GreenTalk Speaker Series Previous Speakers

• GreenTalk Speaker Series,  Fall 2023

  • Dr. Eugene C. Cordero, Professor and Climate Scientist, SJSU College of Science: Climate Science and Climate Solutions

    Valley Water Team: Valley Water - How water management impacts the environment

    Michele Young, Sr. Management Analyst, Sr. Management Analyst, Santa Clara County Recycling and Waste Management: Waste and Recycling - New Technologies

    Dr. Phillip Heller, Professor, SJSU College of Science: Research on Coral Reefs and the Environment

    Marc Landgraf, External Affairs Mgr.: Santa Clara Valley Open Spaces

    Rowdy Keelor, Educator New Roots Institute: Factory Farming and its Impact on the Environment

• GreenTalk Speaker Series,  Spring 2023

  • Erin Lebacqz, Speaker and Author, Professor, University of Chicago - High Value Writing about the Environment

    Erin Zhang, FFAC Bay Area Educational Coordinator - Factory Farms and their impact on the Environment

    Chris Reed, Attorney, SJSU Alum, Electrical Engineering & Vignesh Ramachandran, IP Attorney, SJSU Alum, Electrical Engineering - Engineering, Environment and Law: Career nexus of growing importance

    SJSU Prof. Jerrry Gao, Ph.D, Department of Computer Engineering - Future Intelligent Surveillance Systems for Smart Cities

    Representatives of Valley Water, the agency that manages integrated water systems for Santa Clara County - Water Conservation, Water Supply and the Drought

    SJSU Prof. Farzan Kazemifar, Ph.D, Department of Mechanical Engineering, Director of SJSU Industrial Assessment Center IAC - Energy Experts and SJSU Students Help California Manufacturers Save Energy and Reduce Carbon Footprint.

    Debbie Andres, SJSU Senior Sustainability Program Lead - Sustainability at San Jose State University

    SJSU Professor Christopher Teng, Ph.D, Department of Urban and Regional Planning - How well can California's Coastal Cities Adapt to Sea Level Rise?

• GreenTalk Speaker Series,  Fall 2022

  • Gary Hsueh, Consultant/Traffic Planner and Director of Mobility Programs - Traffic Planning to help the environment 

    Lacey Kline, Aerospace Engineer - Exploration of sustainable aviation fuel in engine designs on commercial airplanes

    Professor Robert Bruce - The Electric Bike - Alternative transportation?

    Debbie Andres, Director of Sustainability at SJSU - Sustainability at SJSU

    Eugene Cordero, Professor, Dept of Meteorology and Climate Science, SJSU and Founder of Green Ninja - Climate Change and Our Future

    Rowdy Keelor, Educator FFAC - Factory Farming Awareness Coalition - Factory Farms - Impact on the environment

    Topher White, founder of Rain Forest Connection - How Rainforest Connection (RFCx) is providing real-time monitoring and data to protect rainforests

    Valley Water - Water Conservation, Environmental Writing Erin Bacqz, author - Water Conservation Impact of High Value Environmental Writing

• GreenTalk Speaker Series,  Spring 2022

  • Stuart Bloomfield, Chief Development Officer at Urban Airport Ltd. - eVTOL Aircraft: An innovative way to reduce congestion and air pollution from passenger and cargo transport

    Rowdy Keelor, Factory Farm Awareness Coalition - Environmental Impacts of Factory Farming

    Emery Nolasco, Operations Engineer at Aqua Satellite - Researching Oceans with Autonomous Underwater Robotic Vehicles

    Eugene C. Cordero, Ph.D., SJSU Professor, Department of Meteorology - Global warming and climate change: What’s an Engineer to do?

    Ashley Shannon, Michael Martin and Nicholas Simard, Valley Water - Valley Water’s Role in Water Conservation and Sustainability for Santa Clara County

    Professor Bruce Olszewski; Center for Development of Recycling at SJSU - RecycleStuff.org: Reducing environmental Impacts while creating green jobs

    Debbie Andres, Senior Utility and Sustainability Analyst at SJSU - Sustainability at SJSU

• GreenTalk Speaker Series, Fall 2021

  • Sameer Saran, Parkstash CEO - Park Stash App and how it impacts the environment.

