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Sustainability Concepts in Decision-Making: Tools and Approaches for the US Environmental Protection Agency (2014)

Chapter: Appendix B--Biographic Information on the Committee on Scientific Tools and Approaches for Sustainability

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Suggested Citation:"Appendix B--Biographic Information on the Committee on Scientific Tools and Approaches for Sustainability." National Research Council. 2014. Sustainability Concepts in Decision-Making: Tools and Approaches for the US Environmental Protection Agency. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/18949.
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Appendix B

Biographic Information on the Committee on Scientific Tools and Approaches for Sustainability

Michael C. Kavanaugh (NAE) is a senior principal of Geosyntec Consultants, Inc., an international engineering and consulting firm. His research interests have included hazardous-waste management, soil and groundwater remediation, process engineering, industrial-waste treatment, technology evaluations, strategic environmental management, compliance and due-diligence auditing, water quality, water and wastewater treatment, and water reuse. Dr. Kavanaugh serves as a member of the National Research Council Roundtable on Science and Technology for Sustainability. He served as chair of the National Research Council Board on Radioactive Waste Management and of the Water Science and Technology Board. He served as a member of the Committee on Incorporating Sustainability in the US Environmental Protection Agency. Dr. Kavanaugh is a registered chemical engineer in California, a Board-Certified Environmental Engineer of the American Academy of Environmental Engineers and Scientists, and a member of the National Academy of Engineering (elected in 1998). He received a PhD in civil/environmental engineering from the University of California, Berkeley.

Sherburne (Shere) B. Abbott is vice president for sustainability initiatives and University Professor of Sustainability Science and Policy at Syracuse University, and she oversees the Syracuse Center of Excellence for Environmental and Energy Systems. Before that appointment in 2011, she was a senior adviser to President Obama, serving as the Senate-confirmed associate director for environment of the Office of Science and Technology Policy in the Executive Office of the President, where she oversaw the roughly $5 billion federal portfolio of research and development related to the environment and natural resources. Previously, Ms. Abbott was a faculty member of the University of Texas at Austin and served as the director of the Center for Science and Practice of Sustainability in the Office of the Executive Vice President and Provost. From 2003 to 2005, she served as chief international officer of the American Association for the Advancement of Science, where she was responsible for the International Office and where she established and directed the Center for Science, Innovation and Sustainable Development. Earlier, she had consulted on environmental science and sustainable development for various organizations. Until 2001, Ms. Abbott worked at the National Research Council over a 17-year period, serving in several capacities, including as director of the Board on Sustainable Development. She also served as assistant scientific program director of the US Marine Mammal Commission. Ms. Abbott earned a master’s degree in environmental science and natural resource policy from Yale University, where she was a Dodge Fellow in Human–Animal Ecology.

David T. Allen is Melvin H. Gertz Regents Professor in Chemical Engineering at the University of Texas at Austin and director of the university’s Center for Energy and Environmental Resources. Dr. Allen serves as chair of the US Environmental Protection Agency Science Advisory Board. He is editor-in-chief of the American Chemical Society journal Sustainable Chemistry & Engineering. His research focuses on urban air quality and the engineering of sustainable systems, and he has been lead investigator of multiple air-quality studies, which have had a substantial impact on the direction of air-quality policies. Dr. Allen

Suggested Citation:"Appendix B--Biographic Information on the Committee on Scientific Tools and Approaches for Sustainability." National Research Council. 2014. Sustainability Concepts in Decision-Making: Tools and Approaches for the US Environmental Protection Agency. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/18949.
×

has served on several National Research Council committees and on the Board on Environmental Studies and Toxicology. He holds a PhD in chemical engineering from the California Institute of Technology.

