Macol Stewart Cerda, founder and President of Silmaril, LLC, is a development consultant and environmental policy advisor with over ten years of international experience. She is currently working with the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration?s (NOAA) Office of Global Programs to facilitate learning from current experiences managing climate variability to support planning for adaptation to climate change. From 2001-2003 Cerda was an Investing in Women in Development Fellow at the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID). She advised the agency on more effectively integrating women and girls into its environmental, disaster mitigation, and information technology programs. Prior to serving as a Fellow at USAID, Cerda was Director of NOAA?s Climate Forecasting and Applications Program for Africa. She managed over 100 research, capacity building, and forecast applications activities in Africa and designed the regional infrastructure for the Seasonal Climate Outlook Fora that over 60 countries around the world now rely upon for adapting to climate variability. She also founded NOAA?s Climate and Health Program. Her research interests encompass cross time-scale learning, communication of climate information, and the roles of gender, age, and HIV status in adapting to climate variability and change. She earned an M.E.S. at the Yale School of Forestry and Environmental Studies, an M.A. in international relations at Yale University, and an A.B. in philosophy from Princeton University.
