainability and wildlife corridors. Our “Sustainability” focus encompasses our strategy to increase rainforest environments
which coexist and support the local population, understanding that we have an obligation to both people and the environment.
We aspire to help maintain the long-term balance between environment, economic and community needs in a responsible way that is truly sustainable,
while combating climate change through carbon capture and sequestration.
Boards & Committees
Board of Directors
Science Committee
The Board of Directors is primarily focused on ensuring that the organization is built on a solid foundation and is focused on delivering the mission.
Bill Cooper, Chief Scientist, leads our Science Advisory Board. This board coordinates across our various scientific projects and focuses, including areas like University Coordination, Internships, Masters/PhD studies and papers and posters development.
Here is the link to our SAC Charter and Responsibilities.
Science Committee
Bill Cooper, Chief Scientist, leads our Science Advisory Board. This board coordinates across our various scientific projects and focuses, including areas like University Coordination, Internships, Masters/PhD studies and papers and posters development.
Here is the link to our SAC Charter and Responsibilities.
Kevin Donnelly - CEO
Kevin’s 40 year technology and science career started as a programmer, supporting compositional analysis of the lunar surface in NASA’s Lab for Solar And Astrophysics, X-Ray Spectroscopy, at the Goddard Space Flight Center. He has spent much of the time since developing technology to support science and business, both as an executive (CIO, CTO and COO) and as a technical manager. He has been a serial entrepreneur and small business executive, helping develop them from startup through IPO and corporate M&A.
Kevin is an avid nature photographer and boater and spent his childhood summers hiking and camping from Canada to Florida and in the outback of Australia. He went to Costa Rica to take photographs but came back sharing Bill’s vision for what could be done to help restore the rainforests there.
As CEO of the Pierella Rainforest Reclamation Project he directs the focus of the organization and helps to keep the expanding team and projects coordinated and aligned to the mission, taking and editing photos when there’s time.
Mr. Donnelly has a B.S. in Decision and Information Sciences, from the University of Maryland, College Park and holds a Project Management Professional (PMP) certification.
William (Bill) J. Cooper – President & Chief Scientist
Professor Emeritus Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering Univ of California, Irvine
Bill is the founder of PRFRP. He discovered Pierella Ecological Gardens (we adopted the Pierella as our symbol to recognize this garden as the birthplace of the idea for PRFRP) on an extensive tour of Costa Rica. On an extended return trip there, the idea for PRFRP was born.
His present research interests include carbon cycling in natural waters, and in particular, the role of sunlight mediated photochemistry in the formation of reactive oxygen species and environmental fate of pharmaceuticals and other compounds in surface waters. Recently, his focus has expanded to carbon capture and sequestration in neotropical rainforests in Costa Rica where he has written a paper on carbon neutrality with a student from Costa Rica. He also mentors two students at the University of Michigan where they are studying carbon neutral ecotourism and environmental education.
Michele Danoff - Director
Michele is the owner of Graphics By Design, a graphic design studio founded in 1989, specializing in creative solutions to the visual communications needs of businesses of all sizes in the corporate and non-profit world. She has worked on state and federal government projects and particularly enjoyed the books she recently created on the Annapolis State House and Governor’s Mansion.
As a board member of the Neighbors of the Mayo Peninsula for the last 6 years, she has worked with local and state governments to help preserve the public safety, environmental stability and the quality of life on the Mayo Peninsula, which sits along the Chesapeake Bay. Helping to preserve the environment along the Chesapeake Bay has been a life long passion as she fell in love with the Bay at first site in 1976.
Michele is a private pilot and still finds the view of the world from above magical. She’s a beekeeper and organic gardener, working hard to keep her little part of the world green and sustainable.
She brings her artistry, passion for the environment and knowledge of small startup nonprofits to the PRFRP board working tirelessly to help launch the organization to the world.
William (Bill) Cooper, PhD, Science Board Chair
Professor Emeritus Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering Univ of California, Irvine
Bill received his B. S. in Chemistry from Allegheny College in 1968. He then studied Organic Geochemistry at Penn State and received his M. S. in 1971. He was drafted into the US Army in March 1971, received a commission in January 1972 as a 1st Lieutenant, served for three years and was discharged a Captain. He then served as a research scientist in a civilian role and ran the water reuse program. He took a position at Florida International University as a Research Associate Professor, and simultaneously enrolled in a Ph. D. program at the University of Miami’s Rosensteil School of Marine and Atmospheric sciences. He received his Ph. D. in 1987. He held various appointments at Florida International University (1980 – 1997) becoming tenured in Chemistry while being the Director of the Drinking Water Research Center in the School of Engineering. He then moved to the University of North Carolina, Wilmington where he was Chair of Chemistry and Biochemistry (1997 – 2000) and then a professor of Marine Science and Chemistry (2000-2006). He relocated to the University of California, Irvine as Director of the Urban Water Research Center and a Professor of Civil and Environmental Engineering in 2006, retiring in August 2017. He now holds an appointed to the Graduate Faculty, Environmental Engineering Sciences, University of Florida and University of Maryland Center for Environmental Sciences. He has published 225 papers in peer reviewed journals and 45 chapters in books and edited 8 books. In November 2011 he was elected a Fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science (FAAAS) and in 2014 Fellow of the Association of Environmental Engineering and Science Professors. From September 2013 to August 2017 he was the Program Director, Environmental Engineering at the National Science Foundation.