Praveen K. Amar is an independent consultant based in Boston, who works in the areas of energy, environment, and climate strategies. Previously, he was senior advisor to the Clean Air Task Force (CATF), an environmental organization with a focus on environmental protection through research, advocacy, collaboration, and innovation. At CATF, he investigated environmental effects of Marcellus shale gas development in Pennsylvania, and with industry participation, developed air, climate, and water related performance standards for unconventional gas development. Dr. Amar serves on the science advisory committee for the New York State Energy Research and Development Authority’s (NYSERDA) environmental research program. He was director of science and policy at Northeast States for Coordinated Air Use Management (NESCAUM), a nonprofit association of states air-quality agencies in the Northeast, where he focused on monetizing the public-health benefits of controlling mercury emissions from coal-fired power plants in the United States and evaluating potential future effects of global climate change on regional ground-level air quality. He is a member of the US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) Advisory Council on Clean Air Compliance Analysis. He is currently serving on the National Research Council’s Board on Environmental Studies and Toxicology. He served as a member of EPA’s Clean Air Scientific Advisory Committee panel on review of secondary national ambient air quality standards for sulfur dioxide and nitrogen oxides. He is a licensed professional engineer in California and received a PhD in engineering from the University of California, Los Angeles.

Bradford Brooks is an IBM Fellow in recognition of his sustained achievement and leadership regarding IBM's involvement with complex materials that are used in the electronics and information-technology industries. Dr. Brooks’s work focuses on manufacturing processes in the information-technology industry, toxicology risk assessments for information-technology products, technologies and materials that are newly emerging for industrial use, environmental risk management, industrial chemical security, and chemical-management laws and regulations. He received a PhD in immunology from Montana State University–Bozeman.

Ingrid C. Burke is director of the Haub School of Environment and Natural Resources of the University of Wyoming and of its Ruckelshaus Institute. She also is a professor and holds a Wyoming Excellence Chair in the Department of Botany and the Department of Ecosystem Science and Management. She is a former professor and University Distinguished Teaching Scholar in the Warner College of Natural Resources of Colorado State University. Dr. Burke is an ecosystem scientist and has particular expertise in carbon and nitrogen cycling of semiarid ecosystems. She directed the Shortgrass Steppe Long Term Ecological Research team for 6 years and other large interdisciplinary research teams funded by the National Science Foundation, the Environmental Protection Agency, the National Aeronautics and Space Administration, and the National Institutes of Health. She was designated a US Presidential Faculty Fellow, has served on the National Research Council Board on Environmental Studies and Toxicology, and was a member of the National Research Council’s Committee on a New Biology for the 21st Century: Ensuring That the United States Leads the Coming Biology Revolution. She served as cochair of the Committee on Economic and Environmental Impacts of Increasing Biofuels Production. She was recently elected a Fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science. Dr. Burke received a PhD in botany from the University of Wyoming.

John C. Crittenden is a professor and director of the Brook Byers Institute for Sustainable Systems of the Georgia Institute of Technology. He is a Georgia Research Alliance Eminent Scholar in Sustainable Systems and occupies the Hightower Chair for Environmental Technologies. His research includes pollution prevention, physical–chemical processes, nanotechnology, air and water treatment, mass transfer, and numerical methods. With insight gained into how these processes connect with each other and with people, markets, and nature, he develops tools and educational programs that connect social decision-making,

Suggested Citation:"Appendix B--Biographic Information on the Committee on Scientific Tools and Approaches for Sustainability." National Research Council. 2014. Sustainability Concepts in Decision-Making: Tools and Approaches for the US Environmental Protection Agency. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/18949.
×

regional development, material flows, energy use, and local, regional, and global environmental effects. He served on the Environmental Protection Agency Science Advisory Board and the Engineering Advisory Board of the National Science Foundation. Dr. Crittenden was elected to the National Academy of Engineering in 2002. He received a PhD in civil engineering from the University of Michigan.

James Fava is senior director of PE International and cofounder of Five Winds International. He was previously a vice president of Weston Solutions, Inc., and Battelle. He specializes in the integration of life-cycle–based environmental and social aspects into core business and government policies and practices. He has directed and managed hundreds of projects to help to solve and prevent environmental, health, safety, and resource-productivity problems. He is founder of the Society of Environmental Toxicology and Chemistry (SETAC) Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) Advisory Group and headed the US delegation in the development of the International Organization for Standardization LCA standards. He is cochair of the UN Environment Programme–SETAC Life Cycle Initiative and served on the World Resources Institute–World Business Council for Sustainable Development Steering Committee for the Scope 3 and Product GHG Protocol efforts. He founded and for nearly 20 years has directed the Product Sustainability Roundtable. He received a PhD in environmental toxicology and fisheries biology from the University of Maryland, College Park.

