Laurenz Dodge
Laurenz is a second-year Master of Environmental Management candidate at Yale School of the Environment specializing in Business and the Environment. Her work at YSE is shaped by her background in environmental science, policy, and land stewardship, complemented by field experience across diverse agricultural landscapes. Laurenz earned her B.S. in Environmental Science and Policy with a minor in Documentary Filmmaking from Chapman University. During her time at Chapman, she explored filmmaking as a medium for environmental change, informing her role at EFFY where she endeavors to bridge gaps across science, storytelling, and advocacy, fostering connections across differing viewpoints to address complex environmental challenges.
Miki Nakano
Miki is a second-year Master of Environmental Management candidate at Yale School of the Environment, where she is focusing on regenerative agriculture and environmental justice. Miki holds a B.A. in Sociology and Education from Middlebury College. Originally from New York City, Miki developed a passion for sustainable agriculture through her hands-on experiences as a farm assistant at a K-12 school in Hawai'i and apprenticing with cheese mongers and cheesemakers in Vermont. For three years Miki lived in Washington D.C., where she worked with a food systems organization teaching gardening and nutrition at a local public school. Enthusiastic about using the arts to engage with pressing social issues, she is excited to be involved with EFFY this year, marking her first time supporting a film festival. In her spare time, Miki enjoys cooking, practicing yoga, and exploring the trails of East Rock.
Adrian Huq
Adrian Huq is a graduate student at the Yale School of the Environment, pursuing a Master of Environmental Management and a certificate in Public Humanities, and an alum of Tufts University, where they earned a B.A. in Applied Environmental Studies and minored in Film & Media Studies.
Adrian serves as cofounder of the New Haven Climate Movement’s Youth Action Team, which advocates for bold climate policy change on the city level and conducts public education on the climate crisis. A local nonprofit worker, Adrian is a cohort member of the Nonprofit Management Program for Emerging Leaders of Color at The Community Foundation for Greater New Haven. They also serve on the Board of Directors of the Greater New Haven Green Fund, Sustainable CT, Urban Resources Initiative, New Haven/León Sister City Project, and the Citywide Youth Coalition.
Adrian is also engaged in the arts and media community, named an Arts Awardee by the Greater New Haven Arts Council in 2023. As EFFY’s Director of Partnerships, Adrian strives to increase awareness of the Festival in New Haven and make it more welcoming and accessible to New Haven residents.
Kei Kohmoto
Kei is a joint-degree student at the Yale Schools of Environment and Public Health, specializing in climate health & water. She is interested in the various ways that people navigate their relationship with the environments around them, and how that is expressed through various media and emotions. She aspires to lead a life and career that supports and uplifts the health of the ecological and human communities around her.
Kei is a part of the marketing team at EFFY, focusing on website management. Find a typo? Let me know!
Ayanna Dunmore
Ayanna is a first-year Master of Environmental Management candidate at the Yale School of the Environment and specializes in urban climate resiliency and environmental justice. Ayanna has a B.A. in Environmental Science and Public Policy from Harvard College. Prior to coming to Yale, she worked in New York City on solar, battery storage, and electric vehicle charging development. There she developed an interest in understanding how cities can adapt to climate change in equitable and sustainable ways. Outside of school and work, Ayanna enjoys watching movies, cooking, and running. She loves that EFFY combines her passion for film and the environment and is excited to support a film festival for the first time.
Sofia Prieto Black
Sofia is a junior at Yale College majoring in Environmental Studies, with a self-directed concentration in Film & Media and a certificate in Energy Studies. She is passionate about transforming the entertainment industry’s approach to sustainability by developing creative strategies to reduce waste and energy use in filmmaking, while telling stories that inspire environmental and social action!!
Now in her third year working with the Yale Environmental Film Festival, Sofia is committed to strengthening connections between graduate and undergraduate communities, supporting greater collaboration, participation, and attendance across the festival. Shaped by a multicultural upbringing spanning Playa del Carmen, Cancun, the Bay Area, Amsterdam, and Sydney, and by her identity as an Afro-Latina, she brings a global and justice-centered lens to storytelling. Through EFFY, Sofia is excited to help elevate narratives at the intersection of climate, culture, and equity.
Elaine Yang
Elaine is a second-year medical student at the Yale School of Medicine. She believes in an intrinsic connection between the environment and human health, and her passion for storytelling led her to EFFY. When Elaine is not in the hospital, you can probably find her at a community garden.
Alice Le Bihan
Alice calls the Canadian West Coast and its 17,000 miles of coastline home, and holds a deep personal relationship with those diverse waters. A current MEM student in the Yale School of Environment's Water Resource Science and Management Specialization, Alice is an environmentalist and poet with a background in law and policy. She spends her time by the sea.
Ismael Mounime
Originally from France, Ismaël moved to the United States to pursue his PhD and is now in his fourth year. He is affiliated with the Yale School of Medicine, where he works on image reconstruction at the Yale PET Center. His research focuses on developing math-based models to improve image quality and quantitative accuracy in both PET and MRI. Outside the lab, Ismaël has always been passionate about filmmaking and recently began writing and directing his own films — and maybe he’ll submit something for a future EFFY edition. In the meantime, he’s very excited to be part of the EFFY team this year, bringing creativity to a cause as important as the environmental struggle.
Yufan (Jennifer) Gao
Jennifer is a second-year Master of Environmental Management candidate at Yale School of the Environment, specializing in Business and Energy. Her work focuses on corporate sustainability and the clean energy transition. She earned her B.S. in Environmental Science (Biogeochemistry) through the Duke-Duke Kunshan dual-degree program. With a longstanding interest in the intersection of media arts and environmental science, Jennifer produced a documentary exploring the sustainability of localized organic farming, and has presented at an international seed conservation conference. She is excited to bring her passion for environmental storytelling to EFFY. Outside of work, Jennifer plays the erhu and pipe organ, and enjoys broadcasting and hosting.
Isabela Filgueira
Isabela Filgueira is a second-year Master of Environmental Science candidate at the Yale School of the Environment and a Three Cairns 2026 Scholar, specializing in tropical ecology and ecosystem services. Her research focuses on quantifying how lowland tapirs, as key seed dispersers, contribute to forest structural complexity and ecosystem stability across agricultural frontiers in the Brazilian Amazon, known as the Arc of Deforestation. At Yale, she integrates GPS tracking, remote sensing and ecological approaches to assess how dynamic agricultural landscapes influence wildlife movement and forest regeneration. She aims to advance biodiversity-based climate mitigation strategies in the Global South while engaging in science communication and environmental education.
Helium Wang
Helium is a JD-MEM student interested in deep-sea mining and really into all kinds of documentaries.
Additional Team Member(s):
Joey berger
Effy monster
EFFY Monster has been with the festival since the very beginning. Serving as the official Environmental Film Festival at Yale mascot, EFFY Monster has been an ever-present figure at all EFFY events, screenings, and panel discussions. An enthusiastic supporter, film lover, and audience favorite, EFFY Monster is proud to (once again) be a part of the team!
