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Let’s inspire our communities and educate them on the diverse environmental issues leaders in environmental engineering/science are doing! WIESE is a space for Women+ In STEM to share the issues they face in the industry, the solutions they make, the roadblocks they push through, and what they learning to teach society to keep the environment clean! Enjoy!
Copyright: © Saranya Anantapantula
Katrin Steinthorsdottir (she/her) is a geologist who is doing her Ph.D. at the University of British Columbia (UBC) alongside working for Carbfix. Her work focuses on CO2 storage via mineralization in subsurface ultramafic rocks. She completed her MSc also at UBC on serpentinization and implications for carbon mineralization. Katrin grew up in Iceland, Malta, and the United States, and before moving to Canada, worked on volcano monitoring in Mexico. She acquired her BSc from the University of Iceland, investigating physical volcanology with an exchange year at the University of Bern, Switzerland.
Luisa Diele-Viegas is currently a visiting professor at the Federal University of Bahia, in Brazil and the vice-president of the Brazilian Association of Ecological Sciences and Conservation. Her research interests involve assessing the impact of human actions on biodiversity, focusing on climate change and reptiles. She also studies the implicit and explicit biases in academia, considering gender, race, ethnicity, class, sexuality, people with disabilities and the intersections between groups. Luisa Diele-Viegas is a climate leader, founder of the science communication project Minha Amiga Cientista, one of the founders of the Fórum Clima Salvador, the Kunhã Asé network of women in science, and the Women in Zoology network. She is a member of UNESCO's Organization for women in science in the developing world and the Diversity and Inclusion Commission of the Brazilian Society of Herpetology!
Dr. Lori Hoepner received her DrPH in Environmental Health Sciences from the Columbia University Mailman School of Public Health (2015), her MPH in Maternal and Child Health from Tulane University School of Public Health (1995), and her BA in Biology from Barnard College (1994). With over 50 co-authored publications, her research is primarily at the intersection of environmental effects and prenatal/early childhood development. In 2015, Dr. Hoepner received Columbia University’s I. Bernard Weinstein Award for Academic Excellence in Environmental Health Sciences for the DrPH. Her doctoral dissertation focused on the ubiquitous plasticizer bisphenol A (BPA): both its effects on a) adipogenesis in human umbilical cord mesenchymal stem cells in a laboratory setting and b) childhood obesity in an urban minority birth cohort using a molecular epidemiological study design. She has extensive research experience in exposures including BPA, polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs), phthalates, and pesticides, as well as the outcomes of asthma, neurodevelopment, and obesity. Her research efforts have included studies of the World Trade Center tragedy and HIV/AIDS behavioral research. In addition, Dr. Hoepner has over 20 years of organizational and analytical data management expertise involving complex health assessment and public health research datasets. With her background in health disparities research, Dr. Hoepner has the goal of understanding the intricacies of race/ethnicity, sex, and socioeconomics as they pertain to environmental health from a global perspective, as well as from a community-wide perspective.
Dr. Maribet Gamboa is interested in biodiversity assessments by studying the evolution and function of genes of aquatic organisms. Gamboa's main goal is to find clues to adaptation and resilience to climatic change and human disturbance. Gamboa graduated from Universidad Simon Bolivar in Venezuela with a Ph.D. in Biological Sciences and a major in molecular ecology. After that, Gamboa did two postdocs. First, in Berlin, Germany at IGB Leibniz institute for freshwater ecology and inland fisheries and in Matsuyama, Japan at Ehime University. Gamboa became an assistant professor at Ehime University and then at Hiroshima University. Currently, Gamboa is an assistant professor at Universidad Catolica de la Santisma Concepcion in Chile.
Dr. Ashlynn S. Stillwell is an Associate Professor and the Elaine F. and William J. Hall Excellence Faculty Scholar in Civil and Environmental Engineering at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign. Her research focuses on creating sustainable water and energy systems in a policy-relevant context. She earned a B.S. in Chemical Engineering from the University of Missouri (2006), and an M.S. in Environmental and Water Resources Engineering (2010), M.P.Aff in Public Affairs (2010), and Ph.D. in Civil Engineering (2013) from The University of Texas at Austin. Her previous work experience includes consulting engineering at Burns & McDonnell (2006-2007) and policy research at the Congressional Research Service (2009). Dr. Stillwell received the National Science Foundation CAREER award and the UCOWR Early Career Award for Applied Research for her research work on the energy-water nexus. She was honored with the 2015 Girl Scouts of Central Illinois Woman of Distinction Award in Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics, the 2018 Rose Award for Teaching Excellence, and the 2018 AEESP Award for Outstanding Teaching in Environmental Engineering and Science. Dr. Stillwell has also been among the List of Teachers Ranked as Excellent by their Students at Illinois. She previously served as Chair of the Board of Directors for Girl Scouts of Central Illinois and Faith in Place.