His present research interests include carbon cycling in natural waters, and in particular, the role of sunlight mediated photochemistry in the formation of reactive oxygen species and environmental fate of pharmaceuticals and other compounds in surface waters. These studies, in the environmental fate of pharmaceuticals, suggest that constructed wetlands may offer a low-cost sustainable approach for treating pharmaceuticals and other emerging chemicals of concern. Now in Florida, he is studying an innovative treatment process using ferrate (Fe VI) as a strong oxidant and coagulant for treating perfluorinated alkyl substances (PFAS) in landfill leachates.
Recently, his focus has expanded to carbon capture and sequestration in neotropical rainforests in Costa Rica where he has written a paper on carbon neutrality with a student from Costa Rica. He also mentors two students at the University of Michigan where they are studying carbon neutral ecotourism and environmental education.
Bette Loisette, PhD
Director, Tropical Conservation and Development Program
Professor, Center For Latin American Studies
Department Of Wildlife Ecology And Conservation, University of Florida
Research: Loiselle’s research focuses on understanding the importance of biodiversity in tropical systems, especially the ecological role of animals as seed dispersers, and the potential consequences of global change on the distribution of plants and animals. She is also investigating the evolutionary ecology of lek-mating systems in birds and how the spatial ecology of females influences mate choice decisions and male reproductive strategies.
She is also the PI on a National Science Foundation Coordinated Research Network on Manakins.
Loiselle received her M.S. in Biology from the University of Illinois-Champaign and her Ph.D. in Zoology from the University of Wisconsin-Madison.
Jared Wolfe, PhD
Assistant Professor, Michigan Technological University
School of Forest Resources and Environmental Science
Research: Our lab conducts fieldwork and exploration in tropical and temperate systems to understand how environmental change affects wildlife populations and communities.
In our rapidly changing world, the integration of wildlife conservation into sustainable forest stewardship represents an important, yet daunting challenge. To identify those species and communities in need of conservation action, I study the response of temperate and tropical forest-dwelling wildlife to environmental change through experimentation and long-term monitoring, and demographic modeling. In addition to applied wildlife conservation and management, I study bird molt, an understudied yet critical phase of the avian lifecycle. Specifically, I assess how selective pressures influenced avian molt strategies in temperate and tropical systems.
Jared received his BSc, from Humboldt State University, his MSc from Humboldt State University, and his PhD from Louisiana State University
Jared has authored over 50 peer reviewed articles on birds, and is co author of Molt in Neotropical Birds: Life History and Aging Criteria.
Mario Blanco, PhD
Director of the main Herbarium
Jardin Botanico Lankester Escuela de Biología University of Costa Rica
Research: My research focuses on vascular plant systematics (including taxonomic and floristic revisions), plant functional morphology, and plant reproductive biology. I am also interested in the role of botanic gardens and other biological collections in the research and conservation of biodiversity.
Oscar Rocha, PhD
Associate Professor, Department of Biological Sciences, Kent State University
Board of Directors, Organization for Tropical Studies (OTS), La Selva, Heredia Province, Costa Rica
Research: The goal of my work has been to study genetic variation in natural populations of plants and animals using molecular markers. I am interested in understanding how ecological factors, such as reproductive biology and human disturbances, affect the distribution of genetic variation. This information is useful for establishing conservation strategies for these populations.
The goal of my work has been to study genetic variation in natural populations of plants and animals using molecular markers. I am interested in understanding how ecological factors, such as reproductive biology and human disturbances, affect the distribution of genetic variation. This information is useful for establishing conservation strategies for these populations.
Oscar earned his PhD from Penn State.
Social Media Committee
Education Committee
Perhaps our most active group, this committee keeps all our social media current and lets the world know what we have going on, across Instagram, TikTok, Facebook, and Twitter. Bill’s YouTube channel rounds out our social media presence. Headed by Emily Ramirez, this team ensures the world sees our message regardless of their platform of choice.
Education Committee
We are committed to helping everyone understand the criticality of saving the rainforest and believe that a critical component of that lies in educating the next generation. Our Education Committee, lead by Sarah Collins, is working to develop multiple methods to ensure children from all over the world understand the importance of the rainforest, and learn some of the amazing creatures, plants and ecologies that are all in balance when the rainforest is left to its own devices.
For information about our educational content and access to our course information, please contact info@prfrp.org and let us know how we can help.
