People
Faculty
Greg Characklis, PhD
W. R. Kenan Jr. Distinguished Professor, Environmental Sciences and Engineering
Director, Center on Financial Risk in Environmental Systems
charack@email.unc.edu
Website: https://gregcharacklis.web.unc.edu//
Jordan Kern, PhD
Associate Director, Center on Financial Risk in Environmental Systems,
Adjunct Assistant Professor, Environmental Sciences & Engineering,
Assistant Professor, Forestry and Environmental Resources, North Carolina State University
jkern@ncsu.edu
Website: https://kern.wordpress.ncsu.edu//
Projects
- Biofuels “Managing Financial Risks in Algae Production for Biofuel and Co-products.”
- Catawba Basin “Evaluating the Physical and Financial Vulnerabilities of Power Systems to Drought in the Southeastern U.S.”
- California “The Sustainability-Productivity Tradeoff: Water supply vulnerabilities and adaptation opportunities in California’s coupled agricultural and energy sectors”
- Columbia Basin “Leveraging Natural Resource Concentration and Conveyance in the Energy Water Food Nexus to Increase Security and Resilience”
Research Staff
Harrison (H.B.) Zeff, PhD
Research Scientist
Environmental Sciences and Engineering
zeff@live.unc.edu
Website: http://hbzeff.web.unc.edu/
Projects
- California “The Sustainability-Productivity Tradeoff: Water supply vulnerabilities and adaptation opportunities in California’s coupled agricultural and energy sectors”
- Galveston Bay “Decision-Making After an Environmental Emergency: Impacts and mitigation of environmental emergency-related contamination events across the-to-outcome continuum”
Rachel Kleiman, MS
Graduate Researcher
Environmental Sciences and Engineering
rkleiman@live.unc.edu
Project
- Biofuels “Managing Financial Risks in Algae Production for Biofuel and Co-products.”
Graduate Students
Ben Foster, MS
Doctoral Student
Environmental Sciences and Engineering
fbenjami@live.unc.edu
Website: http://benfoster.web.unc.edu/
Project
- Mississippi Basin “Characterizing and managing the financial risks of drought along the Mississippi River”
David Gorelick, MS
Doctoral Student
Environmental Sciences and Engineering
degorelick@unc.edu
Website: https://degorelick.web.unc.edu//
Project
- Research Triangle “Integrating Raw Water Transfers Into an Eastern United States Management Context”
Andrew Hamilton, MS
Doctoral Student
Environmental Sciences and Engineering
andrew.hamilton@unc.edu
Website: https://tarheels.live/andrewlhamilton
Project
- California “The Sustainability-Productivity Tradeoff: Water Supply Vulnerabilities and Adaptation Opportunities in California’s Coupled Agricultural and Energy Sectors”
Rosa Cuppari, MS
Doctoral Student
Environmental Sciences and Engineering
rcuppari@live.unc.edu
Project
- Columbia Basin “Leveraging Natural Resource Concentration and Conveyance in the Energy Water Food Nexus to Increase Security and Resilience”
Corey Pahel-Short
Master’s Student
Environmental Sciences and Engineering
coreyps@live.unc.edu
Hope Thomson
Master’s Student
Environmental Sciences and Engineering
thomson1@email.unc.edu
Administrative Staff
Zamira Gleason, MBA
Administrative Assistant
Environmental Sciences and Engineering
zgleason@email.unc.edu
Recent Center Alumni
Rachel Baum, PhD
Nephila Climate, San Francisco, CA
Project
- US Water Utilities “Risk pooling to mitigate drought-related financial losses for water utilities”
Simona Denaro, PhD
RED: Risk Engineering + Development, Milano Italy
Projects
- Catawba Basin “Evaluating the Physical and Financial Vulnerabilities of Power Systems to Drought in the Southeastern U.S.”
- Columbia Basin “Leveraging Natural Resource Concentration and Conveyance in the Energy Water Food Nexus to Increase Security and Resilience”
Joy Hill, MS
Pacific Gas & Electric, San Francisco, CA
Project
- Columbia Basin “Leveraging Natural Resource Concentration and Conveyance in the Energy Water Food Nexus to Increase Security and Resilience”
Adam Hise, MS
Ascend Analytics, Boulder, CO
Projects
- California “The Sustainability-Productivity Tradeoff: Water supply vulnerabilities and adaptation opportunities in California’s coupled agricultural and energy sectors”
- Biofuels “Managing Financial Risks in Algae Production for Biofuel and Co-products.”
Eliot Meyer, PhD
Hazen and Sawyer, Lancaster, PA
Project
- Great Lakes “Managing the financial risks of low water levels in the Great Lakes”
Yufei Su, PhD
IHS Markit, Washington, DC
Projects
- California “The Sustainability-Productivity Tradeoff: Water supply vulnerabilities and adaptation opportunities in California’s coupled agricultural and energy sectors”
- Columbia Basin “Leveraging Natural Resource Concentration and Conveyance in the Energy Water Food Nexus to Increase Security and Resilience”
Characklis Group Alumni
Ms. Marta Andreoni, visiting M.S. student (Politecnico di Milano)
Ms. Laura Bellagamba, visiting M.S. student (Politecnico di Milano)
Mr. Casey Caldwell (M.S.E.E.), Hazen & Sawyer, Denver, CO
Dr. Adrienne Cizek (M.S.E.E.; Ph.D., NCSU),
Project Engineer at Stormwater Solutions Engineering, Wisconsin-Milwaukee
Dr. Mackenzie (Dilts) Boyer (M.S.E.E.; Ph.D., Florida), Faculty Associate, Arizona State University
Ms. Patricia Drummey-Stiegel (M.S.E.E.), Hazen & Sawyer, Raleigh, NC
Mr. Scott Durbin (M.S.E.E.), Sustainable Water Designs, Inc., San Francisco, CA
Mr. Ben Foster (M.S.), Doctoral Student, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill
Mr. Josh Hunn (M.S.), Michael Baker Corp., Washington, D.C.
Ms. Kavya Kasturi (M.S.E.E.), ERG, Inc., Pittsburgh, PA
Dr. Jordan Kern (Ph.D./M.S.), Assistant Professor, North Carolina State University
Dr. Brian Kirsch (Ph.D./M.S.), Raftelis Financial Consultants, Inc., Denver, CO.
Dr. Leigh-Anne Krometis (Ph.D.), Associate Professor, Virginia Tech
Dr. Joseph Lobuglio, (Ph.D.), Dean of Engineering and Computer Science, North Carolina School of Science and Math
Mr. Reed Palmer (M.S.), Hazen & Sawyer, Raleigh, NC.
Ms. Jocelyn Ramsey (M.S.E.E.), Powel Group, Victoria, BC, Canada
Ms. Sarah Royster (M.S.), Cypress Creek Renewables, Santa Monica, CA
Mr. Steve Russo (M.S.E.E.), New York City Dept. of Education, New York, NY
Ms. Emma (Susick) Brinkley (M.S), IQVIA, Raleigh, NC
Ms. Andrea Traviglia (M.S.E.E.), USEPA, Boston, MA
Dr. Harrison Zeff (Ph.D./M.S.E.E.), Research Scientist, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill