SEAS - Key Persons
Job Titles:
- Employer Relations Manager
Amanda Marie Edmonds is a consultant, AM Edmonds LLC, Artist & Owner of AMEPIX, and former Mayor of the City of Ypsilanti, Michigan (2014-18).
A consultant, strategist, and educator in food systems, sustainability, social enterprise, and nonprofits, Edmonds has more than 20 years of experience as a positive change maker. She retired in 2017 as the founding executive director of Growing Hope, a 15-year -old nonprofit dedicated to helping people grow and access healthy food, whose work included farmers markets, urban agriculture, youth development, and good food policy. In that role she became a leader in sustainable and local food policy, including as a founding member and vice chair of the Washtenaw Food Policy Council, a gubernatorial appointee to the MI Food Policy Council, and having successfully supported the development and passage of food related policies from local to state levels. She brings these decades of experience to her work as a consultant with nonprofit, foundation, and university clients. She travels nationally as a speaker and a trainer.
Between 2014-2018, Edmonds served in elected office as the Mayor of the City of Ypsilanti, Michigan, a diverse and historic urban community of 20,000 residents in southeast Michigan, where she was driven by how to create sustainable and equitable communities. Additionally, during nearly eight years serving Ypsilanti's Downtown Development Authority, she helped this body develop vision and strategy to most effectively support our invigorated commercial districts.
Originally from St. Louis, Missouri, Edmonds co-founded a nonprofit called Snail while in high school, and served on her school board at age 16. She has lived in Michigan since the mid 1990s, and is a twice alum from the University of Michigan's School of Environment and Sustainability. Edmonds has served on many boards from local to national levels, including as chair of the Washtenaw County MSU-Extension Advisory Council, many years of service on the Ypsilanti Parks & Recreation Commission, on the leadership team of the Ypsilanti Health Coalition, and six years on the bi-national board of the American Community Gardening Association, among others. Honors include a Lifetime Achievement Award from the Women Business Owners of Southeast Michigan. Twilight Foundation Award, Brown Chapel AME Brotherhood Award, and ATHENA Award for Young Emerging Leaders. She was featured in the book "Practical Idealists: Changing the World and Getting Paid" and has been highlighted in Organic Gardening magazine. In 2016 she became a Marshall Memorial Fellow, and traveled in Spring 2017 on a month long diplomatic trip around Europe engaging in transatlantic relations with leaders from the US and Europe.
Edmonds is also an avid gardener (and newbie beekeeper), photographer, and runs a creative business- AMEPIX- selling jewelry and other items she designs and creates, many inspired by her deep love for plants and insects.
Job Titles:
- President of Environmental Communication Associates, Inc
Andrea Grant is President of Environmental Communication Associates, Inc. (ECA). She has been a pioneering force in communicating complex issues to the public and cause-related marketing for over 30 years. Grant and ECA are well known for providing leading edge public campaigns, strategic marketing, branding, public outreach, media and risk communications to business, government and nonprofits. The Boulder Business & Professional Women Association named Grant the 2014 "Woman of the Year in Business." Grant's clients include: Honda North America, Rocky Flats, Alfalfa's Market, Sun Oil, Roche, Alpha Owens Corning, BHP Billiton, Lockheed Martin, British Columbia Ministry of Environment, Lands and Parks, Rocky Mountain National Park, US Green Building Council (launched the LEED certification), Hearst, Good Housekeeping, Humane Society of the United States, FEMA, Indian and Northern Affairs Canada, and the Vatican. Present and Recent Boards include: Western Resource Advocates (Boulder, Colorado), National Parks Conservation Association (SW Region), National Outdoor Leadership School, Lander, Wyoming, Alliance for Sustainable Colorado, (Denver, Colorado), and the Alaska Conservation Foundation. Grant has also written highly acclaimed curricula on environmentally related topics for high schools, middle schools and elementary schools. She co-founded the Big Green Rabbit, a multimedia children's company that packages environmental and health topics using multimedia and digital platforms to reach millions of families and kids around the world. Big Green Rabbit won 4 Emmys, 2 Webby Awards, Parents Choice Awards, and has received over 85 million hits on YouTube. Big Green Rabbit performs annually at the White House Easter Egg Roll. Grant has studied at Hobart and William Smith, University of Colorado - Environmental Science / Geology, the Rocky Mountain College of Art, and the National Outdoor Leadership School.
