Faculty & Staff
It is important to us that you, as online learners, have access to world-renowned professors and practitioners.
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By ensuring the faculty and staff are front and center in your education through lectures as well as weekly online sessions, we hope that online learners can take full advantage of these opportunities with your regular attendance and insightful questions.
The design and development of this certificate is the result of a collaborative effort between faculty and staff from the Yale School of the Environment, the Hixon Center for Urban Sustainability, and collaborators across the university and beyond, including the Yale Poorvu Center for Teaching and Learning and the Yale Broadcast Studio.
Developed by Yale School of the Environment and the Hixon Center for Urban Sustainability, this certificate program prominently features faculty at the school through lectures covering their areas of expertise. Additionally, several prominent faculty from other universities around the world and renowned practitioners contribute significantly to the lectures that make up this online program. Our approach is to promote a blend of diverse perspectives from academia and practitioners for online learners to gain a broad base of knowledge from which to draw upon in their future work.
Lead Faculty
Karen C. Seto
Yale School of the Environment
Frederick C. Hixon Professor of Geography and Urbanization Science; Faculty Director of the Hixon Center for Urban Sustainability
Karen Seto is one of the world’s leading experts on how urbanization will affect the planet. A geographer and urbanization scientist, she developed the first global forecast of urban land expansion and has pioneered methods to reconstruct historical urban land-use with satellite imagery. She has more than twenty-five years of research experience in Asia where she has conducted fieldwork in over thirty urban areas. Her research has made discoveries on how urbanization will affect climate change, food systems, and biodiversity. Professor Seto serves on many national and international scientific bodies. She was a Coordinating Lead Author for two UN Climate Change Reports, the IPCC 6th (2022) and 5th (2014) Assessment Reports. In both reports she co-led the chapter on how cities can mitigate climate change.
Mark S. Ashton
Yale School of the Environment
Senior Associate Dean of The Forest School; Morris K. Jesup Professor of Silviculture and Forest Ecology; Director of Yale Forests
Mark Ashton has conducted over thirty-five years of research on the biological and physical processes governing the dynamics of natural forests and on the creation of their agroforestry analogs. His long-term research concentrates on tropical and temperate forests of the Asian and American realms. His field sites within these regions were selected specifically to allow comparison of growth, adaptation, and plasticity within and among close assemblages of species that have evolved within forest climates with differing degrees of seasonality. The results of his research have been applied to the development and testing of silvicultural techniques for restoration of degraded lands. He is the author of over 160 peer reviewed journal papers; an author of two field guides to tropical forest trees; an author of the primary silviculture textbook used throughout North America; and an editor or author to twelve other monographs and books concerning the management of forests for a variety of social values concerning agroforestry, watershed management and climate mitigation. Ashton has been recognized by fourteen university awards for his teaching and advising, the David M. Smith Award for Silvicultural Research by the Society of American Foresters, and the UNESCO Sultan Quaboos Award for tropical forest conservation.
Featured Faculty
Eugenie Birch
University of Pennsylvania, Weitzman School of Design
Nussdorf Professor of Urban Research, Department of City and Regional Planning, and Graduate Dean
Eugénie L. Birch FAICP, FAcSS, RTPI (hon), is the Nussdorf Professor of Urban Research, Department of City and Regional Planning, and Graduate Dean, Weitzman School of Design, University of Pennsylvania. The founding co-director of the Penn Institute for Urban Research, Birch is co-editor, University of Pennsylvania Press’s City in the 21st Century series.
