Featured Fellows

Green Chemistry: A Scientific and Public Policy Challenge
Michael Wilson (2002)

Seventy-four billion pounds of industrial chemicals enter the U.S. daily.  Many are toxic, and most will survive long-term to impact life on earth.  Global chemical production will double in the next 24 years.  As the Integrated Sciences Associate Director of UC Berkeley's new Center for Green Chemistry, 2002 Switzer Fellow Dr. Michael Wilson rides the cutting edge of the essential, emerging field called green chemistry.

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2 Mountaintop Removal Coal Mining and Alternative Energy in West Virginia: Raising Awareness and Increasing Public Participation
Jennifer Osha (2000)

Jen Osha, Founder and Director of Aurora Lights in Morgantown, West Virginia, discusses the production of a widely acclaimed CD to raise awareness about the issues of mountaintop removal coal mining.  The CD, entitled "Still Moving: The Journey Home", includes songs by artists such as Kathy Mattea and interviews with residents of communities affected by this mining practice.  It was developed simultaneously with a companion website which just won "Website of the Year" by the Appalachian Studies Association.

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Stormwater Control Technology: Reclaiming Urban Watersheds
Nancy Steele (1993)

If questions surrounding the feasibility of utilitizing stormwater runoff for groundwater recharge could be resolved, the result may be greater self-sufficiency for the Los Angeles Basin in terms of water supply reliability.

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Reducing E-Waste: Manufacturing Electronics as if the Future Mattered
Susan Chiang (1997)

With the explosion in the types and variety of electronic products, e-waste is the fastest growing portion of the U.S. waste stream.  There is also tremendous pressure to ship our e-waste to developing countries for sham "recycling" and/or "reuse" programs that are often no more than landfills.  1997 Fellow Sue Chiang and the Center for Environmental Health, in cooperation with the Electronics Take-Back Coalition, influence electronics manufacturers to prioritize public health and the environment in their design and material considerations.

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Whose Fortune is at the Bottom of the Pyramid?
Dipti Vaghela (2008)

During my three years of managing the renewable energy program of Gram Vikas (GV), an established grassroots NGO in Orissa, India, I have been repeatedly approached by companies that have packaged existing technologies as products for the poor.  More recently, I have been surprised to come across companies from the developed world, backed by prominent venture capitalists, seeking to sell products to the poor, without any openness towards the poor becoming more than mere consumers.  In my research of community participation in community-based micro hydro projects, I have found that technology cannot be sustained in poor communities, unless the technology is localized and community members lead the implementation.  The process of technology implementation with the poor can trigger empowerment that lives far beyond the end product.

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New technologies for protecting public health at beaches and resolving pollution problems
Christine Lee (2008)

Southern California is notorious for its chronically polluted water bodies, from the affluent areas of Malibu to the more industrial city of Long Beach.  California Assembly Bill 411 requires that city and county health departments regularly monitor impaired water bodies for fecal indicator bacteria (FIB) and that they notify the public of water quality problems. 

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Alternative Energy Technology: Wind Versus Mountaintop Removal Coal Mining in West Virginia
Evan Hansen (1996)

Switzer Fellow Evan Hansen is the president of Downstream Strategies, located in Morgantown, WV. With a core belief in the importance of protecting the environment and linking economic development with natural resource stewardship, Evan provides science, research, and tools to organizations, businesses, and agencies. Read more for his views on wind energy versus mountain top removal coal mining in West Virginia.

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