The Levenick iSEE Fellows Program
ABOUT THE PROGRAM
Mr. Stuart J. Levenick
The Levenick iSEE Fellows Program accomplishes iSEE’s goal of actionable research — that is, work that leads to lasting, real-world solutions to the world’s current and future sustainability-, energy- and environment-related issues.
Created by a gift from Stuart L. and Nancy J. Levenick of Peoria in 2014, the Levenick iSEE Fellows Fund will support the Institute through Research Fellows, Instructional Fellows, Teaching Sustainability Fellows, and Scholars. Illinois faculty Fellows and student Scholars will research — and teach about — specific problems of campus and global sustainability.
By its very nature, Fellows’ work will also support iSEE’s goals in the areas of campus sustainability, education, and outreach, as they seek solutions for campus issues, teach students and colleagues, and communicate about the great need for more sustainable practices.
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2022-23 FELLOWS
2022-23 Teaching Sustainability Fellow Kate Abney
Kate Abney is Associate Director of Intercultural and Global Learning in the College of Liberal Arts & Sciences (LAS).
The Levenick funding will help Abney incorporate human-caused climate change discussions into LAS 291-292 “Global Perspectives” courses for students participating in education abroad programming;
2022-23 Teaching Sustainability Fellow Niloufar Emami
Niloufar Emami is an Assistant Professor of Architecture.
The Levenick funding will help her create a new course, ARCH 571 “Additive Formwork for Complex Concrete,” to explore new, sustainable fabrication methods for designing and making concrete building components.
2022-23 Teaching Sustainability Fellow Surangi Punyasena
Surangi Punyasena is an Associate Professor of Plant Biology.
The Levenick funding will help her update IB 105 “Environmental Biology” with existing and emerging solutions to environmental issues.
2022-23 Teaching Sustainability Fellow Gretchen Winter
Gretchen Winter is a Clinical Assistant Professor in Business Administration. The Levenick funding will help her create a new 100-level global classroom course, “Evaluating Energy Sources of the Future Using a Professional Responsibility Lens,” which will challenge students to think about how companies and countries can develop an energy transition plan for a lower carbon future. (Colombia is the setting for the case, and the course will blend classroom learning, field trips to area non-fossil fuel energy research sites, and guest lectures from business leaders and professors. The course is expected to be jointly offered with the University of Manchester — students from there will visit campus for two weeks, and all students will complete UIUC-Manchester team presentations.)
2022-23 Teaching Sustainability Fellow Benjamin A. Bross
Benjamin A. Bross is an Assistant Professor of Architecture.
The Levenick funding will help him create a new 200-level course on regional and urban-scaled environmental, social, and economic sustainability.
His Architecture Department profile >>>
2022-23 Teaching Sustainability Fellow Ryan Flanagan
Ryan Flanagan is a Senior Lecturer of Rhetoric at ZJU-UIUC Institute in Haining, China.
The Levenick funding will help him update the department’s Rhetoric 101-102 course by implementing sustainability as the central concept (and coordinating student participation in the Eco Club on the ZJU campus).
2022-23 Teaching Sustainability Fellow Mark Taylor
Mark Taylor is an Associate Professor of Architecture.
The Levenick funding will help him create a new class, ARCH 576 “Solar Decathlon: Past, Present, and Future,” in which students will learn about sustainable housing design and develop schematics for affordable, energy-efficient homes.
2022-23 Teaching Sustainability Fellow Jinhui Yan
Jinhui Yan is an Assistant Professor of Civil & Environmental Engineering (CEE).
The Levenick funding will help him enhance CEE 360 “Structural Engineering” with sustainability awareness and materials, and add analysis of environmental, energy, and economic impacts.
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2021-22 Levenick Teaching Sustainability Fellows Cohort
Bryan Endres is a Professor of Agricultural and Consumer Economics. He researches the impact of law throughout food and bio-products supply chains and develops solutions to improve regulatory outcomes.
The Levenick funding helped Endres add to an existing course titled “Food and Law.”
His ACE Department profile >>>
Renata Endres is an Instructor in the Department of Agricultural and Consumer Economics. She received her Ph.D. in Economics in 2015 from the University of Ljubljana, Slovenia.
The Levenick iSEE Teaching Fellowship funding helped Endres create a new course titled “Recreation and Tourism Economics.”
Her ACE Department profile >>>
Ali Freter is Interim Director of the College of Agricultural, Consumer, and Environmental Sciences Study Abroad Program. She is a graduate of the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign.
The Levenick funding helped Freter add to an existing course titled “First-Year Experience Program.”
Ramez Hajj is an Assistant Professor of Civil and Environmental Engineering. He researches the mechanical fundamentals that drive behavior of infrastructure materials, especially for transportation.
The Levenick funding helped Hajj add to an existing course titled “Asphalt Materials.”
