Career Conversations: Internship Takes Stanford Student to DC, Uruguay, and Back
An internship assessing the natural capital of wetlands in Uruguay inspired Stanford Earth Systems Master’s student Tom Ramsay to pursue a career in sustainable development.
The internship, through Stanford's Environment and Policy Internships (EPIC) Program, was co-led by the Stanford-based Natural Capital Alliance (NatCap) and the Inter-American Development Bank (IDB). It allowed Ramsay to work with both groups as well as Uruguay’s Ministry of Environment to support the integration of natural capital approaches into national policy and planning.
Part of the People, Planet, Prosperity initiative, the project he worked on is assessing and valuing Uruguay’s wetlands to guide zoning, investment, and cross-ministerial collaboration. For Ramsay, witnessing how “the language of policymakers is economics” shaped his ambitions for his emerging environmental career.
How did you find and come into this project?
TR: It started with my senior capstone, where members from different labs offered themselves as mentors. One of those mentors was Kim Bonine, head of capacity development at NatCap. I reached out to her, because Gretchen Daily (NatCap faculty director) had come into one of my classes several years before and I thought NatCap’s work was really interesting. I formulated a capstone project applying InVEST's flood risk mitigation model to my hometown in Florianópolis, Brazil—because recently they've experienced a lot of flooding—as a way to connect my learning at Stanford to something that I cared about at home.
The project was well received by Stanford - I ended up getting an excellence award for it. Around that time, I saw the summer opportunity to work with NatCap and the Inter-American Development Bank. On the interview panel, there were about 10 people—and one of them was Kim! It was great to see a familiar face.
Tom joined the project when the technical team was still coming together. Drawing on his final thesis work and his great communication skills, he played a key role in getting us started with InVEST and in guiding the team into the biophysical modeling phase." –Guillermo Sena, Uruguay project coordinator
Zooming out a little bit, what did you study at Stanford? Where were you in your personal and professional intellectual trajectory when you started the internship?
TR: I started the internship as a senior at Stanford studying Earth Systems—Stanford’s environmental science major. I’m from multiple places: Ireland, Brazil, the UK. I was drawn to NatCap because of this increasing realization that the language of policymakers around the world is economics. I realized that though there was part of me that loved ecology, there was also a pragmatic side that wanted to understand what people listen to. I saw NatCap as the merging of those two, which I think results in powerful arguments for protecting nature. That's exactly what my internship was about: doing research about Uruguay’s ecosystem services and crafting a powerful argument to protect their ecosystems, as well as involving stakeholders from Uruguay to support the government's decisions around wetlands conservation.
What did you do both overall and day-to-day to support this project over the summer?
TR: I started off at IDB Headquarters in DC, where I spent two weeks with the IDB intern cohort working with the Biodiversity and Natural Capital Unit. I then came back to Stanford where I did the Economics & Finance for Environmental Leadership course, co-hosted by NatCap and the Stanford Doerr School of Sustainability and led by Conservation Strategy Fund. My supervisor Guillermo Sena, who is the project coordinator and consultant based in Uruguay, was flown out because he was one of the 2025 NatCap Young Leaders Prize winners. For the last three weeks of the internship, I went down to Uruguay.
Because of my prior experience running InVEST models, that's where I contributed the most. I used the InVEST Seasonal Water Yield model to understand how intact wetland ecosystems influence the landscape's hydrology, the services they provide to people, and the consequences of wetland loss. Ultimately, we’re trying to understand how intact wetlands influence the benefits people receive, including clean water? And then what's that difference without those wetlands? The next step is to conduct an economic valuation of Uruguay’s wetlands.
I also collected data. I would meet with Uruguayan departments to choose between datasets for the analysis – it's important to get the right ones so that people actually respect the results. NatCap has such a body of literature around past projects, so whenever I was in doubt or wanted inspiration, I could look at the documentations from all of the 3Ps pilot projects, and also other NatCap projects, because they thoroughly document all of the information, how they got it, how they processed it, the decisions that went into choosing one source over another. I felt like I was standing on the shoulders of this massive body of NatCap literature, which made everything easier.
I think that's ultimately the purpose of these pilots: we're testing approaches out and working with government stakeholders, so that in the future, when another project is proposed, you can reference this massive body of information and work that's already been done.
Was there a moment in your summer that made the concept of natural capital or natural capital approaches really click for you?
