Dave Critchley

Michelle's Bio

Michelle Harris is an environmental educator with over 12 years of experience in her field, and truly loves helping people to connect with outdoors and become inspired to want to protect it. As an Assistant Manager with WILD Outside, Michelle helps this high-school age conservation leadership program run smoothly not only in Alberta, but from Winnipeg to Vancouver as well. When Michelle is not working with this fantastic program, you can find her out kayaking, camping, downhill skiing, and doing citizen science with iNaturalist.

Canadian Wildlife Federation: WILD Outside

Emma's Bio

Emma Kniel has worked in forestry education for over 6 years. In her role as program coordinator with CAREERS she mentors youth taking their first steps into exploring future career pathways, especially within the forest sector. She has also spent many years in the classroom leading students and teachers through forestry awareness and career preparedness workshops.

Prior to her work in forest education, Emma attended the University of Alberta’s forest management program. She also worked with West Fraser, and Weyerhaeuser in their silviculture departments monitoring tree planting programs, conducting reforestation surveys, and assisting in tree improvement research efforts.

Careers The Next Generation

Jeremy's Bio

Jeremy is a professional biologist, soccer coach and awesome Gran Turismo driver who has worked in the Alberta Oil and Natural Gas sector for 20 years.

Professionally, Jeremy has driven amphibious ATVs in the middle of the night looking for toads, jumped out of helicopters to search for rare plants, and had a few too many close calls with bears. Personally, Jeremy is a father of three kids, enjoys computer coding in his spare time and is always training for the next marathon.

Canadian Natural

Sithara's Bio

Sithara Fernando is a pioneering force in STEM, challenging conventional norms and advocating for diversity within environmental careers. As a woman of colour and a member of the LGBTQ2S+ community, she brings a unique perspective to our panel.

Sithara has worked in a variety of Environmental roles in both the Public and Private sectors. She is currently the Academic Program Manager of STEM Programs at NorQuest College assisting students to find careers in Environmental Technology, Energy Management and Machine Learning. Sithara is also a supporter of the 1000 Women for STEM scholarship, which assists females to enter non-traditional STEM fields.

NorQuest College