Toddi Steelman
Stanback Dean, Duke Nicholas School of the Environment
Dr. Toddi Steelman served five years (2012-2017) as the first permanent Executive Director (Dean) at the School of Environment and Sustainability (SENS), University of Saskatchewan, Saskatoon, Canada. Prior to her appointment in SENS, she served 11 years on the faculty in the Department of Forestry and Environmental Resources at North Carolina State University (2012-2001) and four years in the Graduate School of Public Affairs at the University of Colorado at Denver (1997-2001). She holds a Ph.D. from Duke University’s Nicholas School of Environment, a Master in Public Affairs from Princeton University and a Bachelor of Arts in Political Sciences and International Studies from West Virginia University.
She served six years as the editor of Policy Sciences, one of the premier journals in her field, where she remains on the International Editorial Board. She is past president of the Society of Policy Scientists. She is past Board Chair of the Meewasin Valley Authority in Saskatchewan. She currently serves on the Board of Directors for the International Association of Wildland Fire as Vice President. As a Fulbright Scholar, she spent 2008 at Simon Fraser University in Vancouver, British Columbia.
Working at the intersection of science, policy and decision making, her expertise in environmental and natural resource policy is well-recognized nationally and internationally. Her research has been funded by the National Science Foundation and Canadian Tri Agencies as well as a variety of federal and state agencies. The author of four books, Steelman has published extensively in peer-reviewed journals, as well as opinion and editorial pieces in Nature, the Globe and Mail, and the Los Angeles Times.
She is best known as a wildfire expert and has brought her expertise to bear in a variety of venues including the Royal Society (UK), National Academy of Sciences (US), National Socio-Environmental Synthesis Center (US) and an invited keynote speaker in Canada, Germany, Australia and the United States. Her research agenda has focused on understanding community responses to wildfire, and how communities and agencies interact for more effective wildfire management. Steelman is Co-director, with Dr. Branda Nowell, of the Fire Chasers project at North Carolina State University (www.firechasers.ncsu.edu).
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Stanback Dean, Duke Nicholas School of the Environment
Jamie Satterfield
Reporter, Knoxville News Sentinel
Jamie Satterfield is an award-winning journalist specializing in legal issues, crime, police, environmental crime and investigative reporting. She has nearly 30 years of experience. Honors include a Scripps Howard Award for uncovering the poisoning of the workforce of the nation's largest coal ash spill and induction into the East Tennessee Writer's Hall of Fame.
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Reporter, Knoxville News Sentinel
Heather Stapleton
Dan and Bunny Gabel Associate Professor of Environmental Ethics and Sustainable Environmental Managment, Duke Nicholas School of the Environment
Dr. Stapleton's research focuses on understanding the fate and transformation of organic contaminants in aquatic systems and in indoor environments. Her main focus has been on the bioaccumulation and biotransformation of brominated flame retardants, and specifically polybrominated diphenyl ethers,(PBDEs). Her current research projects explore the routes of human exposure to flame retardant chemicals and examine the way these compounds are photodegraded and metabolized using mass spectrometry to identify breakdown products/metabolites. She uses both in vivo techniques with fish, and in vitro techniques with cell cultures to examine metabolism of this varied class of chemicals. Also of interest to Dr. Stapleton is the study of the fate of PBDEs in the environment which may lead to bioaccumulation in aquatic systems and examining their bioavailability under different environmental conditions.
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Dan and Bunny Gabel Associate Professor of Environmental Ethics and Sustainable Environmental Managment, Duke Nicholas School of the Environment
Avner Vengosh
Professor of Earth and Ocean Sciences, Duke Nicholas School of the Environment
My research aims to link environmental geochemistry and isotope hydrology in order to trace the sources and mechanisms of water contamination and relationships with human health. Current research includes global changes of the chemical and isotopic compositions of water resources due to human intervention and contamination, salinization of water resources in the Middle East and Northern Africa, naturally occurring contaminants (arsenic, fluoride, boron) and radioactivity in water resources, the impact of coal combustion residues on the environment, and the impact of gas drilling and hydro-fracking on the quality of shallow groundwater.