His CEE Department profile >>>
Jiajun He is a Teaching Assistant Professor of Mechanical Science and Engineering. He researches petroleum engineering, energy, carbon capture, and porous materials.
The Levenick funding helped He create a new course titled “Carbon Capture and Storage.”
His MechSE Department profile >>>
Samantha Lindgren is an Assistant Professor of Education. As a student, she was involved in iSEE’s Sun Buckets research project, helping create and market a cookstove that uses stored solar energy.
The Levenick funding helped Lindgren create a new course titled “Education for Global Sustainability.”
Roman Makhnenko is an Assistant Professor of Civil and Environmental Engineering. He researches fluid-saturated geomaterials, deep carbon dioxide and nuclear waste storage, geothermal energy exploration, gas shales, and hydraulic fracturing.
The Levenick funding helped Makhnenko add to the existing “GeoEnergy Systems” course.
His CEE Department profile >>>
Ripan Malhi is a Professor of Anthropology. His research uses molecular tools to address questions of interest in the life sciences, social sciences, and humanities.
The Levenick funding helped Malhi create a new course titled “Transforming Science from Colonial to Sustainable Practice.”
His Anthropology Department profile >>>
Eman Saadah is a Professor of Linguistics. She is also Director of the Less Commonly Taught Languages Program, Director and Language Coordinator of Arabic, and Advisor for the Minor in Arabic Studies.
The Levenick funding helped Saadah add to an existing course titled “Language and Culture of the Arab World.”
Her Linguistics Department profile >>>
Chadly Stern is an Assistant Professor of Psychology. His research broadly examines how belief systems — including political belief systems — and motivations guide the way that people perceive and interact with the world.
The Levenick funding helped Stern add to an existing course titled “Stereotypes, Prejudice, and Discrimination.”
His Psych Department profile >>>
Ann Sychterz is an Assistant Professor of Civil and Environmental Engineering. She researches cable and tensile structures, optimized sensor placement for civil structures, structural dynamics, machine learning and robotics, and damage mitigation and risk assessment in large-scale structures.
The Levenick funding helped Sychterz build a new course titled “Masonry Structures.”
Her CEE Department profile >>>
Roderick Wilson is an Assistant Professor of History and East Asian Languages and Cultures. He researches social and environmental history of Japan and East Asia — including the intersection of people and their local habitats in Tokugawa and modern Japan.
The Levenick funding helped Wilson add to an existing course titled “Intro to Japanese Culture.”
2020-21 Levenick Teaching Sustainability Fellows Cohort
Alison Anders is an Associate Professor in the Department of Geology. Her research interests include the interactions between climate, erosion, and tectonics with a focus on orographic precipitation and anthropogenic influences on landscape evolution.
The Levenick funding helped Anders develop a course titled “GIS for Geology and Environmental Science.”
Her Geology Department profile >>>
Kim Curtis is an Adjunct Lecturer in the Department of Theatre. She specializes in costume design at Illinois.
The Levenick funding helped Curtis develop a course titled “Theater Design and Production,” incorporating sustainability into costume design and production as well as scenic painting and construction, props, lighting, sound, and possibly even writing and direction.
Her Theatre Department profile >>>
Sean Kennedy is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Urban + Regional Planning. His research analyzes the relationship between environmental planning and regional development, with an emphasis on how urban sustainability initiatives shape economies and livelihoods in rural and peri-urban regions.
The Levenick funding helped Kennedy develop a course titled “Food and the City,” a critical examination of the relationship between urban food systems, social movements, and sustainability.
His Urban + Regional Department profile >>>
Eleftheria Kontou is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering. Her research interests include transportation planning, electrification and emerging vehicle technologies operations, as well as transportation and energy sectors interdependencies.
The Levenick funding helped Kontou develop a course titled “Urban Transportation Models,” a critical examination of the relationship between urban food systems, social movements, and sustainability.
Her Civil and Environmental Engineering Department profile >>>
Daniel Schneider is a Professor in the Department of Urban + Regional Planning. He is an ecologist and environmental historian whose research focuses on the interrelations between natural and human systems in planning and management.
The Levenick funding helped Schneider develop a course titled “FAA 230: Sustainable Design of the Built Environment,” a core course in the newly created B.S. in Sustainable Design program in the College of Fine and Applied Arts.
His Urban + Regional Department profile >>>
Andrew Stillwell is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering. His research expertise is in power and energy systems with a specialization in power electronics.
The Levenick funding helped Stillwell incorporate sustainability, life cycle management, land use considerations, and public policy implications into “ECE 330: Green Electric Energy.”
His Electrical and Computer Engineering Department profile >>>
Chiara Vincenzi is an Adjunct Instructor in the School of Art + Design. An Italian fashion designer and educator, she is expanding the fashion curriculum at Illinois.
