Symposium 2008 Speakers - Syracuse Center of Excellence

2008 SYRACUSE COE SYMPOSIUM—LIST OF SPEAKERS

Keynote & Plenary Speakers

J. MARTY ANDERIES is Associate Professor in the School of Human Evolution and Social Change and School of Sustainability at Arizona State University. His current research interests focus on robust management and robust institutional design for coupled social-ecological systems. He studies a range of archaeological, historical, and present-day examples of social-ecological systems using formal mathematical modeling and analysis to develop an understanding of ecological, behavioral, social, and institutional factors that generate vulnerability and/or enhance resilience and robustness in social-ecological systems. Other areas of interest include economic growth, demographics, and the environment and mathematical modeling in ecology.

PAUL BEYER is the State Director of Smart Growth at the New York Department of State. In this position, he oversees the Governor’s Smart Growth Cabinet, a group of state agencies committed to promoting Smart Growth on the state and local level in New York. Beyer's experience in land use and Smart Growth began 20 years ago when he worked for State Assembly Member Pete Grannis—now the DEC Commissioner—on legislation to promote the Transfer of Development Rights, among other land use policies. Beyer served as a member of the Planning Board in the Town of Amherst, NY for five years,and served on the Board of Directors of Partners for a Livable Western New York, the premier Smart Growth advocacy group in the Buffalo area.

MAJORA CARTER simultaneously addresses public health, poverty alleviation, and climate change as one of the nation’s pioneers in successful green-collar job training and placement systems. She founded Sustainable South Bronx in 2001 to achieve environmental justice through economically sustainable projects informed by community needs. Her work has been noted in numerous books; celebrated with awards from the National Audubon Society, the EPA, the NRDC, and the AIA among many others. She is a MacArthur “Genius” Fellow, one of Essence Magazine’s 25 Most Influential African-Americans in 2007, one of the NY Post’s Most Influential NYC Women for the past two years, a board member of the Wilderness Society, and recording a special national public radio series called “The Promised Land” for 2009 release. This year, her mission extends to include other cities, foundations, universities, businesses, and communities across around the world on how to unlock their green-collar economic potential to benefit all everyone.

DAVID DOYLE works for the US Environmental Protection Agency’s Regional Office in Kansas City, KS. As the EPA’s regional Land Revitalization Coordinator, he assists EPA program staff, property owners, and communities in reusing and revitalizing contaminated properties in a sustainable manner. Doyle is a certified mediator for both the Kansas City Area Federal Employee’s Shared Neutrals mediation program and the Kansas City, Missouri Police Board of Commissioners. He is a board member of the Kansas City Regional Transit Alliance and the Kansas City Transportation Action Team.

HON. WILLIAM MAGNARELLI represents the 120th Assembly District. As Chair of the Legislative Task Force on University-Industry Cooperation, Magnarelli is using Central New York’s unique resources—world-class universities and high-tech companies—to create jobs and attract new industries. Magnarelli serves as Chair of the Ethics Committee and is a member of the Steering Committee. His Standing Committee assignments are Economic Development, Job Creation, Commerce, and Industry; Education; Health; Oversight, Analysis ,and Investigation; and Veterans’ Affairs. Funds secured by Magnarelli support SyracuseCoE’s Commercialization Assistance Program.

KEVIN SURACE, a noted speaker and writer on climate change and the built environment, is on a mission to significantly reduce the use of fossil fuels and their effect on the environment. As CEO of Serious Materials, Surace leads the company in its mission to reduce energy usage and CO2 generation of the world’s largest contributor, our buildings. By developing new materials and processes that require little energy to manufacture, and advanced products that dramatically improve the insulation and comfort of homes and offices, a worst-case climate and energy catastrophe can be avoided. Before joining Serious Materials in 2002, Surace held executive and technical positions with Perfect Commerce, General Magic, Air Communications, National Semiconductor, and Seiko-Epson. He received his degree in electrical engineering technology from Rochester Institute of Technology where he currently serves on the Board of Trustees, and has been awarded multiple patents. Surace also serves on the boards of FreeLight, Array Converter, Zeta Communities, and Integrity Block; chairs the Sunnyvale Mayoral Green Ribbon Committee; and co-chaired the CCTO Building Materials contest.

MATT RAIMI is Principal of Raimi + Associates. His work focuses on environmental sustainability and making cities and towns healthy and more livable. The company’s practice focuses on three areas: developing long-range visions for communities; the relationship between public health and the built environment, and sustainable neighborhoods. Raimi has over a dozen years of experience in planning and has managed numerous comprehensive plans, open space plans and site planning projects across California. Recent work includes General Plans for the Cities of Santa Monica, CA and South Gate, CA. He has also worked extensively for the US Green Building Council on the creation of the LEED-ND rating system, is a reviewer of LEED-ND pilot projects, and guided a team of consultants to one of the first certified pilot project under LEED-ND.

