Eric sustains a strong research portfolio and works to develop new technologies that expand the frontiers of sustainability. He helps to develop mutually beneficial linkages with industry to develop partnerships and collaborative research and, where applicable, technology transfer, contract work, and commercialization of intellectual property. One key focus is the development of our innovation and translation program design for circular economy. As Director Emeritus, Eric provides strategic counsel related to the Center.

Eric Beckman received his BS in chemical engineering from MIT in 1980, and a PhD in polymer science from the University of Massachusetts in 1988. Dr. Beckman assumed his faculty position at the University of Pittsburgh in 1989, was promoted to associate professor in 1994, and full professor in 1997. He received a Young Investigator Award from the National Science Foundation in 1992, and the Presidential Green Chemistry Award in 2002. He previously served as Associate Dean for Research for the School of Engineering and Chairman of Chemical Engineering. In 2003, Dr. Beckman co-founded the Mascaro Center for Sustainable Innovation, a school of engineering institute that examines the design of more sustainable infrastructure. In 2005, he co-founded Cohera Medical Inc. to commercialize surgical adhesive technology developed at the University. Dr. Beckman took an entrepreneurial leave of absence from the University in 2007-2009 to help move the products to market. Dr. Beckman's research group examines the use of molecular design to solve problems in green product formulation and in the design of materials for use in tissue engineering. He has published over 175 papers and has received more than 40 US patents.

Dr. Bilec is responsible for providing research leadership and strategic MCSI direction, which includes developing new programs and promoting and facilitating leading-edge collaborative research. Dr. Bilec helps to build and provide support for a community of innovative researchers to enhance research capacity at the University and increase internal and external research opportunities for faculty and students. She works to develop networks between the Center and partners, acting as the nexus between the University and the community developing strong linkages with appropriate departments and programs. With the MCSI team, Dr. Bilec is focusing on developing and implementing a new design for circular economy program.

Dr. Bilec is an associate professor in the Swanson School of Engineering’s Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering; she is the Deputy Director of the Mascaro Center for Sustainable Innovation.  Dr. Bilec’s research program focuses on the built environment, life cycle assessment, sustainable healthcare, and indoor air impacts.  She is interested in improving system-level environmental performance of buildings, while developing a deeper understanding of indoor environmental quality, occupant impacts, and energy use.  She is the Principal Investigator of a multi-disciplinary and multi-institutional research project, NSF EFRI-Barriers, Understanding, Integration – Life cycle Development (BUILD). Dr. Bilec has over 40 journal publications and has secured over $6 million in funding, including 8 National Science Foundation grants.  She has received four education excellence awards. Dr. Bilec’s work prior to academia included tenure at the Urban Redevelopment Authority of Pittsburgh where she worked on green infrastructure projects, including the conversion of a 100-year bridge into a pedestrian bridge.  Dr. Bilec serves on the Green Building Alliance board.

Ellie is a critical partner to the MCSI leadership team helping to ensure successful planning and implementation of its educational programs, marketing, and logistics. Ellie works with faculty to advise students on research, education, and service opportunities related to sustainability-focused courses, the undergraduate certificate, sustainability transcript distinction, Master of Science in Sustainable Engineering, and first year programs. 

Ellie graduated in April 2020 from the University of Pittsburgh with a BA in Environmental Studies, minors in legal studies and Spanish, and a GIS certificate. As an undergraduate, Ellie served as a Sustainability Program Associate for the Office of PittServes and co-directed the Student Office of Sustainability.

Esmée serves as the Administrative Coordinator for MCSI as well as the Office of Sustainability. In her previous role, she worked as an Administrative Assistant at the Center for Sustainable Business at Pitt’s Katz School of Business.

She graduated from Chatham University in 2022 with a B.S. in Environmental Science. As an undergraduate, Esmée served as a field research assistant at Hubbard Brook Research Foundation in New Hampshire as well as an undergraduate researcher in ecology field studies focused on restoration of native plant species in 2^nd growth PA forests.

In her free time Esmee enjoys going for runs and taking care of her house plants

Savannah Denlinger serves as the Community Engagement Coordinator for MCSI. She received her B.S. in Environmental Science with a minor in Geology from Allegheny College in 2018, where her thesis work was "Urban Green Roofs: A Cost-Benefit Analysis of Allegheny College". She also has a M.S. in Sustainable Engineering from Pitt. During her time here, she worked as an Aquaponics and Environmental Education Intern at the Bible Center Church in Homewood with the Oasis Project. She will graduate this spring with a Masters in Secondary Education from Carlow University. Savannah worked at City Charter High School as a Math and Science Teaching Associate and is currently a chemistry teacher at Bishop Canevin High School. She also has experience as an AmeriCorps member and as a summer camp counselor at Pittsburgh Parks Conservancy.

Grace Fanning is a senior pursuing majors in Environmental Studies and Urban Studies as well as achieving the Sustainability Certificate. They are co-captain of the rugby team, and they also volunteer with the Plant2Plate garden on campus. They have previously been involved with the Green Team at Pitt as both a member and a leader. In their free time, they like to listen to music, cook, and go thrift shopping.

Elaina Geiger is a senior majoring in Environmental Engineering and pursuing a certificate in Sustainability. She is currently the Sustainability committee chair for Epsilon Eta and recently participated in the Student Undergraduate Research Internship (SURI) program with her research on bacteria in Pittsburgh's water distribution system. In her free time, Elaina loves reading, hiking, and spending as much time outdoors as possible!

Jess Gondak is a junior pursuing both an undergraduate degree in Chemistry with a focus in Materials Science and a certificate in Sustainability. She is a member of Epsilon Eta Delta, Pitt's environmental honors fraternity, and has experience both as an undergraduate researcher and an undergraduate teaching assistant. She is from State College, Pennsylvania. In her free time, she enjoys cross-stitching, taking care of her houseplants, and spending time with her cat. Jess will be writing MCSI's seasonal alumni newsletter and helping with edits to the website.

Emily Hoag is a junior majoring in Environmental Science with minors in Environmental Engineering and Political Science. She loves to be outdoors and go hiking and exploring in her free time. She hopes to visit all of the national parks one day!

Tony Kerzmann's educational background began with the attainment of a Bachelor of Arts in Physics from Duquesne University, as well as a Bachelor’s, Master’s, and PhD in Mechanical Engineering from the University of Pittsburgh. After graduating from Pitt, Tony became a Mechanical Engineering Professor at Robert Morris University which afforded him the opportunity to research, teach, and advise. One of Tony’s major research projects while at RMU was his work with a research group to develop alternative fueling station optimization simulations that led to numerous publications. Tony served as the mechanical coordinator for the Engineering Department for 6 years, and was the Director of Outreach for the Research and Outreach Center in the School of Engineering, Mathematics and Science. Throughout Tony’s academic career, he taught over 70 course sections and advised over 65 student projects.

Gena rejoined Pitt's School of Engineering in July 2003 as Co-Director of the Mascaro Center for Sustainable Innovation. She has 23 years of experience in development, marketing, and external relations.

Gena provides administrative and strategic leadership for the Center, a role in which she deepens engagements and develops partnerships that promote collaboration with industry, government, foundations, and universities. Gena leads efforts and represents the interests of the Center which includes supervising personnel, financial management, and organizational practices that foster positive, impactful relationships internally and externally. She is accountable for the smooth and successful development and implementation of all MCSI events and programs. Gena concurrently serves as Strategic Advisor to the Dean of the Swanson School of Engineering. In this expanded role, Gena helps to formalize and lead development of the Swanson School’s strategic processes and operationalizing its strategy across all units. She is also charged with forging new partnerships and working relationships across Pitt, our community, and our region.

Gena previously served as Vice President for Development at Shady Side Academy and, before that, as Senior Executive Director of Development and Alumni Relations at Pitt's School of Engineering. Prior to working at Pitt's engineering school, she managed donor relations and special events at Carnegie Mellon University. A native of Pittsburgh, she holds a B.A. from Penn State University in journalism and political science and a Master's of Management and Public Policy with a certificate in nonprofit management from Pitt.

Gena currently serves as a member of the Allegheny County Green Action Team and on the Board of Directors of the Pittsburgh Green Innovators.

Sophia Lex is a junior Environmental Engineer with a focus on Sustainability and Engineering for Humanity. She wishes to use her engineering background to help people and the planet, which is why she has involved herself with both the Mascaro Center and the ScholarCHEF community as an intern!

Dr. Sanchez is responsible for building research and scholarly initiatives around Sustainable Water, Sustainable Food, Sustainable Innovation, and Global Engagement. Dr. Sanchez is also responsible for managing and directing MCSI’s Faculty, Education, and Community Engagement programs, which include the John C. Mascaro Faculty program, the Len Peters Faculty Fellows, the Community Education Fellows, the Master’s in Sustainable Engineering, the university-wide undergraduate certificate in sustainability and the Student Sustainable Innovation Fund. Dr. Sanchez continues to expand our network of positive working relationships with faculty, administration, students, and external partners (e.g. NGOs, Government agencies, Startups, and Fortune 500 companies) that support our broad education and research agenda. He also oversees the undergraduate and graduate sustainability curriculum and our K-12 programming. 

David V.P. Sanchez is an Assistant Professor in the University of Pittsburgh’s Civil & Environmental Engineering department and serves as the Associate Director for the Mascaro Center for Sustainable Innovation. He coordinates the Design EXPO that showcases 90+ projects from ~400 students every semester and serves as the Director for the Manufacturing Assistant Center’s Makerspace, Constellation Energy’s Inventor Labs, the Series Workshops and some engineering collaborations in the community of Homewood.  

His research is focused on identifying sustainable designs that address the Water and Energy grand challenges in the natural and built environment on a local/regional scale. Current projects include engineering electrode morphology for bio-electrochemical systems, designing sensors to identify water quality trends in real-time and, developing hydroponic systems for the phytoremediation of PFAS, removing off-flavors from Recirculating Aquaponic systems, and enhancing community agricultural systems.  

Dr. Sanchez is the recipient of several awards including a National Science Foundation Graduate Research Fellowship, IGERT Traineeship, Alfred P. Sloan Scholarship, Pittsburgh Business Time Energy Award, Best Mentor Award for Pitt’s Excel program, Chancellor's Distinguished Teaching Award, and the Soska Wilds Outreach and Engagement Leadership award. David actively leads international engineering trips on behalf of the Swanson School of Engineering.

Dr. Patrick Shirey is a Postdoctoral Associate working with Daniel Bain and Anthony Iannacchione on bituminous coal mine subsidence impacts. He is a Certified Ecologist (Ecological Society of America) and Certified Fisheries Professional (American Fisheries Society), and serves as an Associate Director with the Pittsburgh Water Collaboratory (water.pitt.edu). Patrick conducts multidisciplinary research using techniques from his terminal degrees in ecology (Ph.D.) and law (J.D.). He has given over 40 scientific presentations (19 invited) and has published an invited comment in Nature and 18 peer-reviewed manuscripts in Conservation Letters, Earth Surface Processes and Landforms, Ecology and Society, Ecohydrology, Fisheries, the Journal of Paleolimnology, and other journals. His recently published research topics include urban stream restoration, endangered species conservation policy, environmental DNA, and science communication.

Patrick has won national research and policy awards including a George Melendez Wright Climate Change Research Fellowship from the National Park Service and was 1 of 35 early career aquatic scientists selected to participate in an NSF-funded symposium hosted by the University of Hawaiʻi – 2014 Ecological Dissertations in the Aquatic Sciences (Eco-DAS). He has been a recorded radio guest on NPR’s All Things Considered, a live radio guest on WOJB (Lac Courte Oreilles Reservation) to discuss brook trout conservation, and live radio guest answering listener questions on NPR’s Science Friday to discuss the illegal trade of endangered species.

Vice President, Industrial R&D 
Veolia Water

Mr. Blumenschein received his Bachelor and Master degrees in engineering from the University of Pittsburgh. He is currently the Director Aquaculture Business Development and is responsible for developing solutions for large-scale land based aquaculture projects. This includes evaluating water and wastewater treatment technologies, preparing feasibility studies working with other Veolia Business Units to develop biological plans for the fish farms and evaluating the potential for implementation of these systems.

