2024 Lightning Talks

Architect, Senior Campus Planner with FP&M’s Campus Planning and Landscape Architecture team.

Sarah is a research scientist in the Department of Forest and Wildlife Ecology. With a background in environmental science, remote sensing, and forest ecology, Sarah uses high resolution imagery data to generate information about forests that is used to answer scientific questions and support management decisions. Sarah previously worked in the Nelson Institute for Environmental Studies and managed the MS degree in Environmental Observation and Informatics that focuses on training students to work at the intersection of earth observation and environmental conservation.

Dr. Andrea Hicks is an associate professor in the Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering. She is also an affiliate member of the Nelson Institute for Environmental Studies, Geological Engineering, and Freshwater and Marine Sciences Program. She is the Hanson Family Fellow in Sustainability and a Grainger Institute for Engineering Faculty Scholar.

Victoria is a first year Ph.D. student in the Environment & Resource program working with Dr. James Crall, Dr. Russ Groves, and the Office of Sustainability. She is interested in urban biodiversity conservation, community science, and global change. Her research explores questions around these interests in the framework of the UW-Madison Bee Campus Initiative, Kegonsa Research Station, and you can find her research in action across campus.

I am a postdoctoral research associate in the Department of Atmospheric and Oceanic Sciences at UW-Madison, working on Earth system modeling of sulfate over the North Atlantic Ocean. Prior to this appointment, I was a postdoctoral researcher in climate policy at UW-Madison. I did my PhD in atmospheric sciences from Colorado State University.

Brad is an Associate Professor in the Department of Food Science and a Sustainability Faculty Fellow. He leads a research group working on food, health, and sustainability. His team is focused on improving the impact of food on human and environmental health, while increasing the sustainability and equity of the food system. Brad has broad interests in food, including nuts, fruits, vegetables, spices, fermented dairy products, and waste materials from food production. More recently, he is interested in developing underutilized foods in Wisconsin, such as aronia berry and hazelnut that can improve biodiversity and the ecological landscapes. He has contributed to teaching undergraduate and graduate courses, including Advanced Food Biochemistry, The Chocolate Experience, Principles of Food Preservation, and Food Bioactives.

Dr. Song Gao is an Associate Professor in Geographic Information Science and H.I. Romnes Fellow at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, where he leads the Geospatial Data Science Lab. He is a Fellow of the American Association of Geographers (AAG). His main research interests include GeoAI and geospatial data science. He is the author of over 100 peer-reviewed research articles, published in prominent journals such as PNAS. He is the PI of multiple research grants from the NSF, WARF, Microsoft AI for Earth and industry partners. He currently serves as the Associate Editor of IJGIS, the Chair of the AAG Specialty Group in GIS, the Communications Director of UCGIS. He is the recipient of multiple international research awards such as the Waldo Tobler Young Researcher Award in GIScience, UCGIS Early/Mid-Career Research Award, and among the Web of Science Top 1% global highly cited researchers list.

Dr. Zhu-Barker is an Assistant Professor of Soil Biogeochemistry dedicated to advancing our understanding of land management practices and their impact on environmental health. Her research focuses on the nitrogen and carbon biogeochemical cycles, exploring microbial and abiotic processes related to greenhouse gases and air pollutants, including N2O, NOx, NH3, CO2, and CH4. Dr. Zhu-Barker is deeply engaged in addressing key challenges such as nitrate leaching, nutrient and manure management, composting, and climate change mitigation. Her work aims to improve water quality, mitigate climate change, and promote sustainable agriculture. As an advocate for climate-smart agriculture, Dr. Zhu-Barker’s research emphasizes dairy environmental sustainability through innovative isotopic methods, soil-plant-microbe interaction studies, and process-based modeling.

Eric Kazyak is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Mechanical Engineering. He received his Ph.D. from the University of Michigan in 2020 and has published more than 35 peer-reviewed journal article, which have been cited more than 5000 times. He leads the Kazyak Lab, which studies materials for energy and sustainability. We are currently working on understanding and improving electrochemical energy storage systems ranging from Li-ion batteries to seawater batteries and solid oxide electrolysis cells. We leverage operando characterization and precise control of interfaces to overcome interfacial challenges toward more sustainable energy systems.

This presentation will be given by Sara Brass, Nikki Javurek, Aly Fleming.

Brad Herrick was recently appointed Director of the Lakeshore Nature Preserve (LNP). Before joining LNP, he was the Ecologist and Research Program Manager at the UW-Madison Arboretum. He has a B.A. from Luther College, an MS from UW-Green Bay and is a PhD candidate in the Nelson Institute for Environmental Studies. His research focuses on plant-soil interactions, particularly the effects non-native, invasive earthworms on plant diversity and ecosystem processes.

Ben Lebowitz is a third-year master’s student at UW-Madison’s Nelson Institute for Environmental Studies. His research focuses on agricultural land use changes in the arid American Southwest. Additionally, Ben is a passionate Liverpool FC supporter, dog lover, adventurer, and folk musician.

Rachel is a PhD candidate in Communication Arts. One of her two primary research interests focuses on risk communication, particularly in regard to environmental and health risks such as PFAS.

Michael identifies new funding opportunities for CDR as well as strategic business development opportunities where the Center can partner with other entities, start-ups and technologies to help drive innovation in the dairy industry. He has previously worked for 35 years in economic and business development, most recently in Puerto Rico where he led a global team to help attract Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) in the biosciences (pharma, med device, and GCT), aerospace and tech industries to the Island.