Selected publications include from From Grey to Green: Better Data to Finance Nature in Cities (with Amand Lloyd and Samuel Geldin), State of Finance for Nature in Cities: Time to Assess (UNEP, 2023, with Mauricio Rodas, Samuel Geldin and Amanda Lloyd), Realigning the Governance Architecture After COVID-19: City Diplomacy and Multilateral Institutions Journal of International Affairs (2022, with William Burke-White), and Harnessing Urban Innovation to Unlock the Sustainable Development Goals (2024 with Ali Cheshmehzhang, Nicholas You, and Jose Siri), and Urban Sustainable Development, Governance, Finance, Politics (2025 with Pedro Vormittag and Marina Albuquerque). She currently is the co-principal investigator on PennIUR’s City Climate Resilient Infrastructure Initiative (C2IFI) and co-Director, Secretariat, SDSN Global Commission on Urban SDG Finance and in that capacity is a co-author of The Green Cities Guarantee Fund, Unlocking Access to Urban Climate Finance. (2024 with Mauricio Rodas and Luke Campo). Birch has held many leadership positions including editor, Journal of the American Planning Association; chair, Planning Accreditation Board; president, Association of Collegiate Schools of Planning (ACSP); Society for American City and Regional Planning History (SACRPH); and the International Planning History Society (IPHS); member of the NYC Planning Commission; chair, UN Habitat’s World Urban Campaign (WUC) and president, General Assembly of Partners (GAP) for the New Urban Agenda. She currently is member, Executive Committee, Sustainable Development Solutions Network (SDSN); and Board of the Regional Plan Association (RPA). Birch has received several awards: Lawrence C. Gerkens Award in Planning History, Martin Meyerson Distinguished Educator Award, Jay Chatterjee Award for Distinguished Service, Margarita McCoy Award (Association of Collegiate Schools of Planning) and the President’s Award (American Planning Association).
Birch holds PhD and Masters degrees in Urban Planning, Columbia University.
Jessica Espey
University of Bristol, School of Geographical Sciences
Senior Lecturer
Jessica Espey is a political economist with expertise in public policy and international governance, working as a Senior Lecturer at the University of Bristol in the School of Geographical Sciences. She has more than 17 years professional experience conducting research and policy work on inclusive economic and social development, having worked at think-tanks, within the UN, for NGOs and for the Government of Liberia. Her research interests are polycentric governance, epistemology and sustainable development, and the global governance of sustainable urbanization. She is an established author in this field, with more than 30+ publications including a book on science and global policymaking published by Springer Nature. Having worked with the United Nations for more than ten years, Jessica is squarely focused on ensuring research has policy impact. She continues to serve as a senior adviser to two UN initiatives and from 2022-2023 was an adviser to the UN President of the General Assembly on GA reform.
Angel Hsu
University of North Carolina Chapel Hill
Associate Professor of Public Policy and Environment, Ecology and Energy
Angel Hsu is the founder and director of the Data-Driven EnviroLab, an interdisciplinary research group that applies quantitative approaches to pressing environmental issues. She focuses on the convergence of urbanization and climate change, specifically delving into how cities play dual roles as contributors to and potential solutions to climate change. She was a contributing author to the IPCC 6th Assessment Report and lead author of the 2018 UNEP Emissions Gap Report chapter on non-state and subnational actors. She regularly advises governments, has chaired and contributed to the World Economic Forum’s Global Future Councils, and was a 2018 TED Age of Amazement and 2020 TED Climate Countdown invited speaker. She has a Ph.D. in Environmental Policy from Yale University and was formerly an Assistant Professor of Environmental Studies at Yale-NUS College in Singapore.
