Skip to main content

Request info Apply now

Costa Rica: Field Research in the Environment, Social Sciences, & Humanities

San José & field sites, Costa Rica

Vivienne Solís Rivera

Area of expertise

Conservation and Governance of Biological Resources

Degrees

  • B.S. in Biology, Universidad de Costa Rica, San Pedro, San José, Costa Rica
  • M.S. in Systematics and Ecology, University of Kansas, Lawrence, Kansas, USA

Potential student research areas

  • Biological and cultural diversity
  • Socio-Environmental conflict transformation
  • Governance of Protected Areas
  • Community-based conservation initiatives
  • Marine Conservation with people

Biography

Vivienne Solis Rivera is a Costa Rican Biologist.  She has participated in interdisciplinary and inter-institutional projects of environmental conservation and training in the field of conservation and sustainable use of biodiversity.  Her professional activities in the last two decades have been oriented towards communitary-based sustainable use of wildlife and other natural resources, interdisciplinary discussions on the use of biodiversity elements with emphasis in the just and equitable distribution of the benefits derived from its use, co-management and other forms of governance of that promote  local participation in the conservation of protected areas.

She is founder of CoopeSoliDar R.L. a cooperative formed by people of different knowledge’s and interests based on an ethical background of common values, with a social and cultural compromise. The mission of CoopeSoliDar R.L is oriented towards proposing new and creative alternatives to reach that the cultural and biological richness contributes to the improvement of the quality of life or population with justice and equity, through accompanying participative processes for decision making from individual and collective spaces, at the local, national and international levels.

www.coopesolidar.org

Costa Rica: Field Research in the Environment, Social Sciences, & Humanities

Follow us online


Matt Spanier The semester I spent in the Costa Rica Field Research program turned out to be the most influential experience of my undergraduate education. I received a top-rate research experience at a leatherback sea turtle conservation project on the Caribbean coast, where I developed a project that I would later develop into my senior thesis and publish in a tropical conservation journal. Just as important, however, were the relationships I built with my host families, the Spanish language skills I developed, and the understanding I gained of life in Central America. The incredible job the ACM staff did of combining an intense research and cultural experience is what made my semester both so valuable and unique. As I enter medical school to pursue a career involving global health, the desire to continue working in Latin America that my time in Costa Rica ignited will continue to influence my educational and career goals.

—Matt Spanier, Costa Rica, Spring 2008

Read more testimonials »

Who we are

The Associated Colleges of the Midwest (ACM) is a consortium of independent, liberal arts colleges in Illinois, Iowa, Minnesota, Wisconsin, and Colorado.