Prior to his current position, Mr. Blumenschein was the Technical Director involved in conceptual process design of: physical/chemical wastewater treatment systems for the steel, electroplating, and chemical industries; biological treatment of contaminated wastewaters for the oil and gas, food processing, and steel industries; as well as, advanced treatment technologies for water and wastewater recycle systems. He has been actively involved in the development of new technologies and improvement to existing technologies.  He has acted as an expert witness on behalf of industrial clients.

Mr. Blumenschein has published and presented more than 40 papers on a variety of topics pertaining to water and wastewater treatment and has fourteen U.S. patents.

David J.C. Constable received a BS in environmental science from Slippery Rock University of Pennsylvania and his PhD from the University of Connecticut in Chemistry. Currently, he is the Science Director of the American Chemical Society’s Green Chemistry Institute®. In this role, he works to catalyze and enable the implementation of green chemistry and engineering throughout the global chemistry enterprise. David has held a variety of industry roles in Energy, Environment, Safety and Health focusing on influencing scientists, engineers and decision makers responsible for chemical research, development and manufacturing in the Chemical, Pharmaceutical and Aerospace and Defense industries.  He has developed a variety of programs, systems, tools, and methodologies that integrated sustainability, life cycle inventory assessment, green chemistry, and green technology activities into existing business processes. 

Kendall is a Project Manager for the National Renewable Energy Lab's Integrated Applications Center. He supports resilient project opportunity assessment and project development for the Army Office of Energy Initiatives (OEI).

Previously, Kendall worked at RMI on utility business models, power systems in emerging markets, and DER business models for low-income markets. As part of RMI’s Islands team, Kendall assessed the feasibility of transitioning generation resource mixes to renewable energy through financial analysis of utility and mini-grid business models and technical modeling of power systems. Together with his colleagues, Kendall’s efforts advised African and Caribbean governments and regulators on national energy strategies. Additionally, through facilitation, he aided efforts to enable pathways to strategic energy planning through convening, agenda and process design, and shaping of shared understanding of opportunities. 
 
After completing an undergraduate degree at Stanford University in Political Science, Kendall finished his Masters in Environmental Engineering at the University of Texas at Austin, where he focused on using sustainable decision-making methods such as Life Cycle Analysis to inform policymaking.

Dr. Liotta received his B.S. in Chemistry from Brooklyn College, and his PhD from the University of Maryland in 1963. He is formerly the Vice Provost for Research & Dean of Graduate Studies and currently serves as a a Regents’ Professor of Chemistry with a joint appointment in Chemical & Biomolecular Engineering at the Georgia Institute of Technology. His research is focused at the interface between chemistry and engineering; applications include sustainable technology, energy conservation, innovative separations (including bioseparations), and novel materials. Dr. Liotta won the Malcolm Pruitt Award of the Council for Chemical Research, and in 2004 his group was honored by the Presidential Green Chemistry Challenge Award for their ongoing research in using tunable solvents for sustainable technology. He has in addition won a number of other teaching and research awards, and has served as a consultant for major industries.

Dr. Annie Pearce is an Associate Professor in the Myers-Lawson School of Construction at Virginia Tech specializing in sustainable facilities and infrastructure systems. Throughout her career, Annie has worked with practitioners in both public and private sectors to implement sustainability as part of building planning, design, construction, and operations. As a LEED Accredited Professional, Annie brings the latest in green building methods, technologies, and best practices to the classroom. Her specific areas of interest include metrics of sustainability for built facilities, green building materials and systems, cost modeling to support sustainability implementation, and in situ performance of sustainable facility technologies. Along with others in the Myers-Lawson School, Annie is pioneering a new paradigm of construction research, education, and outreach that combines and synergizes inputs from stakeholders in the construction industry with new technologies and research efforts to promote sustainable innovations. This educational ecosystem approach builds upon the principles of biomimicry to offer benefits to all entities within the system while tapping the resources they can offer to one another, all while moving the industry toward the goal of greater sustainability.  Dr. Pearce received her B.S. in Civil Engineering from Carnegie Mellon University and her PhD in Civil Engineering from Georgia Institute of Technology in 1999.

Department of History of Art and Architecture
The impact of human activity on the environment was driven home to Dr. Armstrong as a child during the 1973 energy crisis. In high school, he landed his first architecture job working for a Toronto firm specializing in passive solar heating (1985-89); as an architecture student at the University of Toronto, he spent a summer in Copenhagen (1990) where he enjoyed commuting to work every day on dedicated bike lanes. In graduate school, he worked for the University of Toronto architect (1992-93) and was exposed to the complexity of campus planning and the early use of computer applications in design. The origins of formal architecture education was the basis of his PhD at Columbia University where he studied the French Royal Academy of Architecture, one of the principal European institutions that contributed to defining architecture as a liberal profession. As director of Architectural Studies at Pitt since 2006, he has worked to professionalize the program, developing tracks in design and historic preservation. By 2015, the department will have studio space to accommodate 80 desks and a five-semester sequence of studio courses. The impact of these changes may be gauged by students’ success: in the past seven years, over 60 have gone on to graduate programs in design and preservation at 43 different universities in the United States and Canada. Most recently, Dr. Armstrong was appointed to serve a three-year term (2014-17) on the Board of Directors of the Society of Architectural Historians. 

Daniel Bain is an assistant professor in the Department of Geology and Planetary Science at the University of Pittsburgh. He received a B.A. from Macalester College and an MS and PhD from Johns Hopkins University. Prior to joining the faculty in 2012, he was a National Research Council Post-Doctoral Fellow at the USGS National Research Program in Menlo Park, California. Bain and his students focus on the comprehensive assessment of human driven changes in environmental systems. Hydrology, geomorphology, biogeochemistry, ecology, and spatial analysis are combined to focus on fundamental landscape components, particularly fluvial (stream) and urban systems, over the last several centuries. 

Dr. Barchowsky currently directs the Pitt Public Health core curriculum course in Environmental Health and Disease (EOH 2013).  He also lectures in a range of courses in Pitt Public Health and the School of Medicine in areas including environmental epidemiology, environmental exposures, risk assessment, molecular cell signaling pathways, pathophysiology, toxicology, angiogenesis, and medical pharmacology.  In addition, he directs the Department of Environmental and Occupational Health MS and PhD program in Environmental Health Sciences.

Eric Beckman received his BS in chemical engineering from MIT in 1980, and a PhD in polymer science from the University of Massachusetts in 1988. Dr. Beckman assumed his faculty position at the University of Pittsburgh in 1989, was promoted to associate professor in 1994, and full professor in 1997. He received a Young Investigator Award from the National Science Foundation in 1992, and the Presidential Green Chemistry Award in 2002. He previously served as Associate Dean for Research for the School of Engineering and Chairman of Chemical Engineering. In 2003, Dr. Beckman co-founded the Mascaro Center for Sustainable Innovation, a school of engineering institute that examines the design of more sustainable infrastructure. In 2005, he co-founded Cohera Medical Inc. to commercialize surgical adhesive technology developed at the University. Dr. Beckman took an entrepreneurial leave of absence from the University in 2007-2009 to help move the products to market. Dr. Beckman’s research group examines the use of molecular design to solve problems in green product formulation and in the design of materials for use in tissue engineering. He has published over 175 papers and has received more than 40 US patents.

Dr. Bilec is an assistant professor in the Swanson School of Engineering’s Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering. Dr. Bilec’s research program focuses on sustainable healthcare, the built environment, and life cycle assessment. She is interested in improving the overall environmental performance of buildings while connecting the occupants in a more thoughtful manner. She is the Principal Investigator in a multi-disciplinary and multi-institutional research project, NSF EFRI-Barriers, Understanding, Integration – Life cycle Development (BUILD). She has worked in the sustainable engineering arena since 2004. As the assistant director of education outreach in the Mascaro Center for Sustainable Innovation, Pitt’s center for green design, she translates research to community outreach programs and develops sustainable engineering programs for K-12 education.

Matthew Burton's research interests include infrastructure studies, data science, and scholarly communication. Matt holds a PhD in information from the University of Michigan. His dissertation, Blogs as Infrastructure for Scholarly Communication, explored digital humanities blogging and the sociotechnical dynamics of web-centric publishing.

John C. Camillus has been on the faculty of the University of Pittsburgh's Joseph M. Katz Graduate School of Business since 1977. He has held the Donald R. Beall Endowed Chair in Strategic Management since 1991. In addition to teaching in the MBA and doctoral programs, Camillus has been extensively involved in designing and offering executive education programs for practicing managers in the United States, Europe, and Asia. Prior to joining the University of Pittsburgh, he was Professor of Management at the Indian Institute of Management, Ahmedabad.
Camillus served as Associate Dean - the chief operating officer and chief academic officer of the Katz School-from 1982 to 1990. He also served as Executive Associate Dean in 2007 and 2008.

is research on strategic planning and management control has been funded by diverse organizations including the National Science Foundation, the Touche-Ross Foundation, the Copeland Fund, the Institute of Chartered Accountants of India, the American Productivity and Quality Center, the University Research Council and the National Energy Technology Laboratory. He has published extensively in professional journals (including Harvard Business Review, Sloan Management Review, Long Range Planning, Management Science, European Management Journal, Academy of Management Journal, and Academy of Management Review). He has also served on editorial boards, authored three books, and coauthored a fourth.

Camillus has served as a consultant to over 80 organizations, including Fortune 500 companies in manufacturing, chemical and energy industries, professional service firms, government agencies, and nonprofit organizations in the arts, museum, education, professional membership, economic development, foundation, religion, and health arenas.
Camillus has been elected to the Sigma Xi scientific research society and the Beta Gamma Sigma honor society, and has been cited three times by the Foundation for Administrative Research for "contributions to corporate and organizational planning."

He is a Trustee of the Carnegie Museums of Pittsburgh and serves on the boards of several other organizations including the Andy Warhol Museum and the Greater Pittsburgh Arts Council. His public service has been recognized by the Senate of Pennsylvania and he received the Chancellor's Distinguished Public Service Award in 2006. He received the Distinguished Alumnus Award from the Indian Institute of Management, Ahmedabad, India's premier business school in 2011.

Camillus has received numerous awards in recognition of teaching excellence, including the Best Teacher Award at the Indian Institute of Management, Ahmedabad and the University-wide Chancellor's Distinguished Teaching Award at the University of Pittsburgh.

Dr. Emily M. Elliott is an Associate Professor in the Department of Geology & Environmental Science at the University of Pittsburgh. Her research program examines the tight coupling between human activities and reactive nitrogen distributions in atmosphere, terrestrial and aquatic systems at multiple spatial scales using stable isotope geochemistry. Dr. Elliott is the Director of the Regional Stable Isotope Laboratory for Earth and Environmental Science Research.   Dr. Elliott is a Science & Engineering Ambassador of the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine and an NSF CAREER awardee.  Prior to joining the Pitt faculty, she received her PhD at Johns Hopkins University (Geography & Environmental Engineering) and was a Postdoctoral Research Associate at the U.S. Geological Survey, Water Resources Division in California. 

Shanti Gamper-Rabindran is an Associate Professor at the Graduate School of Public and International Affairs (GSPIA) and Department of Economics at the University of Pittsburgh. In 2014 and 2015, she convened a leading group of academics and policy analysts, with in-country expertise on the intersection of energy, environment and development issues, to examine shale development in five continents, culminating in an edited book project. She has presented research in China, the UK, Germany and Italy. Her current research focuses on the political economy barriers and opportunities in the energy transition to renewables and on the cities’ transition to a low carbon economy.  

Her research, which applies GIS and econometrics, to empirically evaluate the effectiveness of policy tools (e.g. corporate social responsibility and information disclosure programs) and the effectiveness of public goods (e.g. piped water provision in Brazil) has been published in leading journals in environmental and development economics. Her research has been funded by the NSF, the NIH and the EPA. She has undertaken work for the EPA, the World Bank and Human Rights Watch Americas.  She has served as the Bley Stein Visiting Professor at the Arava Institute for Environmental Studies and as a Visiting Associate Professor at Carnegie Mellon University.  

She helped launched the Masters-level program in Energy and the Environment at GSPIA and the university-wide certificates in Global Health. She teaches courses in Economics of Development, Global Energy, Global Environment, Global Health, and Global Economy. She holds a Ph.D. in Economics from MIT; she completed an M.Sc. in Environmental Management and a B.A. in Jurisprudence at Oxford University as a Rhodes Scholar. She also holds an A.B. in Economics and in Environmental Science and Public Policy from Harvard.

Marcela González Rivas is an Associate Professor in the Graduate School of Public and International Affairs at the University of Pittsburgh, where she is on the faculty advisory board of the Center for Latin American Studies. She is also a permanent member of the PWSA’s Low Income Assistance Advisory Committee and leads the Ford Institute Working Group “Closing the Water Gap.”  Her central research interests revolve around sustainable water policy, equity, and water governance. More specifically, her research focuses on how uneven access to water varies across communities and regions, and how community development, policy, and planning can exacerbate or diminish such inequalities with particular concentration on Mexico and Latin America. For example, some of her research has looked at why indigenous communities in Mexico have particularly low levels of water access, and how in particular contexts, community development processes can alter this trend. More recently, her research and teaching focus on COVID-19 responses to water access protection in the US as well as on Pittsburgh’s water challenges in aiming to achieve sustainability and the equity dynamics that are at play.

Her work has been published in the Annals of Regional Science, Community Development, Development in Practice, Latin American Research Review, Mexican Studies, Water Policy, Town Planning Review, Utilities Policy, and the Journal of Comparative Policy Analysis. She has taught courses on the subjects of urban and regional development and planning in developing nations, immigration, international institutions, research design, and urban spatial structure. For several consecutive years, she has also led an international policy and planning workshop, where graduate students travel to Mexico or Colombia to study various government programs.

Michael Goodhart is Professor of Political Science and of Gender, Sexuality, and Women's Studies. He is also Professor (by courtesy) of Philosophy and a faculty fellow in the University Honors College. From 2017-2021 he directed the University's Global Studies Center. In AY 2021-22, he is a fellow in residence of the Swedish Collegium for Advanced Study in Uppsala. He is a past Alexander von Humboldt Foundation research fellow (2008-09) and was Guest Professor in the Hertie School of Governance, Berlin (2008-10). In 2018 he won the Provost's Award for Diversity in the Curriculum, and he is a member of the Provost's Committee on Anti-Black Racism and Transformative Pedagogy.

Goodhart's core research interests include democracy, human rights, (in)justice, and emancipatory political struggles. He is the author of Injustice: Political Theory for the Real World (Oxford 2018), Democracy as Human Rights: Freedom and Equality in the Age of Globalization (Routledge, 2005), contributing editor of Human Rights: Theory and Practice (Oxford University Press, 2009, 2012, 2016, 2022), and contributing co-editor of Social Movements and World-System Transformation (Routledge 2017) and Human Rights in the 21st Century: Continuity and Change since 9/11 (Palgrave, 2011). He is also author of numerous articles and book chapters and has lectured widely in North America and around the world.

Dr. Goodhart was co-President of the Association for Political Theory from 2017-2020 and is a past President of the American Political Science Association's Human Rights section. He also chaired the APSA Presidential Task Force on Democracy, Economic Security, and Social Justice in a Volatile World. Goodhart is an affiliate of the Human Rights Institute at the University of Connecticut, a member of the Center for Ethics and Policy at Carnegie Mellon University, and sits on several editorial boards. He is currently President of the board of directors of The Global Switchboard, a network stewardship organization that promotes equitable global engagement in the Pittsburgh region, and a member of the steering committee for the Pittsburgh Human Rights City Alliance.

Justin Kitzes is an Assistant Professor of Biological Sciences at the University of Pittsburgh. He received his Ph.D. from the University of California, Berkeley (Environmental Science, Policy, and Management) and his B.S. and M.S. degrees from Stanford University (Earth Systems). His research focuses on understanding and predicting species diversity and distributions in human-altered landscapes, as well as applying this knowledge to inform conservation in fragmented habitats. His specific interests include spatial macroecology, the species-area relationship, community turnover in space and time, extinction prediction, acoustic recording technology, bird call classification, ecological software development, reproducible research, and sustainability accounting.

Dr. Stephen Lee's research focuses on developing techniques for emerging systems with an emphasis on sustainability. Current projects involve machine learning for sustainability, privacy, blockchains, and developing systems for machine learning.

Dr. Lee received his Ph.D. from the University of Massachusetts Amherst, where he was advised by Prof. Prashant Shenoy. Before joining UMass, he was a research associate at Tata Research Development and Design Center. He received his Masters from Chennai Mathematical Institute and his Bachelors from St. Stephens College, Delhi.

Daniel Mossé is Professor and Chair of the Computer Science Department at the University of Pittsburgh. His research interests include fault‐tolerant and real‐time systems, as well as networking. The current major thrust of his research is power management issues, real‐time systems, and networks (wireless and security). Power management in mobile and server systems includes software management of existing hardware, such as slowing down processors, using memory efficiently, dynamically reconfiguring networks. Typically funded by NSF, DOE and DARPA, his projects combine theoretical results and actual implementations. He bridges the gap between the operating systems and networking research fields. He received a BS in Mathematics from the University of Brasilia in 1986, and MS and PhD degrees in Computer Science from the University of Maryland in 1990 and 1993, respectively. Dr. Mosse received a Provost's Innovation in Education Grant/Award in 2007 for redesigning the Introductory Programming course for non-majors. He received the Tina and David Bellet Teaching Excellence Award in 2006 (one of two among over 500 faculty members in the School of Arts and Sciences) Dr. Mosse has served on PCs and as PC chair for most major IEEE‐ and ACM‐sponsored real‐time conferences.

Dr. Ruth Mostern, an associate professor with a Phd from UC Berkley, is currently working on two large-scale projects. 

The World-Historical Gazetteer is an NEH-funded initiative to develop content and infrastructure for databases of historical place-names that have been used around the world for the last five hundred years.  It will be a reference work in its own right and a back-end source for historical maps and spatial search.

Following the Tracks of Yu: The Ecological and Imperial Worlds of the Yellow River is a book that describes how people interacted with and transformed a dynamic riparian system of water and silt over thousands of years. The book relies on spatial and data analysis along with close readings of documents.

Associate Professor Mary Ohmer received her Ph.D. with distinction from the University of Pittsburgh, School of Social Work. Mary received her MSW and MPIA from the University of Pittsburgh, and BSW from Gannon University in Erie, PA. She has over 30 years of experience in community organizing and development, working with residents and community, social service, corporate, government and philanthropic organizations to promote community change. She has also worked internationally, presenting at conferences in Tokyo, Japan and Hong Kong, China, conducting research for an NGO in Ghana, and directing a study abroad program in Costa Rica focused on health, social justice and sustainability. Dr. Ohmer is on the board of the Association for Community Organization and Social Action and has leadership roles for the Society for Social Work and Research in Community and Neighborhood Research. She is also the lead author a new book by Sage Publications, Measures for Community and Neighborhood Research, the first book its kind to compile and synthesize measures for community research.  Dr. Ohmer teaches in the Community Organization and Social Action program.

Dr. Cassie Quigley is an Associate Professor of Science Education in the Department of Instruction of Learning at the School of Education at the University of Pittsburgh. She received her doctorate in Curriculum & Instruction at Indiana University in 2010. During her time as a high school biology and physics teacher, she often witnessed students who were disengaged from science. Because of this experience, her research focuses on broadening the ideas of and participation in science so that all students feel connected to science. Currently, she works with in-service teachers on expanding their current pedagogical practices to include equitable approaches. She teaches in the MAT program to certify middle and high school students as well as teaching a variety of courses in graduate education programs.

David Sanchez is a Research Assistant Professor in the Department of Civil & Environmental Engineering. As an IGERT fellow in the Mascaro Center for Sustainable Innovation, he received a Graduate Research Fellowship from the National Science Foundation and the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation. Focused on addressing the Energy and Water global grand challenges, he divides his time amongst research projects in the Sustainable Design Labs (e.g. Microbial Fuel Cell electrode materials, Energy Inventor Labs, Recirculating Aquaponic Systems etc).  
He also serves as the Assistant Director of MCSI and as a coordinator for Pitt’s Design EXPO. He directs “the Series” workshops and is building new programs and curriculum focused on Sustainable Design and Innovation. He currently teaches Introduction to Sustainable Water Technology and Design and works closely with the ALCOSAN Summer Science, Manchester Charter School, YMCA and Investing Now outreach programs.

John T. Sebastian is the McKamish Director of Construction Management and Professor in the Civil and Environmental Engineering Department, Swanson School of Engineering at the University of Pittsburgh. As Director, he oversees the Undergraduate and Graduate Construction Management Program. His duties include teaching undergraduate and graduate level courses in Construction Management, coordinating the Adjunct Professors within the program and networking with industry to support and enhance the program. 

In addition, he is President of his own management consulting firm, Sebastian Consulting Solutions, LLC, which was founded based on his more than 35 years of experience in the construction industry from his work with Dick Corporation, a national general contractor and dck worldwide, an international contractor and successor company to Dick Corporation where he served as a member of the firm's Executive Management Team and its Board of Directors. Both companies had annual revenue in excess of $1 billion and were consistently ranked in the top 50 General Contractors in the United States by Engineering News Record. 

His experience in the construction industry ranges across a wide array of market segments from hotels and resorts to education, retail, aviation, multi-family, courthouses, correctional facilities, energy, highways, bridges, industrial and healthcare. The projects have included design-build, design assist, general construction, and construction management delivery methods for both public and private clients. He has overseen construction of over 3 million square feet of LEED certified projects totaling over $500 million. 

Mr. Sebastian has played a key role in the development and construction of numerous landmark construction projects including: the Historic Renovation of Union Station in Washington, DC (for which he won the Build America Award as the on-site project manager), PNC Park in Pittsburgh, Ronald Reagan National Airport in Washington, DC, The Atlantis Resort on Paradise Island, Bahamas, The Venetian Resort in Las Vegas and many monumental government, military and commercial projects among others. 

Mr. Sebastian is a LEED accredited professional and a graduate of the University of Pittsburgh, holding a BS in Civil Engineering as well as an MBA. He is a Construction Excellence Peer for both General Services Administration and the Veterans Administration. He is a Chairman of the board and executive committee member of the Sarah Heinz House of Pittsburgh, a board member of Rebuilding Together Pittsburgh and the ACE Mentor Program and is a member of numerous industry groups.

Dr. Shimizu received her PhD from Stanford University and now is a professor in the Political Science department at Pitt.

Dr. Patrick Shirey is a Postdoctoral Associate working with Daniel Bain and Anthony Iannacchione on bituminous coal mine subsidence impacts. He is a Certified Ecologist (Ecological Society of America) and Certified Fisheries Professional (American Fisheries Society), and serves as an Associate Director with the Pittsburgh Water Collaboratory (water.pitt.edu). Patrick conducts multidisciplinary research using techniques from his terminal degrees in ecology (Ph.D.) and law (J.D.). He has given over 40 scientific presentations (19 invited) and has published an invited comment in Nature and 18 peer-reviewed manuscripts in Conservation Letters, Earth Surface Processes and Landforms, Ecology and Society, Ecohydrology, Fisheries, the Journal of Paleolimnology, and other journals. His recently published research topics include urban stream restoration, endangered species conservation policy, environmental DNA, and science communication.

Patrick has won national research and policy awards including a George Melendez Wright Climate Change Research Fellowship from the National Park Service and was 1 of 35 early career aquatic scientists selected to participate in an NSF-funded symposium hosted by the University of Hawaiʻi – 2014 Ecological Dissertations in the Aquatic Sciences (Eco-DAS). He has been a recorded radio guest on NPR’s All Things Considered, a live radio guest on WOJB (Lac Courte Oreilles Reservation) to discuss brook trout conservation, and live radio guest answering listener questions on NPR’s Science Friday to discuss the illegal trade of endangered species. 

Jeremy Weber is an Associate Professor whose teaching and research relate to the policy and economics of environmental and energy issues. After graduating summa cum laude in International Political Economy from Juniata College in Huntingdon, Pennsylvania, Jeremy spent a year in rural Peru researching the workings of coffee grower cooperatives with the support of the Fulbright program. He then began his graduate studies and in 2010 earned his Ph.D. in Agricultural and Applied Economics at the University of Wisconsin, Madison. After working on short-term project for the World Bank, Weber joined the USDA Economic Research Service in August of 2010. While based in Washington Weber taught as an adjunct faculty member for the Master’s Program in Applied Economics at Johns Hopkins University.  

