Professionally – Alark Saxena is an Assistant Professor of Forestry at the School of Forestry at Northern Arizona University. A forester at heart, Alark is a social-ecologist, a complex system scientist, and a systems modeler. His primary interests are in finding innovative solutions for disaster risk reduction, climate resilience, sustainable forest management, and poverty alleviation. 

Alark has had the opportunity to conduct research in different parts of the world. Broadly, he has worked in South and South East Asia, Latin America, and the Caribbean, Western and Central Europe. Currently, Alark is working on the following research ideas (at different stages of development and implementation) developing adaptive governance systems to manage forest fires in tropical forest countries like Colombia, Indonesia, and the Democratic Republic of Congo; Creating evidence between food security and biodiversity in mountain environments in Ghana, Mexico, and USA. He has been involved in various projects, primarily in the United States, India and Nepal.

Prior to his current position, Alark served as the Program Director of Yale Himalaya Initiative. Before coming to the USA, Alark worked with Madhya Pradesh Forest Department in India.

Personally: Alark is a proud “Silly Daddy” of a son Devaksh (4.5 yrs) and a daughter Bodhi (15 months). He is married to Dr. Alder Keleman Saxena also a research scholar who works on issues of food security and agro-biodiversity. Alark is also an International Martial Arts Champion. He professionally bred Dobermans. Many of his dogs are now serving state police. He loves riding his old motorcycles (Yezdi and Bullet) and is currently finishing up his Private Pilot license.

Q. How has been your journey from IIFM to NAU current organisation?

Alark: In this journey, I can name almost all the feelings one gets while going on an adventure where you vaguely know the broad direction where you want to go but you have no idea of what comes in between. It started with taking a (then) risky decision to go to Yale. It was exciting, unnerving, and at the same time extremely rewarding.

 IIFM helped me identify what drives me and gave me a strong foundation to pursue it. Yale became a game-changer and made me intellectually curious about the world. Yale exposed me to a diversity of thoughts and enabled me to work across cultures, landscapes, and countries. Developing and leading programs at Yale and teaching in at least four different institutions has been immensely rewarding.

Q. What are some of the key milestones or learnings in this journey that you would like to share with us?

A:  Prior to IIFM, most of my life experiences were gained while working at my Father’s farm; competing in Karate, doing adventure sports, and raising dogs. My intellectual learning started from IIFM. I was able to understand poverty and its challenges from a nuanced perspective. I knew poverty as I saw it very closely as a farmer but IIFM helped me understand the context, and the tools to engage with it in a meaningful way. Since then, I have worked in Naxal affected areas in MP, followed Rehbari’s (sheep herders from Rajasthan and Gujarat) across central Indian landscapes. Got my PhD on something that I had full freedom to work on,worked at the United Nations as a special advisor, taught at Yale in USA, Yunnan Minzu University in China, Aarhus University in Denmark, Yale NUS college in Singapore and now at NAU. I also got the opportunity to Direct the Yale Himalaya Initiative and the Yale Disaster Risk Reduction Initiative. Being able to lead two programs at Yale and receiving the Inspiring Yale award were certainly a highlight in my career. Yet, I still feel that one of my biggest milestones was to develop the Integrated Tribal Village Development program for Madhya Pradesh while working with the forest department. 

Q. What is the most satisfying part of your current role?

A: Most satisfying aspect about my current job is that I am able to actively seek sustainability challenges the world is facing today and engage (through research, collaboration and innovation) in meaningful ways to find solutions. Teaching and mentoring the new generation is a serious responsibility but is also the most rewarding part of my current role. To be able to engage with students from around the world, being able to influence their thinking about the world, and become a tiny part of their success makes me go to bed peacefully. 

Q. Has your learning at IIFM helped in shaping how you approach your professional roles?

A: IIFM’s effort to give us real-world experience helped me a lot. Even today, I use my experiences from field and organization training that I partook during IIFM. The experiences of working in Kotra, Rajasthan, understanding poverty and forestry in Orissa and Madhya Pradesh all have helped me nourish my resolve for improving the wellbeing of people and the planet. IIFM shaped my vision of what I wanted to do in and for the world. 

Q. Who (or what) are the biggest influences or drivers in your careers? What would be your advice to freshers and IIFM graduates who are looking to choose similar sectors/roles.

A: Dr. Yogesh Dubey’s encouragement to pursue higher education helped me as I really did not know much about it till then. I did have the chance to connect with some of the alumni but going to Yale was a new ball game and not many had done that before. So I was kind of on my own. The faculty at IIFM including my former Boss Mr. Anand Kumar (IFS). Dr. A K Bhattacharya (retd IFS) and Dr. Vinay Sinha (Retd IFS)  were very supportive and encouraged me to pursue my career path at Yale. Still, the biggest influencers as I will say are the discussions with my family at the dinner table or working on the farm where the main theme was very often “what is our purpose on this planet” and how can we become more useful in the service of others. 