Job Titles:
- Professor Associate Dean for Academic Affairs
Job Titles:
- Sustainability and Development
Job Titles:
- Assistant Professor of Environment
Benjamin Goldstein is Assistant Professor of Environment and Sustainability and head of the Sustainable Urban-Rural Futures (SURF) lab. The SURF Lab (www.surf-lab.ca) studies and emphasizes urban sustainability at multiple scales. Through his work at the SURF Lab, Benjamin helps understand how urban processes and urban form drive the consumption of materials and energy in cities and produce environmental change inside and outside cities. He develops methods and tools to quantify the scale of these changes and the locations where they occur using life cycle assessment, input-output analysis, geospatial data, and approaches from data science. Benjamin is particularly interested in combining quantitative methods with theory rooted in social science to explore multiple dimensions of sustainability and address issues of distributive justice. His topical foci include urban food systems (esp. urban agriculture), agri-commodities, residual resource engineering, global supply chains, sustainable production and consumption, and energy systems.
Urban agriculture beats conventional agriculture on climate - if it's done right (The Hill)
Job Titles:
- Professor Associate Dean for Research and Engagement
Job Titles:
- Member of the Staff Leadership Team
- Executive Director, Communications, Marketing, and Outreach
Job Titles:
- Leader
- Founder and CEO of Third Economy
Chad Spitler serves as the Founder and CEO of Third Economy, where he advises institutional investors and companies in the areas of sustainable investing, impact measurement, data analytics, proxy voting, shareholder engagement, and environmental, social and governance (ESG) integration.
Previously, he worked as a Partner at CamberView, a boutique advisory firm that provides public companies with the advice and expertise they need to succeed with their institutional investors. Chad also headed the firm's advisory services on sustainable business practices. Prior to joining CamberView, Spitler spent 15 years at BlackRock, most recently as Managing Director and COO for the Corporate Governance & Responsible Investment team.
"Chad has been a leader in developing the approach among mainstream investors towards the environmental, social, and sustainability efforts of their portfolio companies," said Abe Friedman, CamberView's CEO. "Our clients are increasingly receiving inquiry from their investors about the sustainability of their business and business practices... With the team Chad is building at CamberView, public companies will now have an unparalleled resource for getting ahead of investor demands on sustainability."
Spitler earned his Bachelor of Science degree at SNRE, as well as an MA from the University of Colorado. He is a member of the Broadridge Steering Committee, the International Corporate Governance Network (ICGN), and the National Association of Corporate Directors (NACD).
Job Titles:
- Director of Career Development and Experiential Learning
Job Titles:
- Assistant Professor
- Assistant Professor of Data Science, Geovisualization and Design
- Twitter 's Totter Must Prompt Research Rethink ( Nature )
Derek Van Berkel is Assistant Professor of Data Science, Geovisualization and Design. His research examines the human dimensions of land-cover/land-use change and ecosystem services at diverse scales. It aims to use spatial analysis and geovisualizations of social and environmental data and spatial thinking to develop solutions for today's most pressing environmental challenges. Within this growing body of interdisciplinary work, he leverages social theory, big data, machine learning, spatial-temporal computer modeling (e.g. agent-based and cellular automata) and spatial statistics. This work addresses critical domains including (i) landscape management (e.g. weighing tradeoffs between ecosystem services); (ii) conservation and recreation planning (e.g. identifying special and valued places); and (iii) development of sustainable and resilient communities (e.g. health and well-being of communities).
