Meet the Faculty
Thesis Chairs and Advisors

Professor and
Department Chair
Office hours, sign up here!
Email: katherine.cushing@sjsu.edu
Phone: (408) 924-6951
Ph.D., Environmental Engineering, Stanford University
M.S., Civil and Environmental Engineering, Stanford University
B.S., Industrial Engineering, Northwestern University
Top Research Interests
- Water Reuse
- Environmental Policy Implementation
- Environmental Education

Professor
Email: dustin.mulvaney@sjsu.edu
Phone: (408) 924-5439
Ph.D., Environmental Studies, University of California, Santa Cruz
M.S., Environmental Policy, New Jersey Institute of Technology
B.A., Chemical Engineering, New Jersey Institute of Technology
Top Research Interests
- Political Ecology
- Science & Technology Studies
- Solar Power Commodity Chains
- Land Use & Recycling

Professor and Graduate Program Coordinator
Office hours, sign up here!
Email: rachel.omalley@sjsu.edu
Phone: (831) 334-1066
Ph.D., Biology, University of California, Santa Cruz
B.A., Biology, Swarthmore College
Top Research Interests
- Insect Ecology
- Conservation & Restoration
- Environmental Justice & Impact Assessment
- International & CA Coastal Sustainable Agriculture

Assistant Professor
Email: costanza.rampini@sjsu.edu
Phone: (408) 924-8979
Ph.D., Environmental Studies, University of California, Santa Cruz
B.A., Environmental Studies, University of California, Santa Barbara
Top Research Interests
- Human Dimensions of Climate Change
- Risks & Disasters
- Environmental Justice

Professor
Email: will.russell@sjsu.edu
Phone: (408) 924-5450
Ph.D., Environmental Science Policy and Management, University of California, Berkeley
Top Research Interests
- Forest Disturbance & Recovery
- Fire Ecology
- Ecosystem Restoration

Professor and Undergraduate Program Advisor
Office hours, sign up here!
Email: lynne.trulio@sjsu.edu
Phone: (408) 924-5445
Ph.D., Ecology, University of California, Davis
Top Research Interests
- Conservation Biology
- Human-Wildlife Interactions
- Burrowing Owl Ecology & Conservation

Professor
Email: kleegary@comcast.net
Phone: (408) 924-5455
Ph.D., Geography, University of Oregon
Top Research Interests
- California Protected Lands (i.e., wildlands)
- California Coastal Wetlands
- Nature and Conservation Photography
*Not currently accepting Master of Science students
Lecturers

Lecturer
Email: benoit.delaveau@gmail.com
Phone: (650) 288-6653
M.S., Environmental Studies, San Jose State University
B.A., Sociology and Mass Communication, University of California, Berkeley
Top Research Interests
- Green Energy
- Green Building Infrastructure

Lecturer
Email: heather.duplaisir@sjsu.edu
Phone: (408) 924-5477
M.S., Recreation, San Francisco State University
B.A., Psychology, San Francisco State University
Top Research Interests
- Ecotourism, Sustainable, and Socially Responsible Tourism
- Environmental Justice
- Social Justice

Lecturer
Email: ptferraro5@gmail.com
Phone: (408) 293-1852
M.S., Environmental Engineering, San Jose State University
B.S., Civil Engineering, Loyola Marymount University
Top Research Interests
- Water Resource Management
- Water Policy in the U.S.

Lecturer
Email: padmaja.iyer@sjsu.edu
Phone: (408) 369-0939
M.B.A., Marketing and Data Management, University of Illinois Chicago
Top Research Interests
- Environmental Education
- Environmental and Social Justice
- Mining and Renewable Energy

Lecturer
Email: helen.killeen@sjsu.edu
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/helenkilleen
B.A., International Studies, American University
B.A., Environmental Studies, American University
Ph.D., Ecology, University of California, Davis
Top Research Interests
- Marine Ecology
- Natural Resource Policy
- Environmental Education

Lecturer
Email: rachel.lazzeriaerts@sjsu.edu
Phone: (408) 924-7688
M.S., Environmental Studies, San Jose State University
B.A., Environmental Studies, University of California, Santa Cruz
Top Research Interests
- Environmental Education
- Natural Resource Analysis
- Coastal Environments

Lecturer
Email: ada.marquez@sjsu.edu
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/ada-edith-marquez/
M.S., Environmental Studies, San Jose State University
Top Research Interests
- Environmental Impact Assessments
- California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA)
- Land Use Planning

Lecturer
Email: sungjay.ou@sjsu.edu
Phone: (408) 924-5566
Ph.D., Socio-cultural Anthropology, University of California, Berkeley
Top Research Interests
- Anthropology
- Indigenous Communities
- Social and Ecological Sustainability

Lecturer
Email: amy.petersen@sjsu.edu
Phone: (408) 924-5477
M.S., Environmental Studies, San Jose State University
B.A., Environmental Studies, San Jose State University
Top Research Interests
- Resource Analysis
- Environmental Research and Writing
- Green Energy

Lecturer
Email: mary.poffenroth@sjsu.edu
Phone: (408) 924-4831
M.S., Science Communication, Imperial College London
M.S., Psychology, Fielding Graduate University
M.S., Biological Sciences, San Jose State University
Top Research Interests
- Biological Science
- Psychology
- Science Communication

Lecturer
Email: cristina.siegel@sjsu.edu
Phone: (408) 924-5477
Ph.D., Forestry and Soil Biology, Virginia Tech
M.S., Forestry, Virginia Tech
B.S., Soil Science, California Polytechnic State University, San Luis Obispo
Top Research Interests
- Soil Biology
- Forest Management
- Natural Resource Conservation

Lecturer
Email: nadine.skinner@sjsu.edu
Website: https://nadineannskinner.wordpress.com/
Ph.D., International Comparative Education, Stanford University
M.P.A., Social Policy, Cornell University
B.A., Politics and History, University of California, Santa Cruz
Top research Interests
- Environmental Education
- Environmental and Social Justice

Chiao Su
Lecturer
Email: cheng.su@sjsu.edu
M.S., Mathematics and Economics
Research Interests:
- Environmental Economics
- Environmental Policy
- Mathematics

Lecturer
Email: jagruti.vedamati@sjsu.edu
Phone: (408) 924-5455
B.Sc., Physics, Utkal University
M.Sc., Environmental Science, Jawaharlal Nehru University
Ph.D., Ocean Sciences, Univ. of Southern California
Top Research Interests
- Ocean Science
- Climate Change
- Environmental Education
Emeritus

Professor Emerita
Email: kathryn.davis@sjsu.edu
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/kathryn-davis-b05060a8/
Ph.D., Historical Geography and Environmental History, University of California, Berkeley
M.A., Gender History, San Fransisco State University
B.A., United States History, San Fransisco State University
Top Research Interests
- Extreme Environments: Ocean & Desert
- Environmental History
- Historical Ecology
- Race, Gender, Class & Nature
- Women in Science
In Memoriam

Professor
Ph.D., Physics, Stanford University
M.S., Physics, Darthmouth College

