2008 Ecuador and the Galapagos Expedition Leaders, left to right: Rachel Langosch, Colby Brown, Hannah GilkensonWildlife & Conservation
Hannah Gilkenson. University of Michigan, B.S. Hannah graduated with honors in Anthropology-Zoology from the University of Michigan, where she studied chimpanzee behavior as a research assistant in a primatology lab. She worked with bats at University of Maryland and was an exhibit interpreter at the National Zoo in Washington D.C. before moving to the Guanacaste province of Costa Rica to study the social behavior of the white-faced capuchin monkey. Hannah remained in Costa Rica for six years working as the biological field station manager for the Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology. In Costa Rica she worked closely with the community where she lived and succeeded in bringing conservation education to local schoolchildren. In addition to visiting local schools, she coordinated field trips for participants of all ages and enabled them to take an active role in conserving their environment. In the summer of 2007 Hannah taught wildlife and ecology in Putney Student Travel's Costa Rica Foundations program, and finished out the year working for an environmental advocacy group in Chicago. In addition to her professional activities she is passionate about travel, photography, languages, music and anything she can make with her own two hands. Hannah is fluent in Spanish and proficient in German.
Photography
Rachel Langosch. Bard College, B.A. Pratt Institute, M.F.A. candidate. Rachel is a New York-based photographer and personal trainer. She majored in Anthropology and Photography at Bard, where she was a starting center for the varsity women’s basketball team. Rachel volunteered for Habitat for Humanity in Nicoya, Costa Rica, served as a publication photographer at the Sigihara House Museum in Kaunus, Lithuania, and spent four months as an eco-tourism and reforestation volunteer for ProPeru Service Corps in Urubamba, Peru. She was and Americorps Youth Corps leader in San Jose, California and a head-shot and special events photographer for The Executive Source and The Simplicity Group in New York. Rachel currently lives in New York, where she works as a personal trainer for the New York Sports Club as she pursues her Master of Fine Arts in photography at the Pratt Institute. She plays piano in a band and is a volunteer photographer for The B-Girl Project, an ethnographic study of female break dancers.
Colby Brown. University of North Texas, B.S. Colby is an independent photographer and world traveler with dual bases in Dallas and Vancouver. In high school he participated in Young Life, a community service program in Costa Rica. He majored in Emergency Administration at the University of North Texas and spent a semester in Australia and New Zealand with Pacific Challenge, a three-month wilderness adventure course similar to Outward Bound. After graduating he embarked on a year-long photography trip to Thailand, Laos, Cambodia, Vietnam, Nepal and India, where, in addition to building an impressive portfolio of travel photographs, he volunteered at schools and orphanages throughout the region and spent three months trekking Annapurna and Everest. Colby’s articles and photos have appeared at Realtravel.com and the Sierra Club International Activist newsletter. Colby is a PADI-certified master diver and rock-climbing instructor. He recently completed a National Geographic Adventure Photography seminar in Seattle. Some of his work can be viewed on-line at www.colbybrownphotography.com.