Climate migrants could come to Great Lakes region as extreme weather grows in coming years (WEMU 89.1)
Researchers developing tools to help region plan for potential climate change-related population growth (Michigan Radio)
Job Titles:
- Director of the Cooperative Institute of Great Lakes Research ( CIGLR ) Alfred F. Thurnau Professor
Dr. Gregory Dick is the Director of the Cooperative Institute of Great Lakes Research (CIGLR) and an Alfred F. Thurnau Professor in the School for Environment and Sustainability and the Department of Earth and Environmental Sciences. He also holds affiliations in the Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, the Center for Computational Medicine and Bioinformatics, and the Chemical Biology Graduate Program. Professor Dick's research focuses on the role of microorganisms in shaping environmental processes, water quality, and biogeochemistry. His lab specializes in the use of 'omics (genomics, transcriptomics, etc.) to study microbial communities in a wide variety of environments including the deep sea, the Great Lakes, the human gut, and engineered systems. His current research focuses on the microbial ecology of harmful cyanobacterial blooms that threaten freshwater ecosystems around the world, using Lake Erie as a natural laboratory.
Scientists are learning just how complicated it will be to reduce toxic blooms in Lake Erie (Michigan Radio)
Dr. Karen DeGannes is a trusted advisor and strategist in the environmental, and utilities (energy, water, transportation and broadband) sectors and has over 21 years of professional experience. Her work applies systems approaches to creating local level solutions that integrate climate change, asset/infrastructure management, clean technology and risk, while centering communities and environmental justice. In the role of Principal for a major, investor-owned energy utility, she has re-defined and managed the utility's environmental and social justice strategy and portfolio across the organization and spearheaded improved situational awareness dashboards and processes that are inclusive of EJ communities and Tribal governments impacted by wildfires and public safety power shut-offs. She has shaped and implemented various mandates associated with decarbonization, air quality, climate adaptation and resilience, ESG, and climate emergency management in the context of California's evolving environmental and social justice policy framework.
Her career comprises a series of technical and operational roles, including as Senior Analyst - Energy Division, with the California Public Utilities Commission's Engineering, Environmental Studies & Customer Service Branch, where she led environmental review, permitting and compliance for large-scale utility infrastructure projects. She has served as Project Manager for the Interconnection of grid-scaled renewables and as Senior Gas Transmission Interconnection Manager for a municipal and a corporate utility, respectively. In her role as a utility regulator, Dr. DeGannes managed the oversight and evaluation of state-wide rate support, energy efficiency and demand response programs. She has designed national and state-level environmental, environmental justice, hazardous waste management, and economic development policies in the United States and in the Caribbean and has served as a technical expert on gender and renewable energy and energy market transitions for international organizations such as the United Nations. In her native land, Trinidad and Tobago, she founded and led an environmental consultancy that served as senior advisor to the Minister of Public Utilities and the Environment, the executive leadership of the Environmental Management Authority, and to commercial and industrial entities. From 2001-2003, Dr. DeGannes co-founded and operated an environmental justice non-profit organization that provided data judo and other capacity-building services to environmental justice (EJ) and community-based organizations. She currently offers pro-bono support to EJ organizations working in climate justice, clean jobs, decarbonization, and clean transportation arenas. Her formal education includes Doctor of Philosophy degrees in the fields of Natural Resources and Environment and (organizational) Sociology from the University of Michigan - Ann Arbor.
Job Titles:
- Associate Professor of Environment and Sustainability
- Associate Professor Tony Reames Returns to U - M SEAS to Lead Detroit Sustainability Clinic ( Michigan Chronicle )
- Deputy Director for Energy
WASHINGTON- Dr. Tony G. Reames, deputy director for energy justice at the U.S. Department of Energy, was awarded the Jan Brinch Award for Collaboration in Public Service...
Presidential energy appointee works to ensure climate change initiatives are equitable, just, and fair (US Black Engineer)
Black and Latino neighborhoods pay more for energy despite far lower emissions
Partnership aims to help drive equity in clean energy industry (The University Record)
Michigan utilities should prioritize public health inequities in retirement plans, regulator says (Energy News Network)
Dr. Tony Reames is Working to Eliminate Energy Poverty (Ebony)
Out in the cold: Pandemic leaves more people in need of energy assistance, but also harder to reach.
This prof is shedding light on energy injustice - and how to fix it (The Grist)
Energy access is not created equal. This Ann Arbor organization is trying to change that.
