The School of Earth & Sustainability (SES) at the University of Massachusetts is guided by a collaborative steering committee with representation from across the member departments. Additionally, SES is supported by a small, dedicated team of staff with specialized experience to advance the goals and initiatives championed by the school.
SES Steering Committee
Rob DeConto
Director of the School of Earth & Sustainability
Professor in the Department of Earth, Geographic, and Climate Sciences
Email: deconto@geo.umass.edu
Website
Rob DeConto is a Professor of Geosciences and Co-Director of the School of Earth & Sustainability at the University of Massachusetts Amherst. Previously, he held research positions at the US National Center for Atmospheric Research and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. Rob studies polar climate change, the response of ice sheets to a warming climate, and coastal impacts of sea-level rise. Rob serves on international science advisory boards and is a lead author for the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC).
Camille Barchers
Assistant Professor
Landscape Architecture and Regional Planning
Email: cbarchers@umass.edu
UMass website
Personal website
Camille Barchers has practiced as a regional planner throughout Florida, the Southeast and mid-Atlantic. Prior to joining University of Massachusetts, Camille taught in the Leadership Education and Development program at the Georgia Institute of Technology where she also received her PhD in City & Regional Planning. Camille’s work examines how planners use technology and how it changes the way we engage with the public. Her research interests include big data applications for long-range planning, internet communication tools, and land use planning. She has a BS in Natural Resources and a Master of Regional Planning from Cornell University.
Sarah Berquist
Sustainable Food & Farming Lecturer and Chief Undergraduate Advisor
Stockbridge School of Agriculture
Email: sbberqui@umass.edu
UMass website
Sarah Berquist currently teaches courses in the Sustainable Food and Farming undergraduate program. Sarah offers contemplative and participatory courses in farm-based agriculture education, social justice, food systems, and personal sustainability. She has an MS in Sustainability Science with a specialization in Agriculture Education from UMass Amherst.
Forrest Bowlick
Geography Program co-head; Graduate Program Director, MS Geography - GIST; Lecturer
Department of Earth, Geographic, and Climate Sciences
Email: fbowlick@umass.edu
Website
Forrest’s research investigates how students learn GIS, especially in the growing field of CyberGIS. Through analysis of curriculum and instruction in GIS, Forrest aims to build an evidence-based understanding of how GIS programs function, and what knowledge, skills, and practices make up the GIS degree. He has additional research interest in geography education, geography in higher education, resources of the elements, and tropical glaciers.
Dan Cooley
Professor of Plant Pathology
Stockbridge School of Agriculture
Email: dcooley@umass.edu
Dan Cooley’s research and Extension program focuses on using integrated pest management to more efficiently and effectively manage diseases of fruit, particularly apples. The goal is to enhance the sustainability of apple production by minimizing or eliminating the use of toxic fungicides. This is accomplished by understanding the biology and ecology of important pathogens and using environmentally driven risk forecast models to guide fungicide applications. In addition, his work emphasizes the use of non-chemical alternatives to reduce disease pressure. He also works with colleagues at other institutions to develop and deliver web-based decision support tools to growers, including most recently apps for mobile devices. In addition, he has worked with a private non-profit to develop an advanced IPM production system for apples that markets fruit under the Eco Apple label. He has recently been investigating disease forecast model failures caused by changes in weather patterns in the Northeastern US.
Peter Dunn
BS Sustainable Community Development Program Director and Lecturer
Landscape Architecture and Regional Planning
Email: ptdunn@umass.edu
Website
Peter Dunn is a lecturer in regional planning in LARP, where he teaches students in the Sustainable Community Development major and the Master in Regional Planning program as well as many others interested in creating better communities. He has also taught visual communication, design studios, and a variety of classes on cities and planning at the University of Washington, Seattle. Professor Dunn’s intellectual focus is at the intersection of planning and digital technologies. Specifically, he asks how such technologies are not straightforward solutions to identified problems, but are messy sites where diverse actors work through conflicting visions of desirable public life. Work from his doctoral dissertation, which investigates the idealized promise and actual use of smartphone apps for urban mobility, has been published in Urban Planning and the Journal of Urban Technology. He also served as a researcher on an NSF-funded project investigating community resilience to natural hazards. Other interests include cartography, the politics of public space, and feminist political theory. Prior to entering academia, Professor Dunn worked for Boston’s Metropolitan Area Planning Council and the International City/County Management Association.
