Friday, February 5, 2021 - 5:00pm to Sunday, February 7, 2021 - 12:00pm
Virtual
This course will bring together the expertise of faculty from the University of Pittsburgh and Carnegie Mellon University, as well as practitioners to provide a multidisciplinary approach to the interconnections between health and sustainability, the role cities can have on climate change, low-emission growth and clean energy, the importance of access to resources, the need for sustainable transportation, and the practices of sustainable consumption, among others.
*Please check the materials tab for the Syllabus*
Alexandra
Hiniker
Executive Fellow of Sustainability Initiatives, Office of the Provost, CMU
As the executive fellow for Sustainability Initiatives at Carnegie Mellon University, Alexandra Hiniker is responsible for the Voluntary University Review of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) and related activities. Previously, she oversaw New York City’s SDG program at the Mayor’s Office for International Affairs, where sparked a worldwide movement by creating the concept of the award-winning Voluntary Local Review. New York City became the first city in the world to report directly to the United Nations on its local implementation of the SDGs, and over 200 local authorities have now committed to conducting their own reviews.
Hiniker has more than 15 years of development, policy, and advocacy experience working in 18 countries. She has led humanitarian disarmament initiatives in Cambodia with the United Nations, and in Laos and Lebanon with the Cluster Munition Coalition. She also established the PAX office in New York and served as the Representative to the United Nations, focusing on the protection of civilians in Syria, Iraq, and South Sudan.
Roberta
Mendonça De Carvalho Ph.D
Urban Studies, University of Pittsburgh
Roberta Mendonça De Carvalho was proudly born and raised in the largest city in the Brazilian Amazon - Belém, Pará. She recently defended her PhD at the University of Florida on urbanization in the Amazon. Her current research interests embrace urbanization as a worldwide process and tries to understand how it unfolds at the local scale. Her interdisciplinary background gathers social, physical and environmental aspects applied to urban studies in a multiscalar approach. She uses Remote Sensing to filter urban spatial reconfiguration as well as the loss of natural areas within city boundaries. Roberta has also worked in private, government and non-governmental sectors in positions that advocate for local matters related to the environment and development.
Nina
Baird Ph.D
Assistant Teaching Professor in the School of Architecture, Carnegie Mellon University
Dr. Nina Baird, PhD, MSPH, is an Assistant Teaching Professor in the School of Architecture and Co-Chair of Carnegie Mellon’s Green Practices Committee. Nina’s courses explore the dynamic interactions between buildings and the environment. She challenges students to think creatively and critically about improving building performance to support environmental and human health. Her courses combine technical understanding and measured performance assessment with an eye towards new technologies and better integrated solutions.
Nina came to CMU from a prior career as an environmental health consultant to federal agencies in Washington, DC. Throughout her career, she has been involved in community service and encourages students to be active advocates for and contributors to the world they want. Within Pittsburgh, Nina is involved in development of improved community energy infrastructure and provides consulting in high performance affordable housing. Within CMU’s Green Practices Committee, she is currently focusing on wastewater reclamation and reuse, and development of a campus water plan.
Melissa
Bilec Ph.D
Associate Professor, Civil and Enironmental Engineering, University of Pittsburgh
Dr. Melissa Bilec is an associate professor in the Swanson School of Engineering’s Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering; she is the Deputy Director of the Mascaro Center for Sustainable Innovation. Her research program focuses on the built environment, life cycle assessment, sustainable healthcare, and indoor air impacts. She is interested in improving system-level environmental performance of buildings, while developing a deeper understanding of indoor environmental quality, occupant impacts, and energy use. She is the Principal Investigator of a multi-disciplinary and multi-institutional research project, NSF EFRI-Barriers, Understanding, Integration – Life cycle Development (BUILD). Dr. Bilec has over 40 journal publications and has secured over $6 million in funding, including 8 National Science Foundation grants. She has received four education excellence awards. Her work prior to academia included tenure at the Urban Redevelopment Authority of Pittsburgh where she worked on green infrastructure projects, including the conversion of a 100-year bridge into a pedestrian bridge. Additionally, she serves on the Green Building Alliance board.
Tuba
Inal-Cekic Ph.D
Associate Professor , Department of Social Sciences, Humboldt University of Berlin
Tuba Inal-Cekic got her PhD in Urban and Regional Planning Department at Yıldız Technical University. She has been a visiting fellow at HU in 2013 and 2016 at the Institut für Genossenschaftswesen. She worked in HCU-Hamburg between September 2017 and November 2018, in the research team of the "Horizon 2020" Project on participation in mobility related projects. Her research interests are focused on urban movements and urban commons, from a participatory planning perspective. Her last article titled "Resilience of Urban Systems in the Context of Urban Transformation: Lessons from Beykoz – Istanbul" is recently published as a chapter in "Resilience and Urban Disasters" by Kamila Borsekova and Peter Nijkamp (ed.).
Mark
Chambers
Mayor's Office of Sustainability, at NYC Office of the Mayor