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Professor of Earth and Ocean Sciences, Duke Nicholas School of the Environment
Helen Hsu-Kim
Professor of Civil and Environmental Engineeing, Duke Pratt School of Engineering
Professor Heileen (Helen) Hsu-Kim is an environmental engineer who specializes in environmental aquatic chemistry and geochemistry. Her research tackles problems related to pollutant metals and the biogeochemical processes that alter their distribution in water, soil, and air. The applications of this work include environmental remediation technologies, the impacts of energy production on water resources, global environmental health, and the environmental implications and applications of nanotechnology.
Dr. Hsu-Kim's current research projects are focused on mercury biogeochemistry, the impacts of coal ash disposal on water quality, recovering valuable materials from geological wastes, and health impacts of trace metal/metalloid exposures. A central theme to her work is the utilization of chemical speciation for understanding and predicting the persistence, mobility and bioavailability of metals and minerals in the aquatic environment.
The methodologies her group employs for this research include laboratory techniques for quantifying trace element speciation, functional measures of reactivity and bioavailability of contaminant metals, and techniques to probe interactions at mineral, water and microbial interfaces.
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Professor of Civil and Environmental Engineeing, Duke Pratt School of Engineering
James Hower
Research Professor, Earth and Environmental Sciences, University of Kentucky
Research Interests:
coal and coal-combustion products
petrology
Geochemistry
Education
Ph.D., Geology, Pennsylvania State University, 1978
M.S., Geology and Mineralogy, Ohio State University, 1975
B.A., Earth Science, Millersville University, 1973
Research
Coal and fly ash petrology
Characterization of by-products from coal combustion
Assessment of coal-combustion by-product production in Kentucky
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Research Professor, Earth and Environmental Sciences, University of Kentucky
H. Kim Lyerly
Director, Environmental Health Scholars Program
The Environmental Health Scholars Program (EHSP) is based at Duke University and is led by H. Kim Lyerly, M.D., George Barth Geller Professor of Research in Cancer, and Chief of the Section of Applied Therapeutics in the Division of Surgical Sciences, Department of Surgery in the Duke School of Medicine. The EHSP was established to support investigators whose research focuses on environmental factors and the associated disease risk or occurrence among the population of North Carolina. Special emphasis is encouraged on initiatives that examine the economic and policy issues that shape outcomes in disease prevention and can associate environmental factors and health probabilities.
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Director, Environmental Health Scholars Program
Kristina Zierold
Associate Professor, University of Alabama
Dr. Zierold is an Associate Professor in the Department of Environmental Health Sciences. She received a BS in Chemical Engineering (1994) from Worcester Polytechnic Institute and an MS in Chemical Engineering (1996) from Vanderbilt University. Dr. Zierold earned her PhD in Public Health (specializing in Environmental/Occupational Health Sciences and Epidemiology) form the University of Illinois at Chicago in 2001. After finishing her PhD, Dr. Zierold was an Epidemic Intelligence Service (EIS) Officer with the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (2001-2003). The EIS is an elite team of doctoral level scientists who work on the frontlines of public health. Applying epidemiological and public health methods, EIS officers investigate disease outbreaks, clusters, occupational and environmental hazards, and respond to natural disasters, emergencies, and public health problems throughout the world. It is a two-year program. (Stationed: Wisconsin Department of Health Services, Mentor: Henry A. Anderson, MD)
Dr. Zierold's research involves applying environmental and occupational health and epidemiology methods and concepts to community-based problems. She has worked with many diverse populations in community, clinical, and industrial settings. Dr. Zierold's education and training included quantitative and qualitative research methods, as well as exposure assessment and industrial hygiene techniques; therefore her research utilizes mixed-methods designs when applicable. Her specific interests include: children's environmental health, workplace safety and health in children and adolescents, adverse outcomes from heavy metals exposure and particulate exposure, environmental and social justice issues, air pollution modeling, and community-based research. Dr. Zierold's research has been funded by NIEHS, NIOSH, and foundations.