Weber has published more than a dozen articles in journals such as Energy Economics, Resource and Energy Economics, World Development, Land Economics, and the American Journal of Agricultural Economics. Two of his recent articles focus on important issues related to the shale gas boom: “A Decade of Natural Gas Development: The Makings of a Resource Curse?” and “The Effects of a Natural Gas Boom on Employment and Income in Colorado, Texas and Wyoming.” While at the USDA, Weber and two of his colleagues also produced a dataset on “U.S. County-level Oil and Gas Production, 2000-2011."

Research Interest: The research of Dr. Chmielus is focused on the development, processing, advanced manufacturing, characterization and application of functional metallic materials. These include 1) magnetic shape memory alloys that can be used for sensing, actuation and power generation applications and 2) magnetocaloric materials that change their temperature when exposed to a magnetic field and can be used in high efficiency cooling applications. Using additive manufacturing, we strive to optimize and further improve properties of the materials and final applications.

The development of smart grid technology at the smart home and smart building level. This research focuses on the use, design and implementation of (IoT) devices and networks, which increase the overall efficiency of the modern power grid.  This in turn will have an impact on the way we use energy, leading to a cleaner and more sustainable electric power infrastructure. The outcome of this research is to Interface common household and building electrical loads through sensors and communications devices, and to use microcontrollers coupled with optimization methods to control the way that electrical sources and loads interact with one another.

Dr. Leu received his PhD in Mechanical Engineering at Stanford University in 2008. Since coming to Pitt, his research interests have focused on solar cells and design for sustainability.

The research in Dr. Ng’s lab focuses on the development of models for the fate of chemicals in organisms and ecosystems, at the intersection of chemistry, biology and engineering.  The work spans multiple scales, from molecules to global systems. She is particularly interested in how concurrent stressors – including chemical contamination, climate change and resource consumption – interact to determine system responses.  Active research areas include:

• The fundamental mechanisms that determine whether a pollutant will be bioavailable and bioaccumulative, with a focus on fluorinated surfactants.
• The fate of legacy and current-use pesticides in tropical environments in Central and South America.
• The role of the global industrial food system on the transport and fate of environmental contaminants and subsequent human exposure.

Over the past fifteen years, the field of synthetic biology has emerged with a focus on reprogramming gene networks and cellular signaling. Simultaneously, exciting technologies have been developed that allow the precise engineering of materials and devices that mimic the cell’s native environment. Dr. Ruder's research team is developing new approaches in synthetic biology and linking these technologies with engineered systems that mimic cell, tissue, and organism physiology. Their efforts include the development of: (1) a living, bacterial microbiome for a biomimetic, robotic host, (2) artificial and engineered living microbiome constituents that deliver nutrients within organ-on-a-chip systems, (3) synthetically engineered cells that control material assembly, and (4) a biomimetic biofilm that combines microfluidics with synthetic biology to enable the discovery and monitoring of spatially segregated phenotypes within cell populations. These systems hold significant promise for both elucidating fundamental principles of physiology while also serving as new technologies for biotechnology and medicine.

Research Interests: Catalytic reaction engineering with a particular focus on the design of novel reactor concepts (process intensification through microchemical reactors and integrated reactor concepts) and the synthesis of robust nanomaterials for clean and decentralized energy technology.

Ellie is a critical partner to the MCSI leadership team helping to ensure successful planning and implementation of its educational programs including marketing and logistics. She manages all office activities including purchasing, student management, scheduling meetings, maintaining the appointment calendar, coordinating travel, proofreading and editing correspondence, and budget management. Ellie manages the design and content of the MCSI website, e-newsletter, and social media communications.

Ellie graduated in April 2020 from the University of Pittsburgh with a BA in Environmental Studies, minors in legal studies and Spanish, and a GIS certificate. As an undergraduate, Ellie served as a Sustainability Program Associate for the Office of PittServes and co-directed the Student Office of Sustainability.

Chris Gassman is the Associate Director of the Center for Sustainable Business, a leading business strategy collaboration hub at the University of Pittsburgh, partnering with companies like Dick’s Sporting Goods and PPG, as well as thought leaders like Lisa Ross and Paul Polman. 

Chris previously worked as the Chief Commercialization Officer of a service-disabled veteran-owned small business tackling climate, modern slavery, and innovation. He is a social intrapreneur with a decade of experience across the U.S., Egypt, Germany, China, and beyond, helping companies thrive.  He hosts interviews with CEOs about doing well by doing good on The Market And The Good Podcast. His 5-year BHAG: Help generate $1T in Revenue by making the world a thriving place for all. 

Chris earned his MBA / JD joint degree from Carnegie Mellon University’s Tepper School of Business and the University of Pittsburgh School of Law. He received his BA from the University of Colorado at Boulder, with a double major in International Affairs and Political Science.

Megan received her B.S. in Geology from University of Dayton in 2015. She participated in the River Stewards program where she found her passion for water resources. This led to an undergraduate thesis on nutrient transport trends of surface runoff. After graduating, she worked in Alaska with volunteers to make a difference in the riparian habitat through river cleanups, fencing projects, and education. From 2016-2017, Megan served over 3,600 hours to local communities through AmeriCorps national service program. In 2016, I served with the Student Conservation Association in New Hampshire where she focused on environmental education in the schools and trail work in New Hampshire State Parks. In 2017, Megan served the Beaverhead Watershed Committee in an agricultural community in southwest Montana where she wrote a watershed restoration plan for the Beaverhead Watershed. Before joining the Pittsburgh Water Collaboratory, she empowered youth through STEM and education with multiple local organizations. She is passionate about community building and environmental conservation.

Gena rejoined Pitt's School of Engineering in July 2003 as the Co-Director of the Mascaro Center for Sustainable Innovation. She has 23 years of experience in development, marketing, and external relations.

Gena provides administrative and strategic leadership for the Center, a role in which she deepens engagements and develops partnerships that promote collaboration with industry, government, foundations, and universities. Gena leads efforts and represents the interests of the Center which includes supervising personnel, financial management, and organizational practices that foster positive, impactful relationships internally and externally. She is accountable for the smooth and successful development and implementation of all MCSI events and programs. Gena concurrently serves as Strategic Advisor to the Dean of the Swanson School of Engineering. In this expanded role, Gena helps to formalize and lead development of the Swanson School’s strategic processes and operationalizing its strategy across all units. She is also charged with forging new partnerships and working relationships across Pitt, our community, and our region.

Gena previously served as Vice President for Development at Shady Side Academy and, before that, as Senior Executive Director of Development and Alumni Relations at Pitt's School of Engineering. Prior to working at Pitt's engineering school, she managed donor relations and special events at Carnegie Mellon University. A native of Pittsburgh, she holds a B.A. from Penn State University in journalism and political science and a Master's of Management and Public Policy with a certificate in nonprofit management from Pitt.

Gena currently serves as a member of the Allegheny County Green Action Team and on the Board of Directors of the Pittsburgh Green Innovators.

Dr. Aurora Sharrard is the Executive Director of Sustainability at the University of Pittsburgh, leading Pitt’s Office of Sustainability, cross-departmental sustainability staff, and University-wide sustainability strategy, activities, policies, collaborations, and partnerships. The Pitt Sustainability Plan guides these efforts with 61 sustainability goals at the intersection of equity, environment, and economics. Building on past progress and successes, Dr. Sharrard and her colleagues work daily across the spectrum of sustainability, including pursing carbon neutrality by 2037 as part of the Pitt Climate Action Plan, incorporating sustainability into the curriculum, providing access and opportunity to all, transparently communicating progress, and embedding a culture of sustainability into the University of Pittsburgh so that it’s a sustainability leader in every scale, from campus to international.

Prior to joining the University, Dr. Sharrard worked at Green Building Alliance (GBA) for 11 years, ultimately serving as its Executive Director. She led the nonprofit in advancing innovation in the built environment by empowering people to create environmentally, economically, and socially vibrant places. In her time at GBA, Dr. Sharrard most notably co-founded the Pittsburgh 2030 District, which now boasts 550+ buildings aspiring towards measured high performance of 50% reductions in energy use, water consumption, and transportation emissions by the year 2030. The University of Pittsburgh was a Founding Property Partner of the Pittsburgh 2030 District’s Oakland boundary in 2014 – and embraced 2030 Challenge goals University-wide with the Pitt Sustainability Plan in 2018. Dr. Sharrard also led several GBA programs, including Pittsburgh Climate Initiative (PCI), Pittsburgh Green Story, Product Innovation Grants, and DASH: Database for Analyzing Sustainable and High Performance Buildings.

A nationally recognized green building and sustainability expert, Dr. Sharrard has also provided strategic and technical support to innumerable regional green building and sustainability projects, including the University of Pittsburgh’s green buildings, Hazelwood Green, the David L. Lawrence Convention Center, Phipps Conservatory and Botanical Gardens, and many others.

Dr. Sharrard holds a Master’s and PhD in Civil and Environmental Engineering with an emphasis in Green Design from Carnegie Mellon University, as well as a Bachelor’s degree in Civil Engineering from Tulane University. She serves on a number of boards and committees, including the Higher Education Climate Consortium, Southwestern Pennsylvania Commission, Fair Shake Environmental Legal Services’ Board of Directors, and Will Allen Foundation’s Board of Directors.

Nicole Bell is a PhD candidate and Covestro Circular Economy Fellow at the University of Pittsburgh. She graduated in 2019 with undergraduate degrees in Physics and Mathematics from Duquesne University and Civil Engineering from the University of Pittsburgh. Nicole has worked at Mascaro Construction since 2019 in the Building and Operations division. She will be studying the built environment and circular economy.

Ph.D. student in the Department of Chemical and Petroleum Engineering at the University of Pittsburgh. Chemical Engineer and Master in Process Design and Management from Universidad de La Sabana (Colombia). Three years of experience developing and leading research projects framed in the energy transition and design of novel low-carbon-footprint technologies. Two years of experience as a university lecturer in multiple engineering courses. Expertise in scientific programming, computer-aided engineering design, and data science. Current research interests in chemical reaction engineering and process intensification for Power-to-X applications.

When industrialization happened, nobody thought about where the waste would end up. In today’s world, designing for a Circular economy and adopting sustainable living methods could bring a noticeable change in solving environmental issues. Lakshmi's passion lies in working to bring about these changes while at the same time boosting awareness of the seriousness of these issues. She obtained her undergraduate degree in Chemical Engineering from Amrita Vishwa Vidyapeetham, India. Before joining Pitt, she worked as a project associate at the Indian Institute of Technology, India on the modeling of multi-phase reactors for biomass pyrolysis.

Emily Albrecht graduated in 2022 with a B.S. in Psychology, minors in Economics and Applied Statistics, and a certificate in Sustainability. While with MCSI, Emily led community engagement efforts in Homewood with the Oasis Project and the Hydroponics Club. Emily was also a part of Residence Life, participated in the MCSI Summer Research program, and served as an officer for the Hydroponics Club.

BS in Mechanical Engineering 2019 

I started plugging in to Pitt sustainability as one of the founding members of the Pitt Bike Cave. As I worked on bike advocacy projects through this platform, I gained a broader awareness of the transportation inequity endemic to our city.  

My peers at Pitt (hail 2 pitt) connected me with Pittsburghers for Public Transit: "a grassroots, democratic, member-led organization that fights for racial justice and public transit as a human right." I've since worked with PPT as a volunteer researcher, exploring local transit questions such as the impacts of Autonomous Vehicles on shared mobility systems and the efficacy of extending the Port Authority's East Busway. 

Pitt sustainability also pushed me to think of sustainability in contexts other than ecological stewardship. Talks with SOOS kids brought on an awareness of social sustainability. Human rights, social equity, labor movements, and cultural competence are an indispensable part of "sustainability". When these aspects are ignored, we're staging failure for economic and environmental sustainability efforts. 

After graduating, I picked up a job as a prototype machinist at Conturo Prototyping. We're a local small business started by Pitt engineering alum John Conturo. Our focus is on making high precision prototypes on short lead times. We serve a wide range of industries; one day I'm working on a project for a company that manufacturing diapers and the next I'm making parts for the folks behind equipment installed on the international space station. 

I also sold my car. That's eco, right? I bought a house in Bloomfield this spring. It's got a detached garage, so stayed tuned for another local bike co-op dropping on ya! 

