Center for Humans and Nature

Anja Claus, B.S.

Program Associate

As Program Associate for the Center, Anja is implementing the Center’s ‘Ideas of Humans and Nature’ and ‘Cultures of Conservation’ programs.  Anja is also pursuing her Master of Arts degree in Geography and Environmental Studies at Northeastern Illinois University (NEIU), Chicago.  Her research interests focus on progressive planning methods grounded in an ecological ethic.  Her central research question is “How can we plan our spaces to be sensitive and respectful to place in all its cultural and natural complexity?”

Her research intrests include:

Re-conceptualizing concepts of space and place
Ethics of Place
Space for facilitating others’s differences
Place for developing a ‘desire & wonder’ of others

Anja’s professional associations include the: American Association of Geographers (AAG); Illinois Association of Geographers (IAG); International Association of Environmental Philosophers (IAEP).

Anja was awarded a Bachelor of Science degree in Biology from University of Illinois, Champaign-Urbana. Following her graduation, she left Illinois for Germany to pursue research in toxicology. As a research assistant at the Forshungs Zentrum, Institute of Genetics and Toxicology in Karlsruhe, Germany, Anja studied viral/host relationships.