I am a third year PhD student in Forest Resources and Conservation at the University of Florida. Before coming to UF, I worked for 13 years at the Amazon Environmental Research Institute (IPAM), a NGO based in Belém, Brazil. My work experience includes improving understanding of patterns and extent of fire and land use changes in Brazilian Amazon promoted by road infrastructure. Since 2000, I was the research coordinator of the project "Regional Planning along the BR-163 Highway, in Central Amazonia", which involved land use dynamics and socioeconomic research linked with policy and articulation of local stakeholders. This project successfully helped the Brazilian government to create a framework to discuss infrastructure development in a participatory way in the Amazon. I received a BA in geography from the Federal University of Para in Brazil and got a M.A. in Environmental Remote Sensing and GIS from Boston University.