Maple syrup season started early in Wisconsin, as producers try to adapt to warmer winter conditions (PBS)
Job Titles:
- Advisor to the President, Oregon State University
Job Titles:
- Ecosystem Science and Management
Job Titles:
- IBM in 2023 As Vice President, Environmental Social Governance Strategy
Jonah Smith joined IBM in 2023 as Vice President, Environmental Social Governance Strategy and Programs. In addition to leading global ESG strategy, goals, stakeholder engagement, reporting and governance, Jonah's responsibilities also entail the development and implementation of environmental social innovation programs such as the IBM Sustainability Accelerator. Prior to IBM, Jonah led ESG at Kraft Heinz as its Global Head of Environmental Social Governance & President of the Kraft Heinz Foundation. Prior to Kraft Heinz Jonah held similar roles at Grainger and MillerCoors, has done stints in socially responsible investing, teaching sustainability at the university level, and served as the Sustainable Business Director at a non-profit, the Alliance for the Great Lakes. Jonah's career spans about two decades in sustainability, CSR/ESG.
Jonah holds an MBA in Sustainable Business from Pinchot University (formerly Bainbridge Graduate Institute). In addition, Jonah holds a MS in Conservation Biology & Ecosystem Management, as well as a Graduate Certificate in Latin American & Caribbean Studies, and finally a BA in English Literature, all from the University of Michigan. While in graduate school at what is now SEAS (formerly SNRE), Jonah's 1.5 years Master's opus researched and prescribed proper valuation of water resources and sustainability in Brazil.
In his spare time, Jonah enjoys his family and various activities such as soccer, guitar, windsurfing and as much nature as he can breathe in.
Job Titles:
- Career Services Coordinator
Job Titles:
- Professor in the School for Environment
- Professor of Environment and Sustainability
Joshua Newell is a professor in the School for Environment and Sustainability at the University of Michigan. He is a broadly trained human-environment geographer, whose research focuses on questions related to urban sustainability, resource consumption, and environmental and social justice. Newell's current research can be divided into two primary areas of interest. The first, Urban Infrastructure and Form, focuses on structural features of the urban form (e.g. built environment, transport, energy, and water infrastructure). The second research area, Urban Consumption and Commodities, focuses on the interrelationships between the consumption of consumer products, our responsibilities as global 'green' urban citizens, and the role of governance mechanisms and frameworks (including local institutions) in regulating product consumption. His research approach is often multi-scalar and integrative and, in addition to theory and method found in geography and urban planning, he draws upon principles and tools of industrial ecology, and spatial analysis. He teaches Sustainability and Society, a large undergraduate course, and Urban Sustainability, which is designed for MS and PhD students. He also leads a year-long interdisciplinary PhD student workshop that grapples with theories and concepts of urbanism, sustainability, and resilience.
Nearly 15% of Americans don't believe climate change is real, study finds (The Guardian)
Urban agriculture isn't as climate-friendly as it seems - but these best practices can transform gardens and city farms
EV adoption doesn't lighten energy costs for all American families (Popular Science)
Switching to EVs will save nearly everyone money and reduce carbon emissions, study says (MLive)
Most US car owners would benefit from EV switch, but lowest-income Americans could be left behind: study (The Hill)
Visible from outer space, Detroit's unofficial pathways could play important role in land redevelopment
Job Titles:
- Assistant Director of Career Development
Kate currently serves as ProducePay's VP for ESG and Sustainability. At ProducePay, Kate and her team are building a better supply chain for fresh produce - one built on trust, and prioritization of people and planet.
Before joining ProducePay, she served as Tesla's Southeast Region Manager for Charging infrastructure, responsible for scouting, designing and building public stations for electric vehicle charging, as well as served 6 years as Director of Global Food Sourcing with Walmart's Southeast team.
Kate is an expert in strategic planning and execution of global corporate sustainability programs.
