Bonderman Travel Fellowship

Rachel Weisbeck

Photo of Rachel Weisbeck

Biology

Undergraduate

2015 Fellows

Hometown: Enumclaw, WA

Travel Locations: Sub-Saharan Africa, Amazon Rainforest, Russia, Mongolia, Southern South America

Travel objectives: Rachel plans to travel to regions spanning a wide range of cultural and environmental diversity, from biodiversity hotspots in sub-Saharan Africa and the Amazon Rainforest to areas with much less ecological focus in Russia, Mongolia, and southern South America. Through her experiences with this range of ecosystems, she hopes to observe the ways human-animal interactions differ across regions and cultures, and how these interactions are influenced by western concepts of tourism and global conservation. She especially wishes to be inspired by non-western and indigenous forms of human-animal cohabitation and to challenge the notions that she has built throughout her life in the Pacific Northwest.