BS, Civil & Environmental Engineering 2013

MCSI undergraduate summer researcher

MCSI Intern 

I am currently about to finish a doctoral program in Civil Engineering in August at the University of Texas at Austin. I also got my M.S. in Environmental and Water Resources Engineering and a Master of Public Affairs (M.P.Aff.) here. I started with the Mascaro Center as an REU fellow in the summer of 2012, and that kick started my interest in water resources engineering research. So much so that I decided to go to graduate school for it. I've also continued my sustainability education and outreach efforts with local youth that I started with MCSI in the Design Factory program at the Sarah Heinz House. My experiences with MCSI really shaped my whole perspective about my academic and professional future, for which I'm incredibly thankful!

Anna graduated from the University of Pittsburgh with a B.S. in Statistics, a minor in Spanish, and a Global Studies certificate. As a Sustainability Intern, Anna was a critical MCSI team member for over three years. She led our first year student sustainability programming, maintained our alumni network, authored our quarterly newsletter, and supported all of the Center's signature programs. 

BS, Engineering Physics 2009

PhD, Civil and Environmental Engineering 2013

MCSI IGERT FELLOW

From 2013-2015 I was the Executive Director for Engineers for a Sustainable World, and also taught two courses a year at Pitt -ENGR 1060 on Social Entrepreneurship, and one through the Honors College on Energy, Society, and Science Communication.

Starting September 2015, I transitioned to a Board Membership at ESW, and started a AAAS Science & Technology Policy Fellowship, hosted by the EPA's Office of Transportation & Air Quality in their Transportation & Climate Division. I did a lot of work on biofuels and life-cycle assessment, but also helped with analyses of electric vehicles, pipelines, CO2 sequestration, and future policy schemes for decarbonizing transportation in the US.

Since January 2017, I've been at Solve, an initiative of MIT focused on tackling global social & environmental challenges by finding innovators from around the world and connecting them to people who can help their work scale up. I lead the sustainability work, which includes all of our challenges on food, water, energy, and climate –we have other verticals around health, learning, and economic prosperity. Solve has only really been around since late 2016, so I've been part of the core team that's built it up to a thriving global community with 99 selected Solver teams and 100+ member organizations.

MCSI gave me an interdisciplinary education in technical sustainability, paired with opportunities for communication and outreach. The skills involved in all of those have been key in my career, as none of my jobs has been particularly tied to specific disciplines, and more often involve me acting as a translator (of sorts) between technical people or information and business or policy folks. I don't think many other programs would have prepared me as well for jumping between some of these different hats, even within specific jobs. I also have a great appreciation for the IGERT Fellowship which taught me some Portuguese and sent me to Brazil in 2012. I learned a lot on the trip, published an interesting paper, but it's also been a great extra skillset -I lead a bunch of our work with Brazilian organizations at Solve, and have been able to run more effective workshops as a result of basic proficiency with Portuguese. 

It is great to watch MCSI grow into a bigger part of Pitt's success story, particularly as more jobs require interdisciplinary knowledge and sustainability awareness.

PhD, Chemical Engineering 2010

MCSI IGERT FELLOW

When I was a student, I enjoyed hearing about the different paths alumni pursued after leaving Pitt. Since I graduated in 2010, I've been working in Research and Development at Avon Products, Inc. I began my career at Avon in the upstream research group, scouting for new technologies to drive performance in cosmetic and personal care products and conducting experiments both inside the lab and with consumers. I now lead the downstream product development in the eye and face color categories and the consumer-centric product design team for all color categories.

My experience as an IGERT Fellow in the MCSI has been invaluable to my professional journey. Sustainability is still a growing trend -a trend that I believe will become the new normal -and is now woven into consumer product design across all categories, from cosmetics to automotive to electronics. My formal education has made me more savvy in product life cycle analysis and has given me an edge over my colleagues who didn't have formal training. My experiences outside of the US, particularly conducting MSCI research at UNICAMP in Brazil, enable me to put a more global lens on product development, design and technology.

BS, Civil Engineering 2017

MS, Civil Engineering 2019 

After graduation, I began my new job as the Zero Energy Specialist at the International Living Future Institute (ILFI). I'm a part of the Energy Team, and we are working to reduce theoperational and embodied impacts of buildings! I work with project teams to provide them technical guidance regarding how they can meet our strict energy efficient and reduction requirements. We are also working on the development of guidance for our new Zero Carbon Program to address embodied carbonimpacts.

MCSI provided me a space and support system to pursue research that could be translated into real-life impacts to improve the sustainability of the built environment. Due to academic support I received from MCSI's faculty and staff,I graduated on-time and had the pleasure of working on a project I essentially got to build alongside my advisor. The professional support and guidance I received led me to my dream job today. It's obvious that I would not be where I am today without the faculty and staff of the MCSI.

I accepted a position at The Post-Landfill Action Network in April of my senior year at Pitt , started with them in July of 2019 and have been working with them since then. I get to advise schools all across the US (and sometimes the world) on sustainable initiatives similar to the ones I worked on at Pitt. 

Sustainability at Pitt, in all its forms of student activism, SOOS, Environmental Studies, basically defined my future. I still work in sustainability and always will.  Pitt was actually a member school of PLAN and I used their advising while a student and now I'm on the other end of the calls, doing the advising to students! It's quite the glow up. 
Basically everything about my job is fun. I get to work with young adults that are changing the world, and make memes (like this one) as a part of my job, what else would I want? 

Ph.D Electrical Engineering, 2011

Since graduating in Aug 2011 I first spent a semester as a post-doc in Electrical Engineering where I was the lecturer for Electromagnetics and working with MCSI. Then I took a position at JDS Uniphase (now Lumentum) in Jan 2012 where I was a Sr. Optical Engineer and designed lithium niobite optical modulators (100 Gb/s, 400 GB/s) and phase modulators for fiber gyroscopes.During this time my work I produced 3 patents.After 18 months I moved into a Staff WaferFab Engineer role where I was in a production engineering role to improve yields for the devices I previously designed.I then moved back into R&D and was the technical lead for a 100 GB/s modulator for metro applications. I later moved to Coherent-Nufern where I was a Principal Engineer overseeing an optical components lab and managed 3 technicians. And finally, for the past two years I have been an Engineering Specialist at General Dynamics Electric Boat where I amworking on IR&D (Independent Research and Development), technology investigation, university outreach with NIUVT (National Institute for Undersea Vehicle Technology) and assisting companies with SBIR funding as it related to the US Navy’s nuclear submarine force.My time in MCSI was important as it allowed me to work with engineers from other fields which is something I’ve had to do since I entered industry.Working with ChemEs, MatSci, MechEs, Physics, technicians, etc.

BS, Mechanical Engineering 2004

MS, Mechanical Engineering 2007

PhD, Mechanical Engineering 2011

MCSI IGERT FELLOW

I started my career as an assistant professor in the Engineering Department at Robert Morris University. While working there,I was promoted to Associate professor and received tenure. I was also the Director of the School of Engineering, Mathematics and Science Research and Outreach Center (SEMS-ROC) In June of 2018,I decided to work in real estate as an Asset Manager for JoCo Partners. I was in charge of over 65 employees and managing over $180MM in assets.

In February of 2019,I was accepted as a visiting professor in the University of Pittsburgh, Department of Mechanical Engineering and have accepted a full-time NTS position beginning in the 2019-20 academic year.

MCSI provided many academic and professional experiences that assisted me in my maturation throughout the years. The first was a superior education and opportunity to study one of the most important topics of our generation, Sustainability. My research & career path led me toward renewable energy and could not have accomplished what I have without the training and opportunities that MCSI provided. As a professor, MCSI supported my research and students through a seed grant and sustainable-related competitions. As a professional, my favorite conference was and still is the Engineering Sustainability conference that MCSI organizes on a biannual basis.I am truly grateful for all the education, experiences and assistance throughout my career. MCSI has changed my life and I hope to continue to change lives for the better.

Lucy Klug graduated in 2022 from the University of Pittsburgh with a B.A. in Environmental Studies and a certificate in Sustainability. While with MCSI, Lucy led first-year student sustainability presentations and oversaw the Center's social media presence. She was also the president of Epsilon Eta, Pitt's environmental honors fraternity.

PhD Bioengineering 

I worked with MCSI during undergrad. I stayed in Pitt for my PhD, shifting to the Bioengineering department to focus on biomaterials for hard tissue applications. During that timeI became interested in management consulting. After defending, I joined an internal consulting team at Arconic. I spent a little over 2 years with that team before transitioning to a similar team at Highmark Health, where I am currently working. MCSI was the springboard for how I learned about academic research and became interested in graduate school. Through one of the summer research programs I was able to travel to Brazil, and became more comfortable with traveling for a professional purpose. Finally, working with students and professors at MCSI demonstrated to me that there is a whole group of professionals who are focused on improving the world as their career, not just getting a paycheck. I think that's important for people in younger generations to see!

Gabby (she/her) graduated in 2021 with a B.A. in Environmental Studies major and a certificate in Global Studies. Outside of coursework, Gabby was a Sustainability Intern for MCSI, focusing on communications and the Year of Engagement. She was also a Pitt Pathfinder and member of her service and pre-law fraternities. She was also a JumpStart Americorps member and research assistant for Dr. Gamper-Rabindran.

William Sapon—an alumni of the Katz Graduate School of Business—is dedicated to improving sustainability in more ways than one. A key leader in the sustainability efforts of Peoples Natural Gas, an Essential Utilities Company, a board member of both the Pitt Business Alumni Association and Pittsburgh Region Clean Cities, and a vital figure to the foundation of Pitt’s Center for Sustainable Business, Sapon is using his passion for energy and the environment to transform the Pittsburgh region in multiple aspects.

Sapon, who aspired to work in the energy sector for a large portion of his life, first became interested in sustainability during a hiking trip in Central America. After encountering villages without access to power or running water, he recalls realizing that the utilization of renewable power methods would be essential in providing sustainable, reliable, affordable, and resilient infrastructure in such areas. This recognition is still apparent in his efforts today: currently, Sapon is an integral part of Essential Utilities’ mission to create and promote more sustainable infrastructure, assisting in projects such as reducing the company’s Scope 1 and 2 greenhouse gas emissions by 60% from their 2019 baseline and establishing the Pittsburgh International Airport’s current microgrid, which is fully powered by natural gas and solar energy.

Sapon’s commitment to furthering sustainability reaches far beyond the pursuits of Essential Utilities; his impact can also be directly seen on Pitt’s campus at the Katz Graduate School of Business’s Center for Sustainable Business. During his time as a graduate student, Sapon was approached by Professor CB Bhattacharya with an outline of what would eventually become the Center. Sapon recalls how Bhattacharya’s vision immediately resonated with both his personal values and the values of Peoples Natural Gas: “There really was a need for a center not only to convene, but to enable.” The Center not only provides a forum for businesses to discuss sustainability-related challenges, but also initiates change by assisting its partners in adopting sustainable practices; additionally, it provides graduate students with courses, research opportunities, and even a certificate program, all of which focus on teaching sustainable business principles. At the recommendation of Sapon, Peoples Natural Gas was able to form a partnership with the Center for Sustainable Business and become one of its founding corporate members.

His involvement with Pitt Sustainability as a result of both working with the Center for Sustainable Business and holding a board position within the Pitt Business Alumni Association has given Sapon a great appreciation for the University’s environmental efforts. He remarks that, from a business perspective, publications such as the Pitt Sustainability Plan help inform the actions of businesses such as Peoples Natural Gas; additionally, the University’s initiative to integrate sustainability leaders throughout various campus organizations gives corporations the opportunity to form valuable partnerships within multiple areas of the University’s community. Sapon also values the University’s efforts to incorporate sustainability into its various curricula, recognizing that it is a necessary component of virtually any educational background: “Not only Pitt Sustainability, but MCSI and other centers like the Center for Sustainable Business…really do a great job in making sustainability a priority. They…help prepare students become sustainability generalists.” Sapon hopes that, as a result of programs such as MCSI and the Center for Sustainable Business, future generations of students will be able to enter the professional realm with sustainability in mind. Visit esg.essential.co to learn more about Essential Utilities’ commitment to sustainability.

