Our Team
The Ecology Connection's team is very excited about our second season. Please join our community this summer in Prospect Park!
Scroll down to read about our team.
Erica Bruskin, Founder
Erica is the founder and lead educator of The Ecology Connection. She earned her Bachelor's degree from the University of Colorado Boulder. She brings her passion for ecology and teaching over the last decade from outdoor education centers to classrooms, a farm, a botanical garden, a zoo, and finally to Prospect Park this summer. Erica loves getting her hands dirty, studying worms, and connecting people, especially youth, to the natural world. She is also a certified yoga instructor, and when she's not teaching, Erica can be found planting collard greens, hiking, wandering through a farmer's market, or salsa dancing.
Stephanie Parascandolo, Assistant Educator
Stephanie is an assistant educator for The Ecology Connection. She received a Bachelor’s degree in Environmental Biology and Biology Education from the Macaulay Honors program at Queens College. She’ll be teaching 5th grade science at Central Queens Academy starting this August. Stephanie loves learning about zero-waste lifestyles, traveling, searching for bugs, and climbing trees barefoot (even if it’s a bad idea). She’s really excited to share what she’s learned from these passions with NYC youth this summer!
Christopher Ludvík, Assistant Educator
Chris is an assistant educator for The Ecology Connection. He received a Bachelor’s degree in Environmental Biology from Queens College. Chris loves autum and winter, camping, mushroom hunting, scuba diving, and stargazing. If he could only find a mentor and some funding, Chris would like to study the ecological/evolutionary effects of light pollution. He’s really excited to share what he’s learned from these experiences with NYC youth this summer!
(He doesn't have the beard anymore)
Travis Brown, Creative Designer
Travis is the lead creative designer for The Ecology Connection. He is responsible for the design and function of the organization's website, along with the implementation of design on print media. He brings his 12 years of design, and web programming experience to make sure you have a pleasant viewing experience. When he's not coding, Travis enjoys going to live events and encouraging amature astronomers to explore the skies of the world through his Spacedex website.
Roberto Rivera and Rachel Falkenstein, Editors
Rachel was a New York City public school teacher. She loves nature, and was happy to help with this project.
Rob is a graduate of the School of Visual Arts's film department. He enjoys writing and directing short films.