The Levenick funding helped Vincenzi develop a course titled “ARTS 321: Sustainable Fashion Development & Branding,” providing the tools for conscious, ethical choices during development of a sustainable fashion collection, from design to production and promotion.
Her School of Art + Design profile >>>
Andrew Wilson is a Teaching Associate in Social Studies at University Laboratory High School. He teaches World History, Introduction to Cultural Anthropology, and Introduction to Psychology.
The Levenick funding helped Wilson incorporate sustainability — emphasizing the ways in which global climate systems drive historic human behavior — into his World History course.
2019-20 Levenick Teaching Sustainability Fellows Cohort
Eric Benson is an Associate Professor and Chair of Graphic Design in the School of Art + Design. He received his MFA in Design from the University of Texas at Austin in 2006.
His research and teaching at Illinois laid the foundation to create the Fresh Press Agri-Fiber Paper Lab. Fresh Press explores the potential of papermaking to be zero waste, environmentally sustainable, and a catalyst for a thriving local economy. His Levenick iSEE Fellowship was used to develop ARTD 451: Ethics of a Designer in a Global Economy.
His School of Art + Design profile >>>
Warren Lavey is an Adjunct Professor of Law and Natural Resources and Environmental Sciences (NRES) at Illinois. He received his J.D. in 1979 at Harvard University.
His research interests are in regulatory models to mitigate climate change; environmental policy advocacy; and designing and implementing clean energy and energy efficiency programs. His Levenick iSEE Fellowship was used to develop ESE 466: Climate Change, Law and Health.
J. Cory Pettijohn is a Research Assistant Professor of Geology and a Teaching Assistant Professor in the School of Earth, Society & Environment. He received his Ph.D. in Earth Sciences (Hydrology) from Boston University in 2008.
In addition to researching hydrology, drought, evapotranspiration, and land use, he works with cutting-edge online pedagogy. His Levenick iSEE Fellowship was used to develop GLBL 298/ESE 389: Food Systems Sustainability.
His Department of Geology profile >>>
Melissa Prescott is an Assistant Professor of School/Childhood Foods and Nutrition. She received her Ph.D. in Public Health from New York University in 2015.
Her research is on the impact of farm-to-school programs on student diet quality and food waste. She promotes health equity and food security through her research on low income families’ utilization of fresh fruit and vegetables in food pantries. Her Levenick iSEE Fellowship was used to develop a new Food Science & Human Nutrition (FSHN) course titled FSHN 499: Environmental Impacts of Food & Nutrition Systems.
Dr. Holly Rosencranz is a Clinical Associate Professor of Medicine. She received her M.D. from the University of Illinois College of Medicine in 1982.
Her Levenick iSEE Fellowship was used to develop ESE 466: Climate Change, Law and Health.
Nekita Thomas is an Assistant Professor of Graphic Design. She received her MFA in Visual Studies from the University at Buffalo in 2015.
She works primarily with themes of perspective identity, race and representation, racial equity, commodity, media, popular culture, urbanism, and resiliency to focus on the analysis, explication, and disruption of racially driven exclusionary and oppressive sociocultural practices. Her Levenick iSEE Fellowship was used to develop ARTD 451: Ethics of a Designer in a Global Economy.
Her School of Art + Design profile >>>
Yun Kyu Yi is an Assistant Professor of Architecture. He received his Ph.D. in Architecture from the University of Pennsylvania in 2008.
His research and teaching expertise is in environmental and sustainable architecture and technology, computational building modeling and simulation, building performance evaluation, and indoor occupants’ behavior. His Levenick iSEE Fellowship was used to develop a new Architecture course titled ARCH 576: Building Energy Use.
Former Instructional Fellows
Jeremy Guest (2016-17, 20) is an Associate Professor of Civil and Environmental Engineering. He received a B.S. and M.S. in civil engineering from Bucknell University and Virginia Tech, respectively, and a Ph.D. in environmental engineering from the University of Michigan.
His research focuses on the development of technologies for sustainable water and sanitation, with a focus on resource recovery from bodily excreta in technologically advanced and developing communities. His team integrates experimentation, modeling, and sustainable design to prioritize and pursue technology development pathways.
His CEE Department profile >>>
Madhu Khanna (2016-20) is the ACES Distinguished Professor of Agricultural and Consumer Economics (ACE) at Illinois and the Acting Director at iSEE. She established the Sustainability, Energy, and Environment Fellows Program in 2015 as the Associate Director for Education & Outreach.
Khanna received her Ph.D. (1995) and M.S. (1991) in Agricultural and Resource Economics from the University of California at Berkeley. Her primary area of interest is examining the motivations for producers to adopt innovative production technologies to meet demands for food and fuel, such as precision farming, biofuels, and participation in conservation programs.
