Koren Nydick was MSI’s Executive Director from 2006-2010 and Director of Research & Education from 2004-2006. She is a 2002 graduate of Colorado State University and earned a PhD in ecology. While at MSI, Koren developed many programs, such as wetland assessment and restoration, air and water quality studies, and the San Juan Climate Initiative. She also began several educational efforts, including the intern program, PikaNET citizen science, My Water Comes from the San Juan Mountains school program, and various seminar series, workshops, and conferences. Koren is ecstatic that MSI is thriving and that these programs have continued and grown in scope, with many new ones developed as well. Koren left MSI to become the Science Coordinator at Sequoia & Kings Canyon National Parks, She is now the Chief of Resource Stewardship at Rocky Mountain National Park. Her work benefits from all that she learned while at MSI, and she has many special memories of the San Juan Mountains.