Jherime Kellermann, 2007

Thesis:

Assessing an economic incentive for bird-friendly coffee cultivation in Jamaica, West Indies.

After Humboldt, Jherime went on for a PhD at the University of Arizona, and then on to be a professor at theOregon Institute of Technology.

For his Humboldt thesis, Jherime’s project focused on “ecological services” provided birds in an agricultural setting. He used experimental cages to exclude insect-eating birds from coffee bushes and test if birds can decrease crop damage caused by insect pests. His work was in the Blue Mountains of Jamaica, home to some of the world’s most elite coffees and a hot spot of endemism and an important area for global biodiversity.