Joanna Lumbsden-Pinto

Joanna Lumbsden-Pinto grew up in the mountains of Veraguas, Panama, where her early love of the natural world eventually led her to graduate study in ecology and conservation. She holds a PhD in Environmental Science from SUNY ESF, focused on ecosystem restoration, with research in forest and fire ecology and conservation biology across the northeastern United States, and a Master’s in Conservation Biology with field research and case studies in tropical ecology and Traditional Ecological Knowledge (TEK) in New York, Panama, Mexico, and Ecuador. A Fulbright alumna and bilingual in English and Spanish, Joanna spent nearly a decade in campus ministry in Syracuse while completing her graduate degrees, before joining InterVarsity Christian Fellowship as a Campus Staff Minister to serve at MIT’s Graduate Christian Fellowship. She is passionate about walking alongside graduate students, postdocs, and faculty as they hold together rigorous scientific work and a life of faith. Outside of ministry, she enjoys landscape and nature photography and is currently based in the Boston area.