Guest Grokkers

Benjamin Abram

Benjamin Abram (Duke 2007), a venture analyst for The Westly Group, leads the firm's practice in infrastructure investments with an eye toward energy savings through efficient systems management. His interest in the environment stretches back to his childhood. At age six, when asked what mattered most to him, the North Carolina native answered "the environment ... because it will be around the longest."

Senior class president while at Duke's Pratt School of Engineering, Ben now serves on the university's Board of Trustees. He holds a Bachelor of Science degree with dual majors in civil and environmental engineering and public policy studies. He also sits on the boards of the Chordoma Foundation and DukeEngage.

Grok Post - The State of Green Tech Investing: One VC's View (12/12/08)

Dr. Rob Jackson

Duke biology professor Dr. Robert B. Jackson is the Nicholas Chair of Global Environmental Change. His research examines how people affect the earth. He also directs a government-funded institute for climate research and co-directs the Climate Change Policy Partnership, working with energy and utility corporations to find practical strategies to combat climate change.

Jackson's awards include the Murray F. Buell Award, a National Science Foundation award, membership in the American Geophysical Union, and inclusion in the top 0.5% of most cited scientific researchers. He has more than 100 scientific publications and is co-editor of the textbook Methods in Ecosystem Science. His trade books include The Earth Remains Forever and the children's books Animal Mischief and Not Again. Read Jackson's full bio.

Grok Post - Coming to Terms with Our Food (6/27/08)

Lydia Olander

Lydia Olander is the senior associate director for Ecosystem Services at Duke's Nicholas Institute and a research scientist at Duke's Nicholas School. She coordinates the institute’s programs on greenhouse gas offsets, and is integral to ongoing work on ecosystem services and avoided deforestation.

Before coming to Duke, she was a AAAS Science and Technology fellow in the office of Senator Joe Lieberman (I-CT), where she worked on the development of national climate and energy policy. Her broad expertise in environmental science and policy includes a decade of research in tropical forest ecology with field and remote sensing measurement of forests, soils, nutrients and carbon. She has published work in professional journals, including Environmental Research Letters, Forest Ecology and Management, and Earth Interactions. Read Olander's full bio.

Grok Post - Working to Get Forests Into the Next Climate Agreement (12/09/08)

Dr. Orrin H. Pilkey

Duke Professor Emeritus of Geology Dr. Orrin Pilkey researches shorelines and coastal geology, focusing primarily on barrier island coasts. He is also well versed in coastal zone management. In one project off Wrightsville Beach, NC, he is researching petrographically distinct beach replenishment sand to determine paths of sand transport on the shore face. He is also studying the evolution of salt marshes along Pamlico and Albermarle Sounds. The goal is to understand how salt marshes in various geological settings will respond to a future rise in sea level and how this affects management strategies for salt marshes.

Pilkey has served as editor for the Journal of Sedimentary Petrology; associate editor for Marine Geology, Journal of Coastal Research, and Geology; and series editor (with W.J. Neal) for the book series Living with the Shore. His extensive writing credits include co-author of Coastal Design: A Guide for Planners, Developers and Homeowners and Living with the East Florida Shore. Read Pilkey's full bio.

Grok Post - What Can a Non-Scientist Do? (8/04/08)

Grok Post - To Stabilize a Shoreline or Not -- and Why Not (08/04/09)

Lincoln Pratson

Dr. Lincoln Pratson is faculty director of the Nicholas School's Energy & Environment program and co-leader of Carbon Capture and Sequestration research by the Climate Change Policy Partnership. This partnership between the Nicholas School, Nicholas Institute of Environmental Policy Solutions, Duke Center on Global Change, Duke Energy, ConocoPhillips and MeadWestvaco aims to determine practical strategies for responding to the challenges of climate change. Pratson is an expert on sediment transport and strata formation, particularly along the submerged margins of continents. His work bears on the locations, sizes and quality of oil and gas reservoirs. Pratson has consulted for major oil companies and helped co-found an energy service company that provides state-of-the-art gravity data used to explore for oil and gas.

His article “Panoramas of the Seafloor” (co-written with William F. Haxby) was one of 12 outstanding, popular articles about earth sciences chosen for a special issue of Scientific American. Read Pratson's full bio.

Grok Post - Building an Underground 'Highway' for Carbon Dioxide (7/28/08)

Tim Profeta

Tim Profeta is the director of the Nicholas Institute for Environmental Policy Solutions. Profeta has also served as a visiting lecturer at Duke Law School, elucidating the evolution of environmental law and the Endangered Species Act.

Prior to coming to Duke, Profeta served as Environmental Counsel to Senator Joseph Lieberman, coordinating his energy and environmental portfolio during his runs for national office. Profeta was a principal architect of the Lieberman-McCain Climate Stewardship Act of 2003. Before joining Lieberman's staff, he was a law clerk for Judge Paul L. Friedman, U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia. Read Profeta's full bio.

Grok Post - Climate Change: We Need to Get to Work (6/25/08)

Mandy Schmitt

Mandy Schmitt (Duke MEM 2005) is the sustainability director for the City of Atlanta. She began working for the city as a member of Atlanta Mayor Shirley Franklin's team tasked with studying the sustainability efforts of "green" cities across North America. Prior to this work, Schmitt played a key role on the Atlanta BeltLine Project, the country's largest redevelopment program aimed at introducing new green space to the city and reconfiguring public transportation.

Schmitt holds a law degree from Emory University and a Master's of Environmental Management from Duke University.

Grok Post - Diet, Exercise, and Lowering Your Carbon Footprint (7/30/08)

Dr. Cindy Lee Van Dover

Dr. Cindy Lee Van Dover directs Duke's Marine Lab in Beaufort, NC. She is a deep-sea biologist with an interest in ocean exploration and the ecology of chemosynthetic ecosystems. She has piloted some 48 dives with ALVIN and other deep-diving submersibles, visiting vent fields in the Atlantic and Pacific, as well as to deep-water seamounts, seeps, and other seafloor features.

Her current research focuses primarily on biodiversity and biogeography of invertebrates from chemosynthetic ecosystems and invertebrate functional anatomy.

An active participant and chief scientist in NSF-and NOAA-sponsored field programs, she has published more than 70 articles and authored a popular trade book about the deep sea and her experiences as an ALVIN pilot entitled Deep-Ocean Journeys. Read Van Dover's full bio.

Grok Post - It's Summer Time — What's Hot at the Coast? (6/23/08)