Photo Credit: Tiffany Cooper, Hot Metal Studio

BA Environmental Studies 2018 

A few days before graduation I accepted a position with Interphase Materials (IPM), an engineering company that spun out of research conducted by a group of bioengineering PhD students at Pitt. At IPM, we design specialized, data-driven solutions wherever biology and technology meet. Currently, IPM largely focuses on commercial and industrial cooling systems --think large scale air conditioning for multiple buildings. IPM's advanced materials are designed to do two key things: 1) protect these systems from fouling deposits (aka build-up of gunk) which inhibits performance, and 2) make these systems more efficient by allowing them to operate using less energy. I work on the marketing and business developmentside of the house to define our target markets and develop messaging that speak to our product's capabilities. This means I work closely with our sales team and product manager so that we continuously refine IPM's product. This work actually ties in nicely with my academic background in environmental studies and sustainability.

Students at MCSI are quite lucky! The center is a creative space, and I would challenge students to not think of it as just another place to get a campus job or internship. If you think of MCSI as the creative space that it is, then you will find there are many opportunities to explore. Some of the key lessons I learned and tools I gained while working at MCSI include 1) seeking new opportunities and taking initiative, 2) gathering, cultivating, and managing diverse data to complete a project, and 3) building relationships with a variety of stakeholders. To the first point, while at MCSI I proposed that the center and campus sustainability classes collaborate to host a campus wide Sustainability Week. Confidently leading this initiative has helped me advance and inaugurate additional projects at Interphase. Finally, managing data and relationships is always essential in business, and those related experiences at MCSI have helped me immensely in my marketing work. I regularly have to gather and analyze customer data and ensure that the company maintains a healthy relationship with the customer. If these are not met, the company cannot sufficiently deliver a valuable service. At the end of the day, much of what I learned at MCSI has helped me in one way or another, and I am very grateful that I had the opportunity to work with the wonderful folks at the center; they are all incredibly dedicated and kind.

PhD, Structural Engineering 2010

MCSI IGERT FELLOW

Since graduating from the University of Pittsburgh, I moved to the UK to work as a postdoc at Cambridge University for three years and I have been an Assistant Professorat the University of Bath, UK for the past three years.Being part of the Mascaro Centerprovided me with skills and experience in interdisciplinary and international collaboration. I have been able to travel the world and currently have research projectson three continents.

PhD, Civil Engineering 2013

MCSI IGERT FELLOW

I graduated from Pitt with my PhD in 2013. Afterward, I had three, one-year post docs. One was a Fulbright-Nehru award in India,the other two were back at Pitt. In 2016, I took an assistant professor position at NYU (joint appointments in SOM, Tandon engineering, and Wagner public service), and I've been building my lab in healthcare sustainability research.Dr. Melissa Bilec wasmy PhD and postdoctoral advisor/mentor. She and others at MCSI trained me in the science of sustainability (particularly LCA) while also teaching me key parts of being a successful academic.

PhD Industrial Engineer 2006 

Since my graduation from Pitt in 2011, I have been an Assistant and now tenured Associate Professor of Operations and Industrial Engineering at Worcester Polytechnic Institute in Worcester, Massachusetts. Specifically, my specialty is mathematical optimization, with applications to solving hard decision problems that improve the lives of vulnerable populations, as well as sustainability, healthcare, and operations. I both teach and do research in these areas. My research has recently received recognition with published articles ranging in topic from how data science can fight human trafficking to using technology to address problems in refugee settlements.  

MCSI was absolutely essential to my professional career. Not only did it provide me with fundamental financial and structural support for my PhD, it also enriched my doctoral studies with a more holistic view of sustainability and what can be done with both careful and creative uses of engineering (broadly speaking). A significant portion of my research agenda, which involves applying optimization to improve the lives of vulnerable populations, can be attributed to the support of MCSI, in the sense that a) I was able to consider novel (non-traditional) applications of industrial engineering and optimization during my formative years, and b) that it gave me a perspective of how to use the tools and techniques of my discipline to, in a general sense, improve society. 

Sarah Moore is a photographer and video artist, born and raised among the horizons of South Dakota. Sarah's research on the construction of memory, the creation of narratives, and female authorship has resulted in installation works around the country. Through an intuitive and archive driven practice, she uses diaristic, fictitious, and appropriated footage to create psychological non-linear stories. Sarah received her BFA from the Rhode Island School of Design and her MFA from the University of Montana.

Professor Shimizu earned her B.A. in Economics and International Relations and her Ph.D. in Political Science from Stanford University. Her research examines Japanese and Chinese political economy, with a focus on public finance and financial institutions. She is the co-editor of Political Change in Japan (with Steven R. Reed and Kenneth Mori McElwain, Brookings, 2009), which includes her two co-authored chapters.

Sara Baumann is a global health, mixed methods researcher with primary research interests in 1) participatory, arts-based, and visual research methods, 2) women’s and adolescent reproductive health, and 3) mental health. She has over 13 years of experience conducting research and programming in health and development in South Asia, with a current focus on Nepal. Her research agenda embraces community-engaged methods and developing evidence-based approaches for improving social determinants of health. Her research has been published in peer-reviewed journals, including Qualitative Health Research, Global Public Health, Health Promotion Practice, Women’s Reproductive Health and more. Her work has been featured in diverse media outlets from NPR to Glamour Magazine, and her films have been screened at the Smithsonian Institute, Cooper-Hewitt National Design Museum, and United Nations Headquarters in New York. Sara’s work has been supported by a Fulbright Scholarship to Bangladesh, and a Boren Fellowship to Nepal.

Frayda Cohen serves as Director of Undergraduate Studies, Senior Lecturer, and Undergraduate Advisor for the Gender, Sexuality, and Women’s Studies Program, and as Director of the Pittsburgh Consortium for Adoption Studies (PCAS). She is a cultural anthropologist whose research interests include: children, gender, adoption, reproduction and population policy, transnationalism, and food studies. She has spent several years working in China and has been the Director for the summer 6-week study abroad program, Pitt in China. In summer 2017, she ran a summer study abroad program in Italy on gender, sustainability, and food. She regularly teaches courses on gender and the politics of food, global feminisms, gendered bodies, and popular culture. She also teaches the senior capstone for GSWS majors. As both faculty and advisor for the GSWS undergraduate program she sees the important ways in which students build their analytical and writing skills around a study of gender and sexuality in ways that uniquely prepare them for a diverse and complicated world.

My focus is on the influence of social relationships on health among disempowered minorities, especially Latinos. My ultimate goals are 1) to increase health equity by using social network and participatory methods to train researchers and practitioners, especially those from disadvantaged groups, and 2) to empower communities. The research I conduct contributes to scientific development and enriches my in-class instruction. Over time, my studies have become increasingly participatory, enabling me to involve students in data collection and analysis as well as in collaborative design.

Much of my current work involves peer support or community health workers (CHW). For many years I have been associated with the Latino Engagement Group for Salud (LEGS), a coalition comprised of community members and organizations working with Latinos, focused on community-based participatory initiatives. Together, we completed an assessment of the health of Latino immigrant men and implemented a male promotores (CHW) network in Pittsburgh to assist other Latino men. In the same vein, I collaborated with faculty across campus in multiple CHW interventions to promote access to care, healthy eating, and exercise among adults, children and entire families. Recently, I explored the stressors Latino youth face in an emerging community and subsequently tested remote "face-to-face" support groups for adolescents, "Cuenta Conmigo." Recently we completed community engaged research with a youth group to co-create the modified "Cuenta Conmigo." My research interests include social relationships, cancer, breastfeeding, racial and ethnic disparities, evaluation, and global health.

Another aspect of my work focuses on evaluation, always centering equity. I am PI of the HRSA-funded Mid-Atlantic Regional Public Health Training Center (MAR-PHTC) that has the goal of training the current and future workforce in innovative ways, emphasizing practice and a diverse workforce that reflects the population it serves. Since I served as MAR-PHTC evaluator from 2014 to 2022, documenting successes and enabling improvements in real time are priorities. Focused on process and outcome metrics, I have applied continuous quality improvement to ensure success. In addition to the MAR-PHTC, my evaluation portfolio includes projects ranging from the Emergency Law Inventory to promotores interventions.

Dr. Michael Glass is an urbanist who works at the intersection of geography and planning. His primary research is on city-region governance and planning, housing, and urban infrastructure; he has regional expertise in Southeast Asia, North America, and Australasia. He is the co-editor of Urban Violence, Resilience and Security: Governance Responses in the Global South (Edward Elgar, 2022), Performativity, Politics, and the Production of Social Space (Routledge, 2014) and co-author of Priced Out: Stuyvesant Town and the Loss of Middle-Class Neighborhoods (NYU Press, 2016). His most recent research examines the ways that infrastructure shapes regions and influences regional equity. He has published extensively in leading international journals and is on the editorial boards of Asian Geography Journal, Journal of Urban Affairs, and Regional Studies, Regional Science. He is also the Regional Studies Association's Territorial Ambassador to the United States. Winner of the 2015 Bellet Award for Teaching Excellence, Dr. Glass is the Director of the Urban Studies Program and serves as the undergraduate advisor.

Marcela González Rivas is an Associate Professor in the Graduate School of Public and International Affairs at the University of Pittsburgh, where she is on the faculty advisory board of the Center for Latin American Studies. She is also a permanent member of the PWSA’s Low Income Assistance Advisory Committee and leads the Ford Institute Working Group “Closing the Water Gap.”  Her central research interests revolve around sustainable water policy, equity, and water governance. More specifically, her research focuses on how uneven access to water varies across communities and regions, and how community development, policy, and planning can exacerbate or diminish such inequalities with particular concentration on Mexico and Latin America. For example, some of her research has looked at why indigenous communities in Mexico have particularly low levels of water access, and how in particular contexts, community development processes can alter this trend. More recently, her research and teaching focus on COVID-19 responses to water access protection in the US as well as on Pittsburgh’s water challenges in aiming to achieve sustainability and the equity dynamics that are at play.

Her work has been published in the Annals of Regional Science, Community Development, Development in Practice, Latin American Research Review, Mexican Studies, Water Policy, Town Planning Review, Utilities Policy, and the Journal of Comparative Policy Analysis. She has taught courses on the subjects of urban and regional development and planning in developing nations, immigration, international institutions, research design, and urban spatial structure. For several consecutive years, she has also led an international policy and planning workshop, where graduate students travel to Mexico or Colombia to study various government programs.

My research is motivated by a fascination with the way historical and cultural memory are represented in literature and performing arts from Japan’s medieval period, particularly the fifteenth century. My first book focused on Japan’s most famous military tale, The Tales of the Heike, exploring its connections to and influences on both the writing and performing of the early age of Japan’s first shogunate. I am currently working on a book-length study of noh drama, specifically how the staging of a set of plays by early playwrights simultaneously codify and undermine spaces of the poetic and social landscapes of the early fifteenth-century.

Shanti Gamper-Rabindran is an Associate Professor at the Graduate School of Public and International Affairs (GSPIA) and Department of Economics at the University of Pittsburgh. In 2014 and 2015, she convened a leading group of academics and policy analysts, with in-country expertise on the intersection of energy, environment and development issues, to examine shale development in five continents, culminating in an edited book project. She has presented research in China, the UK, Germany and Italy. Her current research focuses on the political economy barriers and opportunities in the energy transition to renewables and on the cities’ transition to a low carbon economy.  

Her research, which applies GIS and econometrics, to empirically evaluate the effectiveness of policy tools (e.g. corporate social responsibility and information disclosure programs) and the effectiveness of public goods (e.g. piped water provision in Brazil) has been published in leading journals in environmental and development economics. Her research has been funded by the NSF, the NIH and the EPA. She has undertaken work for the EPA, the World Bank and Human Rights Watch Americas.  She has served as the Bley Stein Visiting Professor at the Arava Institute for Environmental Studies and as a Visiting Associate Professor at Carnegie Mellon University.  

She helped launched the Masters-level program in Energy and the Environment at GSPIA and the university-wide certificates in Global Health. She teaches courses in Economics of Development, Global Energy, Global Environment, Global Health, and Global Economy. She holds a Ph.D. in Economics from MIT; she completed an M.Sc. in Environmental Management and a B.A. in Jurisprudence at Oxford University as a Rhodes Scholar. She also holds an A.B. in Economics and in Environmental Science and Public Policy from Harvard.

Grant MacIntyre joins the Pitt Law faculty as a Clinical Assistant Professor of Law and Director of the Environmental Law Clinic. Professor MacIntyre worked for the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency Office of General Counsel as an attorney advisor and special assistant to the general counsel, where he focused on the intersection of administrative law and environmental regulation. He also has experience in private practice with Bracewell in Washington, D.C., where he worked on environmental law issues in administrative, appellate, and compliance settings.  

