"I am excited to join President Obama at the Democracy Forum in New York to speak about islands taking action on climate change. Even though we suffer the wrath of climate change, our island people are leading the way as we build upon our ancient past, innovate in the present, and navigate the waters to our sustainable future,” said Shelton, who’s also Steering Committee Co-Chair of Guam Green Growth and an associate professor at UOG.

In 2019, Shelton was part of the inaugural cohort of Obama Foundation Leaders: Asia-Pacific, a cross-section of 200 emerging civic leaders from 33 nations and territories in the region who were part of a year-long leadership program.

Shelton earned a bachelor’s degree in marine biology from Hawaiʻi Pacific University and both a master’s and doctorate in zoology with a specialization in marine biology from the University of Hawaiʻi at Mānoa.

Shelton will be one of three speakers scheduled to present on the topic “democracy and climate change.” His co-speakers for this panel are Juan Carlos Monterrey Gómez, a University of Chicago scholar from Panama; and Peggy Shepard, co-founder of We Act for Economic Justice in New York City.

The Obama Foundation Democracy Forum will be livestreamed at https://www.obama.org/democracy-forum-2022/.