Environment and Energy Program Staff

The CCEDC Environment and Energy Program has professional staff members, including a Program Leader, a Senior GIS Resource Educator, a Senor Water Resource Educator, and a half-time Senior Administrative Assistant (Angela Sullivan). Our program funding comes from a number of sources, including funding from Dutchess County through the Department of Planning and Development, funds from Cornell Cooperative Extension and the USDA, and various independent funding organizations and grants. Our goal is to provide education and technical resources to empower individuals and municipal groups to protect, restore, and enhance the environment of Dutchess County and the lower Hudson Valley.

Allison Morrill Chatrchyan

Allison has worked for Cornell Cooperative Extension in Dutchess County since 2006, and has lived in the Hudson Valley since 2000. In addition to her work for CCE Dutchess County as the Environment and Energy Program Leader, Allison works part-time with a new CCE Statewide Energy and Climate Change Team, where she is working with Cornell faculty and staff to develop new educational materials on climate change for New York residents. She previously worked for the Bard Center for Environmental Policy; University of Maryland; United Nations Environment Program in Paris, France; and the Environmental Policy Center, an environmental consulting firm in Washington, DC. Allison obtained her Ph.D. and M.A. in environmental and comparative politics from the University of Maryland, and her B.A. in government and environmental studies from Colby College in Maine. She proudly grew up in the small, central New York town of Hamilton in Madison County.

Neil Curri

Neil is the Senior GIS Resource Educator with the Environment and Energy Program. Previously a GIS Analyst for a land management program at West Point, Neil received his MS degree in Environmental Science from the University of New Haven in 2007, where he also completed a GIS Certificate Program. His Master's thesis included a GIS analysis of stream fish communities in Connecticut and the landscape features in their surrounding watersheds. Before attending graduate school, Neil worked as a computer systems support specialist for five years, and brings his technical experience as well as GIS skills and environmental science training to CCEDC.

Carolyn Klocker

Carolyn is the Senior Water Resource Educator for CCEDC. She received her MS in Environmental Science from the University of Maryland, and holds a BA degree in Biology from Hiram College in Ohio. Carolyn’s master’s research focused on nitrogen cycling in urban restored and degraded streams in Baltimore, MD. Before working on her Master’s degree, she spent several years working as a Research Assistant and an Ecology Educator at the Cary Institute of Ecosystem Studies in Millbrook, NY. Carolyn works with many of the county’s local watershed groups and volunteers, and is a resource for Dutchess County residents on water issues in the county.