Professor MacIntyre received his J.D. from the University of Pittsburgh School of Law in 2008. During his time as a student, he served as a certified legal intern with the Environmental Law Clinic, topics editor of the Journal of Environmental & Public Health Law, a member of the Environmental Law Moot Court, and as a member of the Pitt Law Student Environmental Law Council.

Dr. Wang's research interests lie at the interface of bionanotechnology, microbiology, and material science. Specifically, his research seeks to (i) design novel bionanomaterials to enable sustainable and efficient water purification, (ii) harness the biochemical potential of microorganisms in bioremediation and resource recovery, and (iii) understand the effects of emerging contaminants on microbial activities in natural and engineered systems.

Dr. Müge Kökten Finkel is the Director of the Masters in International Development Program and a faculty member at the Graduate School of Public and International Affairs, and the Co-Director of the Gender Inequality Research Lab (GIRL) at the University of Pittsburgh. Her expertise includes gender and development, poverty and inequality, and Japanese politics. Previously, she worked as a Social Development Specialist for the MENA Region at the World Bank. Since 2015, she has worked with the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) to analyze global trends in gender equality in public administration. Dr. Finkel holds a Ph.D. in Political Science from the University of Virginia. She will be working with Dr. David Fraser on the International Development Policy (IDP) BADGE. 

Dr. David Fraser is a Scholar Mentor in the University Honors College. His areas of research interest include implicit learning, the effects of stress on memory and cognition, and the neurophysiological basis of post-partum depression. He was previously a faculty member at a small liberal arts college where he was director of the honors program and taught neuroscience, biology, and scientific literacy. At Pitt, he focuses on mentoring, teaching, and building undergraduate programs that help students move across traditional academic boundaries. Dr. Fraser holds a Ph.D. in Neuroscience from Northwestern University. He will also be working on the International Development Policy (IDP) BADGE.

Dr. Oliver Hinder is an assistant professor in the Industrial Engineering Department at the University of Pittsburgh. Before joining the University of Pittsburgh, he was a visiting postdoctoral researcher at Google in the Optimization and Algorithms group in New York. In 2020, he received a Ph.D. from the Department of Management Science and Engineering at Stanford University, where Professor Yinyu Ye was his advisor. His research focuses on optimization: a field that creates software tools for making predictions and decisions in complex environments. He is motivated by problems in network optimization and machine learning that push current capabilities. For example, he aims to build new tools for electricity grid operators to handle the uncertainty created by wind and solar energy sources. These tools will help accelerate the transition to a fully renewable electricity grid. His project is entitled A new approach to decision making under uncertainty with applications to electric grid operation.

Patrick Shirey is a Postdoctoral Associate working with Daniel Bain and Anthony Iannacchione on bituminous coal mine subsidence impacts. Patrick is as certified ecologist (Ecological Society of America) and certified fisheries professional (American Fisheries Society). Patrick conducts multidisciplinary research using techniques from his terminal degrees in ecology and law. He has over 30 public speaking engagements (16 invited) since 2009. Patrick has published 13 peer-reviewed manuscripts including an invited comment in Nature, and publications in Conservation Letters, Ecology and Society, Ecohydrology, the Journal of Paleolimnology, Fisheries, and others. His recently published research topics include urban stream restoration, endangered species conservation policy, environmental DNA, and science communication. Patrick has won national research and policy awards including a George Melendez Wright Climate Change Research Fellowship from the National Park Service and was 1 of 35 early career aquatic scientists selected to participate in an NSF-funded symposium hosted by the University of Hawaii – 2014 Ecological Dissertations in the Aquatic Sciences (Eco-DAS). He has been a recorded radio guest on NPR’s All Things Considered, a live radio guest on WOJB (Lac Courte Oreilles Reservation) to discuss brook trout conservation, and live radio guest answering listener questions on NPR’s Science Friday to discuss the illegal trade of endangered plants.

Dr. Brandon Grainger is currently an Eaton faculty fellow and an assistant professor and associate director of the Electric Power Engineering program in the Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering at the University of Pittsburgh (Pitt), Swanson School of Engineering. He is also the associate director of the Energy GRID Institute. He holds a PhD in electrical engineering with a specialization in power conversion. He also obtained his master’s degree in electrical engineering and bachelor’s degree in mechanical engineering (with minor in electrical engineering) all from Pitt. He was also one of the first original R.K. Mellon graduate student fellows through the Center for Energy at Pitt. He will work with Dr. Paul Ohodnicki on a project entitled Electric Motor Materials and Designs for a Sustainable Electrified Future. 

Dr. Robert Kerestes is an assistant professor in the Electrical and Computer Engineering department and the director of the electrical engineering undergraduate program. His research is balanced between the classroom and the laboratory: engineering education, innovative stem curricula development, mathematical modelling and simulation of physical systems, power systems control and stability, electric machinery, power quality, renewable energy technologies, and smart grid technology. Prior to his appointment as assistant professor in 2016, he was an adjunct professor in the Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering and a Senior Engineer at Emerson Process Management, where he was the project lead for the dynamic simulation of thermal power plants, electrical power systems, and microgrids. His project is entitled Development of a Digital Twin for Green Energy Management and Security in a Picogrid Laboratory.

Ian Nettleship is an associate professor in the Department of Mechanical Engineering and Materials Science at the University of Pittsburgh. He is the Chair of the Engineering for Humanity Certificate Program at the University of Pittsburgh and a Chair of the Humanitarian Activities Network of the American Ceramics Society. He teaches materials processing and manufacturing, sustainable materials production and powder processing of materials. As a member of Pitt- Non-Conventional Materials and Appropriate Technologies group (Pitt-NOCMAT), he combines materials research with service learning. His projects include manufacturing of ceramic water filters for water treatment in low-income communities and bamboo construction materials for low-cost housing. He is the founder of the Ceramic Filter Project and the Vice President of a Pittsburgh based NGO, Ceramic Water Filter Solutions, that establishes and supports small filter factories in low-income communities. They currently have factories in Mexico, Nigeria, Nepal and Honduras. 

Dr. Paul R. Ohodnicki Jr. is currently an associate professor in Mechanical Engineering and Materials Science department at the University of Pittsburgh and the Engineering Science program director. Prior to his current role, he was a materials scientist and technical portfolio lead in the Functional Materials Team of the Materials Engineering & Manufacturing Directorate of the National Energy Technology Laboratory. He graduated from the University of Pittsburgh in 2005 with a B.Phil. in engineering physics and a B.A. in economics and subsequently earned his M.S. (2006) and Ph.D. (2008) in materials science and engineering from Carnegie Mellon University. Ohodnicki has published more than 130 technical publications and holds more than 10 patents, with more than 15 additional patents under review. He also is the recipient of a number of awards and recognitions, including the Federal Employee Rookie of the Year Award (2012), Presidential Early Career Award in Science and Engineering (2016), and the Advanced Manufacturing and Materials Innovation Category Award for the Carnegie Science Center (2012, 2017, 2019). In 2017, he was a nominee for the Samuel J. Heyman service to America Medal. He will work alongside Dr. Brandon Grainger on Electric Motor Materials and Designs for a Sustainable Electrified Future.

Corey Flynn’s passion for nutrition and sustainability has led her in many directions. She holds a Master's degree in Public Policy and Management from the University of Pittsburgh where she concentrated her studies on food systems and food policy. During this time, she also received the 2019 University of Pittsburgh Staff Sustainability Award. She is a registered Nutrition and Dietetics Technician and Certified Dietary Manager. Corey grew up in Northern California in a rice farming family surrounded by fresh food. In addition to her degrees in nutrition and public policy she holds a Bachelor of Art in Journalism and Photography from California State University, Sacramento and spent time as a journalist in Lodi, California home of the Grape Festival. Food has always been a central part of her life. Her lectureship will focus on a Sustainable Food Systems Course.

Steven LeMieux teaches composition, digital media, and professional communication courses. His research is focused on rhetorical theory, environmental and digital rhetoric, experimental design, and ecocomposition. He is currently working on a book project that argues for the rhetorical importance of interruption and the necessity of exploring new modes of relation in a world undergoing radical climate change. He earned his PhD in Rhetoric and Composition from The University of Texas at Austin. His lectureship will focus on writing sustainability. 

Dr. Manisha Nigam is an associate professor at the University of Pittsburgh Johnstown. Her research is mainly pedagogical in nature, focused on promoting green chemistry and sustainability education in the real world. Her overall vision is to raise awareness of green and sustainable principles and practices within the campus community. She is engaging students in a broad, interdisciplinary manner that will enable them to apply their education to their everyday lives on and off campus and in their personal and professional worlds. She is also striving to leverage student efforts at promoting the long-term sustainability of the campus community.

Dr. Finegold is a member of the faculty in the Department of Human Genetics. He serves as the director of the Multidisciplinary Masters of Public Health Program. He has a major research focus on lymphatic vascular biology and genetic variation underlying primary and secondary lymphedema. He is the co-principal investigator for the Pittsburgh Lymphedema Family Study. He is a co-investigator in Dr. Massimo Trucco's studies to rescue newly diagnosed patients with type I diabetes mellitus.  He is a member of Dr. Lisa Pan's suicide research group. He also is a member of two analytical chemistry groups developing novel biomolecular sensors and a chemical engineering sensing and modeling group.

Tony Kerzmann's educational background began with the attainment of a Bachelor of Arts in Physics from Duquesne University, as well as a Bachelor’s, Master’s, and PhD in Mechanical Engineering from the University of Pittsburgh. After graduating from Pitt, Tony became a Mechanical Engineering Professor at Robert Morris University which afforded him the opportunity to research, teach, and advise. One of Tony’s major research projects while at RMU was his work with a research group to develop alternative fueling station optimization simulations that led to numerous publications. Tony served as the mechanical coordinator for the Engineering Department for 6 years, and was the Director of Outreach for the Research and Outreach Center in the School of Engineering, Mathematics and Science. Throughout Tony’s academic career, he taught over 70 course sections and advised over 65 student projects.

Sara Kuebbing is a plant ecologist studying biological invasions and their impacts on native plant communities and ecosystems. Her research program seeks to understand the role of plant interactions in influencing plant community composition, shaping the links between plant community composition and the functions of invaded ecosystems, and predicting which nonnative, invasive species are likely to have the largest impact. Because invasive species are an environmental management concern, she designs research that can inform invasive management policy and practice. Her research explores how interactions among invasive plants change the impacts that individual invaders have on plant communities and ecosystems. This line of research is novel and understudied, representing a theoretical gap in invasion biology and an applied challenge for managers. Studying invasive species provides opportunities to test fundamental questions in plant ecology, such as what factors drive plant community assembly processes and how changes in plant community composition affects ecosystem functions.

Joshua Groffman is a professor at Pitt Brafford. His compositions are influenced by his background as a performer of classical, rock, and jazz and a strong sense of the specificity of place. His opera, Unfinished, written in collaboration with poet Sarah Heady, is commissioned and produced by Vital Opera. Other works have been performed by the American Composers Orchestra, Ensemble Laboratorium, Aspen Contemporary Ensemble, Poné Ensemble for New Music, New York New Music Collective, Ars Musica Chorale, Bard College Vocal Arts Program, Delaware Valley Chorale, Duo 231, and the Cornell University Chamber Singers, and selected for performance at the Aspen Music Festival, June in Buffalo, SEAMUS National Conference, New York City Electroacoustic Music Festival, Electroacoustic Barn Dance Festival, Midwest Composers Symposium, and the 60×60 VoxNovus East Coast Mix.

As a scholar, Dr. Groffman's work focuses on constructions of place through sound, as well as techniques for student engagement in the music theory curriculum. Current and forthcoming work appears in Journal of Music Theory Pedagogy, Music Educators Journal, Journal SEAMUS, and Musica Est Donum.

Katherine Hornbostel is an Assistant Professor of Mechanical Engineering and Materials Science. Her research interests include carbon capture solvents, additive manufacturing for CO2 storage, natural disaster energy capture & storage.

