Celebrating Pitt’s Sustainability Superheroes
Pitt’s Office of Sustainability and the Mascaro Center for Sustainable Innovation celebrate the 2024 Pitt Sustainability Awardees and Student Sustainability Symposium
Above: Aurora Sharrard, Assistant Vice Chancellor for Sustainability at the University of Pittsburgh (second from left) with Kevin Bell, assistant professor of bioengineering (left), Joaquin Rodriguez, assistant professor of chemical and petroleum engineering (third from left), Swagatika Bhattacharya, foundations lab technician, Department of Biological Sciences (middle left), Christy Kim (middle right), Martina Frederick (third from right), Maggie Lincoln (second from right), and Eric Hammill, warehouse specialist, Pitt Surplus.
On Friday, April 19, 2024, the University of Pittsburgh’s Office of Sustainability and Mascaro Center for Sustainable Innovation (MCSI) recognized the faculty, staff, and students whose efforts are creating a more sustainable Pitt and surrounding community.
The 2024 Pitt Sustainability Awards Luncheon celebrated six Pitt Sustainability Awardees, the second annual Erika Ninos Student Sustainability Leadership Awardee, and sixteen undergraduate and six graduate Pitt Student Sustainability Champions.
Awardees have demonstrated an extraordinary impact on campus sustainability by innovating sustainable practices that align with categories stated in the Pitt Sustainability Plan.
2024 Pitt Sustainability Awards:
- Faculty: Dr. Joaquin Rodriguez, assistant professor of chemical and petroleum engineering
- Faculty: Dr. Kevin Bell, assistant professor of bioengineering
- Staff: Swagatika Bhattacharya, foundations lab technician, Department of Biological Sciences
- Staff: Eric Hammill, warehouse specialist, Pitt Surplus
- Student: Martina Frederick, Environmental Studies
- Student: Maggie Lincoln, Environmental Science / Ecology & Evolution
Erika Ninos Student Leadership Award
- Christy Kim, Environmental Studies
Undergraduate Student Sustainability Champions
- Noel Do, Natural Sciences
- Julia Evers, Environmental Studies
- Alyse Faerberg, Neuroscience
- Claire Gendron, Environmental Engineering
- Jessica Gondak, Chemistry
- Emily Hoag, Geology
- Ria Hosuru, Neuroscience / Statistics
- Cindy Le, Biological Sciences
- Amanda Lee, Environmental Engineering
- Han Lempert, Urban Studies
- Nicole Marchese, Marketing
- Salome Margalitachvili, Public Health
- Abhi Nangunoori, Biological Sciences / Economics
- Elise Rinke, Biology & Environmental Science
- Mollie Rothbaum, Environmental Studies
- Ana Rowley, Environmental Science
Graduate Student Sustainability Champions
- Bishal Dasgupta, Business Administration
- Melinda Go, Public & International Affairs
- Maria Jose Jiminez, Civil & Environmental Engineering
- Meghan Orman, Applied Developmental Psychology
- Jessica Vaden, Civil & Environmental Engineering
The 2024 Student Sustainability Symposium
The Student Sustainability Symposium is an opportunity for students to showcase the various sustainability initiatives they worked on throughout the semester.
The symposium began with fellows from the Center for Sustainable Business recapping their sustainability research projects. Fellows worked directly with corporations to bring a business’s sustainability concept into practice, including identifying funding opportunities and understanding implementation limits.
Bookending the Sustainability Awards Luncheon were morning capstone presentations by students in ENGR1907: Sustainability Capstone, taught by Tony Kerzmann, associate professor of mechanical engineering and materials science, and David Sanchez, associate director of the Mascaro Center for Sustainable Innovation and assistant professor of civil and environmental engineering. The symposium ended with an afternoon poster session and class presentations by undergraduates in GEOL1333: Sustainability, taught by R. Ward Allebach, an instructor in Pitt’s Department of Geology and Environmental Science.
Capstone course groups in ENGR1907 spent the Spring 2024 semester working with a business, government agency, or nonprofit organization to identify comprehensive solutions to real-world sustainability challenges. Students in GEOL1333 were exposed to different perspectives on sustainability topics by guest speakers from academia, government, nonprofit organizations, and businesses. GEOL1333 students also developed sustainability concepts for application on Pitt’s campus and adjacent community.
“Industry stakeholders, government agencies, and nonprofit organizations bring the University ideas about what they want to do,” said Gena Kovalcik, co-director of administration and external relations at the Mascaro Center for Sustainable Innovation. “Our students have a unique opportunity to not only be civically focused on projects with external organizations but also see the real-world applications of their ideas and challenges that come with getting work done in a short amount of time.”
Student teaching assistants in ENGR1907 and GEOL1333 organized the symposium.