Şiir Kılkış
Orta Doğu Teknik Üniversitesi : SDEWES Centre : IPCC
Professor : Senior Researcher : AR7 WGIII Vice-Chair
Şiir Kılkış serves as Vice-Chair of Working Group III of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) in the Seventh Assessment cycle and served as a member of the Scientific Steering Committee of the Scoping Meeting of the Special Report on Climate Change and Cities. She was a Lead Author in the IPCC Sixth Assessment Report with a focus on mitigation, urban systems, and sustainable development, engaging actively in cross-Working Group collaborations, and was in the core author team of the Summary for Policymakers. She is alumna of KTH Royal Institute of Technology and Georgetown University, where she graduated magna cum laude with honours as the gold medallist in Science, Technology, and International Affairs. She is a member of the World Climate Research Programme ScenarioMIP Advisory Group in CMIP7. She is Senior Researcher and Science Advisor to the President at The Scientific and Technological Research Council of Türkiye. Her double affiliation is in the Earth System Science program of the Graduate School of Natural and Applied Sciences at Middle East Technical University as Professor focusing on urban systems, energy system analysis, climate change, and interactions with sustainable development. She takes place among the world’s top 2% scientists in energy, environmental science, and emerging/strategic technologies. She received prestigious national and international academic awards for her scientific research work spanning over 20 years in the field, including a centennial year research fellowship and environmental science service award in Türkiye.
Anjali Mahendra
World Resources Institute Ross Center for Sustainable Cities
Director of Global Research
Anjali Mahendra is an internationally known expert on the relationship between urban development and climate change, experienced in leading research to inform policy and practice. She led WRI’s flagship World Resources Report series ‘Towards a More Equal City’ (2015-2021), exploring how growing cities can ensure equitable access to urban services and infrastructure, while solving citywide environmental challenges and increasing economic opportunity for all. Based on this, she has developed resources on Inclusive Climate Action Planning for C40 Cities that are currently used to guide planning and train city officials worldwide. Dr. Mahendra has taught courses and authored numerous publications on urban transportation and land use policies, their health, economic and equity impacts, and their role in climate change mitigation and adaptation. She led research for WRI’s India office prior to her global role. Prior to WRI, she led projects for the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, the U.S. Department of Transportation, the Transportation Research Board (TRB), U.S. state and local agencies, and international organizations as a senior consultant at ICF International and the World Bank. She is a member of the prestigious U.S. Climate Security Round Table, has served as an evaluator for the Ashden Foundation’s Sustainable Mobility Award, and was an Expert Advisor for the 2023 and 2024 cycles of The Earthshot Prize. Her academic training includes masters degrees (City Planning, Transportation) and a PhD (Urban and Regional Planning), from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and an undergraduate degree in architecture from the School of Planning and Architecture in New Delhi, India.
Eric Masanet
University of California, Santa Barbara
Professor and Mellichamp Chair in Sustainability Science for Emerging Technologies
Eric Masanet holds the Mellichamp Chair in Sustainability Science for Emerging Technologies in the Bren School, with a courtesy appointment in the Department of Mechanical Engineering. At UCSB, he leads the Industrial Sustainability Analysis Laboratory, which develops models, datasets, and roadmaps for decarbonizing the built environment. His previous roles include service as a lead author of the IPCC's Sixth Assessment Report (AR6), Working Group III chapter on "Demand, services, and social aspects of mitigation;" as a consultant on energy, technology, and innovation in the U.S. White House Office of Science and Technology Policy; and as Head of the Energy Demand Technology Unit at the International Energy Agency in Paris. He is also the former Editor in Chief of Resources, Conservation, and Recycling, the leading scientific journal on sustainable resource systems. He holds a PhD in mechanical engineering from the University of California, Berkeley, with a specialization in sustainable design and manufacturing.
Anu Ramaswami
Princeton Institute for International and Regional Studies, and the High Meadows Environmental Institute
Sanjay Swani ’87 Professor of India Studies : Professor of Civil and Environmental Engineering
Dr. Anu Ramaswami is an interdisciplinary environmental engineer recognized as a pioneer and leader on the topic of sustainable urban infrastructure systems. Her work explores how seven key sectors - that provide water, energy, food, buildings, mobility, connectivity, waste management and green/public spaces – shape human and environmental wellbeing, from local to global scales. She brings expertise across multiple disciplines: environmental science and engineering, industrial ecology, public health and public affairs, with a human-centered and systems focus.
