Ashly Spevacek Joins the Staff at Sustainable Healthy Cities

Please join us in welcoming the newest member of our Network staff, Ashly Spevacek. She joins  our research and project management team as we bid farewell to Katja Kruit, who has accepted a new position and returned to the Netherlands. We wish Katja the best in her new opportunity! Ashly introduces herself below:

Ashly Spevacek: I’m excited to join the SRN this summer. In addition to supporting the SRN with some administrative tasks, I will also be conducting research. After receiving a Bachelors in Mechanical Engineering from the University of Minnesota in 2010, I worked for Project Performance Company in Washington D.C. as a consultant to various public and private organizations including the Department of Energy and the Transportation Research Board. As a consultant I managed research and software development projects, wrote research publications and developed energy management plans. I recently received a master’s in atmospheric sciences from the University of Washington. For my thesis I ran global climate models and evaluated how tropical precipitation will change in the 21st century if we follow the business as usual IPCC emissions scenario. I look forward to meeting everyone in person and supporting the SRN research efforts.

New Faces to the SRN and One Farewell

Faculty

Please join us in welcoming Gabriel Chan and Cali Curley to the Network’s team of faculty!

• Gabriel Chan is an Assistant Professor at the University of Minnesota. He will investigate the design and performance of community-scale solar energy initiatives, using Minnesota’s community solar garden program as a test case.  Learn more about Gabe.  
• Cali Curley is an Assistant Professor at Indiana University-Purdue University Indianapolis and a Courtesy Professor at Florida State University. She will be coordinating the Tallahassee utilities relationship and managing the utility level data.  Learn more about Cali. 

See a complete list of faculty collaborating on our Network.

Staff

On July 8^th, we said farewell to our Managing Director, Luke Hollenkamp.  Luke accepted a new position with the City of Minneapolis’ Sustainability Office.  We wish him the very best in his new role!

Joining Tracy Fallon, our Operations Manager, are three additional team members.  Please welcome Robert Johns, Katja Kruit, and Frank Douma to the Network!

Robert (Bob) Johns will be our Senior Strategy Advisor.  Bob returned to the University of Minnesota as a Senior Fellow this January after serving as Director of the U.S. Department of Transportation’s John A. Volpe National Transportation Systems Center.  His experience and expertise will guide the internal management of the Network and will advise on strategic connections with external partners.  Learn more about Bob.  

Katja Kruit will be our Research Manager.  Katja brings experience in managing other NSF research grants at the University of Minnesota and an expertise in sustainability science and renewable energy.  She will coordinate research in Theme 1, the Energy/Water Testbed, and the Green Infrastructure/Urban Farming Testbed, as well as manage the budget and contractual agreements.

Frank Douma is building on his responsibilities at the University of Minnesota’s Humphrey School of Public Affairs by joining us as a Senior Fellow.  Frank will be coordinating research within the Transportation testbed, Theme 2’s social actors study, and Theme 3.  Learn more about Frank.