Posts Tagged ‘Mentorship Spotlight’

Welcome to the first Mentorship Spotlight of the 2023 Mentorship Program Cohort! Mentees Alexis Monti and Olivia Poon dive into their experience under the leadership of Mentor Megan Holcomb. Meet the Mentorship Program Participants Mentee Alexis Monti: Alexis Monti graduated from Umass Amherst in 2022 with degrees in Environmental Science and Natural Resources Conservation. She…

Mentee Revathi Veriah is an Urban Planner and Policy Analyst for AECOM in their Urbanism and Planning Practice in Dallas, Texas. She is passionate about sustainable development, resilience, planning for climate change and equitable community development. Revathi brings her expertise to support public sector clients in various projects, including climate action plans, sustainability studies, economic…

Mentee Jayla Lundstrom is an Economic Development Coordinator with Salt Lake County where she works on EPA Brownfields programs to assess and remediate environmental contamination in underserved neighborhoods. Prior, she worked as an AmeriCorps VISTA for the Alaska Native Tribal Health Consortium where she supported Alaska Native communities in securing grants to understand climate impacts…

Mentee Sidney Chen is an associate consultant at WSP USA with an educational background in development practice with a focus on sustainability and climate change. Sidney supports clients by providing strategic and analytical support. Specifically, he helps clients assess business risks and opportunities associated with the physical impacts of climate change and the transition to…

Mentee Chris Bobryk is a Planner at the Clinton River Watershed Council in Rochester Hills, Michigan. He leads a variety of programs that help communities plan stormwater management designs and establish long-term community connections to natural resources. Mentor Anna Marandi is a Program Officer at PEW Charitable Trusts working on state-level flood resilience planning and…

Katie Lund is a Master’s of Environmental Management (MEM) candidate at the Yale School of the Environment. At the beginning of the ASAP Mentorship Program, Katie was working as a Community Resilience Specialist with the Alaska Native Tribal Health Consortium (ANTHC). For four years, she supported Alaska Native communities in planning, developing, and implementing community-driven…

Mentee Alec Rodriguez is a Water Resources Engineer at Atkins in Denver, Colorado, where he works on water resources and climate resilience projects. He also has experience with H&H modeling, emergency management planning, and water utility risk and resilience assessments. In addition to his day job, he is the Co-Founder and Operations Chair of the…

Mentee Danielle Curri is a graduate of North Carolina State University with a degree in Civil Engineering. During her time in school, she spent three years serving as the lead researcher on a project developing an optimization model to assist with sustainable industrial development. This project helped spark her passion for sustainable infrastructure. Over the…

Mentee Jomar Rodriguez Ventura currently works as an Environmental Justice (EJ) Educator/Climate-Resilience Coordinator with Mycelium Youth Network (MYN). Through this role, he facilitates learning experiences in EJ curricula such as “Climate Justice 101,” “Clean Air is a Right,” and “Water is Life” for youth in the San Francisco Bay Area. He also serves as a…

About the Mentees and Mentor MENTEE Cailin Notch is a Community Resilience Planner at WRA Environmental Consultants in the San Francisco Bay Area with an extensive background in land use planning and community engagement. Her areas of expertise include development and design review, environmental review, meeting facilitation, stakeholder engagement, and project management. Previously, Cailin built…

About the Mentee and Mentor Mentee Sophia Chan is graduating with a Ph.D. in Chemical Engineering from Columbia University, where she was a National Science Foundation Graduate Research Fellow developing polymeric materials for gas separations like carbon capture. While at Columbia, she taught ESL high schoolers about renewable energy topics, co-founded her department’s Diversity, Equity,…

Written from the perspective of Erin Bryan, a Mentee in the ASAP Mentorship Program and Madeleine Charney, a Mentor. Was it by chance or design that we live in Central and Western Massachusetts respectively? Either way, we’re glad! Connected by proximate bioregions (Connecticut River Valley and Worcester Plateau) means we are immersed in overlapping culture,…

Meet Mentee Bethany N. Bella (she/her), a passionate sustainability and climate-action advocate based in Columbus, Ohio, Mentee Emily Schoerning, Ph.D., the founder of American Resiliency https://www.americanresiliency.org/, a nonprofit bringing information and adaptation services to agricultural and working-class communities, and Mentor Jessica Cahail is a Technical Product Manager with Cervest, a UK-based B Corp that aims…

Julia Nassar, a Mentee in the ASAP Mentorship Program is employed as a Senior Analyst at the Cadmus Group where she specializes in climate adaptation and resilience. Julia supports local and state governments, such as Boston, the District of Columbia, Fairfax County, and the State of New York to enhance their resiliency through strategic climate…

Mentee Yilin Lai Giltinan is a community-adaptation-planner with a focus on transferring climate data and a community’s adapting capacity into an integrated Urban-Heat-Island adaptation strategy and urban design. Yilin has a background in landscape architecture and received a MS.c in Integrated Urbanism and Sustainable Design from the University of Stuttgart, Germany. During this time she…

