On March 8, people around the world engage in the annual celebration of International Women’s Day. This year’s theme, “Think Equal, Build Smart, Innovate for Change,” establishes innovation by women and girls as an integral pillar of any healthy, pioneering community.
The Institute for Sustainability and Energy at Northwestern (ISEN) is proud to shine a spotlight on some of the many brilliant and passionate women who continue to contribute to the university’s rich ecosystem of innovation. From faculty and researchers to students and alumnae, the women of Northwestern are making tremendous impact in the fields of sustainability and energy. Together they are helping the world to reimagine the possible and empower our future.
Examining Community Impacts of Green Infrastructure
Vidya Venkataramanan, postdoctoral fellow in the Department of Anthropology and Center for Water Research at Northwestern, recently received a NatureNet fellowship from The Nature Conservancy (TNC). Together with TNC conservation specialists, she is working to examine the socio-economic and health impacts of “green” infrastructure as an urban water management strategy. Learn more
Addressing Environmental Disasters on the Global Stage
In support of World Wildlife Fund’s (WWF) environmental disaster recovery, reconstruction, and risk reduction programs, Emma Clouse, a student at Northwestern's Pritzker School of Law (’20 anticipated), is analyzing environmental law frameworks in Guatemala, Jamaica, and Colombia. Clouse’s work with WWF is occurring under the tutelage of Nancy Loeb, clinical associate professor and director of the Environmental Advocacy Center. Learn more
Securing Food and Water
Citing conversations with women and girls around the world as a primary driver of her research, Sera Young, assistant professor of anthropology and global health at Northwestern, is on a course toward ending food and water insecurity worldwide.
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ISEN Welcomes Professor Sossina Haile as Co-Director
In 2018, ISEN welcomed its new co-director Sossina M. Haile, the Walter P. Murphy Professor of Materials Science and Engineering at Northwestern. Haile, who continues to make remarkable contributions to the development of materials and devices for sustainable energy, is playing a key role in advancing the work of the rapidly growing Institute by providing direction and insight into sustainability and energy research and education. LEARN MORE
Teaching the United Nations’ Sustainable Development Goals
Senior Rebecca Fudge (WCAS ’19 anticipated) and junior Ronni Hayden (SESP ’20 anticipated) have developed a board game that teaches participants about the United Nation’s Sustainable Development Goals in the course of gameplay. Established by the UN in 2015, the 17 goals are designed to improve a spectrum of interconnected global social and economic development issues by 2030, including affordable and clean energy, sustainable cities and communities, zero hunger, quality education, and gender equality. Learn more
Recovering Resources from Industrial Water
NUMiX Materials, a Northwestern startup that’s developed a sorbent technology to remove toxic metals from water, is making a splash in the world of cleantech innovation—winning prestigious funding competitions including those sponsored by the US Department of Energy, VentureWell, and Northwestern. Northwestern women on the NUMiX founding team include Katie Kollhoff (CEO, ‘19 MEM anticipated), Olivia Lugar (Advisor, ‘18 Law), and Laurelle Banta (COO, ‘18 Law, ’17 McC). LEARN MORE
Unlocking Secrets about Greenland’s Past and Future Climate
Yarrow Axford and Magdalena Osburn, associate and assistant professors of Earth and planetary sciences at Northwestern respectively, are using ice and lake sediment cores to study Greenland’s ancient climate. Peering back 8,000 to 130,000 years ago, Axford and Osburn’s breakthrough findings are helping scientists understand how Greenland’s ice sheet responds to warming. Learn more
Innovation in Sustainable Farming
Saumya, a 2017 graduate of Northwestern’s Kellogg School of Management who doesn’t use a surname, is co-founder of the sustainable startup Kheyti. Based in India, Kheyti’s mission is to deliver a low-cost, modular, and technologically-equipped greenhouse to smallholder farmers who are struggling to produce in the face of extreme weather impacts due to climate change. Learn more
Northwestern Alumnae in Sustainability and Energy
Women graduating from Northwestern have gone on to become leaders in sustainability and energy, applying their expertise within a wide range of disciplines and professional industries—from business and public policy to science and engineering.
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