Dr. Natalie Hull studies water microbiology at fundamental and system scales. Her academic background is in civil engineering (University of Kentucky, University of Colorado Boulder) and environmental engineering (University of Colorado Boulder), with post-graduate professional molecular biology and microbiome research (University of Colorado Boulder). Dr. Hull leads the Water TEAM (Treatment Engineering And Microbiome) research group, which investigates sustainable engineering of water microbiology to protect human and environmental health. Her fundamental scale research focuses on optimizing physical ultraviolet light treatment and cellular/enzymatic biological water treatment to combat microbial threats. This includes developing or increasing understanding of methods to detect microorganisms or their biomolecules, determining mechanisms of disinfection or damage to viral and bacterial pathogens or their biomolecules, decreasing antimicrobial resistance, investigating metabolism of natural microbial communities participating in degrading cyanotoxins or in concrete biomineralization, and destroying toxins produced during harmful algal blooms. Her system scale research investigates links between water microbiomes and human health, and between engineering and human factors on Appalachian water systems. Her continued research will integrate understanding of fundamental impacts of engineered treatments on water microbiology and their translation to sustainable, healthy water systems.
Kaitlin Urso is an environmental consultant with the Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment that specializes in helping small businesses, specifically breweries and cannabis businesses, reduce their environmental impacts. Kaitlin's work to advance environmental sustainability in cannabis and craft brewing has been featured in Wall Street Journal, Forbes, CNN, NPR, Science Magazine, and countless industry publications. She has 10 years of technical environmental experience at CDPHE and a mechanical engineering degree.
Onita D. Basu, PhD., P.Eng. is a Professor (Civil/Environmental Eng) and Associate Dean (Faculty of Graduate Studies) at Carleton University. Dr. Basu obtained her bachelors’ (Chemical Engineering (honours)) and masters’ degree (Civil/Environmental Engineering) at the University of British Columbia, subsequently hopping over to the University of Waterloo to obtain her Ph.D (Civil/Environmental Engineering). Dr. Basu is a process specialist with a particular focus in water, and wastewater process design. She has advanced knowledge, experience and practical skills with analytical methods, as well as experimental design, set-up and design of both pilot scale and full scale experiments. Dr. Basu, also has been working within a remote community in Tanzania to improve access to clean water. This partnership has enhanced her personal awareness that technology alone is not the sole solution in many communities and the need for interdisciplinarity in projects. Dr. Basu has also been working in the field of upcycling waste organics in the circular economy through novel hydrothermal polymerization methods. Upcycling of waste organics holds great potential for co-creation of advanced water treatment products. Dr. Basu strongly promotes the learning and advancement of HQPs through a team environment as well as active assistance in presentation preparation, data analysis, and manuscript writing. Dr Basu received a Carleton Faculty Graduate Mentorship award in 2021, a Carleton Teaching Award in 2021, a 2020 Ottawa Chapter Professional Engineers Civics Award and a Carleton Research Award in 2019. Overall, she considers herself to be an “Average Jane” professor who believes the term work-life balance is hilarious and silly, she concedes she can “work well” or “do life well” but never both at the same time not is she too worried about it.
Laura Guertin holds a Ph.D. in Marine Geology & Geophysics from the University of Miami's Rosenstiel School of Marine & Atmospheric Science and has served as an Earth Science faculty member at Penn State Brandywine since 2001. She has received funding from the EPA and has been a PI/co-PI on several NSF projects relating to geoscience education and outreach. She teaches introductory-level general education Earth science, geoscience, and geography courses for non-science majors. She is a Fellow of the Geological Society of America, a blogger on geoscience education and educational technology with the American Geophysical Union (GeoEd Trek). She has published on innovative and effective uses of new and emerging technologies to enhance teaching and student learning in the introductory-level college classroom.
Dr. Kontou is an assistant professor at the Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering of the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. Her research focuses on sustainable and electrified transportation systems planning and management. Dr. Kontou’s research group develops quantitative models and data-driven solutions to emerging mobility challenges. She received her PhD in Civil Engineering, focusing on transportation systems, from the University of Florida. She holds a MSc from Virginia Tech in the same field. She graduated with a Diploma in Civil Engineering from the National Technical University of Athens. She was a postdoctoral research associate at the Transportation and Hydrogen Systems Center of the National Renewable Energy Laboratory and the Department of City and Regional Planning at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. She is a member of the Transportation Research Board (TRB) Committee on Alternative Fuels and Technologies and the Chair of the NAE’s TRB Young Members Coordinating Council. She is 2022 Illinois-Indiana Sea Grant Faculty Scholar, was a 2021 US Frontiers of Engineering Invited Participant, and was recognized as a 2020 iSEE Levenick Sustainability Teaching Fellow at the University of Illinois. She is a member of the Editorial Advisory Board of the Transportation Research Part D: Transport and Environment journal and an Early Career Advisory Board member of the Transportation Research Part C: Emerging Technologies journal, as well as serves as a member of the Steering Committee of the Chicago Area Clean Cities Coalition.
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