Stanford grad’s trek on the edge of wilderness

Zachary Brown defends his thesis, then travels 2,300 miles by foot and by kayak to establish an Alaskan field school, where he hopes to inspire the next generation's understanding of the environment. By Ker Than Stanford PhD graduate Zachary Brown traveled 2,300 miles by foot and by kayak to create an Alaskan field school to inspire and educate future environmental leaders. In mid-June 2014, as his classmates were trying on their commencement caps and gowns, Zachary Brown was negotiating with a fishing boat captain for a lift across the Columbia River, from Oregon into Washington. Two months prior, after successfully defending his thesis and earning his PhD from the School of Earth, Energy & Environmental Sciences, Brown stuffed a backpack with a change of clothes, walked down Palm Drive one last time and turned left onto El Camino Real. He was headed for Alaska, and would spend the next several months trekking there by foot and by kayak. The trip was something of a homecoming for Brown, who grew up in the small Alaskan town of Gustavus, but it also served a greater purpose: to raise awareness for a field school he is establishing at the tip of the Inian Islands, a remote archipelago in the 50th state's "panhandle" along western Canada. Through the school, called the Inian Islands Institute , Brown aims to inspire and educate future environmental leaders and serve as a base for scientists working in the region.