Sustainable Systems Faculty Profiles
Professor of Practice
My teaching and advising interests address energy use and greenhouse gas emissions from transportation as well as broader aspects of sustainable mobility and energy use. A main interest is the "cars vs. climate" problem, which I address in a holistic manner that examines the technolgical, economic, behavioral and policy factors that shape oil demand and GHG emissions from motor vehicles and fuels that power them. Such understanding is crucial as society seeks globally viable solutions for sustainable transportation.
Professor
Tom Gladwin is the Max McGraw Professor of Sustainable Enterprise, and he holds a joint appointment with the Ross School of Business.
Professor Gladwin's research focuses on the intersection of environmentalism and globalism in relation to the behavior of industrial corporations. He has published extensively-more than 125 publications-on the theme that the challenges of environmental sustainability and economic globalization are probably the two most profound forces shaping human destiny. This theme is a vital and challenging one, and one to which Gladwin speaks provocatively. At the core of Gladwin's research is the idea that the reintegration of humanity with nature is necessary if organizational science is to support ecologically and socially sustainable development.
Professor and Director of the Erb Institute
Andy Hoffman is the Holcim (US) Professor of Sustainable Enterprise; a position that holds joint appointments at the School of Natural Resources & Environment and the Ross School of Business. He also serves as Director of the Erb Institute for Global Sustainable Enterprise. His research focuses on corporate strategies that address environmental and social issues. His disciplinary background lies in the areas of organizational behavior, institutional change, negotiations and change management. He has published more than 90 articles nine books, two of which have been translated into five different languages. Prior to academics, he worked for the US Environmental Protection Agency, Metcalf & Eddy, the Amoco Corporation, and T&T Construction and Design, Inc. In 2004, he was a Senior Fellow with the Meridian Institute.
Teaching interests include competitive environmental strategy, strategies for sustainable development, organizational behavior, negotiations, green construction, and organizational change
Assistant research scientist
Assistant Research Scientist
Dr. Kelly is focused on conducting environmental impact assessment of energy generation and consumption systems. His research includes modeling the electrical grid, transportation networks (including plug-in hybrid electric vehicles), and renewable energy technologies in order to calculate the impacts of those systems on pollutant emissions. His interests are related to understanding designed systems, especially quantifying a system's environmental impact, and determining how user behavior influences a system's environmental impact.
Professor and Director, Center for Sustainable Systems
Dr. Keoleian co-founded and serves as director of the Center for Sustainable Systems. His research focuses on the development and application of life cycle models and metrics to enhance the sustainability of products and technology. He has pioneered new methods in life cycle design, life cycle optimization of product replacement, life cycle cost analysis and life cycle based sustainability assessments ranging from energy analysis and carbon footprints to social indicators.
Professor
Teaching and research in evolutionary and behavioral ecology; resource control and reproductive success in vertebrates, including humans; integration of evolutionary theory and resource management; resources and reproductive variance; reproductive and resource tradeoffs for modern women.
Professor
Tom Lyon is the Dow Professor of Sustainable Science, Technology and Commerce. His research and teaching interests include environmental information disclosure and greenwash; corporate environmental strategy; environmental NGOs; voluntary environmental agreements; government regulation of business; industrial organization; and energy and the environment.
Associate Professor
Shelie Miller’s research interests center around the life cycle impacts of emerging energy systems. Recent work focuses on the noncarbon aspects of biofuels, such as disruptions to the nitrogen cycle and changes in land use. Interests also include advancing Life Cycle Assessment methods to analyze dynamic and emerging systems, such as hydraulic fracturing in the US and electricity grids in developing countries. She teaches Environmental Systems Analysis at the graduate level and Ecological Issues at the undergraduate level.
Professor and Associate Dean for Research
Michael Moore's teaching involves courses in natural resource and environmental economics. His research interests include analysis of federal water policy and water allocation conflicts between environmental and consumptive uses of river systems; economic aspects of biodiversity and species conservation; and economics of environmental markets, including markets for green products (such as green electricity) and markets for pollution permits (such as the federal SO2 allowance market).
Assistant Professor
Josh Newell joined SNRE in Fall 2010. His research grapples with how to define, measure, model, and assess urban sustainability, particularly from the context of resource consumption. This research emphasis stems from the conviction that to mitigate (and adapt to) climate change and to address global ecological crises, we need to fundamentally reshape and redesign our urban areas--where more than half of the world’s population already lives, works, and consumes. He will teach courses on integrated assessment, sustainable cities and communities, and sustainability science and society.
Assistant Professor
Ming Xu joined SNRE in Fall 2010. He has a courtesy appointment with the Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering at the University of Michigan. He is also a core faculty member in the Center for Sustainable Systems. He is interested in developing and applying interdisciplinary system-based analytical tools to understand complex sustainability issues. Current focus of research includes "big data" mining and visualization, environmental implications of emerging bioenergy and clean vehicle technologies, and environmental impacts of international trade.