March 08, 2011
Dr. Greg Characklis

Dr. Greg Characklis

Greg Characklis, PhD, associate professor of environmental sciences and engineering at the University of North Carolina’s Gillings School of Global Public Health, has been named one of 20 Leopold Leadership Fellows for 2011.

Based at Stanford University’s Woods Institute for the Environment, the Leopold Leadership Program annually selects 20 mid-career academic environmental researchers as fellows. Awardees receive intensive leadership and communications training to help them engage effectively with policymakers, journalists, business leaders and communities confronting complex decisions about sustainability and the environment.

“These outstanding researchers are change agents engaged in cutting-edge research,” said the program’s executive director, Pam Sturner. “Through our program, they will gain new skills and connections to help them translate their knowledge into action at the regional, national and international level.”

 
“This fellowship award is well-deserved recognition of Greg’s leadership in a field that has received too little attention over the past 10 years,” said Mike Aitken, PhD, professor and chair of the UNC public health school’s Department of Environmental Sciences and Engineering. “His work has provided a fresh focus on the role of economics in decision-making for water resources management. Dr. Characklis has been asked to represent our department, school and university on many occasions in which expertise, opinion or advice were sought regarding water resource issues. I cannot imagine a better public representative of environmental science and engineering.”Fellows are chosen for their outstanding qualifications as researchers, demonstrated leadership ability and strong interest in communicating beyond traditional academic audiences. Each fellow takes part in mock media interviews and meets with policymakers in Washington, D.C., during two week-long training sessions.
 
Characklis joined the UNC faculty in 2001. His research focuses on the integrated planning of water supply and treatment strategies, taking into account both engineering and economic criteria for a community or region. Specifically, he has worked with communities, including some in North Carolina, to examine ways to mitigate drought risk and its financial implications. He also studies impacts of water quality on resource value and allocation and develops strategies for building water-related infrastructure as economically as possible.
 
Characklis directs several laboratory and field studies that explore the role that particles play in pathogen and indicator organism transport. This research is particularly relevant in developing water quality models used to evaluate the location and severity of public health risks posed by microbial contamination.
 
He is currently on a competitive Kenan research leave at the École Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne in Switzerland, where is working on several projects related to improving water resource management through the integration of engineering and economics.Characklis is the second researcher from UNC selected for the Leopold Fellowship. Martin Doyle, PhD, associate professor of geography, received the fellowship in 2008.

“Academic scientists work hard to understand environmental problems and develop potential solutions, but to actually solve problems requires communication and a two-way flow of information between scientists and decision makers,” said the program’s scientific director Pamela Matson, PhD, dean of Stanford’s School of Earth Sciences, distinguished professor of environmental studies and senior fellow at the Woods Institute for the Environment. “The Leopold Leadership Program trains academics to close the gap between knowledge and action.”

 
 
UNC Gillings School of Global Public Health contact: Ramona DuBose, director of communications, (919) 966-7467 or ramona_dubose@unc.edu.

 

RELATED PAGES
CONTACT INFORMATION
Gillings Admissions: 233 Rosenau Hall, (919) 445-1170
Student Affairs: 263 Rosenau Hall, (919) 966-2499
Dean's Office: 170 Rosenau Hall, (919) 966-3215
Business and Administration: 170 Rosenau Hall, (919) 966-3215
Academic Affairs: 307 Rosenau Hall, (919) 843-8044
Inclusive Excellence: 207B Rosenau Hall, (919) 966-7430
Room Reservations
Facilities


135 Dauer Drive
Chapel Hill, NC 27599-7400