Before serving on staff at large, publicly traded corporations, Kate worked as a management consultant, leading strategic management initiatives for global transportation, bioinnovation, manufacturing, ICT, food/beverage and energy companies. She has analyzed carbon offsets for the Northwest Power and Conservation Council, and conducted a GHG emissions analysis of energy infrastructure expansion plans for the federal government of Eritrea. Kate designed a joint industry-government project to certify globally traded sustainable biofuels in Africa, Brazil and the U.S., working with the Roundtable on Sustainable Biofuels and the UN Foundation. She has also worked on supply chain management protocols for one of the worlds leading companies in ICT, designed strategic GHG emissions management programs for key members of the oil and gas industry, and assisted global shipping and fleet management companies in the verification, analysis and strategic management of their GHG emissions.
Prior to obtaining her MBA, Kate was a Project Manager with the U.S Department of the Interior, leading stakeholder engagement for Florida Everglades eco-restoration policies. Kate has also served as a Corporate Responsibility Associate with the Coca Cola Company, as well as a Policy Specialist for the National Environmental Trust, where she conducted outreach to key industry representatives to determine tax incentives and policies to support energy efficient appliances for the state of Michigan. Kate is a co-author of "Rainforest Expeditions: Planning for the Future", and "Michigan at a Climate Crossroads: Strategies for Guiding the State in a Carbon Constrained World". She holds both an MBA and MS from University of Michigan; BS from University of Vermont.
Job Titles:
- Assistant Dean
- Member of the Staff Leadership Team
- Staff
Laura Rubin has spent more than 25 years working on environmental protection, policy, and conservation issues. She serves as Director of the Healing Out Waters-Great Lakes Coalition, which has been harnessing the collective power of more than 170 groups representing millions of people, whose common goal is to restore and protect the Great Lakes. The Coalition has earned a well-deserved reputation as a national leader in securing federal investment in regional ecosystem restoration efforts.
Previously, she worked as executive director of the Huron River Watershed Council (HRWC), where she oversaw a staff of 15 professionals and more than 500 volunteers dedicated to protecting and restoring the river for healthy and vibrant communities.
Rubin has served as a board member or advisor to local, state, and national organizations including the Michigan Environmental Council, the Alliance for the Great Lakes, the Great Lakes Integrated Science and Assessment Center, the University of Michigan School of Natural Resources Alumnae Committee, the City of Ann Arbor's Greenbelt Commission, and others. For her national leadership in river protection, she received the River Network's 2013 River Hero Award.
Prior to leading HRWC, Rubin worked with small and medium sized manufacturers on pollution prevention efforts, consulted on economic development strategy with the Navajo Nation, and served as a Program Director at Greenpeace, where she cut her teeth on policy development, community organizing, and environmental advocacy.
Job Titles:
- Member of the Staff Leadership Team
- Director of Diversity, Equity, and Community
Job Titles:
- Associate Professor of Landscape Architecture
Mark Lindquist, ASLA, PhD, is an Associate Professor of Landscape Architecture. His research and teaching focus on the design and evaluation of high-performance landscapes with an emphasis on multifunctional green infrastructure in urban areas. He is particularly interested in understanding how engaging with computation, data, virtual and augmented reality can transform the design process and inform decision-making by stakeholders. Lindquist uses video game technology and conducts empirical research with the aim of providing an evidence base to support the design and planning of environments that perform ecologically, socially and culturally for more sustainable outcomes.
Mark Retzloff is a pioneer in the organic and natural foods industry with a 48-year career starting and managing successful companies. Currently the CEO of Climate Foods, as well as Chairman of Natural Habitat Group's Board, Retzloff co-founded Alfalfa's, a Boulder-based natural foods store, and Aurora Organic Dairy, whose board he currently serves on.
Retzloff started his career in natural foods retail as co-founder of Eden Foods, Rainbow Grocery, and the original Alfalfa's Market, which merged with Wild Oats Markets in 1996. Retzloff went on to become one of the co-founders of Horizon Organic Dairy. There he served as Chairman, CEO and President International. He then became Chairman of Rudi's Organic Bakery where he helped execute a successful turn-around.
