LPS News

Ben Reynard's office is not climate controlled. In winter, wind howls through the prairie environments where he plants native species, and the mercury drops below zero. In summer, as he plants willow stakes to control erosion, the temperatures often get up to over 100 degrees.

After several years of teaching math in places as far-flung as Thailand and Spain, Bill Cohen returned home to start graduate school. He found Penn's MES program, where he planned to apply his analytical skills to the environmental issues he’d witnessed around the world.

Dan Schupsky, Assistant Swim Coach at the University of Pennsylvania, had been a passionate advocate of the environment in his earlier career as a high school science teacher. However, he’d never linked green issues and his coaching work — until he started his studies at Penn’s MES program.

Outside the office, however, Hallman has a side gig dreaming up musical landscapes that recently landed him a Grammy nod.

On an average spring morning, Lisa Kiziuk (MES ’04) wakes well before sunrise. When light breaks over the muted mid-Atlantic greens of the Willistown Conservation Trust, Lisa will already have put in hours with a team of volunteers, gently extricating migratory songbirds.

Five years ago, Judah Press was living in New York City, working for a top clothing manufacturer in the Fashion District. His job was to predict trends and tailor orders to customers’ tastes, watching buying patterns to make sure his company’s products flew off the shelves at Walmart and Target.

Growing up in Connecticut, Lenny Kolstad (MES ’13) spent hours outside every day, playing sports and exploring the natural world around him. He always valued the environment. But it wasn’t until he graduated from college – with a mechanical engineering degree from Yale.

After several years as a consultant in Washington, D.C. helping companies implement the EPA’s Energy Star incentive program, Amanda Byrne (MES ’13) had experience on the industry side of making sustainability a regular part of doing business.

In April 2013, the private Philadelphia consulting firm Niche Recycling invited Penn MES candidate Nathan Sell to help implement a zero waste plan for McGillin’s Olde Ale House. The bar had a problem: too many dumpsters, too close to their main entrance on an alleyway.