Her ACE Department profile >>>
Ken Paige (2017-18) is a Professor of Evolutionary Ecology in the Department of Animal Biology at Illinois and holds affiliate appointments in the Department of Natural Resources and Environmental Sciences and the Illinois Natural History Survey, a division of the Prairie Research Institute.
His research interests are broad, spanning the range from the molecular to the interactions of organisms, with a strong evolutionary perspective. A major emphasis is molecular genetic mechanisms that mediate ecological interactions, with particular interest in plant-herbivore interactions. He is a founding member of the Program in Ecology, Evolution and Conservation (PEEC) Biology at Illinois.
Jeffery Roesler (2017-18) is a Professor of Civil and Environmental Engineering (CEE) at Illinois. He is also that Department’s IL-American Concrete & Pavement Association Faculty Scholar. He holds B.S., M.S., and Ph.D. degrees in Civil Engineering from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. He has been on the CEE faculty since August 2000; prior to coming to Illinois, he was a Visiting Post-Doctoral Researcher at the University of California at Berkeley.
His research is primarily focused on construction materials and transportation engineering — with a specialty in concrete. Roesler has taught classes for undergraduates and graduates in pavement engineering, and served as consultant to a number of construction and materials companies.
His CEE Department profile >>>
Lulu Rodriguez (2016-18) was the Director of the Agricultural Communications Program in the College of Agricultural, Consumer, and Environmental Sciences at Illinois. She received her B.Sc. degree in Development Communication from the University of the Philippines, her M.S. in Communication from Cornell University, and her Ph.D. in Mass Communication from the University of Wisconsin at Madison.
She has more than 20 years of experience in communication education, research, and outreach initiatives in support of national and international development programs. She designs, implements, and evaluates the impact of communication campaigns related to agriculture, renewable energy, the environment, food safety and food security. Her research focuses on the communication of risks related to scientific and technological breakthroughs, investigating people’s basic mental models of hazard and their opinions about innovations that cause controversies or may be perceived as risky.
Lance Schideman (2019) is a Research Scientist in the Applied Research on Industrial Environmental Systems (ARIES) Group at the Illinois Sustainable Technology Center (ISTC, a Division of the Prairie Research Institute). Before his current post, Schideman was an Assistant Professor in Agricultural and Biological Engineering.
Among his research interests are water and wastewater treatment, and bioenergy recovery from waste.
Michelle Wander (2016-19) is a Professor of Natural Resources and Environmental Sciences (NRES). She works with farmers, educators, and policymakers to quantify the benefits of diversified and organic production, precision conservation and woody perennial polycultures, and determine how standards, voluntary marketing, and decision support tools can encourage soil stewardship.
Her research interests are in agroecology and agricultural sustainability. She studies the influence of management (tillage and cover crops, perennials, organic farming systems; crop rotation and fertilization) on soils, organic matter and system performance with emphasis on nutrient cycling, plant-soil relations, roots and physical protection of organic matter, soil conservation and alternative methods for soil testing
Former Levenick Research Fellows
Erica Myers (2017-18) is an Assistant Professor of Agricultural and Consumer Economics (ACE) at Illinois. She received her Ph.D. in Environmental and Resource Economics from the University of California Berkeley in 2014. Prior to her doctoral studies, she worked as a Research Assistant at Resources for the Future from 2007 to 2009.
Her primary area of interest is in environmental and energy economics. She has done work on the design and implementation of carbon allowance markets and testing for the presence of market failures that may lead to under-investment in energy efficiency. Recently, her work has focused on the salience of energy costs in home rental and purchase decisions and its implications for investment in energy efficiency.
Her ACE Department profile >>>
Mateus Nogueira Meirelles de Souza (2017-18) received his bachelor’s degree in 2014 in economics from the University of Sao Paulo, Brazil. During his undergraduate studies, he was involved in research projects related to economic growth and pollution emissions. As a Ph.D. Candidate in the Department of Agricultural and Consumer Economics (ACE) at Illinois, de Souza is now pursuing specialization in environmental and natural resource economics.
His research interests include topics related to energy efficiency and technology adoption. He is currently investigating the possible causes of low rates of adoption of energy-efficient technologies in U.S. households.
News from the Levenick Fellows
Teachers: The Environmental Heroes We Didn’t Know We Needed
Levenick iSEE Teaching Fellow Samantha Lindgren created a course to address sustainability issues in education — and her students highly recommend it.
iSEE Names 8 Levenick Teaching Fellows
Funded by a generous endowment from Stuart and Nancy Levenick, this fourth cohort will add sustainability to courses from across campus — and beyond.
Institute Offering Seed Funding for Sustainability Course Development
$1k to incorporate sustainability into existing class; $2k for new course. All departments welcome; 100- and 200-level classes encouraged; apply by Jan. 31.