    Dr. Eugene C. Cordero, Prof. of Meteorology and Climate Science, Dept. of Meteorology, San Jose State University - Climate Change: What's an Engineer to do?

    Rowdy Keelor, FFAC Educational Coordinator - Factory Farm Awareness Coalition (FFAC) Environmental Impacts of Factory Farming

    John Keller, Irene Yang, Julie Gaudin, Citizen's Climate Change Lobby - Help Wanted: Climate Solution Engineers

    Phil Dolan and Michael Martin, Valley Water - Water Conservation: Valley Water and its role in water conservation and sustainability

    Mandeep Khera, VP of Global Demand Generation and Channel Marketing, Gigamon - Internet of Things: impact on the Environment

    Val Bath, CEO, Cultural Business Consulting & John Leih, Instructor, San Jose State University - Global Team Collaboration for Climate Innovation

• GreenTalk Speaker Series, Spring 2021

  • Kevin Meehan, Programs Lead, San Jose Clean Energy, City of San Jose - San Jose Clean Energy

    Vidisha Rai, San Jose Director, Factory Farm Awareness Coalition - The relationship between animal agriculture, COVID-19 and other pandemics

    Mandeep Khera, VP, Demand Generation and Channel Marketing, Gigamon - Internet of Things: Impact on the Environment

    Debbie Andres, Senior Utility and Sustainability Analyst at SJSU - Sustainability at San Jose State

    Ashley Shannon-Carter, Water Conservation Specialist III, Valley Water & Michael Martin, Valley Water, Associate Water Resources Specialist, Valley Water - Water Supply Planning and Water Conservation

    Teresa Montgomery, Sustainability Manager, South San Francisco Scavenger Company - Waste and Recycling

    Violet Saena, Founding Director, Climate Resilient Communities - Economic Justice: Building community-based solutions to address climate change

• GreenTalk Speaker Series, Spring 2020

  • Debbie Andres, SJSU Senior Utilities and Sustainability Analyst - Sustainability at SJSU

    Sameer Saran, Founder & CEO, ParkStash - Entrepreneurship/Traffic/ParkStash

    Eugene Cordero, Prof. Meteorology and Climate Science - Global Warming Climate Change

    Monica Chen, Factory Farms Awareness Coalition - Environmental Impacts of Factory Farming

    Teresa Montgomery, South San Francisco Scavanger Co. - Waste Management Recycling

    Karen Koppett, Valley Water - Water Conservation

    Max Dunn, Director of Engineering, Ohm Connect - Renewable Resources on the Grid

    Keith Perry, EPICS Instructor - EPICS Program

• GreenTalk Speaker Series, Fall 2019

  • Karen Koppett & Samantha Greene, Valley Water - "Water Conservation and Sustainability"

    Teresa Montgomery, South San Francisco Scavenger Co. - "Waste Management and Recycling: Historical Perspective"

    Kristen Wonder, SJSU Sustainability Manager - "Sustainability at San Jose State"

    Monica Chen, Factory Farms Awareness Coalition - "Environmental Impacts of Factory Farming"

    Robert Bruce, lecturer, SJSU Computer Engineering; inventor - "Electric Bike: A potential car replacement?"

    Thalia Anagnos, Ph.D., SJSU Associate Vice President of Undergraduate Education, Engineering Professor, and Earthquake Engineer - "Disaster and Recovery: Working Toward More Resilient Communities"

    Tom Zimmerman, IBM Research - "Protecting Endangered Species: remote monitoring with Lensless 3D Microscope"

    Eugene Cordero, Prof. Meteorology and Climate Science, SJSU - "Global Warming & Climate Change: What's an Engineer to do?"

