Robert T. Caccese (Outstanding Recent Alumnus)

Robert T. Caccese earned a Bachelor of Science in Wildlife and Fisheries Science from Penn State in 2012. During his undergraduate program Bob was repeatedly on the Dean's List, was recognized as the Outstanding Senior in the School of Forest Resources, and received the John L. George Student Conservation Award.

Following graduation in 2012, Bob enrolled in law school and earned a Juris Doctor (J.D.) degree from Penn State's Dickinson School of Law in 2015 with an emphasis on environmental law, natural resources law, and water law. Additionally, he received the CALI Award in water law, given to the law student with the highest grade in the class.

During summers while in law school, Bob worked in Harrisburg as a legal extern for the Pennsylvania Department of Natural Resources (2013), and as a certified legal intern for the Pennsylvania Game Commission (2014), where he worked on environmental issues concerning Pennsylvania state parks, forests, game lands, natural resources leases, conservation easements, Marcellus Shale royalty issues, and other land management questions.

In 2015 Bob accepted a position as a Wildlife Conservation Education Specialist with the Pennsylvania Game Commission in Harrisburg teaching hunter-trapper education, drafting contracts for hunter education/archery instructors, preparing sportsmen non-profit cooperative agreements, and revising the Commission's Information and Education Bureau's ADA policy.

In July 2016 Bob accepted a position as a staff attorney for Penn State Law. Over the next two years, until September 2018, Bob primarily specialized in water law issues, engaged water stakeholders, and conducted research on water rights and policy, fisheries issues, and Endangered Species Act mandates. In addition, he organized a university-wide water “showcase" event to highlight research and collaboration opportunities for water resources across Penn State. Likewise, Bob worked with an interdisciplinary team to integrate water rights information into models to map weather variability impacts on nationwide economic sectors.

In September 2018 Bob accepted the position as Assistant Counsel for the Pennsylvania Fish and Boat Commission in Harrisburg. In this role Bob drafts and reviews Commission rules, regulations, policies, and legislation; prepares and reviews legal contracts, agreements, memoranda of understanding and other documents for the Commission; represents the agency in front of courts and administrative hearing boards; counsels agency staff on environmental pollution, navigability, and water law matters; advises agency personnel on legal matters pertaining to real estate acquisitions, title searches, and property access; provides briefing and training sessions to agency law enforcement personnel; and advises the Commission's Open Records Officer regarding requests under the PA Right-to-Know Law. He is currently leading an intra- and interagency effort to update Pennsylvania's approach to preventing the spread of diseases, pathogens, and aquatic invasive species through a rewrite of agency regulations.

Over the last three years Bob has been actively engaged in teaching as a Penn State guest lecturer addressing myriad natural resource legal and policy topics. He developed and teaches an online course in Environmental Law and Policy (EMGT 820) as an adjunct faculty instructor for Penn State Law each spring semester, which is offered via the Penn State World Campus.

Bob has authored and co-authored several professional publications, mostly addressing water law, the food-energy-water nexus, and adaptive water resources management. He has been an invited speaker and panelist at meetings of the American Water Resources Association and Instream Flow Council, and presented at the 2017 Pennsylvania Environmental Law Forum on adaptive water resources management.

Bob is an active member of the American Water Resources Association's Policy Committee and the IMPACT Editorial Board. Locally, he has served as a board member for the Spring Creek Chapter of Trout Unlimited and serves on the board of directors for the Forest Resources Alumni Group. Bob also supports the Penn State Forest Resources Alumni Group Alumni-Student Mentoring Program, volunteering as a mentor for wildlife and fisheries students.

Currently he resides in Hummelstown, Pennsylvania with his girlfriend, and enjoys hunting, fishing, half marathons, and hiking the Adirondack High Peaks wilderness region.