Paul Gilman is senior vice president and chief sustainability officer of Covanta Energy Corporation. Previously, he served as director of the Oak Ridge Center for Advanced Studies and as assistant administrator of the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) Office of Research and Development. He also worked in the Office of Management and Budget, where he had oversight responsibilities for the Department of Energy (DOE), EPA, and all other science agencies. In DOE, he advised the secretary of energy on scientific and technical matters. From 1993 to 1998, Dr. Gilman was the executive director of the National Research Council Commission on Life Sciences and director of its Board on Agriculture and Natural Resources. He has served on numerous National Research Council committees. Dr. Gilman received a PhD in ecology and evolutionary biology from Johns Hopkins University.

Michael R. Greenberg is a distinguished professor and associate dean of the faculty of the Edward J. Bloustein School of Planning and Public Policy of Rutgers, the State University of New Jersey. He is also director of the school’s Environmental Assessment and Communication Group. Dr. Greenberg’s research includes urban redevelopment, risk analysis, and environmental health policy. He has written more than 300 articles and 30 books, including Urbanization and Cancer Mortality (1983), Hazardous Waste Sites: The Credibility Gap (1984), Public Health and the Environment (1987), Environmental Risk and the Press (1987), Environmentally Devastated Neighborhoods in the United States (1996), The Reporter’s Environmental Handbook (2003), Environmental Policy Analysis and Practice (2008), The Environmental Impact Statement After Two Generations: Managing Environmental Power (2011), and Nuclear Waste Management, Nuclear Power and Energy Choices: Public Preferences, Perceptions and Trust (2012). He has been a member of National Research Council committees that focused on setting priorities for chemical-waste site remediation, destruction of the US chemical-weapons stockpile and nuclear weapons, and degradation of the US government physical infrastructure. He received awards for research from the Environmental Protection Agency, the Society of Professional Journalists, the Public Health Association, the Association of American Geographers, and the Society for Risk Analysis. He served as area editor for social sciences and then editor-in-chief of Risk Analysis: An International Journal during the period 2002–2103, and he continues as associate editor for environmental health for the American Journal of Public Health. Dr. Greenberg holds a PhD from Columbia University in environmental and medical geography.

Andrew M. Hutson is director of Global Value Chain Initiatives at the Environmental Defense Fund (EDF) and leads the development and implementation of value-chain strategies to reduce the effects of trade and commerce on ecosystems. This includes using private-sector leverage to craft deforestation-free

Suggested Citation:"Appendix B--Biographic Information on the Committee on Scientific Tools and Approaches for Sustainability." National Research Council. 2014. Sustainability Concepts in Decision-Making: Tools and Approaches for the US Environmental Protection Agency. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/18949.
×

supply chains in the Amazon and improve the energy efficiency of Chinese factories. Before joining EDF, he helped launch the Manufacturing Leadership Board, a program for senior-most manufacturing executives; served as a consultant to business and nonprofit organizations in developing and industrialized countries; and worked as a business-process analyst for Accenture. His interest in the global environment was sparked during his volunteer service with the RARE Conservation in Honduras in the late 1990s. He was named a Graduate Fellow of the American Academy of Political and Social Science in 2006. Dr. Hutson holds a PhD in public policy from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.

Catherine Kling is Charles F. Curtiss Distinguished Professor of Economics and director of the Center for Agricultural and Rural Development of Iowa State University. She is a Fellow of the Agricultural and Applied Economics Association and past president of the Association of Environmental and Resource Economists. Dr. Kling leads an interdisciplinary research group that focuses on water quality and agricultural practices; has published over 60 journal articles and refereed book chapters; has received seven awards from professional associations for her research; has been principal investigator or coprincipal investigator on over $7 million of grants, including grants from the National Science Foundation, the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), the US Department of Agriculture, and state agencies; and has held editorial positions with seven economics journals. Dr. Kling’s engagement in the policy process includes over 10 years of service as a member of EPA’s Science Advisory Board and as a member of five National Research Council committees. She holds a PhD in economics from the University of Maryland.