He lends his knowledge as a board member and advisor to emerging companies which have included Blue Horizon Organic Seafood, Tempt Hemp Milk, Sambazon Acai, Evol Burritos, Boulder Ice Cream, BlueSun BioDiesel, Traditional Medicinals and Crocs Footwear. Retzloff is a founding partner at Greenmont Capital Partners, and serves as Chairman Emeritus of The Organic Center and he is a board member of RSF Social Finance. Retzloff sits on the University of Michigan's School for Environment and Sustainability, Dean's External Advisory Board and the Advisory Board for the University of Michigan's Center for Sustainable Systems. He also serves on the Board of the Deming Center for Entrepreneurship and the Center for Education and Social Responsibility at University of Colorado's LEEDS School of Business. He is also a member of CSU's CASE, Center for Advancement of Sustainable Enterprise.
Retzloff received his BS in Environmental Studies from the University of Michigan and has received several awards, including the Organic Trade Association's Organic Leadership award, the Boulder Chamber of Commerce's Lifetime Achievement Award and Entrepreneur of the Year award, Naturally Boulder's Lifetime Achievement Award and was inducted into the Boulder County Business Hall of Fame.
Job Titles:
- Senior Advisor
- Board Member of the U.S
Martin (Marty) D. Cargas is a Senior Advisor with in the food and agriculture practice at McLarty Associates, an international government relations and strategic business consulting firm located in Washington, DC. McLarty represents multinational companies and organizations that have issues outside of the United States with a particular emphasis on Latin America and developing markets.
Cargas was formerly Vice President - Government & Environmental Affairs for Anheuser-Busch International, Inc., the international beer subsidiary of Anheuser-Busch Companies. In his role with A-B, Cargas was responsible for managing the company's relations with governments outside of the United States as well as managing the company's international environmental and sustainability programs. Prior to his career in international relations, Cargas practiced environmental and corporate law in St. Louis.
Cargas is a board member of the U.S.-China Education Trust and is a frequent lecturer at local universities. He is an Ann Arbor native, and holds a law degree from Hofstra University, as well as a master's degree in International Business Studies from St. Louis University.
Job Titles:
- Associate Professor
- Asociate Professor
- Jain Lab Research Featured in Smithsonian Magazine
Asociate Professor Jain's research examines the impacts of environmental change on agricultural production, and strategies that farmers may adopt to reduce negative impacts. She does this by combining remote sensing and geospatial analyses with household-level and census datasets to examine farmer decision-making and behavior across large spatial and temporal scales. To date her work has focused on the impacts of weather variability and groundwater depletion on agricultural production in India, and whether farmers are able to adapt their cropping practices to mitigate these impacts.
UMich study found groundwater depletion rates in India could triple by 2080 (The Michigan Daily)
Groundwater depletion rates in India could triple in coming decades, warns study (The Times of India)
By 2080, India could lose groundwater by 3 times the current rate: Study (The Economic Times)
These swarms of tiny satellites could advance the fight against climate change (Fast Company)
Job Titles:
- Assistant Director of Experiential Learning
Job Titles:
- Behavior, Education & Communication
Job Titles:
- Professor of Environment and Sustainability SEAS PhD / Postdoc Program Director
Job Titles:
- Board Chairman for LimnoTech
Paul Freedman serves as Board Chairman for LimnoTech, a science and engineering consultancy recognized for its expertise and pioneering innovations on water issues since 1975. Previously, he served as Co-Founder and CEO. He personally and through his company has overseen thousands of studies and projects in every US state and on 6 continents on behalf of local, state, federal and international agencies, water and energy utilities, large corporations, institutes and nonprofits. Mr. Freedman's research and consulting have focused on water quality, water resource and watershed management, remediation/restoration and water sustainability, with a particular specialty on use of data and computer modeling for decision support. He has over 250 publications and presentations on technical, regulatory, policy and scientific issues. He has chaired 5 national and international conferences, chaired or participated in scores of workshops and panels, and has been a member of three National Academy of Sciences, expert panels on water quality and watershed management issues.
Freedman is a Past President of the Water Environment Federation, a not-for-profit technical and educational organization of 35,000 individual members and 75 affiliated Member Associations representing water quality professionals around the world. He is an American Academy of Environmental Engineers Board Certified Professional Engineer and a Fellow of American Society of Civil Engineers and the Water Environment Federation. He is the recipient of numerous national and regional awards recognizing his contributions to the field. He has a Bachelors of Science Engineering and a Masters Civil-Water Resource Engineering both from the University of Michigan. He has been on advisory councils for both the University of Michigan Water Center and the Civil-Environmental Engineering Department.
