Climate Change

Newswise — Rachael Jonassen is an associate research professor in the Sustainable Urban Planning Program and has served as the director of the Climate Change and Greenhouse Gas Management Program in the Environmental and Energy Management Institute at George Washington University. She served as Program Director for Carbon Cycle at the National Science Foundation (NSF) and as the NSF representative to the U.S. Global Change Research Program and helped manage it. From 2008-2013, Dr. Jonassen was Senior Scientist for Climate Change at LMI and advised numerous government agencies on climate, energy and water issues. Her areas of expertise include climate change science, policy and mitigation. 

Lisa Benton-Short is a professor of geography whose research expertise centers around global equity and social justice. Her areas of expertise include environmental issues in cities and urban sustainability. She can discuss the role of climate change and how it is intensifying the nature of extreme weather and natural disasters as well as the frequency of these events. 

Air Quality

Katelyn O'Dell is an atmospheric scientist and a postdoctoral research scientist at GW who studies air pollution exposure and its health impacts. She can discuss the public health concerns of wildfire smoke exposure. O’Dell’s graduate work has focused on quantifying exposure to wildfire smoke and identifying health-relevant components in smoke. In examining the health and economic impacts of wildfire smoke exposure, she has also explored the impact of wildfire smoke on crime, pregnant mothers, respiratory health, and asthma medication use.

Jonathan Deason is the Director of GW’s Environmental and Energy Management Institute and a professor in the GW School of Engineering and Applied Science. His expertise includes all aspects of air quality management, including greenhouse gas management and implications for global climate change mitigation and adaptation.

Susan Anenberg, director of the GW Climate & Health Institute, and associate professor of environmental and occupational health. Anenberg’s research focuses on the health implications of air pollution and climate change. Recently her team published two studies finding links between health problems like asthma and exposure to polluted air.

Gaige Kerr, is a senior research scientist and professorial lecturer in the department of environmental and occupational health at the GW Milken Institute School of Public Health. He researches ambient air pollution, and projects he has led span topics ranging from understanding the emission sources of pollution to assessing the health impacts experienced by the populations pollution impacts, with a special emphasis on understanding associated ethnoracial and socioeconomic disparities. He recently authored a study looking into the growing burden of air pollution among communities of color. A video of Gaige Kerr talking about the findings of the study can be found here.

Dan Goldberg, an assistant research professor at the GW Milken Institute School of Public Health is an expert on climate change, environmental occupational health and global environmental health. He recently led a panel discussion along with NASA specialists at South by Southwest on the topic of using satellite air monitoring techniques to measure what is in our air.