KEITH TIDBALL serves as Associate Director of the Civic Ecology Initiative at Cornell University where he helps people organize, learn, and act in ways that increase their capacity to withstand--and where appropriate, to grow from--environmental change and uncertainty.

HON. JAMES WALSH has proudly represented New York’s 25th Congressional District in the U.S. House of Representatives for 10 terms. Walsh is a longtime member of the House Appropriations Committee and chair of the Legislative Affairs Appropriations Subcommittee. When Walsh held fiduciary oversight over the Department of Housing and Urban Development, he created the highly successful Syracuse Neighborhood Initiative, credited with serving as a major catalyst for increased downtown investment, expanded and enhanced housing opportunities, and improved citizen involvement and neighborhood pride throughout Syracuse. To date, Walsh has secured more than $30 million in federal funding for research and development for the Syracuse CoE.

R&T Forum Presenters—Clean & Renewable Energy

HUGH HENDERSON is Principal of CDH Energy, based in Cazenovia, NY. Henderson is Principal investigator on various field monitoring/technology demonstration projects involving advanced cooling and dehumidification technologies, desiccants, supermarket refrigeration systems, geothermal heat pumps, air-source heat pump systems, and thermal storage systems.
He is also principal investigator on various projects using detailed hourly simulation models to assess and compare new ventilation and dehumidification technologies in supermarkets, commercial buildings, and residences.

DAREK LETKIEWICZ is a Vice President within the Capital & Facilities Solutions (CFS) business unit of O’Brien & Gere. Letkiewicz leads the I-Achieve process for Energy Infrastructure and has managed projects for multiple industrial clients within pharmaceutical, biotech, food and beverage, metals, chemicals, electronics, water, wastewater industries.

JEFF PETERSON is currently the Program Manager for Energy Resources at the New York State Energy Research and Development Authority (NYSERDA). The primary research program for renewable energy and natural gas resource development, the program's goal is to develop cooperative initiatives to introduce new energy and environmental technologies into the marketplace. Research projects focus on sharing the risk of establishing new business enterprises or models to meet customer demand for renewable energy. In addition, Peterson is an active participant on Gov. David Paterson’s Renewable Energy Task Force and is a member of the National Research Council panel currently preparing a report on the potential of electricity from renewables.

PARIKHIT (RICKY) SINHA is a Technical Associate at O'Brien & Gere, where he leads the firm’s greenhouse gas (GHG) program. Sinha has managed GHG projects for industrial and institutional clients, including development of baseline carbon footprints, estimation of project-specific GHG emission reductions, and forecasting of future GHG emissions from the operation of new facilities. He is a former study director at the National Research Council’s Board of Atmospheric Sciences and Climate, and a board member and former chair of the Delaware Valley Chapter of the Air and Waste Management Association.

KEVIN STACK is President of Northeast Green Building Consulting, which provides sustainability consulting, home energy rating, and green building construction management services. Stack has developed a high performance systems approach to green building that incorporates ecologically sustainable solutions into the built environment.

KENNETH D. VISSER is Associate Professor in the Department of Mechanical and Aeronautical Engineering at Clarkson University, where he specializes in the design and efficiency of wind turbines. Visser's research interests are primarily applied experimental aerodynamics and also include such areas as aircraft design, sustainable energy, and experimental measurement techniques.

TIMOTHY VOLK is a Senior Research Associate at the SUNY College of Environmental Science and Forestry (SUNY-ESF). He is responsible for a series of research projects focused on the development of willow biomass cropping systems as a feedstock for bioproducts and bioenergy and the use of willow as an alternative cover for industrial waste sites. He also actively involved in research and development of sustainability assessments of bioenergy systems, living snowfences, regional woody biomass resource supplies, and harvesting systems for short rotation woody crops. He is now implementing the curriculum for a minor in Renewable Energy and is currently teaching courses on Energy Systems and Biomass Energy.

R&T Forum Presenters—Indoor Environmental Quality

YOSSI BRONSNICK is a Project Engineer at Taitem Engineering, based in Ithaca, NY. He has worked on a variety of structural design projects in both the public and private sectors.

ANDREA FERRO is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Civil & Environmental Engineering at Clarkson University. Her research interests are in the areas of indoor air quality, resuspension of particulate matter, human exposure to pollutants, and environmental justice.

JOSEPH KUMMER is President of Propulsive Wing, based in Elbridge, NY. Propulsive Wing received a grant from Syracuse CoE in 2007 for the development and commercialization of a revolutionary personal air ventilation/filtration device. The company is also commercializing a high-lift, high-payload flying wing platform that uses partially-embedded cross-flow fans for thrust and boundary-layer control.

JAMES MILLER is Vice President of NuClimate Air Quality Systems. Miller started his engineering career in 1956 helping to establish the electric heating market for United Illuminating Co. in New Haven Connecticut. In 2003, Miller designed and patented a unique overhead air induction system. He joined forces with John DiMillo and Edward Campagna to form NuClimate Air Quality Systems to further develop, market, and manufacture Indoor Air Quality products and their use in commercial applications. He has since created further refinements and creative innovations to the technology of overhead induction systems.