    Dr. Jerry Gao, Professor, Computer Engineering - "Smart Cities"

    Julia Thompson, Ph.D., M.S., EPICS Instructor & Keith Perry, M.S., M.B.A, Epics Instructor, EPICS Student Representatives - "Student Environmental Projects designed to address real-world environmental problems"

• GreenTalk Speaker Series, Spring 2019

  • Kristen Wonder, B.A. Environmental Studies, Sustainability Coordinator, San Jose State University; Member, SJSU Campus-Wide Sustainability Board - "Managing Sustainability at San Jose State University"

    Topher White, B.A. Physics, CEO and Founder, Rain Forest Connection, Engineer and Conservation Technologist - "Protecting Rainforests with Real-time Data"

    Eugene Cordero, Ph.D., Atmospheric Science, Professor, Department of Meteorology and Climate Science, San Jose State University, Founder and Director, Green Ninja Project - "Global Warming and Climate Change, What's an Engineer to Do?"

    Donna Plunkett, PLA, ASLA, Landscape Architect, Santa Clara Valley Open Space Authority - "Open Spaces and Green Infrastructure"

    Mandeep Khera, M.B.A, Head of WW Channel Marketing, Agari - "Internet of Things/Environmental Impact"

    Karen Koppett, M.S. Environmental Studies, Samantha Greene, M.S., Ph.D., Senior Water Conservation Specialist at Santa Clara Valley Water District - "The Valley's Water – where it's from, how we use it and how water conservation can help promote sustainability"

    Virginia San Fratello, M.A., Architecture, Associate Professor, Department of Design, San Jose State University - "3D Printing and Sustainable Materials"

    Max Dunn, B.A., M.B.A, Director of Engineering, Ohm Connect - "Integrating Renewable Resources on the Grid: Challenges and Opportunities"

    Kiely Smith, Bay Area Director, Factory Farming Awareness Coalition - "Environmental Impacts of Factory Farming"

    Julia Thompson, Ph.D., M.S., EPICS Instructor & Keith Perry, M.S., M.B.A, Epics Instructor, EPICS Student Representatives - "Environmental Aspects of Engineering Projects in Community Service (EPICS)"

• GreenTalk Speaker Series, Fall 2018

  • Kristen Wonder, B.A. Environmental Studies, Sustainability Coordinator, San Jose State University, Member, SJSU Campus-Wide Sustainability Board - "Managing Sustainability at SJSU"

    Gary H. Hsueh, AICP, Director, Mobility Programs at Prospect Silicon Valley - "Applying Transportation Technology to Solve Public Issues"

    Dr. Nicole Okamoto, Professor and Chair, Department of Mechanical Engineering, SJSU - "Environmental Legislation: The Challenge of Making Informed Decisions"

    Marc Landgraf, External Affairs Manager, Santa Clara Valley Open Space Authority - "Open Spaces and Green Architecture"

    Dr. Dustin Mulvaney, Associate Professor, Environmental Studies Department, San Jose State University, Owner: EcoShift Consulting - "Solar Innovation and Environmental Justice"

    Mandeep Khera, Chief Marketing Officer, ValiMail - "Internet of Things/Environmental Impact"

    Dr. Eugene Cordero - "Global Warming and Climate Change, What's an Engineer to Do?"

    CANCELLED: Julia Schmitt, PE, Environmental Engineer at Brown and Caldwell - "Water Engineering, Planning and Conservation"

    Joshua Mackie, Ph.D., Technical Services Manager, Gilmac Pty Ltd,, West Perth, Australia - "Using Engineering to Create Economic and Environmental Sustainability in Agriculture"

    Julia Thompson, Ph.D., M.S. & Keith Perry, M.S., M.B.A,, EPICS Instructors - "Environmental Aspects of Engineering Projects in Community Service (EPICS)"

• GreenTalk Speaker Series, Spring 2018

  • Eugene Cordero, Ph.D., SJSU Professor, Meteorology and Climate Science - "Global Warming and Climate Change – What's an Engineer to Do?"