Piper Gaubatz
Department Head and Professor
Department of Earth, Geographic, and Climate Sciences
Email: gaubatz@umass.edu
Website
Piper Gaubatz is an urban geographer specializing in the study of urban change, development, and planning in East Asia and the U.S. As an urban geographer she is interested in the processes which shape urban space, and particularly in the historical and contemporary linkages between policy, practice and physical and social urban forms in China, Japan and the U.S.
James Holden
Department Head and Professor
Department of Microbiology
Email: jholden@microbio.umass.edu
Website
James Holden’s research focuses on high-temperature microbes that grow in hydrothermal environments in the deep sea. Specifically, he is interested in microbial life in the Earth's crust that lives without sunlight or oxygen, the search for life on Earth and elsewhere, numerical modeling of microbial metabolism, microbe-mineral interactions, and the application of thermophiles in bioremediation and bioenergy. He has participated in two dozen oceanographic expeditions and made 11 trips to the bottom of the ocean in the deep-sea submarine Alvin. He earned his Ph.D. in Oceanography at the University of Washington and was a post-doctoral researcher in the Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology at the University of Georgia.
R. Mark Leckie
Professor
Department of Earth, Geographic, and Climate Sciences
Email: leckie@umass.edu
Website
Mark Leckie's research centers on questions of Earth system history and paleoceanography, with a particular emphasis on biosphere response to changes in the ocean-climate system through time. He studies planktic and benthic foraminifera of Cretaceous and Cenozoic age. His research has included modern and ancient marginal marine depositional environments, late Paleogene-early Neogene neritic glacial marine deposits of the Ross Sea region of Antarctica, Late Cretaceous epicontinental sea depositional systems of the U.S. Western Interior Sea, and a variety of low latitude deep sea settings of Jurassic, Cretaceous and Cenozoic age. Professor Leckie has sailed with 6 legs of scientific ocean drilling (Deep Sea Drilling Project Leg 79, and Ocean Drilling Program Legs 101, 130, 165, 198, 210), as well as 2 Integrated Ocean Drilling Program expeditions associated with the 'School of Rock' education and outreach (IODP 312T) and the readiness assessment cruise of the rebuilt and refurbished JOIDES Resolution drill ship (IODP 320T). He has also spent numerous summers conducting fieldwork in the western United States with students and colleagues. Micropaleontological studies by his students include taxonomy, biostratigraphy, lithostratigraphy, and population analyses. In addition, isotope paleoecology of ancient planktic foraminifera and time-series isotopic analyses of multi-species planktic and benthic foraminifera are important components of their deep-sea research as independent and complementary proxies of upper water column hydrography and productivity.
Lena Fletcher
Natural Resources Conservation Program Director, Manager, Senior Lecturer
Environmental Conservation
Email: akeiser@umass.edu
Website
Lena Fletcher is the Director of the Natural Resources Conservation program. Her academic interests include forest ecology and old growth forests, as well as student-centered and innovative teaching, with a particular interest in contemplative pedagogy and civic engagement. Lena teaches team-based general education classes at the intersection of sustainability, ecology, and society, as well as online courses for teachers to incorporate climate change into their classes. Lena is a co-leader of the Contemplative Pedagogy Working Group in the Center for Teaching and Learning, as well as the Doris Duke Conservation Scholars Program Collaborative. Lena is also a mom of 4 teenage boys.
