MCSI Leading Response to Global Challenges in Sustainability

“Sustainabilityproblems are inherently global and multi-disciplinary. MCSIfaculty have taken the lead in attacking the global plastics waste problem, leading to one of only six MacArthur Foundation Challenge Grants awarded globally, one of the first NSF Convergencegrants (awarded in 2019), and one of the first two Pitt Momentum Challenge grants ever awarded. MCSI has created truly interdisciplinary teams to attack this significant problem, including faculty from multiple schools at Pitt and various universities.”

Dr. Eric J. Beckman, Co-Director

INVITED LECTURES

Dr. Melissa Bilec was invited by the Embassy of France in the US and the French Government to provide testimony on solutions to plastic pollution. Dr. Bilec presented her testimony to the Parliamentary Office for Scientific and

Technological Assessment (OPECST), who are leading a study on plastic pollution. Following the testimony to OPECST, she also spoke at the workshop, Responding to Plastic Pollution through Science: from research to

action, in Le Mans, France.

Eric Beckman

“Global Plastics Waste Problem”, U.S. Chamber of Commerce,August, 2019. Green Chemistry Summer School, Golden, CO, July, 2019

Melissa Bilec

“Circular Economy and Converging on Solutions for Plastics.” French Parliamentary Office for Scientific and Technological Assessment(OPECST):Study on plastic pollution. Presentation to Senator Angele Preville and Depute Philippe Bolo, Paris, France, December 12, 2019. “A Tale of Two Cities: Exploring Sustainability and Resilience Opportunities and Challenges.” The University of New Mexico, NSF Workshop. 4 th Annual Resilience Colloquium, Exploring Connections Between Urban and Rural Communities and Environments,Albuquerque, New Mexico, August 6-7, 2019.

Invited Panelist for Ecodistricts Research Forum(National Conference). Eden Hall, Chatham University, November 3, 2019 “Convergence Around the Circular Economy.” Carnegie Mellon University, Civil and Environmental

Engineering,May 1, 2020, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. “Are We Using Buildings to Inspire and Motivate Health and Sustainability?” Environmental Engineering,Blacksburg, Virginia, February 7, 2020. Virginia Tech, Civil and

David Sanchez

MIT Water Summit –"Drowning in Waste,” Boston, MA, November 2019 “Triangulating Historical, Real-time, and Environmental Grab Sample Data to Track River Water Quality in the Western PA Rivershed,” Computational Sustainability Carnegie Mellon University, Pittsburgh, PA,

October 2019

“Emerging Trends: Environmentally Responsible Engineering Roadmap,” Deshpande Symposium, Lowell, MA, June 2019 Expert Roundtable Principles of Environmentally Responsible Engineering Washington D.C. - Lemelson Foundation, 2019 (1 of 30 invited nationwide)

FACULTY AWARDS

MCSI Assistant Director. David Sanchez received the Chancellor’s Distinguished Teaching Award for leading the innovation and entrepreneurship program in the Swanson School and various sustainability and study abroad programs, Dr. Sanchez also received an honorable mention in the Post-Secondary Educator category of the 2020 Carnegie Science Awards program.

Mascaro Faculty Fellow. Shanti Gamper-Rabindran (GSPIA) was selected as an

AugustWilhem Scheer Visiting Professor, summer 2019 at the Chair of Environmental and Climate Policy Technical University of Munich, Bavarian School of Public Policy.

Mascaro Faculty Fellow. Ruth Mostern (History), who studies the interaction of climate variation and anthropogenic impacts to understand the dynamics of erosion and flooding and the history of river engineering on the Yellow River in China over the past three thousand years, was selected for a Visitorship at Zhejiang University.

EXTERNAL BOARDS

Gena Kovalcik, Sustainable Pittsburgh, CEOs for Sustainability Advisory Board

Allegheny County Green Action Team