COLLABORATION

 
 
STUDENTS RESEARCH ASSISTANTS

Current CIER Student Research Assistants

 

Abigail Daken is starting her second semester of a Masters of Engineering and Public Policy.  Her background is in Physics, and she worked for 10 years as an engineer and engineering manager in industry.  Her research interest is resource efficiency, with a special focus on industrial ecology.  She is currently working on applying complex systems thinking to urban systems and their adaptation to climate change. 

     
    Haewon Chon is a Ph.D student in the School of Public Policy . Since the spring of 2006, he has been working with the Joint Global Change Research Institute (JGCRI) on a research project exploring the impacts of technological change on the economic costs of atmospheric greenhouse gas stabilization. The research includes extensive work in defining technology scenarios and analyzing results from JGCRI's ObjECTS MiniCAM model. This past summer, he worked offsite in South Korea on a project updating the regional characteristics of Korea and building a regional baseline emissions scenario for the MiniCAM model.
     
 

Daria Karetnikov is a second-year student pursuing a dual masters degree in Sustainable Development & Conservation Biology and Environmental Policy.  She received her Bachelors of Science in Finance from the University of Illinois , Urbana-Champaign in 2003. Daria started working with CIER in summer 2007 and has been collaborating on a project commissioned by Environmental Defense on the economic costs of climate change inaction. She is concurrently employed in the Research Section at Prince George 's County Planning Department.

   

 
  Mary Ellen Kustin is starting her second year as a dual-degree Masters student in the School of Public Policy and the Sustainable Development and Conservation Biology program. While working with CIER last year, she helped organize the Maryland 2050 conference, and has had the opportunity to learn about grant writing, helping conduct background research on the use of agricultural wastes as fuel sources, in addition to gaining experience in formatting and editing academic texts. This past summer she worked for the Potomac Conservancy on a comprehensive report to assess the health of the Potomac watershed.
   

 
    Bari Levine, an undergraduate Environmental Sciences major, has conducted research and book editing for CIER.
   

 
 

Joanna Mauer is starting her first year in the Master's of Public Policy program. She has a BS in Civil and Environmental Engineering from Cornell University .  Before coming to the University of Maryland, she spent three and a half years as a Peace Corps volunteer in the Dominican Republic working on building a water system and latrines in a rural community and then as the coordinator for the water/sanitation sector. Joanna has just started working for CIER on the second part of the RGGI study looking at the costs and implementation of energy efficiency programs in the state of Maryland .

     
   

Lucia Ness , an undergraduate Environmental Sciences major, is conducting the first campus Greenhouse Gas Emission Inventory.

   

 
 

Nisha Peris is starting her first year in the Master's of Public Policy program. She is working on a variety of projects for CIER.
     
  Stephen Reiling is starting his first year as a full-time student in the Master of Engineering and Public Policy dual Master's program, specializing in Environmental Policy.  Prior to joining CIER, Stephen worked as a civil engineer for a private engineering firm in Rockville , MD while attending the University part time. He is currently working on an EPA-funded study, researching future energy use and alternatives to promote sustainable development in the State of Maryland .
     
  Ramey Serour, a graduate student in the Marine, Estuarine, and Environmental Sciences program, is conducting the first campus Greenhouse Gas Emission Inventory.
     
    Elizabeth Skane is starting her second year as a dual-degree Masters student in the School of Public Policy and the Sustainable Development and Conservation Biology program. She has several years of experience with environmental compliance in the private sector. New to CIER this year, Elizabeth will be editing the newsletter and website, as well as conducting background research for several exciting proposals.
     
  Iván Darío Valencia is a geographer from the Universidad Nacional de Colombia in Bogotá.  He is entering his second year in the joint Masters program in the School of Public Policy and the Sustainable Development & Conservation Biology program. Before entering UMD, Iván worked in conservation science and policy for birds and wetlands in Colombia and in the Americas . This summer his internship at the Global Environmental Facility focused on evaluation techniques for climate change adaptation projects. At CIER Iván worked on the Maryland 2050 initiative, and is now part of the research team of the Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative, studying possible approaches for implementing energy efficiency programs in Maryland .
     
  Sean Williamson is a first year Masters student in the School of Public Policy studying Environmental Policy. Ecological tax reform is the focus of his research at CIER. Upon graduating from Cornell University in May Sean interned in the U.S. Department of Agriculture's Natural Resources Conservation Service where he worked on the conservation title of the Farm Bill.

 

Past CIER Student Research Assistants

 

Sanjana Ahmad graduated in Spring 2007 with a Masters in Environmental Policy. She is now a Domestic Policy Research Fellow at the Pew Center on Global Climate Change where she is working on a congressional policy briefing report series that examines the different components of a cap and trade program.

     
  Dana Coelho graduated in May with a dual Masters in Environmental Policy and Sustainable Development & Conservation Biology. She is a Presidential Management Fellow at the USDA Forest Service Urban and Community Forestry office.
   

 
  Russ Conklin is a policy analyst and Presidential Management Fellow with the U.S. Climate Change Technology Program (CCTP) at the US Department of Energy's Office of Climate Change Policy and Technology.
   

 
  Janine Fisler is in her second year as a dual-degree Masters student in the School of Public Policy and the Sustainable Development and Conservation Biology program. Last year, she helped organize the Maryland 2050 conference and conducted extensive background research on environmental issues.
     
  Marisa London graduated in Spring 2007 with a Masters in Environmental Policy. She is now a policy analyst at the Government Accountability Office.
     
  Julia Miller graduated in Spring 2007 with a Masters in Environmental Policy. She is now working at the US Environmental Protection Agency in the Climate Protection Partnership Division's State and Local Branch.