Thaddeus Miller
Associate Professor of Public Policy and Director of Graduate Studies
School of Public Policy
Email: thaddeusmill@umass.edu
Website
Thaddeus Miller's work focuses on interdisciplinary research collaborations and research-community partnerships to advance urban sustainability and resilience, from the local to the international level. He serves on the leadership team of a five-year, $12 million National Science Foundation-funded Urban Resilience to Extremes Sustainability Research Network project that engages with nine cities in the US and Latin America to advance research, policy, and practice on resilience in the face of climate change. Miller also is engaged in projects on the municipal and regional level, partnering with local governments in both Portland, Oregon, and the Phoenix area on issues related to resilience, equity, sustainability, and emerging technologies. Miller is the author of Reconstructing Sustainability Science: Knowledge and Action for a Sustainable Future (Routledge, 2015), which examines how the emerging field can be used to advance positive social action. Prior to joining UMass, Miller was associate professor at the School for the Future of Innovation in Society and the Polytechnic School at Arizona State University, where he was also codirector of the Center for Smart Cities and Regions. Before that, he was an assistant professor at the Toulan School of Urban Studies and Planning at Portland State University. Miller received a PhD from Arizona State’s School of Sustainability, an MPA in Environmental Science and Policy from Columbia University’s School of International and Public Affairs, and a BA in economics and environmental studies from Bucknell University.
William Miller
Associate Director for Program Management and Federal Relations
Center for Agriculture, Food and the Environment (CAFE)
Email: wamiller@cns.umass.edu
Website
William Miller is currently Associate Director for Program Management and Federal Relations for the UMass Amherst Center for Agriculture, Food and the Environment (CAFE). The Center manages both UMass Extension and the Massachusetts Agricultural Experiment Station, programs that have been sustained for well over 100 years through a combination of Massachusetts and federal (USDA) funds. Dr. Miller received degrees from three public, Land-grant universities in the field of Human Development & Family Studies, a BS from Cornell University in 1987, an MS from University of Maryland in 1991 and a PhD from the University of Wisconsin in 2001. He provides management and oversight for all areas of Extension programming, especially the Massachusetts 4-H Youth Development Program. He supports the work of approximately 20 Extension Faculty members in 9 different academic departments and he created “CAFE Summer Scholars,” an endowed summer internship program for undergraduate students who gain academic and professional experience within the diverse portfolio of research and extension programs supported by CAFE. He recently served as Chair of the Northeast Extension Directors association and is currently a member of the National 4-H Leadership Committee. Throughout his career, he has promoted academic research where the resulting scholarship is integrated with educational programs, resources, tools or technologies that meet the needs of citizens, communities, organizations, businesses, government agencies, or policymakers. He is currently working in Massachusetts and regionally to expand the delivery of Extension programs and resources to culturally diverse, underserved, and urban audiences.
Klaus Nüsslein
Professor
Department of Microbiology
Email: nusslein@microbio.umass.edu
Website
Klaus Nüsslein's research interests are focused on (I) the adaptation of microbial community structure and activity to external stress factors, and (II) the role microorganisms play in biogeochemical cycles. To aid his research he currently focuses on three defined terrestrial microbial systems: The lack of electron donors in deep subsurface systems, the stress of land use change and intensive agriculture on soil systems, and the extreme conditions in sediments under acid mine drainage.
Robert Ryan
Department Chair and Professor
Landscape Architecture & Regional Planning
Email: rlryan@larp.umass.edu
Website
Robert Ryan's research addresses the question: what motivates people to become engaged in sustainable landscape design, planning and management practices that benefit the environment and how does that affect their attitudes and behaviors in the landscape? His studies in urban parks, rural landscapes, and national forests have shown that people’s connection to nearby nature or landscape (i.e, place attachment) is critical to developing better land stewardship. A key part of this work has been to understand the landscape patterns that are both ecologically beneficial, as well as perceived as beautiful by local residents. In addition, his research has shown that place attachment can help promote connections between local residents and urban parks, particularly those undergoing ecological restoration. His research has focuses on visual resource management, greenway and green infrastructure planning, and sustainable site design. He is a senior researcher on the UMass interdisciplinary graduate education research (IGERT) project to study off-shore wind energy facilities.
