Who We Are

Sections: Faculty - Postdoctoral Fellows - Collaborators - Graduate Students - Research Assistants - Former Students

Faculty

VIEE faculty come from a number of Vanderbilt's schools and departments, bringing the collective skills and expertise necessary to address today's tough energy and environmental problems, while simultaneously educating tomorrow's leaders.

• Mark Abkowitz , Professor of Civil and Environmental Engineering
• John Ayers , Professor of Earth and Environmental Sciences
• Jack Barkenbus , Associate Director VIEE and Climate Change Research Network
• Janey Camp , Research Assistant Professor of Civil and Environmental Engineering
• Amanda Carrico , Research Assistant Professor
• James Clarke , Professor of Civil and Environmental Engineering
• Mark Cohen , Professor of Economics, Ethics and Corporate Social Responsibility
• James Fraser , Associate Professor of Human and Organizational Development
• David Furbish , Professor & Chair of Earth and Environmental Sciences
• Jonathan Gilligan , Professor of Earth and Environmental Sciences
• Steven Goodbred , Professor of Earth and Environmental Sciences
• David Hess , Professor of Sociology 
• George Hornberger , VIEE Director & Professor of Civil and Environmental Engineering
• David Kosson , Professor & Chair of Civil and Environmental Engineering & Co-Director of CRESP
• Euguene LeBoeuf , Professor of Civil and Environmental Engineering
• David Owens , Clinical Professor of Management
• Charles Powers , Professor of Environmental Engineering & Co-Director of CRESP
• JB Ruhl , Professor & Chair of Law
• James Schorr , Clinical Professor of Management
• Michael Vandenbergh , Professor of Law & Director of CCRN
• W. Kip Viscusi , Professor of Law, Economics and Management

Postdoctoral Fellows

VIEE postdoctoral fellows have a unique blend of expertise in the social and natural sciences. The postdoctoral fellows work closely with each other and with VIEE faculty and students to conduct cutting-edge research on energy and environmental issues.

Josh Bazuin
Research Focus: Post-conflict transitions, international community development efforts (especially around housing, poverty alleviation, and the environment), and the role of religion in peace-building and development.

Sharon Shewmake
Research Focus: Environmental economics, energy economics, resource economics, transportation, and economic development

Collaborators

Lanka Thabrew
Research Focus: Life cycle assessment, multi-stakeholder environmental decision making, and international sustainable development research

Heather Barnes Truelove
Research Focus: Psychological underpinnings of individual behavior to reduce climate change, and attitudes toward nuclear energy and nuclear facilities

Graduate Students

Our students are pursuing graduate degrees in environmental engineering, management, policy, science, and other related areas. Each student is taking a customized curriculum and is engaged in research initiatives in his or her area of study.

Laura Mahoney Benneyworth , Ph.D. candidate, Environmental Management
Research Focus: Evaluation of land use and drinking water quality in southwestern Bangladesh and implications for sustainability and community resilience.

Emily Burchfield , Ph.D. candidate, Community Research and Action
Research Focus: Natural resource management impacts on community livelihood and participatory approaches to evaluating adaptive capacity.

John Crane , Ph.D. candidate, Environmental Engineering
Research Focus: Determination of what impacts nitrous oxide emissions from urban riparian buffer zones may have for regional greenhouse gas inventories

Leslie Lyons Duncan , Ph.D. candidate, Environmental Engineering
Research Focus: Local and regional hydrological and subsurface conditions in regulation of the mechanical behavior of landslides and in relation to changing river flows

Thushara Gunda , Ph.D. candidate, Environmental Engineering
Research Focus: Spatial and temporal patterns in water quality along cascade systems in the Mahaweli River Watershed, Sri Lanka

John Jacobi , Ph.D. candidate, Environmental Engineering
Research Focus: Drought analysis for Sri Lanka

Yi Mei , Ph.D. candidate, Environmental Engineering 
Research Focus: Hydrological regulation on dissolved organic carbon transport from agricultural and forest soils to streams

John Nay , Ph.D. candidate, Environmental Engineering, Management, and Policy
Research Focus: Modeling social-ecological system resilience to climate change impacts in Bangladesh and Sri Lanka.

Ann Olsen, Ph.D. candidate, Environmental Management
Research Focus: Regional variation in performance of the LEED green building rating system using technological innovation system and socio-technical sustainability transition perspectives

Debra Perrone , Ph.D. candidate, Environmental Engineering 
Research Focus: Spatial and temporal patterns of water, energy, and food in a changing climate

Scott Worland , M.S. candidate, Earth and Environmental Science
Research Focus: Modeling the potential mechanical and chemical responses of shallow aquifers in the Khulna region of Bangladesh due to tidal influence, anthropogenic landscape alterations and, ultimately, sea level rise.

Research Assistants

Elizabeth Stone
Research Project: Sri Lanka
Research Focus: System of rice intensification, rice cultivation, and chronic kidney disease.

Former Students

Alexandra Ewing , Ph.D., Environmental Management
Dissertation Research Focus: Life cycle analysis of alternative corporate sustainability strategies
Current Position: Associate Director, Harpeth River Watershed Association