Susan A. Masino, Ph.D.

IN-PERSON OR VIRTUAL PRESENTATIONS AVAILABLE

• Why Our Brains Need Nature – Protecting our brain health and protecting areas for natural processes are both vitally important for our long-term wellbeing.  This presentation will review emerging interdisciplinary science of supporting human potential by reengaging with nature and protecting it for the future.
• Wildlands in New England: What Where and Why – This presentation/workshop will showcase a first-of-its-kind regional report published in 2023 and titled “Wildlands in New England: Past, Present, and Future.”  It will be customized and will share strategies to identify and document local Wildlands that support short- and long-term public health.
• A Bold Vision for New National Parks: Olmsted and America’s 250th:  Nature is our common lifeline. This presentation features a bold vision, in collaboration with www.RESTORE.org, for new and expanded National Parks across the country and especially in New England.  This integrates and coincides with aspirational and unifying goals in honor of America’s 250thand builds on timeless and foundational values of Frederick Law Olmsted: nature, beauty, democracy, and mental health.  Specific proposed areas with outstanding natural and cultural heritage will be featured along with ample time for Q&A
• Forests and Brain Health – New England is predominantly forested, and the benefits of forests for brain health spans across cultures and has been noted throughout history.  New research shows cost-effective short and long-term brain health opportunities across ages and abilities – physiological, hormonal, cognitive, and emotional.
• Proforestation, the Biotic Pump, and Global Wellbeing -The international climate conversation centers on the atmosphere and energy use. Despite this persistent focus, the most critical planetary limits are biological. This presentation focuses on forests as the most biodiverse land-based ecosystem and essential for stabilizing the climate and enabling life on land – including us.
• Guided Nature and Forest Therapy – Guided nature and forest therapy is a flexible opportunity to be in local nature in a new way.  The experience requires approximately 2 hours and it can be conducted in-person or virtually.  I will be offering a local adaptation of a standards-based protocol established by the Association of Nature and Forest Therapy (www.anft.earth).

• Ph.D. in Biology, Professor of Neuroscience and Psychology
• Distinguished Professor of Applied Science
• Author/editor of four neuroscience books and dozens of research papers and scientific reports on neuroscience, ecology, and community
• Certified forest therapy guide via the Association of Nature and Forest Therapy (www.anft.earth)
• Research fellow working with RESTORE: The North Woods (www.restore.org)

Other Information: 

• Member, Simbury, Connecticut Open Space Committee
• President, Simsbury Grange #197
• Hartford County Coordinator for the Old Growth Forest Network
• Aton Forest, Pinchot Institute for Conservation, Wellspring Common Stewards