peter Marcotullio, Ph.D., Institute director

Peter Marcotullio is Professor of Geography at Hunter College, City University of New York (CUNY). His research interests include urban sustainable development, urban environmental transition theory, globalization and cities, urban and regional environmental planning and the relationship between urbanization and environment change. He has been affiliated with the United Nations University, the International Human Dimensions Programme and ISCU’s Scientific Committee on Problems of the Environment. Prof Marcotullio has been a Coordinating Lead Author for the Millennium Ecosystem Assessment Report, a Coordinating Lead Author for the CBD Urbanization and Biodiversity Global Assessment Report and a Contributing Author for the IPCC Fifth Assessment Report.

allan frei, ph.d., deputy director

Dr. Allan Frei, the Deputy Director of Institute, is an professor in the Department of Geography and Environmental Sciences at Hunter College, City University of New York. After receiving his Ph.D. from Department of Geography at Rutgers University in 1997, he spent four years at the National Snow and Ice Data Center (NSIDC), which is part of the Cooperative Institute for Research in Environmental Sciences at the University of Colorado. In 2001 Dr. Frei moved to Hunter College. Dr. Frei is a climatologist whose current research interests focus on a collaboration with the New York City Department of Environmental Protection on a project to evaluate the vulnerability of the city’s water supply to climate, and other 21st century, changes.

William solecki, ph.d., founding director

Dr. William Solecki is Professor in the Department of Geography at Hunter College – CUNY. His research interests include urban environmental change, and climate impacts and adaptation. He has served on several U.S. National Research Council committees including the Special Committee on Problems in the Environment (SCOPE). He is a founding member of the Urban Climate Change Research Network, and the International Human Dimensions Programme (IHDP) Urbanization and Global Environmental Change Project. He served as the co-leader of several climate impacts and land use studies in the New York metropolitan region, including the New York City Panel on Climate Change (NPCC) and the Metropolitan East Coast Assessment of Impacts of Potential Climate Variability and Change and was recently selected as a lead author of the IPCC Fifth Assessment Report, Working Group II, Urban Areas chapter (chapter 8). He holds in degrees in Geography from Columbia University (BA) and Rutgers University (MA, Ph.D).

Douglas price, program manager

Douglas Price joined the Institute as Program Manager in 2014. He focuses on program development, fundraising and grant writing, and serves as project manager to ISC research projects. Douglas is also engaged in ISC research projects related to material and energy flows in the New York City metropolitan region, with particular emphasis on greenhouse gas emissions. He received his MS in Sustainability Management from Columbia University and his BS in Architecture from the University of Michigan.

justin garson, ph.d., institute fellow

Justin Garson received his PhD in Philosophy and the Program in the History and Philosophy of Science at The University of Texas at Austin in 2006. His areas of specialization are the Philosophy of Biology, with an emphasis on neuroscience and psychiatry; and Environmental Philosophy. His research has been on the relationship between neuroscience and psychiatry, the concepts of function and information in neuroscience, and on the limits of mechanistic explanation in biology. He has also published scientific research in conservation biology and works with the Biodiversity and Biocultural Conservation Laboratory at the University of Texas. In 2008, he and his family lived in Gulu, Northern Uganda, and worked with organizations such as Child Voice International and St. Jude’s Children’s Home to provide capacity training and medical assistance for people affected by war. Justin recently co-edited The Routledge Handbook of Philosophy of Biodiversity. This collection includes contributions from scientists, philosophers, and lawyers, and explores questions such as, what isbiodiversity, why should we protect it, and how can we protect it while respecting the demands of social and global justice? He also writes about how advances in biology can help us understand traditional problems of human nature.

simon gruber, institute fellow

Simon Gruber is an environmental planning and communications consultant specializing in water resources planning and protection, energy efficiency, high performance building and site design, and sustainable infrastructure. Since 1986 he’s worked with local and county government, non-profit organizations, and businesses in the Hudson Valley. Completed and ongoing projects include a county-wide stream bio-monitoring program, a decentralized wastewater planning and demonstration initiative, the Moodna Creek watershed planning process, and development of regional green building and energy education programs. Recent initiatives include green infrastructure planning for watershed restoration and community revitalization, state energy policy research and communications, and several water policy projects. His work has a growing focus on job opportunities in these sectors and developing relevant training resources. His collaboration with ISC began in 2006 with a regional initiative to address climate change impacts on water resources. Contact sgruber100@verizon.net or go to the Green Infrastructure Resources page at hudsonvalleyregionalcouncil.org for more.

john waldman, ph.d., institute fellow

Dr. Waldman is the leading researcher on the City by the Coast Core Program Area. He is professor of biology at Queens College, City University of New York. Prior to this appointment in 2004, he was employed for 20 years by the Hudson River Foundation for Science and Environmental Research. He received his Ph.D. in 1986 from the Joint Program in Evolutionary Biology between the American Museum of Natural History and the City University of New York. His research interests focus on the ecology and evolution of fishes, particularly diadromous forms, urban aquatic environments, and historical ecology. He also is author of several popular books, including Heartbeats in the Muck: The History, Sea Life, and Environment of New York Harbor.

Read Dr. Waldman’s extended bio at Queens College

richard reiss, institute fellow

Richard Reiss is a research fellow in communications, and is the co-founder and editor of City Atlas, the Institute’s partnership for public communications about the future of New York City. City Atlas launched with a Rockefeller Foundation Cultural Innovation Fund award in October, 2011. Over 100 interns from schools including CUNY, NYU, Columbia, Barnard, Princeton and Yale have worked on City Atlas since then, and the project contains over 900 posts about the past, present and future New York City. Richard is also a founder of Artist As Citizen, a nonprofit arts organization that links top young creative talent with projects in the public interest (and which provided teams for the development of City Atlas). Prior to developing nonprofit media, Richard worked as a director of television commercials, and is a member of the DGA. He received a BA in Architecture from Yale University, he is a board member of the Yale Alumni Nonprofit Alliance, and he is currently collaborating with students at Yale in developing the Yale Decarbonization Challenge, which works to educate students and alumni on how to begin to decarbonize their own lifestyles to help meet the 2°C target of the UNFCCC.

dylan gauthier, research fellow: digital media and environmental art

Dylan Gauthier joined the Institute as Media Coordinator and Webmaster, building the ISC website and facilitating digital media production and development, since late 2010, and currently works with the Institute as a Fellow in Digital Media. Dylan is a media artist, designer and educator and has worked as a media consultant, graphic, web and video designer and logistical engineer for non-profit and arts organizations and social justice groups in New York and abroad, and has collaborated with Right to the City initiatives and urban food sustainability and educational groups here in New York City. He received his MFA in Integrated Media Arts from Hunter College in 2012, and currently teaches courses in the Film and Media Department. In addition to his work as a media artist and designer, Dylan also co-organizes Mare Liberum (thefreeseas.org) which seeks to find new ways to increase public access to and understanding of the city’s complex eco-network of living waterways.