Robert Kerestes is an assistant professor in electrical and computer engineering. His research focuses on the development of smart grid technology at the smart home and smart building level. This research focuses on the use, design and implementation of (IoT) devices and networks, which increase the overall efficiency of the modern power grid.  This in turn will have an impact on the way we use energy, leading to a cleaner and more sustainable electric power infrastructure. The outcome of this research is to Interface common household and building electrical loads through sensors and communications devices, and to use microcontrollers coupled with optimization methods to control the way that electrical sources and loads interact with one another.

Dr. Pamela J. Stewart (Strathern) is a research scholar with experience of working and living in the Pacific (special focus on Papua New Guinea), Asia (focused on Taiwan), and Europe (focused on Scotland and Ireland, also on the European Union).  Together with Prof. Andrew Strathern, over 50 books and hundreds of articles have been published demonstrating their broad interests in global issues, utilizing their cross-cultural linguistic skills, a powerful comparative and interdisciplinary approach, and an engaged ethnographic gaze.  Current research and writing is on the topics of Political Peace-making and Global Disaster Anthropology Studies.  

Andrew Strathern received his Ph.D from Cambridge University and is an internationally recognized scholar and social anthropologist with a wide range of interests, including the analysis of political and economic systems, kinship theories, social change, religion and ritual, symbolism, ethnicity, legal anthropology, conflict and violence, the anthropology of the body, and the cross-cultural study of medical systems.

He has carried out long-term fieldwork in the Pacific (especially Papua New Guinea), Asia (especially Taiwan), and Europe (with a focus on Ireland and Scotland) and continues an active research and publication program in these global arenas as well as others. He also conducts research in and teaches on contemporary anthropological theory, linguistic anthropology, and linguistic and social issues in Europe and globally.

For many years he has collaborated with Dr. Pamela J.Stewart pamjan@pitt.edu and they have published widely on their findings. 

Dr. Michael Blackhurst is the Co-Director of the Urban and Regional Analysis program at the Center for Social and Urban Research at the University of Pittsburgh. Dr. Blackhurst oversees applied and basic research projects in the energy, water, and climate sectors.  His research emphasizes energy and water efficiency, urban stormwater management, regional climate change mitigation and adaptation, and water resource planning.  His work has been profiled in the New York Times and National Geographic. As a result of his success in connecting research to public decision makers, Dr. Blackhurst was selected by the National Academies of Science and Engineering Ambassador program to serve as a Science Ambassador in 2015.

Dr. Blackhurst enjoys teaching at all levels and across disciplines. He has taught core engineering courses and graduate policy courses in data analytics and the ethics of innovation.

In addition to his academic career, Dr. Blackhurst has eight years of experience leading a diverse array of engineering consulting services for public sector clients, including state and public works agencies.  

Dr. Leu received his PhD in Mechanical Engineering at Stanford University in 2008. Since coming to Pitt, his research interests have focused on solar cells and design for sustainability.

Environmental and energy economist. Her PhD was received in 2017 from the University of Melbourne, Australia.

Justin Kitzes is an Assistant Professor of Biological Sciences at the University of Pittsburgh. He received his Ph.D. from the University of California, Berkeley (Environmental Science, Policy, and Management) and his B.S. and M.S. degrees from Stanford University (Earth Systems). His research focuses on understanding and predicting species diversity and distributions in human-altered landscapes, as well as applying this knowledge to inform conservation in fragmented habitats. His specific interests include spatial macroecology, the species-area relationship, community turnover in space and time, extinction prediction, acoustic recording technology, bird call classification, ecological software development, reproducible research, and sustainability accounting.

The development of smart grid technology at the smart home and smart building level. This research focuses on the use, design and implementation of (IoT) devices and networks, which increase the overall efficiency of the modern power grid.  This in turn will have an impact on the way we use energy, leading to a cleaner and more sustainable electric power infrastructure. The outcome of this research is to Interface common household and building electrical loads through sensors and communications devices, and to use microcontrollers coupled with optimization methods to control the way that electrical sources and loads interact with one another.

Dr. Ruth Mostern is currently working on two large scale projects as followed:

The World-Historical Gazetteer is an NEH-funded initiative to develop content and infrastructure for databases of historical place-names that have been used around the world for the last five hundred years.  It will be a reference work in its own right and a back-end source for historical maps and spatial search.

Following the Tracks of Yu: The Ecological and Imperial Worlds of the Yellow River is a book that describes how people interacted with and transformed a dynamic riparian system of water and silt over thousands of years. The book relies on spatial and data analysis along with close readings of documents.

Dr. Michael Blackhurst is the Co-Director of the Urban and Regional Analysis program at the Center for Social and Urban Research at the University of Pittsburgh. Dr. Blackhurst oversees applied and basic research projects in the energy, water, and climate sectors.  His research emphasizes energy and water efficiency, urban stormwater management, regional climate change mitigation and adaptation, and water resource planning.  His work has been profiled in the New York Times and National Geographic. As a result of his success in connecting research to public decision makers, Dr. Blackhurst was selected by the National Academies of Science and Engineering Ambassador program to serve as a Science Ambassador in 2015.

Dr. Blackhurst enjoys teaching at all levels and across disciplines. He has taught core engineering courses and graduate policy courses in data analytics and the ethics of innovation.

In addition to his academic career, Dr. Blackhurst has eight years of experience leading a diverse array of engineering consulting services for public sector clients, including state and public works agencies.   

Dr. Emily M. Elliott is an Associate Professor in the Department of Geology & Environmental Science at the University of Pittsburgh. Her research program examines the tight coupling between human activities and reactive nitrogen distributions in atmosphere, terrestrial and aquatic systems at multiple spatial scales using stable isotope geochemistry. Dr. Elliott is the Director of the Regional Stable Isotope Laboratory for Earth and Environmental Science Research.   Dr. Elliott is a Science & Engineering Ambassador of the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine and an NSF CAREER awardee.  Prior to joining the Pitt faculty, she received her PhD at Johns Hopkins University (Geography & Environmental Engineering) and was a Postdoctoral Research Associate at the U.S. Geological Survey, Water Resources Division in California. 

John T. Sebastian is the McKamish Director of Construction Management and Professor in the Civil and Environmental Engineering Department, Swanson School of Engineering at the University of Pittsburgh. As Director, he oversees the Undergraduate and Graduate Construction Management Program. His duties include teaching undergraduate and graduate level courses in Construction Management, coordinating the Adjunct Professors within the program and networking with industry to support and enhance the program.

In addition, he is President of his own management consulting firm, Sebastian Consulting Solutions, LLC, which was founded based on his more than 35 years of experience in the construction industry from his work with Dick Corporation, a national general contractor and dck worldwide, an international contractor and successor company to Dick Corporation where he served as a member of the firm's Executive Management Team and its Board of Directors. Both companies had annual revenue in excess of $1 billion and were consistently ranked in the top 50 General Contractors in the United States by Engineering News Record.

His experience in the construction industry ranges across a wide array of market segments from hotels and resorts to education, retail, aviation, multi-family, courthouses, correctional facilities, energy, highways, bridges, industrial and healthcare. The projects have included design-build, design assist, general construction, and construction management delivery methods for both public and private clients. He has overseen construction of over 3 million square feet of LEED certified projects totaling over $500 million.

Mr. Sebastian has played a key role in the development and construction of numerous landmark construction projects including: the Historic Renovation of Union Station in Washington, DC (for which he won the Build America Award as the on-site project manager), PNC Park in Pittsburgh, Ronald Reagan National Airport in Washington, DC, The Atlantis Resort on Paradise Island, Bahamas, The Venetian Resort in Las Vegas and many monumental government, military and commercial projects among others.

Mr. Sebastian is a LEED accredited professional and a graduate of the University of Pittsburgh, holding a BS in Civil Engineering as well as an MBA. He is a Construction Excellence Peer for both General Services Administration and the Veterans Administration. He is a Chairman of the board and executive committee member of the Sarah Heinz House of Pittsburgh, a board member of Rebuilding Together Pittsburgh and the ACE Mentor Program and is a member of numerous industry groups.

Dr. Emily M. Elliott is an Associate Professor in the Department of Geology & Environmental Science at the University of Pittsburgh. Her research program examines the tight coupling between human activities and reactive nitrogen distributions in atmosphere, terrestrial and aquatic systems at multiple spatial scales using stable isotope geochemistry. Dr. Elliott is the Director of the Regional Stable Isotope Laboratory for Earth and Environmental Science Research.   Dr. Elliott is a Science & Engineering Ambassador of the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine and an NSF CAREER awardee.  Prior to joining the Pitt faculty, she received her PhD at Johns Hopkins University (Geography & Environmental Engineering) and was a Postdoctoral Research Associate at the U.S. Geological Survey, Water Resources Division in California.

Shanti Gamper-Rabindran is an Associate Professor at the Graduate School of Public and International Affairs (GSPIA) and Department of Economics at the University of Pittsburgh. In 2014 and 2015, she convened a leading group of academics and policy analysts, with in-country expertise on the intersection of energy, environment and development issues, to examine shale development in five continents, culminating in an edited book project. She has presented research in China, the UK, Germany and Italy. Her current research focuses on the political economy barriers and opportunities in the energy transition to renewables and on the cities’ transition to a low carbon economy.

Her research, which applies GIS and econometrics, to empirically evaluate the effectiveness of policy tools (e.g. corporate social responsibility and information disclosure programs) and the effectiveness of public goods (e.g. piped water provision in Brazil) has been published in leading journals in environmental and development economics. Her research has been funded by the NSF, the NIH and the EPA. She has undertaken work for the EPA, the World Bank and Human Rights Watch Americas. She has served as the Bley Stein Visiting Professor at the Arava Institute for Environmental Studies and as a Visiting Associate Professor at Carnegie Mellon University.

She helped launched the Masters-level program in Energy and the Environment at GSPIA and the university-wide certificates in Global Health. She teaches courses in Economics of Development, Global Energy, Global Environment, Global Health, and Global Economy. She holds a PhD in Economics from MIT; she completed an M.Sc. in Environmental Management and a B.A. in Jurisprudence at Oxford University as a Rhodes Scholar. She also holds an A.B. in Economics and in Environmental Science and Public Policy from Harvard.

Alex Jones is an Associate Professor of Electrical and Computer Engineering and Director of Computer Engineering at the University of Pittsburgh.  His research interests include compilers, computer architectures, electronic design automation, and reliability.  He is actively involved in the new methods to evaluate and optimize the sustainability and life-cycle impacts of computing systems from tablets to servers.  Towards that end, he has recently released GreenChip, a computer architecture simulation environment that provides detailed feedback on the environmental impacts from both manufacturing (fabricating) and operating deeply scaled computer architectures and their integrated circuits.   He received his BS degree in 1998 in physics from the College of William and Mary and the MS and PhD degrees in 2000 and 2002, respectively, in electrical and computer engineering at Northwestern University.  Dr. Jones is also an active leader within the computer architecture and design automation communities with regard to experimental reproducibility and new research directions in design tools for extreme scaled semiconductors having organized and led NSF/CCC/ACM visioning efforts in these areas.  He has received the Pitt Innovator Award, the ACM distinguished service award, and a seminal paper award in design automation from the IEEE FCCM conference.  He serves on many journal editorial boards and conference committees including the IEEE Transactions on Sustainable Computing and the IEEE International Green and Sustainable Computing Conference.

The faculty fellowship in sustainability has provided Dr. Bain with a wide variety of opportunities. He has been able to participate in several large interdisciplinary team proposals from the University of Pittsburgh. He has met a new set of colleagues from across the university.  Moreover, he has had the chance to work closely with a cohort of faculty fellows and MCSI staff on the first iteration of the Introduction to Sustainability class.  In all cases, he feels he's learned a lot and had fun.

Dr. Carson received his Ph. D. in 1993 with Richard Root at Cornell University, performed his postdoctoral studies with David Tilman at the University of Minnesota and Steve Hubbell at Princeton University, and joined the Department in 1994.

For the faculty fellowship in sustainability application, Jeremy Weber proposed research on policies to generate and manage public revenues from natural gas extraction in Pennsylvania’s Marcellus Shale. During the time of the fellowship, he worked with one of his students to develop and publish a dataset and policy brief on municipal finances, drilling, and revenues from Pennsylvania’s unconventional gas well Impact Fee. He has incorporated the research into the introduction to sustainability course, a course that he has enjoyed helping to develop and teach. It is his first experience teaching to an audience with such diverse backgrounds and with faculty from other disciplines.