For IIFM graduates, I will encourage them to work for some time before applying for higher education.  Engaging in a specific project helps you get clarity about the direction you want to go (and not go). Take IIFM as a great starting point and enjoy the time there. Engage with faculty who you think is doing interesting work. Ask them for more information and ways to engage in their research. If you are working on something, try to publish it with the faculty- whether you want to go into research or practice, either way, the ability to write demonstrates clarity of thought and greater professional capacity. 

Q. What are your favorite memories during your IIFM days?

A:  There are several of them and some of them I will only share in person. The weekend dance parties were my favorite. The entire class breaking out their crazy dance moves was quite an inspiration. This trend continued at Yale as well where I thought that the Yale environment was going to be a studious and professional one but turned out that IIFM had prepared me really really well for the massive international dance parties that happened at the School of Forestry. Some other favorite memories were walking to the mess and enjoying having breakfast and dinners together with friends. Finally, climbing on top of the water tank and seeing the sunset and sunrise all are still very fresh in my mind. Going to the All India Forest Sports meet was another highlight.

Q. In hindsight, what was the biggest take away from IIFM that you think played a critical role in shaping you as an individual or professional?

A:  The field exposure, faculty giving us tools and techniques to apply in real-world settings were very helpful. Also, it is important to recognize that because IIFM is focused on environmental and sustainability issues, it was great to know that our training was not simply about increasing the profits of corporates in a consumption-driven world but that there are bigger and deeper questions that our training can help solve. I feel very fortunate that I have the chance to engage in issues that are so deeply meaningful for the wellbeing of our people and our planet. 

Q. The best buddies / seniors /faculty at IIFM? Some memorable tidbits that you like to share?

A:  Oh Gosh. I really loved my immediate senior batch. To be honest, it was the way they engaged with me (Ajay Samuel) when I first came to IIFM to just check the place out, that got me sold. I worry that I will forget so many names when I take the names of a few. But I want to say, my interactions with Deepak Kindo (the way he danced), Bharat Chaudhary, Tarun Mapara (their happy go luck style), Ranjan Mathur and Rishu Garg (both of them would not miss any chance to pull my leg), Vijay Prasad Kesri (Nepal)- who would make me gasp in the badminton court, Aparajita and Shashi who guided us on what you can do with your fieldwork, etc.

I fondly remember being saved from several troubles by my Faculty Advisor Dr. Vijay Kumar – YES PLJJJ!

Dr. Yogesh Dubey was great support and I always admired CSR’s sincerity and work.

From my own class – There are several names here, but I wish to acknowledge Vipul Pande (roomy), who was a great source of friendship and strength not just to me but to the whole class. Unfortunately, he passed away too soon. However, he and I had a great time together preparing for IIFM and then being roommates. His memories are still fresh in my mind.

Q. What is your typical day at the office?

A:  In the pandemic times things are different. But I am an early riser. I start my day at 4:00 am and do my morning yoga. This is a survival mechanism to get ready before the chaos starts. The day is divided into teaching, research brainstorming and writing meetings. Finally whatever time is left goes into trying to take care of the admin. The work often spills into late night calls with international collaborators. 

Q. What about weekends and time off from work?

A:  Right now, it is hard to differentiate between weekends and work days but on a good weekend, I will go for runs early in the morning and will not touch work. I will play and often teach martial arts to my son. We live very close to the forest and so the whole family often goes on long bike rides and hikes in the forest.

Q. Favorite Books, movies, authors?

A: Author – Arthur Connan Doyle (Sherlock Holmes), Tagore, Harivansh Rai Bachhan.

Movies – Sholay, Zanzeer, The Great Escape, Schindler’s List, Jo jeeta wahi sinkandar, Dil chahta hai, Kungfu Panda, Dangal.

Series – The West Wing, Byomkesh Bakshi, Udaan,  and Fauji.

Several books – My experiment with the truth (M K Gandhi); Autobiography of a Yogi, The Outliers, Commentary on Patanjali’s Yoga Sutra by Vivekanand, Motorcycles diaries.

Q. IIFM is driven by alumni’s passion and commitments towards its goal. How would you like to contribute to IIFM or IIFM alumni, students?:  

A: There are several ways in which I continue to contribute to IIFM. I have actively engaged in creating new partnerships between international institutions and IIFM. I have floated Summer Internships and finally as an academic, I am running a collaborative research project with IIFM faculty. I have recently taught two courses, Disaster Risk Reduction and Resilience, and Critical and Systems thinking for environmental problem solving. I aim to continue on this path for the longer term. 

Q. What do you think is different at IIFM now vs when you studied there? What do you think is a positive change and what is not?

A: This is hard to say but the strength of the batches has increased dramatically. This is both a challenge and an opportunity. An opportunity because we need 1000’s of IIFMites to engage in all kinds of sectors to bring environmental sustainability and integrity at the heart of growth and development of the country and the world. 

Q. Any suggestions on who from our alumni you want to get profiled/in- terviewed here?

A:  I have recently had the privilege to host the alums of the first batch here. I think all of us should hear their stories. I will start with Vijay Kaul; Anjali Kaul, Sandeep Chakravorty.