Before his retirement, Peter C. Mertz served Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of Global Forest Partners LP. Mertz's responsibilities included setting the strategic direction of the firm and the development and implementation of investment strategies. In addition to his responsibilities as CEO, Mertz was Chief Investment Officer, the chairperson of the Investment and Compensation Committees, and served on the Boards of eight private equity timberfunds.
Prior to co-founding GFP, Mertz served as Managing Director of UBS Timber Investors where, since 1997, he directed the firm's timberland investment capabilities.
Mertz is a certified forester and member of the Society of American Foresters. He serves as a Trustee and a member of the Investment Committee for the Montshire Museum of Science; serves on the External Advisory Board for the School for Environment and Sustainability at the University of Michigan; and is a member of the National Advisory Board for the Michigan Congenital Heart Center.
Mertz holds a BS in Natural Resources (Forestry) and an MBA from the University of Michigan.
Rajiv Ghimire is an interdisciplinary scholar with a focus on issues related to global development, climate and energy, adaptation and resilience, public policy, and the social studies of science, technology, innovation, and futures. With a background in environmental science, Ghimire's recent scholarship has been around human and social dimensions of global change and environmental governance. Currently serving as a guest editor and author in special journal issues on Everyday Adaptation (Ecology and Society) and Imaginaries and Environmental Governance (The Professional Geographer), Ghimire has published his work in a wide range of academic venues and has over a decade of teaching and professional experience.
U-M researchers join global team to overcome barriers to climate-smart agriculture in South Asia (Biz News Update)
Job Titles:
- Associate Professor Faculty Director for Justice, Equity, Diversity and Inclusion
Job Titles:
- Principal Advisor With the Pacific Northwest National Laboratory
Roger Anderson recently retired as a Principal Advisor with the Pacific Northwest National Laboratory in Seattle, Washington, which is managed by Battelle Memorial Institute. His early technical assignments in natural resources planning and assessment provided the basis for later management roles in in environment, energy, national security and public health. He focused his career in research and development, and his experience is primarily international in scope, having completed projects in Venezuela, Guyana, Ukraine, Australia, the Republic of Georgia, and a five-year resident assignment as Director of Strategic Business Development for the National Nuclear Laboratory in the UK.
Anderson's emphasis over the past two decades was placed on international science and technology capacity building, and the sustainment of new and existing S&T institutions. Anderson was successful with a variety of business and institutional models, cultures, and economic and technical challenges, including extensive negotiations and management interactions with host country partners and other officials.
He holds a BS in Natural Resources (Forestry) from the University of Michigan and an MS in Forest Ecology / Remote Sensing from the University of Illinois.
Job Titles:
- Chairman
- Partner
- President
- Chairman of the Science and Technical Advisory Panel
- EESI Board Member Dr. Rosina Bierbaum Appointed As Science Advisor to Global Adaptation Commission
- Investor Summit on Climate Risk
- Media, Academia Freak After Trump Removed Climate Change As a National Security Threat
- Member of the American Philosophical Society
- Professor and Dean Emerita at the University of Michigan School for Environment and Sustainability, Was Elected to the American Philosophical Society.
- White House Science Adviser Outlines Vision
Bierbaum is a member of the American Philosophical Society and the National Academy of Sciences, as well as a fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, the American Association for the Advancement of Science, the Ecological Society of America, and Sigma Xi. She received the American Geophysical Union's Waldo Smith award for ‘extraordinary service to Geoscience' and the Environmental Protection Agency's Climate Protection Award. Bierbaum serves on the board of the AAAS, the Gordon and Betty Moore Foundation, the Wildlife Conservation Society, the Federation of American Scientists, the Environmental and Energy Study Institute, the Climate Reality Project, the Morgan Stanley Institute for Sustainable Investing, and the Tyler Prize for Environmental Achievement. She earned a BA in English, a BS in biology and a Ph.D. in ecology and evolution.