Alex Schreyer
Senior Lecturer and Program Director of Building and Construction Technology
Department of Environmental Conservation
Email: schreyer@umass.edu
Website
Combining backgrounds in structural engineering, wood science, and digital design, Alex Schreyer’s interests span the entire range of planning, design, and execution of buildings and structures. He specializes in the design and construction of mainly heavy-timber type (e.g. glulam) structural systems. This is complemented by a strong interest in technology applications and web-based solutions in structural engineering, construction, and architecture. In his research, Mr. Schreyer focuses on the behavior of wood-based structural systems with a particular interest in innovative connection systems for wooden structures. Other foci are the development of software-based approaches in digital design and structural optimization as well as interactive web-based tools.
Malcolm Sen
Associate Professor
Department of English
Email: msen@english.umass.edu
Website
Malcolm Sen is an Associate Professor in the Department of English at the University of Massachusetts Amherst. His research interests focus on questions of justice, statecraft, and postcolonial politics as they emerge in this contemporary moment of climate crisis. At UMass Amherst he teaches courses on environmental humanities and postcolonial studies at the graduate level, and Irish literature, global Anglophone literature, and climate fiction at the undergraduate level. Before joining UMass, Malcolm was an “Irish Research Council Elevate Fellow” at Harvard University’s Center for the Environment. He was also awarded a National Endowment for the Humanities Fellowship, University of Notre Dame.
Paige Warren
Professor & Department Head
Department of Environmental Conservation
Email: pswarren@umass.edu
Website
Dr. Warren’s research seeks to understand processes generating and maintaining biological diversity in a world that is becoming increasingly dominated by humans. Research in the lab spans the species, community and landscape levels and focuses on the impacts of urbanization on animals. Rapid urbanization is one of the greatest challenges facing conservation biology, with many cities growing in area faster than in population. In addition, the highly managed nature of a city landscape provides biologists with some unique opportunities to understand both the role of humans in altering patterns of biological diversity and the role of behavior in limiting animal distributions. A guiding principle for Dr. Warren’s research is that the typical indices of urbanization, such as human population density, describe only a portion of the habitat structure that is important for wildlife. Human behaviors, values, and resource consumption levels can influence the habitat and resource availability for birds and other organisms.
Baoshan Xing
Director of Stockbridge School of Agriculture
Email: bx@umass.edu
Website
Dr. Xing's research in Environmental & Soil Chemistry focuses on the protection of our environment through maintaining/improving soil and water quality. Particular interests include: (1) environmental fate and ecotoxicity of engineered nanoparticles, (2) interactions between organic compounds and natural organic matter, (3) interfacial processes, (4) characterization of natural organic matter and biochar, (5) application of spectroscopic and analytical instruments in soil & environmental science research
SES Staff
Darci Connor Maresca (She/Her)
Assistant Director
School of Earth & Sustainability
Email: dmaresca@umass.edu
Darci Connor Maresca has facilitated meaningful change through a transdisciplinary approach to environmental programs and sustainability initiatives for more than fifteen years. At UMass Amherst, Darci is responsible for curating the long-term goals, overseeing the day-to-day operations, fostering vibrant partnerships, and implementing priorities for the School of Earth & Sustainability. A central part of her role is to build capacity and assemble high-impact collaborative teams. Darci also advances the university's academic mission through student training, the SES internship program, career-focused courses, and advising and mentoring sustainability students. Her leadership includes the Paperbark Literary Magazine advisory board, UMass Carbon Zero Living Lab lead, the Northeast Center for Coastal Resilience lead, UMass Sustainability Curriculum Fellows Program co-lead, to name a few. Her work at UMass relies on strong partnerships with university officials, campus colleagues, alumni, regional organizations, and workforce leaders. Prior to her work at UMass, Darci's career has taken her across the country, working in communities at all levels to address societal challenges through an inclusive, collaborative approach to problem-solving. Darci earned her Master of Science in Marine Resource Management from Oregon State University in 2007. To learn more about Darci's experience, click here.
