Current Core Members

Our Core Members consist of faculty, undergraduate, and graduate students at Penn State and other universities and youth researchers working in other contexts. This core group takes the lead in coordinating the Lab ecosystem, developing new projects, and supporting existing Lab initiatives across all of our workstreams.

Mark Ortiz, PhD

Assistant Professor of Geography, penn state university, creator and Director of the gysrl

Mark Ortiz (he/him) is a scholar-activist and Assistant Professor of Geography at the Pennsylvania State University where he researches global youth activism, climate change politics, and climate justice using multimedia storytelling and qualitative methods. His research on youth climate activism has been supported by the National Science Foundation and his writing has been published or is forthcoming in Humanities and Social Sciences Communications, Climate and Development, and Engagement among other outlets.

He is the creator and director of the Global Youth Storytelling and Research Lab (GYSRL). He completed his PhD in Geography at the University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill in 2022. He has also served as an expert panelist and consultant on topics related to youth engagement for IDEO and the U.N. Foundation and a student organizer for United Students Against Sweatshops as an undergraduate at the University of Alabama. For more information, you can visit his personal website at markbortiz.com

 

Rasha Elwakil

Undergraduate Student researcher, penn state university

Rasha Elwakil is a sophomore at Penn State University studying earth science and policy, with a minor in Middle East studies. Rasha is the current chair of justice and equity for the University Park undergraduate association and the chair of educational outreach for the Penn State sustainable ambassadors.

Rasha is an Undergraduate Research Assistant for the Global Youth Storytelling and Research Lab. She is also part of the presidential leadership academy, which seeks to advance personal and professional skills within leadership. In high school, Rasha was the co-president of the environmental club and ran a successful campaign to make her high school carbon neutral. Rasha has interests international environmental justice especially promoting youth activism.  

 

 

Danielle Dedeaux

Undergraduate student researcher, penn state university

Danielle Dedeaux (she/her) is an undergraduate student at Penn State University majoring in Geography with minors in Climatology and Sociology. Danielle’s interests encompass climate science and justice, with a particular emphasis on the disproportionate impacts of climate change on minority communities. Danielle has extensive leadership experience, serving as the current President and past Secretary of the Women in the College of Earth and Mineral Sciences organization at Penn State and a member of the College’s Diversity Council. She has also interned at the UrbanKind Institute, been part of the NCAS-M Summer Training Program at Howard University, and presented research at the American Association of Geographers 2023 meeting.

To learn more about Danielle’s work and experience, visit her online portfolio and see this write-up by the Penn State College of Earth and Mineral Sciences. 

 

Olga Skaredina

PhD student, public policy, northeastern university

Olga Skaredina is a dedicated Ph.D. student in Public Policy at Northeastern University, with a concentration in Sustainability and Resilience. Combining her passion for global environmental governance with active engagement in youth advocacy, Olga actively explores the role of civil society, particularly children and youth, in UN intergovernmental processes. Her academic pursuits extend to youth empowerment and intergenerational equity, emphasizing the importance of an informed science-policy interface.
Since March 2023, Olga has served as the Science-Policy Focal Point for the Children and Youth Major Group to the United Nations Environment Programme. Her involvement as a youth representative extends to various UN meetings, including UNEA-6, OEWG 2&3: Science-Policy Panel, COP28, ECOSOC Youth Forum, and more. In her role as a Ph.D. student and a Project Manager of the Global Environmental Governance Project, Olga conducts impactful research, exploring the role of small states in global environmental governance and diplomacy.

 

Rawe Kefi

PhD Candidate, Environmental Humanities, University of Manouba

Rawe Kefi is a Tunisian environmental activist and climate negotiator in the Tunisian delegation with a focus on Action for Climate Empowerment (ACE) and adaptation. As a core member of Children of the Earth Network NGO, Rawe served as a coordinator and a trainer in several water and youth-related projects namely PAR Tunisia (Participatory Action Research) which aims at engaging younger generations in sustainable development initiatives.

Academically, Rawe is a PhD candidate in Environmental Humanities at the University of Manouba, where she explores the intersections of environmental activism and humanities. A Fulbright alum at Indiana University Bloomington, Rawe has enriched her area of research with a global perspective, focusing on water governance, climate justice, environmental humanities, and intercultural studies.

Ledeebari D. Banuna

PhD Student, department of geography, penn state university

Ledeebari D. Banuna is a PhD student in Geography at Penn State. She is the recipient of a 2023 Distinguished Graduate Fellowship. She has experience in leadership roles working with students and key partners via student organizations as well as experience organizing with youth internationally on food systems, climate change, extraction, and Indigenous rights topics. Some of her experiences include being a youth delegate at the 2023 World Food Forum (WFF) Youth Action Assembly and volunteering at the 23rd Session of the UN Permanent Forum on Indigenous Issues. She participated in the 2023 UN Global Indigenous Youth Forum (UNGIYF) and helped draft the 2023 Rome Declaration of Indigenous Youth as part of the African regional group. She was invited to speak at a side event at the UN World Food Forum 2023 by the UN Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) Land and Water division on the importance of water to her family’s farm in Ogoniland, Nigeria, where she highlighted the effects that oil pollution and environmental degradation are having on Ogoni Indigenous food systems and ways of life.

In Fall 2023, she joined the Penn State Global Youth Storytelling and Research Lab (GYSRL) as a lab member.

 

Past Core Members

Past Core Members of the Lab who have been part a critical part of our ecosystem

 Timothy Benally 

M.A. Graduate, department of recreation parks and tourism management and transdisciplinary research in the environment and society, Penn state university

Timothy Benally is completed his master’s studies at Penn State, where he studied Recreation Parks and Tourism Management and completed a dual degree in TREES (Transdisciplinary Research in the Environment and Society). Also a Penn State alumnus and McNair Scholar, he graduated with a B.S. in Psychology in 2021 while at his home on the Navajo Nation during the Covid-19 pandemic. His research took place in close collaboration with the Navajo Nation courtesy of a research fellowship bestowed upon him by the LandscapeU National Research Traineeship (National Science Foundation). 

Driven by an unyielding commitment to Indigenous rights and education, Timothy was fundamental in the creation of IPSA (Indigenous Peoples Student Association), a group that not only initiated Penn State’s inaugural Acknowledgement of Land but also actively advocates for substantial resources including in-state tuition for all Indigenous Students and a student center on campus. He dreams of and works toward a future where Navajo students, armed with education and a nurturing environment, explore the world fearlessly and contribute proactively to their communities, a dream he intends to realize by returning to the Navajo Nation following his masters degree.