Mentee Cameron (Cami) Ramey has a background in climate adaptation, community resilience, and climate change communications. Cami has supported a number of nonprofits with policy analysis and research at the nexus of adaptation, urban planning, and environmental justice. Cami is currently Editor-in-Chief of the Yale Environment Review, where she manages a 12-student writing team that…

Mentee Laura Lengnick is an award-winning soil scientist with 30 years of experience putting sustainable values into action in food and farming.  She contributed to the 3rd National Climate Assessment as the lead author of the USDA report, Climate Change and Agriculture in the United States: Effects and Adaptation.  In 2015, Laura founded Cultivating Resilience,…

Mentee Annabel Cryan is committed to building a world capable of withstanding the uncertainties of our changing climate where both society and the environment thrive. She is passionate about strategic thinking and new technology that builds more resilient urban centers and business communities. She has spent the past 2.5 years working at the American Flood…

Mentor Chris Choo works at Marin County’s Department of Public Works. Her efforts support Marin Communities with sea level rise, flood protection and watershed restoration. She manages BayWAVE, the sea level rise planning and adaptation program for the bay shoreline in Marin. Marin is among the most vulnerable counties in California. Chris leads the work…

Mentee Mary Hannah Smith is an urban planner hoping to help communities proactively adapt to climate change. She currently works as an Associate Resiliency and Environmental Planner at the Central Massachusetts Regional Planning Commission (CMRPC), serving 39 suburban and rural towns along with the City of Worcester.  She holds a B.A. in Global Studies, a…

Mentee Carolyn Heaps is an environmental project manager and planning professional who is passionate about supporting communities to adapt to the challenges of climate change. She envisions a future in which urban environments support each of their residents to thrive under changing climate conditions. Carolyn graduated from the University of Virginia with a master’s degree…

Mentee Joe Lampe is an urban planner and leads projects ranging from transportation policy plans and airport master plans, to equitable public engagement efforts and statewide freight plans. A native of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, Joe has degrees in Environmental Science and Spanish from Allegheny College, and a Master’s in Urban and Regional Planning from the University…

Mentee Kate McClure is a Coastal Climate Specialist with the University of Maryland Sea Grant Extension Program. In this role, she assists residents and decision-makers in coastal communities throughout Maryland with understanding and preparing for the effects of climate change, with a focus on flooding due to sea level rise, precipitation, and storm events. Prior…

Mentee Karen Buchsbaum has a passion for food, community, and climate.  She has over 15 years of experience in education, program management, outreach and communications and enjoys engaging with community leaders, students, non-profits, farmers, and the public around issues of nutrition, agriculture, and sustainability. She holds a B.A. in Biology, and an M.S. in Environmental…

Mentee Isabela Schultz (Bela) is passionate about every intersection between climate and people, so much so that during her undergraduate career she designed her own major in Environmental Sociology. She has dipped her toes into many different sectors and pathways to change, including doing research for Project Drawdown, grassroots organizing for the Sunrise Movement, and…

Mentee Emma Diamond is a Master’s of Public Administration student graduating from the Evans School of Public Policy and Governance at the University of Washington in 2022. Currently, she is working at the Washington State Department of Commerce as an Energy Policy intern. Emma is interested in local and state government, environmental policy, climate adaptation,…

Mentee Sarah Collins is a mother, educator, researcher, and scholar pursuing dual master’s degrees at the University of Michigan. She seeks to blend her Environment & Sustainability M.S. and Educational Studies M.A. toward addressing education for sustainability in the United States by helping local and state governments build robust adaptation plans that include how we…

Mentee Sarah Huang is a Program Coordinator at Shared-Use Mobility Center where she supports implementation and evaluation of the Clean Mobility Options Voucher Pilot program. With a strong interest in service and leadership, Sarah was previously a CivicSpark AmeriCorps Fellow and helped administer the program prior to her current position. As a Southern California native…

Mentee Marie McNamara recently joined the RMI India team and is helping develop decarbonization strategies for electricity and mobility systems to support federal and state governments in India. Prior to joining RMI, she worked as a civil engineer for a municipal engineering firm. Through this experience, she developed an appreciation for how analytical research and policy…

Mentee Ana Mejia  has 3 years experience in the adaptation field working with nonprofits and natural resource agencies. She serves as the Environment Organizer with the Vermont Releaf Collective working to empower and elevate the voices of Black, Indigenous, People of Color on environmental issues so that every member of the BIPOC community can thrive…

Mentee Lucas Do’s goal is to develop climate data into actionable, localized recommendations for climate adaptation. After receiving his BA, he served as an AmeriCorps VISTA volunteer with an environmental justice nonprofit in his hometown of Louisville, Kentucky; this experience made clear the wide range of voices and issues that interact in the climate resilience…

Mentee Veronica Correa is a rising second-year master’s student at the University of Michigan School for Environment and Sustainability. She is especially interested in urbanization, environmental behavior change, and how to effectively communicate environmental issues to diverse audiences. She previously studied at the University of North Carolina-Chapel Hill, where she was active in student journalism.…

Mentee Linda Reid has successfully merged her lifelong love of the Great Lakes with her professional life as the owner of Water365, LLC, where she supports freshwater sustainability and climate resilience efforts through capability and capacity development, technical consulting, and coaching.  A lawyer and educator with an entrepreneurial spirit, Linda is an Envision Sustainability Professional…