TR: When I was doing the course in environmental economics and leadership, I met 30 people from 20 countries who are leaders, in all different ways, in environmental conservation. They were all there to learn about how environmental economics could help them in their goals. For some, it was lobbying for coral reef protection on their islands. For others, it was working at energy firms that were trying to increase their understanding of environmental impact. That was a moment where I realized just how applicable this work is to everyone in the environmental space. Every one of those mid-career professionals left with a stronger understanding of how environmental economics can justify the protection of the ecosystems that they were fighting for. It really clicked to me that ecosystem service valuation and natural capital accounting is probably the most effective tool—regardless of where, geographically, you're working—for getting everyone on board and understanding the value that nature can bring to humans.
How has this project advanced or changed your career ambitions?
TR: This internship opened up the doors to working on environmental projects in Latin America. My Spanish was already strong but there is nothing like getting thrown into a room full of Spanish speakers and having to present and try to sound smart! Now my Spanish is competent enough to work in dozens of Latin American countries.
My summer internship felt like three internships in one. I learned what it's like to get funding and to develop a project with the IDB, both in the headquarters and on the ground in Uruguay. I also conducted research at an academic institution here at Stanford—with NatCap when I spent a month here, and I continue to do so through independent study. And I saw what it's like to actually work with stakeholders in government. I spent time at the Ministry of Environment, I spent time at the Ministry of Economics and Finance, and I got to understand what it's like packaging research into a policy proposal. I feel like a lot of doors have opened for me.
I would be really excited to work in the natural capital accounting realm, because from my experience this summer, it seems increasingly of interest to governments around the world [natural capital accounts track current stocks of natural capital, flows of ecosystem service benefits, and their change over time using a standardized, replicable approach]. I'm going to be applying to sustainable development jobs through development banks. I'm also looking at academic institutions and environmental policy roles. The internship made me realize there are these different possibilities that I'm excited about, and I have the initial tools and competencies to get started.
Acknowledgements from Tom!
I had a lot of really caring and amazing mentors over the summer. Firstly, Kim Bonine. She was the one who first pulled me into NatCap, and she's been an amazing resource. She cares so much about her work and about the success of the people around her.
Guillermo Sena, the project coordinator, was also incredible. Whenever I had a meeting with a government official, he would prep me, giving me all the relevant information: the things that only Uruguayans would know, but that I would want to know to make a good impression or to understand the dynamics of that space.
In Uruguay, I also spent time with GIS consultant Caterina Dimitriadis, ministry of environment representatives Esteban Ortíz and Soledad Camacho, and ministry of finance rep Luisa Oliveira, who welcomed me into their institutions and showed me around Montevideo's cultural and historical landmarks such as the Fortaleza del Cerro overlooking the city and port.
Throughout the summer, all of NatCap’s scientists—Stacie Wolny, Jess Silver— they've been incredibly helpful. Drawing on their breadth of expertise was invaluable. Making sure that I had continuous direction and feedback as I worked on the models. Whenever I ran into a problem, they'd be the first ones to make themselves available and to talk through it and to teach me.
Increasingly, I've been working with Héctor, NatCap’s modeler extraordinaire. It's been incredible to learn from him what it's like to problem solve as an engineer, and his approach is something I really admire. I've taken engineering classes, but I'm ultimately studying environmental science.. Now I spend most of my time with him, because I'm doing independent study, specifically using the water model that he's the main authority on.
When I was at the IDB headquarters, Vanessa Callau—Sector Specialist at the Biodiversity and Natural Capital Unit—was extremely helpful. She let me sit in on some really interesting meetings, including preparations for COP30. I saw how the IDB was approaching nature-positive metrics, ecosystem service evaluation, natural capital accounting, and their projects across the Latin American and the Caribbean region. I felt extremely well-received, and I felt I got a lot from a relatively short period of time.
At the IDB office in Uruguay, Sofía Polcaro, Sector Specialist in the Climate Change and Sustainability Division, was my wonderful IDB host, connecting me with her colleagues across the Bank and introducing me to Montevideo, including Expo Prado, where I attended an address by the Minister of Livestock, Agriculture, and Fisheries.
This internship program is made possible through Stanford's Environment and Policy Internships (EPIC) Program, offered by the Stanford Woods Institute for the Environment and the Stanford Doerr School of Sustainability, the Haas Center for Public Service and Stanford in Government.
The Natural Capital Alliance’s current core members in addition to Stanford are the Stockholm Resilience Centre, the Chinese Academy of Sciences, the University of Minnesota’s NatCap TEEMs, WWF, The Nature Conservancy, and Natural Capital Insights.
The Earth Systems Program is an interdisciplinary environmental science major and coterminal masters program in the Stanford Doerr School of Sustainability. NatCap’s global hub at Stanford University is part of the Woods Institute for the Environment within the Stanford Doerr School of Sustainability, and the Department of Biology within Stanford’s School of Humanities & Sciences.