Neha Sami
Indian Institute for Human Settlements
Associate Dean, School of Environment and Sustainability; Senior Faculty Lead, Academics & Research
Neha Sami has a Ph.D. in Urban Planning from the University of Michigan, a Masters in Environmental Management from the Yale School of the Environment and a B.A. in Economics from the University of Mumbai. Her research focuses on the governance of infrastructure, especially mega-infrastructure in the context of post-liberalization urban India. She also works on questions of environmental governance focusing on institutional analysis and state capacity as well as on questions of urban pedagogy.
Arianna Salazar-Miranda
Yale School of the Environment
Assistant Professor of Urban Planning and Data Science
Arianna Salazar-Miranda’s research examines the relationship between urban planning, the built environment, human behavior, and sustainability using computational methods and new sources of data. Other research interests include developing digital tools in collaboration with cities and communities to support their sustainability efforts.
William Solecki
Hunter College, City University of New York
Professor in the Department of Geography
William Solecki’s research focuses on urban environmental change, resilience, and environmental transitions generally, and urban climate vulnerability and adaptation specifically. He has served as leader or co-leader of numerous climate international, national, and local climate impacts studies and assessments including on several local, national, and international science committees and panels and co-Chair of the New York City on Panel on Climate Change (NPCC). He has most recently served as a lead author on the IPCC, AR6, WG2, Chapter 17 on “Decision-making options for managing risk.” He is a co-founder of the Urban Climate Change Research Network (UCCRN) that now includes approximately 1,500 members and co-editor of the recent Climate Change and Cities Assessment (ARC3) Report published by Cambridge University Press. He also serves as the co-editor of the journals Current Opinion in Environmental Sustainability and Journal of Extreme Events. His Ph.D. is in Geography (1990) from Rutgers University.
Staff
Colleen Murphy-Dunning
Yale School of the Environment
Program Director, Hixon Center for Urban Sustainability, Urban Resources Initiative (URI); Lecturer in Urban and Community Forestry
Colleen Murphy Dunning partners with faculty to lead a field based module on urban ecology for all incoming YSE graduate students. Prior to coming to New Haven in 1995, she taught agroforestry at the Kenya Forestry College and reviewed natural resource operations in Papua New Guinea for the Rainforest Action Network. Colleen received her B.S. in Public and Environmental Affairs from Indiana University, and M.S. in Forestry from Humboldt State University.
Aïcha S. Woods
Yale School of the Environment
Urban Program Manager
Aïcha S. Woods is the Urban Program Manager at Yale School of the Environment, and supports the Yale Urban Initiative, the Climate and Urban Learning Communities at YSE and the joint degree with the School of Architecture. Aïcha has expertise in sustainable design, affordable housing, infrastructure, and community engagement. Prior to working with YSE, Aicha directed Fairfield County’ s Center for Housing Opportunity and consulted on affordable housing finance and development. Aicha led the City of New Haven’s Department of Planning, including spearheading infrastructure and resilience projects and zoning reform. She trained as an architect at UC Berkeley and at Yale School of Architecture. As a design consultant she worked on major urban projects around the world and the US including in Ho Chi Minh City, Liverpool, Los Angeles, Minneapolis and Galveston.
Cameron Kritikos
Yale School of the Environment
Program Manager, Urban Climate Leadership Certificate
Cameron Kritikos is a recent graduate of Yale University having completed his Masters of Environmental Management and Masters of Divinity. Prior to Yale University, he supported faith communities in the U.S. and Canada by bridging the gap to sustainable technologies, elected officials, and educational opportunities to address climate change. He completed his B.A. in International Development Studies from Calvin University in 2017.
In the next few decades, cities face the unique challenge of mitigating future climate change and adapting to its present consequences while simultaneously enabling flourishing lives for all their occupants. To rise to these challenges and make good on these opportunities, we urgently need to scale the education of urban climate leaders. I look forward to graduates from the Urban Climate Leadership program joining the movement and leading the way to address climate impacts in urban areas.”