Mentee JUANITA BALLESTEROS comes from a multidisciplinary background, having recently graduated with a Master of City Planning and Master of Landscape Architecture from UC Berkeley, with prior training as an architect from her undergraduate education at MIT. She is interested in the intersections of planning and design within urban spaces, pulling from multiple lenses to…

Mentee Sam Horowitz is an MEM candidate at the Yale School of the Environment. He was born and raised in NYC, where his experience with Superstorm Sandy sparked a passion for climate adaptation and resilience. He has advised the DNC Council on the Environment and Climate Crisis, written policy for a 2020 presidential campaign, and…

Mentee Kristin Kelleher was impelled to enter the environmental field by watching the impact of sea-level rise on her hometown, and further developed her commitment to environmental policy while working as a legislative aide in the Massachusetts State House. After the intense storms of the winter of 2018, Kristin led the Massachusetts Businesses Acting on…

Mentee Sara Papanikolaou is a graduate student in the Climate and Energy Policy program at Johns Hopkins University, where she is completing her Masters thesis examining applications for renewable energy within the adaptation space.  She is the Washington Campaign Organizer for Oceana, and also runs a local 350.org chapter, 350 Eastside, near Seattle, where she…

Mentee Jessica Robbins is an environmental planner based in the San Francisco Bay Area. Prior to joining her current workplace, Jessica worked with a wide variety of environmental organizations tackling such topics as science education, environmental decision-making and behavior, and energy efficiency evaluation. Jessica obtained her Master’s degree from University of Michigan, where she conducted…

Mentee Kira Rib is a graduate student at the University of Michigan, pursuing her MPH in Environmental Health Promotion and Policy. Her experience in sustainable agriculture and food justice across the country helped her to develop a passion for the impact of climate change on the resilience of food systems. Critically examining the intersection of…

Mentee Isaac A. Gendler is a Climate Adaptation and Housing Policy Researcher as well as a White Paper Writer for Abundant Housing LA. He is currently working on a research paper analyzing the effects of the Bay Area housing crisis on regional wildfire vulnerability. In his spare time, Isaac likes to write on his daily…

Mentee Joanna Parkman is a Master of Environmental Management student at Duke University, where she studies coastal resilience and nature-based solutions to sea level rise. She’s also pursuing a Natural Hazards Resilience Certificate at the University of North Carolina-Chapel Hill Department of City and Regional Planning. This summer, Joanna is working as a Coastal Resilience…

Mentee Caroline Resor is a Strategy Associate for the American Flood Coalition in Washington, DC. Prior to AFC, Caroline worked at NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center on a machine learning flood model for Ellicott City. Previously, she was a Senior Analyst with sustainable infrastructure investor Hannon Armstrong. She worked with wind and solar energy companies…

Mentee Kyle Sullivan is a Climate Adaptation Fellow at ASAP and a public health advocate living in Southeast Michigan. Kyle built their MPH in environmental health promotion and policy on work integrating climate information and social equity principles into public health assessments and interventions. They focused on climate hazards in the Great Lakes region, including…

Mentee Desmond Kirwan is a graduate student at the University of Michigan’s School for Environment and Sustainability with a concentration in Behavior, Education, and Communication. He has a longstanding passion for conservation work and human relationships with the natural world. His current research aims to enhance civic resilience to climate change in underserved communities through…

Mentee Lucienne Cross works in climate adaptation, stakeholder engagement, and disaster risk reduction. She currently works for Miyamoto International, an international disaster management consulting firm. Previously, Lucienne worked on adaptation and conservation throughout the Caribbean with a focus on community- and nature-based solutions to the impacts of climate change. Mentor Beth Stys is an Associate…

Mentee Katy Barlow is the Restoration Manager for The Nature Conservancy’s (TNC) Central Appalachians Program. The program’s mission is to protect and manage the climate-resilient lands of the Central Appalachian mountains with nature-based solutions. In her position, Katy works with forest science researchers and restoration practitioners to apply science outcomes at scale through demonstration of…

Mentee Sierra Gladfelter recently began working as a Project Manager at the University of Virginia’s Institute for Engagement & Negotiation (IEN), coordinating the Resilience Adaptation Feasibility Tool, a one-year community-driven resilience planning process for seven localities on Virginia’s Eastern Shore. Prior to this, as the recipient of a National Science Foundation Graduate Research Fellowship and a Fulbright-Nehru…

Mentee Libby Szuflita is a Master’s student in City and Regional Planning at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, specializing in transportation planning with a Natural Hazards Resilience Certificate. Her research focus is on growth projections in long-range transportation planning, particularly how large transportation infrastructure projects impact land use decisions and how resilience…

Alexander Hurley is Jr. Vice President of Operations for smart-cities startup firm Venture Smarter, Inc. and leads the company’s energy and resilience practice. He is dedicated to supporting governments, businesses, and universities that are researching, building, funding, and deploying smart and sustainable solutions to make better places to live, work, play, and visit. Alex completed…