H. Scott Matthews is a professor of civil and environmental engineering and of engineering and public policy at Carnegie Mellon University. He is research director for the Green Design Institute, an interdisciplinary research consortium that focuses on identifying and assessing the environmental effects of environmental systems and on helping businesses to manage their use of resources and toxic materials. His research focuses on creating data-rich corporate and policy decision-support tools in sustainable engineering, environmental life-cycle assessment, life-cycle management of physical and digital infrastructure systems, and carbon footprinting. He is a member of the National Research Council Board on Environmental Studies and Toxicology and previously served on the Committee on Hidden Costs of Energy (2010). He is associate editor of the Journal of Industrial Ecology and has coedited issues on sustainable infrastructure in the American Society of Civil Engineers Journal of Infrastructure Systems. He received the Laudise Prize from the International Society for Industrial Ecology and numerous AT&T Faculty Fellow in Industrial Ecology awards. He received a PhD in economics from Carnegie Mellon University.

Erik Petrovskis is director of Environmental Compliance and Sustainability at Meijer, Inc. Previously, he was a principal environmental engineer for Geosyntec Consultants. His work focuses on environmental-management plans for large, complex manufacturing and service facilities and the remediation and closure of industrial properties affected by chlorinated solvents, metals, and petroleum hydrocarbons with a specialization in the development and implementation of innovative in situ groundwater-remediation technologies. Dr. Petrovskis’s research is in bioaugmentation and surfactant-enhanced aquifer remediation and the use of molecular biologic tools at chlorinated solvent sites. Dr. Petrovskis works on ISO 14001 Environmental Management System implementation, auditing, and training. He provided project management and technical direction on projects for the General Services Administration that were recognized as award-winning examples of environmentally sustainable real-property management. He sits on the Interstate Technology and Regulatory Council and the Huron River Watershed Council Board and previously served on the Sustainable Remediation Forum Framework Team. Dr. Petrovskis is an adjunct professor at the University of Michigan–Ann Arbor, where he teaches water–wastewater treatment design and sustainability engineering principles. He holds a PhD in environmental engineering from the University of Michigan–Ann Arbor.

Suggested Citation:"Appendix B--Biographic Information on the Committee on Scientific Tools and Approaches for Sustainability." National Research Council. 2014. Sustainability Concepts in Decision-Making: Tools and Approaches for the US Environmental Protection Agency. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/18949.
×

Helen H. Suh is an associate professor in the Department of Health Sciences of Northeastern University. She is also Senior Fellow of the National Opinion Research Center at the University of Chicago and an adjunct faculty member of the Harvard School of Public Health. Her research focuses on assessing multipollutant effects on human health, the development of GIS-based spatiotemporal modeling tools for epidemiologic research, and examination of the individual and joint effects of pollution and lifestyle on health. Dr. Suh has performed advisory work in environmental health for numerous international, national, and local organizations. She is a member of the Environmental Protection Agency Clean Air Scientific Advisory Committee. Dr. Suh received an ScD in environmental health sciences from the Harvard School of Public Health.

Alison Taylor is vice president for sustainability-Americas at Siemens Corporation. In that position, she is responsible for driving the sustainability program for the Americas and acting as a resource for sustainability initiatives among Siemens’s business sectors. In her previous role as director of government affairs, Ms. Taylor represented Siemens's position on environmental issues with Congress and the executive branch. Before joining Siemens, she was chief counsel for the US Senate Committee on Environment and Public Works and counsel to the US House Committee on Energy and Commerce. She received a BA in biology from Duke University and a JD from the University of Denver.

Terry F. Yosie is president and CEO of the World Environment Center, a nonprofit, nonadvocacy organization whose mission is to advance sustainable development through the private sector in partnership with government, nongovernment organization, academic, and other stakeholders. He has 35 years of professional experience in managing and analyzing the use of scientific information in the setting of environmental standards. He was the first executive director of the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) Clean Air Scientific Advisory Committee. He served as director of EPA’s Science Advisory Board from 1981 to 1988 and instituted policies and procedures for enhancing the use of scientific information in regulatory decision-making. Dr. Yosie was vice president for health and environment at the American Petroleum Institute and executive vice president of Ruder Finn consultancy, where he was responsible for the firm’s environmental-management practice. From 2001 through 2005, he served as the American Chemistry Council’s vice president for the Responsible Care initiatives, a performance program that includes environmental, health, and safety management; product stewardship; security; and other aspects of the business value chain. He has served on a number of National Research Council bodies, including the Committee to Review the Structure and Performance of the Health Effects Institute, the Committee on Research Priorities for Airborne Particulate Matter, and the Board on Environmental Studies and Toxicology. He is the author of over 70 publications on the use of scientific information in the development of public-health and environmental policies and strategies to advance sustainable development. He earned a doctorate from the Dietrich College of Humanities and Social Sciences of Carnegie Mellon University. He is the 2013 recipient of that Universities Alumni Achievement Award.

Suggested Citation:"Appendix B--Biographic Information on the Committee on Scientific Tools and Approaches for Sustainability." National Research Council. 2014. Sustainability Concepts in Decision-Making: Tools and Approaches for the US Environmental Protection Agency. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/18949.
×
Page 116
Suggested Citation:"Appendix B--Biographic Information on the Committee on Scientific Tools and Approaches for Sustainability." National Research Council. 2014. Sustainability Concepts in Decision-Making: Tools and Approaches for the US Environmental Protection Agency. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/18949.
×
Page 117
Suggested Citation:"Appendix B--Biographic Information on the Committee on Scientific Tools and Approaches for Sustainability." National Research Council. 2014. Sustainability Concepts in Decision-Making: Tools and Approaches for the US Environmental Protection Agency. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/18949.
×
Page 118
Suggested Citation:"Appendix B--Biographic Information on the Committee on Scientific Tools and Approaches for Sustainability." National Research Council. 2014. Sustainability Concepts in Decision-Making: Tools and Approaches for the US Environmental Protection Agency. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/18949.
×
Page 119
Suggested Citation:"Appendix B--Biographic Information on the Committee on Scientific Tools and Approaches for Sustainability." National Research Council. 2014. Sustainability Concepts in Decision-Making: Tools and Approaches for the US Environmental Protection Agency. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/18949.
×
Page 120
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In its current strategic plan, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) describes a cross-agency strategy to advance sustainable environmental outcomes and optimize economic and social outcomes through Agency decisions and actions. Sustainability has evolved from an aspiration to a growing body of practices. The evolution includes a transition from the development of broad goals toward the implementation of specific policies and programs for achieving them and the use of indicators and metrics for measuring progress. Without losing focus on implementing its existing regulatory mandates, EPA's incorporation of sustainability considerations into its decision-making about potential environmental, social, and economic outcomes involves shifting from a focus on specific pollutants in an environmental medium (air, water, or land) to a broader assessment of interactions among human, natural, and manufactured systems. EPA has indicated that it will need to consider the use of a variety of analytic tools and approaches to assess the potential sustainability-related effects of its decisions and actions in response to complex environmental challenges.

Sustainability Concepts in Decision-Making: Tools and Approaches for the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency examines scientific tools and approaches for incorporating sustainability concepts into assessments used to support EPA decision making. Using specific case studies, this report considers the application of analytic and scientific tools, methods, and approaches presented in the 2011 NRC report Sustainability and the U.S. EPA. This report examines both currently available and emerging tools, methods, and approaches to find those most appropriate for assessing and/or evaluating potential economic, social and environmental outcomes within an EPA decision context. Sustainability Concepts in Decision Making also discusses data needs and post-decision evaluation of outcomes on dimensions of sustainability. A broad array of sustainability tools and approaches are suitable for assessing potential environmental, social, and economic outcomes in EPA's decision-making context. The recommendations of this report will assist the agency to optimize environmental, social, and economic outcomes in EPA decisions.

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