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Associate Professor, University of Alabama
Julia Krachenka
Assistant Professor, Duke University School of Medicine
Dr. Julia Kravchenko is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Surgery, Duke University Medical Center. She studies the role of multiple factors in disease risks, disease incidence, prevalence, and patients’ survival with the focus on the role of environment (e.g. air and water quality, extreme temperatures, etc.). She works within the Environmental Health Scholars Program at Duke University School of Medicine that is led by Dr. H. Kim Lyerly and aims to investigate the relationships between health, environmental, and medical care data in North Carolina and the U.S. She also does Medicare-based and Medicare-linked large health data analysis of cancer and chronic non-cancer disease incidence, progression, treatment effectiveness, and survival among the older U.S. adults, as well studies the role of comorbidities in cancer patients in treatment choice and patients’ survival.
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Assistant Professor, Duke University School of Medicine
Ryke Longest
Clinical Professor of Law, Clinical Professor of Environmental Sciences and Policy, Duke School of Law
Ryke Longest currently serves as the Director of the Environmental Law and Policy Clinic and a Clinical Professor of Law at the Duke University School of Law. He supervises students practicing in the clinic and teaches the seminar portion of the clinic.
Longest received his B.A. in English from the University of North Carolina in Chapel Hill in 1987 and graduated from the University of North Carolina School of Law in 1991. Prior to coming to Duke he ran a solo law practice and worked for 14 years at the North Carolina Department of Justice. At NCDOJ, he litigated cases before administrative agencies, state courts, federal courts and appellate courts at all levels. He also drafted legislation and advised agencies on rulemaking. Longest also negotiated and led the state’s implementation of two multimillion dollar settlement agreements aimed at reducing the adverse impacts from swine farming in North Carolina.
Since coming to Duke, Longest has served as the founding Director of the Environmental Law and Policy Clinic, a joint project of Duke Law School and the Nicholas School of the Environment. The Environmental Law and Policy Clinic operates as a live client clinic out of offices in the Duke Law School building in Durham, N.C. Students work under direct supervision of Longest and Supervising Attorney Michelle Nowlin.
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Clinical Professor of Law, Clinical Professor of Environmental Sciences and Policy, Duke School of Law
Michelle Nowlin
Clinical Professor of Law, Co-Director, Environmental Law and Policy Clinic, Duke School of Law
Michelle Nowlin joined the Duke Law faculty in June 2008 as a supervising attorney for the Environmental Law and Policy Clinic and became co-director in 2019. She supervises clinic students from the Law School and the Nicholas School of the Environment and co-teaches the seminar portion of the clinic. Since joining the Clinic faculty in 2008, Nowlin has worked with students on a range of matters, including the development of a precedent-setting settlement with the state of North Carolina to protect endangered sea turtles, filing an amicus curiae brief with the U.S. Supreme Court on behalf of low-wealth communities challenging mountaintop-removal mining practices, collaborating with community partners for innovative approaches to reduce marine debris, and crafting measures to protect children from lead poisoning hazards. She also teaches a course in Food and Agricultural Law and Policy. Nowlin currently serves as chair of the board of advisors for the Duke Campus Farm, as a faculty advisor for the Duke Environmental Law and Policy Forum, and as a member of the Bass Connections Faculty Advisory Council and the Community Advisory Board for the Superfund Research Center. She is a past chair of the American Association of Law School’s Food and Agriculture Law Section, and serves on the AALS’ Environmental Law Section council. She received the University’s Faculty Award for Outstanding Leadership in Sustainability in 2013.
