Tessa is a second-year M.A. student in the Political Science program. She is originally from St. Paul, Minnesota, but moved to Colorado in 2013. She received her B.A. in 2017 from the University of Northern Colorado with a major in Environmental Studies and Sustainability and a minor in Anthropology. She has worked in natural resource management in both Colorado and Hawaii through two different AmeriCorps programs. More recently, she has worked at Denver Water as a Summer Intern in Watershed Planning.

Tessa’s broader interest is understanding the constantly evolving relationship humans have with their environment and how to use policy as a tool to shape this into a mutually beneficial exchange. Her research centers on the concept of collaborative governance through watershed partnership programs. Combining her interests in human behavior and environmental policy, she plans to identify and measure factors that influence stakeholders' perceptions on the benefits of collaboration with the goal of making recommendations for how to improve collaborative design. One of the most exciting parts of her research is exploring the inclusive elements found within the collaborative approach to achieve more equitable policy procedures and efficient policy outcomes.

In her free time, Tessa enjoys hiking, biking, kayaking, playing piano and writing poetry.