PETER V. NIELSEN is a Professor of indoor environmental engineering at Aalborg University in Denmark. He has written more than 320 papers, articles, and chapters in technical books on air movement in rooms, energy flow in buildings, control equipment, and integrated product development. He has obtained nine international patents. His PhD study from 1974 is one of the first examples where prediction based on Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD) is used in indoor environmental technology. Nielsen gives full courses or lectures on a large number of different international universities and institutes. He is elected as a member of International Academy of Indoor Air Science (IAIAS). He is Honorary Professor at University of Hong Kong and Guest Professor at Central South University in China.

CRISTA SHOPIS is Project Engineer at Taitem Engineering, based in Ithaca, NY. She works on a variety of design projects, with a focus on HVAC engineering. She has also designed and installed photovoltaic systems. While a member of the Peace Corps in Paraguay, Crista designed and managed construction of running water systems.

JOHN SPENGLER is the Akira Yamaguchi Professor of Environmental Health and Human Habitation at Harvard University's School of Public Health. Spengler has conducted research in the areas of personal monitoring, air pollution health effects and indoor air pollution. Several investigations have focused on housing design and its effects on ventilation rates, building materials’ selection, energy consumption, and total environmental quality in homes. He has served on several National Research Council committees, including chairing the recent Green Schools committee. In 2003, Prof. Spengler was recipient of the Heinz Award for the Environment, and from 2002 through 2005 he was President of the International Academy of Indoor Air Sciences.

JOHN VASSELLI is the Chief of Technology for Indoor Air Quality at the Carrier Corporation. Before joining Carrier, he served as the Director of the Syracuse CoE Office for Industry Collaboration within the Syracuse Center of Excellence in Environmental and Energy Systems. Vasselli also is past President and CEO of the Houston Advanced Research Center in The Woodlands, TX, one of the premier sustainable development research centers in the Country.

LAWRENCE WETZEL is Chairman of Air Innovations, based in North Syracuse, NY. In 1996 Wetzel, and his son Michael, acquired controlling interest in Floratech Industries, Inc., which, in 1998, introduced an innovative new air conditioning product--HEPAir--for the cleanroom and indoor air quality market. In 1999, Floratech, through its newly formed subsidiary Cleanroom Systems, Inc., acquired the cleanroom air conditioning manufacturing division from Clestra, which had merged with Clean Room Technology, a company Wetzel formed in 1983. In 2001, Floratech changed its name to Air Innovations, Inc.

R&T Forum Presenters—Water Resources

JAMES BONNER is Professor and Director Center for the Environment at Clarkson University. His primary research interests are in the field of coastal processes and coastal observations and and oil spill remediation and various defenses used to exterminate the consequential toxins.

GREG BOYER is a Professor of Biochemistry at SUNY-ESF in Syracuse and Director of the Great Lakes Research Consortium. Boyer’s expertise is in the area of biologically active natural products produced by algae, and he has more than 30 years experience working with toxins, hormones, and metal-binding compounds produced by marine and freshwater algae. He has coauthored more than 100 research publications. In recent years, he has headed up a large multi-institutional project charged with the development of monitoring programs, tools, and techniques to protect our drinking water from blue-green algal toxins. In 2007, he assumed the directorship of the Great Lakes Research Consortium. This consortium consists of 18 New York State Universities and nine Canadian Affiliates with the express goal of advancing our understanding of the chemistry, ecology, and human influence on the Great Lakes and their surrounding watersheds through research, education, and public outreach.

STEVEN EFFLER is Director of Research at the Upstate Freshwater Institute. His professional interests include water quality and the ecology of surface waters. He is the editor of "Limnological and Engineering Analysis of a Polluted Urban Lake: Prelude to Environmental Management of Onondaga Lake, New York" (Springer Series on Environmental Management, 1996).

MICHAEL HOOKER joined the Onondaga County Water Authority in 1993 as the Authority’s Executive Director. Prior, he served in various management positions in the water industry and has significant operating experience in potable water and sewage collection systems, having held treatment and distribution licenses in New York, New Jersey, and Kentucky. At the national level Hooker serves as Chair of the American Water Works Associations (AWWA) Water Utility Council and is a member of the AWWA Board of Directors and the AWWA Executive Committee. He is also currently serving as a Director of AwwaRF, the world leader in drinking water industry related research.

MARK MEYERS is Senior Managing Scientist and Director of IT at Quantitative Environmental Analysis. Meyers' areas of expertise include plant and plankton dynamics and nutrient cycling, the ecology of emergent and submersed vegetation (SAV), and the ecology of benthic fauna. Meyers has developed and applied computer models in studies of nutrient cycling, plant productivity, and the fate of organic carbon, and he has extended water quality models to include interactions with wetlands vegetation, SAV, and benthic macrofauna. Meyers' modeling and data analysis activities have been used for predicting the effects of management strategies on water and habitat quality and on living resource productivity.

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