Courtney Crossgrove (She/Her)
Communications and Project Coordinator
School of Earth & Sustainability
Email: helloSES@umass.edu
Courtney Crossgrove is a graduate of the Sustainability Science Master's program with a concentration in Sustainable Agriculture and Food Systems. Courtney serves as a Communications and Project Coordinator at SES. In her role, Courtney closely collaborates with SES leadership and staff, managing the organization's website, creating newsletters and announcements, and employing storytelling techniques facilitating effective communication of cross-campus information to enhance overall interdisciplinary sustainability coordination. Apart from her role at SES, Courtney also serves as a Program Manager, where she is dedicated to strengthening the food economy.
SES Student Interns
Cristiana Evdokas (She/Her)
Email: cevdokas@umass.edu
Cristiana is a senior majoring in Environmental Science and minoring in Natural Resource Conservation. She is originally from Hoboken, New Jersey and even majored in Environmental Science in highschool! Throughout her time at UMass Cristiana has dabbled in various aspects of sustainability, ecology, geology, and conservation. She participated in research about pesticide adsorption to microplastics and its implications for pesticide efficiency. Cristiana loves all things outdoors and is eager to ensure the following generations are able to enjoy everything nature has to offer!
Jade Laplante (She/Her)
Email: jtlaplante@umass.edu
My name is Jade LaPlante, I’m an environmental science student at UMass. I like coffee, video games, RnB, and Folk music.
Hazel Levy (She/Her)
Email: hlevy@umass.edu
Hazel Levy is a junior currently studying Natural Resource Conservation and Sustainable Community Development at UMass Amherst. This semester, she is taking classes in GIS, spatial analysis, and regional planning, and taking part in research for a graduate student at the Department of Earth, Geographic, and Climate Sciences. After earning her degree at UMass, Hazel hopes to start a career in data analysis and visualization. In her free time, she loves running, reading, cooking, and spending time outside.
Roisin Kirby (She/Her & They/Them)
Email: rkirby@umass.edu
Roisin Kirby is a graduate student in the College of Education and is on track to receive an Education Specialization degree in Social Justice Education. Roisin started as a student in the Stockbridge School of Agriculture at UMass Amherst and studied Sustainable Food and Farming for her undergraduate degree. She went on to study Sustainability Sciences for her Masters Degree. She hopes to be a bridge between the College of Natural Sciences and the College of Education at UMass Amherst and to make connections between climate solutions science and social justice education. Her academic interests include climate solutions education, agriculture, sustainability sciences and social justice. Roisin currently works within the Carbon Literacy Project housed within the School of Earth Sciences. Within this work she will be creating education materials on carbon costs, impacts on everyday life and ways in which to reduce carbon emissions. Roisin is from Boston and currently lives in Northampton with her beloved cat, Sushi.
Fatimah Rashid (She/Her)
Email: frashid@umass.edu
Fatimah is a senior sustainability intern in the environmental science program. They are interested in the interplay of community-led efforts for resilience and environmental policy making, particularly in how they relate to greenwashing. At SES, they work for student engagement and outreach to co-imagine with student partners and organizations a new SES-student relationship based on reciprocity and empowerment.
Colin Ryder (They/Them, She/Her, & He/Him)
Email: colinryder@umass.edu
Colin is an undergraduate student studying Sustainable Community Development, with a concentration on climate change and green infrastructure. Their area of interest focuses on imaginative worldbuilding; how we both envision, and are building, a more socially just and environmentally sustainable society in the context of the current climate breakdown. At SES, they work on cross-campus student engagement/leadership and the integration of student voice into the department’s structure.
Keely Wilson (She/Her)
Email: kvwilson@umass.edu
Keely Wilson is an undergraduate student at UMass pursuing a major in Mechanical Engineering with a minor in Environmental Science and NRC. She plans to go into sustainable energy and deep-sea submersible research in the future. Along with being a SES Intern, she is the Assistant Head Editor of Poetry for Jabberwocky, a member of UMOC, and works alongside professor Alexej Sirén to identify ecologically important wildlife captured on remote cameras. Outside of academic pursuits, Keely has a passion for all things fish and currently has two betta fish. Through the SES Internship she hopes to expand sustainability classes to other colleges and make UMass a leader in sustainable academics, emissions, and philosophies.