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Clinical Professor of Law, Co-Director, Environmental Law and Policy Clinic, Duke School of Law
Sherri White Williamson
Professor, Duke Nicholas School of the Environment
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Professor, Duke Nicholas School of the Environment
Lisa Evans
Senior Counsel, Earth Justice
Lisa Evans is an attorney specializing in hazardous waste law. Ms. Evans has been active in hazardous waste litigation and advocacy for over 25 years. Since 2006, she has been a senior administrative counsel for Earthjustice.
Evans is an expert on coal ash issues and testified before Congress in 2008, 2010 and 2011 and before the National Academies of Science in 2005. Prior to Earthjustice, Ms. Evans worked on toxic coal waste issues for the Boston-based nonprofit Clean Air Task Force.
Ms. Evans began her legal career as an Assistant Regional Counsel at the Environmental Protection Agency, Region I. Ms. Evans is also the author of six nonfiction books, including one children's book. She has three children and lives in Marblehead, MA.
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Senior Counsel, Earth Justice
Carolina Armijo
Artist/Project Leader, Residents for Coal Ash Cleanup, The Lillies Project
Caroline Rutledge Armijo is a mixed-media artist, environmental advocate and mother, who lives in Greensboro, North Carolina. Her work incorporates her concern for environmental issues threatening her home community – coal ash and fracking. She advocates for Residents for Coal Ash Cleanup based at Belews Creek, NC and Alliance of Carolinians Together (ACT) against Coal Ash.
In 2012, Caroline moved “almost” home to Greensboro, North Carolina after living in Washington, DC’s Chinatown for seven years. Caroline is the ninth generation of her family to live in Stokes County, NC, which is a little less than an hour away. She primarily works in book arts, collage and paper sculpture. Her work focuses on personal history, spirituality and the environment.Caroline’s call to first speak out against coal ash in 2010 has evolved into an active full-time volunteer position with Residents for Coal Ash Clean Up, which supports the Belews Creek Community, and ACT against Coal Ash, a state-wide alliance of the communities hosting fourteen Duke Energy sites, and Lee and Chatham Counties, which are receiving the ash in landfills as part of Duke’s clean-up settlement. She has worked with several environmental non-profits, including Appalachian Voices, Clean Water for NC, NC WARN, Moms Clean Air Force, Clean Air Moms Action, BREDL, Earthjustice, Southern Environmental Law Center, and the NAACP. She has also been a featured speaker on related webinars, including one hosted by the NIEHS Superfund Research Program as part of UNC’s Well Empowered Community Program. She has been interviewed for several documentaries, including the Climate Listening Project. Caroline has also initiated collaborations and dialogues with experts in all fields of coal ash remediation, from the Center for Composite Materials Research at North Carolina A&T University to companies in the cement industry. Her primary focus is to share the communities’ stories, keep the faith, and focus on a vision for solutions for all of the stakeholders involved with the coal ash issue in our state and nationwide.
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Artist/Project Leader, Residents for Coal Ash Cleanup, The Lillies Project
Tracey Edwards
Residents for Coal Ash Cleanup, The Lillies Project
Tracey has taken up the helm of her mother Annie Brown, our leading community advocate before she passed away in September 2014. Since Tracey has been featured in national films and news reports, including "The Climate Listening Series" with Dayna Reggero and "Democracy for Sale" with Zach Galifianakis. Both Zach and Tracey are avid Price fans. Tracey will be involved in the community planning of activities, collection of oral histories, and speak to a broad range of audience members both locally and on a broader level.
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Residents for Coal Ash Cleanup, The Lillies Project
Tom Earnhardt
Producer/Director
Tom Earnhardt is a graduate of Davidson College and UNC School of Law, and Producer/Director of the UNC-TV (Public Television) television series, Exploring North Carolina, which highlights natural resources of North Carolina and the Southeast, has been nominated for Emmy Awards five times.
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Producer/Director