Rosina Bierbaum, professor and dean emerita at the University of Michigan School for Environment and Sustainability, was elected to the American Philosophical Society...
Rosina Bierbaum (2nd from left), Chair of the Science and Technical Advisory Panel (STAP) of the Global Environment Facility (GEF) addressed the 57th Council of Countries...
1st Friday Focus on the Environment: The state of the environment as Earth Day 2024 approaches (WEMU)
Partner Profile: Dr. Rosina Bierbaum, GCI Board Member (U-M Global CO2 Initiative)
More than 400 scientists brainstorm on GEF investment priorities (Global Environment Facility)
Facts muddy President Trump's claim that US is cleanest nation in the world
Job Titles:
- Associate Professor
- Director
Job Titles:
- Member of the Staff Leadership Team
- Executive Director of Development and Alumni Relations
Steve Simmons spent much of his career working in the field of environmental consulting for large engineering companies involving environmental studies of energy and natural resources development projects for hydroelectric power and nuclear energy, as well as water supply and water management projects domestically and internationally. In addition, as work evolved to clean up the nation's vast number of hazardous waste contaminated sites, he has managed contaminated site restoration projects under federal and state programs including the US Environmental Protection Agency's Superfund program. He later worked with site owners involved in contaminated site restoration to negotiate clean-up strategies with the US EPA and the US Department of Justice, saving site owner's substantial investments to arrive at fair and equitable allocation of liability and balanced restoration plans that led to implemented site restoration and the delisting of Superfund sites following clean up.
Simmons built consulting staffs during his career managing a large engineering company's western environmental consulting business in significant disciplines including those that have studied marine mammals in the Bering Sea, North Pacific and Arctic environments. His responsibilities involved managing business units that worked to establish second generation high-level nuclear waste disposal site analyses and nuclear waste cleanup solutions at USDOE complexes. He led work in the commercialization of landfill gas-to-energy projects and worked to coalesce investment in these projects amongst multiple parties under federal programs that created investment incentives.
In his latest engagements, where he works as a consultant in his own business, Simmons provides individualized consulting services developing and implementing turnaround strategies and business betterment roadmaps for engineering and technical firms that have lost their competitive edge. In this role he has converted firms that had lost focus into profitable businesses, prepared them for sale, and worked through the sale process to meet owners' objectives. He currently provides strategic and operational advice to a business in the construction quality assurance market, a marine services business, and a mid-sized engineering and environmental services company where he works on mergers and acquisition strategy. Simmons also provides litigation consulting services to establish strategies in concert with attorneys in the management of complex environmental litigation involving insurance matters.
Simmons graduated from the University of Michigan with BS and BSF degrees.
Job Titles:
- Environmental Policy & Planning
Job Titles:
- Career Services Coordinator - EPP, ESM, GDS
Job Titles:
- Executive Director of Global Body Manufacturing Engineering at General Motors
William Banzhaf retired in 2007 from his position as President of the Sustainable Forestry Initiative Inc., independent 501(c)3 not-for-profit organization. A 15-member multi-stakeholder board of directors and a seven person staff oversee and implement the Sustainable Forestry Initiative ® Standard, the most widely used forest certification standard in North America (over 200,000,000 acres third party certified). Prior to his work with the SFI, he served as the Executive Vice President for the Society of American Foresters (SAF) from 1988 to 2002. In addition, Banzhaf served as President of George Banzhaf & Company, a consulting firm with a national practice specializing in forest land valuation and present and future projections of sustainable wood supply for the forest products industry, from 1967 to 1988.
Banzhaf has held or holds positions on the boards of a numerous professional organizations including the Sustainable Forestry Board, Roundtable on Sustainable Forests, Council of Engineering and Scientific Society Executives, Pinchot Institute of Conservation, Seventh American Forest Congress, Natural Resource Council of America, USDA, National Commission on Wildfire and National Council on Private Forests, the Michigan Nature Conservancy, and the Association of Consulting Foresters. He currently lectures at Northern Michigan University on Leadership.
He graduated from the University of Michigan in 1967 with a BS in Forestry (one year graduate degree) and from the University of Colorado in 1964 with a BA in History/Political Science.