    Thalia Anagnos, Ph.D., SJSU Associate Vice President of Graduate and Undergraduate Programs, Engineering Professor, and Earthquake Engineer - "Disaster and Recovery: Working Toward More Resilient Communities"

    Shani Kleinhaus, Environmental Advocate, Santa Clara Valley Audubon Society - "Should sustainability include nature? The case for birds in the City"

    Max Dunn, B.A., M.B.A., Director of Engineering, Ohm Connect - "The Dirty Little Secrets of Clean Energy"

    Sonja Huang, B.A., Bay Area Director Factory Farming Awareness Coalition (FFAC) - "Discussion of Sustainable Agriculture, Food Security, and Education"

    William Dunckel, M.S., Engineering, San Jose State University; P.E, Senior Quality Assurance Engineer, PG&E - "Energy, Environment and Engineering"

    Kristen Wonder, B.A. Environmental Studies, Sustainability Coordinator, San Jose State University, Member, SJSU Campus-Wide Sustainability Board - "Managing Sustainability at San Jose State"

    Neil Lareau, Ph.D., Assistant Professor at San Jose State University - "Wildfires and Atmospheric Interactions"

    Julia Schmitt, P.E., M.S., Water Resources Engineer, Brown and Caldwell Engineering Consultants - "Hard Choices: Water Management in the Golden State"

    Julia Thompson, Ph.D., M.S., Keith Perry, M.S., M.B.A,, EPICS Instructors - "Environmental Aspects of Engineering Projects in Community Service (EPICS)"

• GreenTalk Speaker Series, Fall 2017

  • Eugene Cordero, SJSU, Meteorology and Climate Science - "Global Warming & Climate change"

    Forrest Melton, Senior Research Scientist, NASA - "The U.S. Climate Explorer: Increasing Access to Climate Data for Climate Resilience Planning"

    Dr. Samuel Obi, SJSU Technology Professor - "Management of Green and Sustainable Manufacturing"

    Max Dunn, Director of Engineering, Ohm Connect - "Clean Energy"

    William Dunckel, Senior Quality Assurance Engineer, PG&E - "Energy, Environment and Engineering"

    Mandeep Khera, Chief Marketing Officer, Arxan Technologies - "Internet of Things/Environmental Impact"

    Dr. Siddharth Narayan, University of California, Santa Cruz / The Nature Conservancy - "Environmental Systems"

    Dustin Mulvaney, Assistant Professor, Environmental Studies Department, SJSU - "Exploring Tensions between Solar Innovation and Environmental Justice"

    Dr. Jerry Gao, Professor, Computer Engineering at SJSU - "Smart Cities"

    Sonja Huang, Bay Area Director, Factory Farming Awareness Coalition - "Food and Agriculture"

• GreenTalk Speaker Series, Spring 2017

  • Eugene Cordero, SJSU, Meteorology and Climate Science - "Energy and Climate Change: What's an Engineer to Do?"

    Margie O'Driscoll, Nonprofit leader, Management Consultant, Strategist - "Building a Sustainable Life (and career)"

    Leslie Jacoby, SJSU English/General Engineering (100W) - "The Urban Falconer: Bird-Human Connection"

    Siddharth Narayan, University of California, Santa Cruz / The Nature Conservancy - "Nature-Based Solutions for Coastal Risk Reduction: How engineers, ecologists and economists can collaborate to bring theory to action"

    Luke Miller, SJSU Biological Sciences - "Bio-logging on the seashore: behavioral and biophysical drivers of animal stress"

    Rick Bacon, Sudarshan Kurwadkar and Debbie Whaley, Aqua Metrology Systems; California State University – Fullerton; Institute of Water, Energy, Sustainability and Technology (iWEST), Sacramento State University - "Research and policy implementation challenges for water sustainability - "perspectives for engineering students. Panel Discussion."

    Sonia Travaglini, UC Berkeley - "Engineering alternatives to synthetic materials using fungi"

    Max Dunn, Ohm Connect - "The Dirty Secret of Clean Energy"

    Ron Swenson, President, Swenson Solar (SwensonSolar.com); Director, International Institute of Sustainable Transportation (INIST.org) - "SPARTAN SOLAR: Carbon Free San José State"

    Jerry (Zeyu) Gao, Professor, Computer Engineering at SJSU - "Smart City Challenges and Solutions"

• GreenTalk Speaker Series, Fall 2016

  • Max Dunn, Ohm Connect - "Integrating Renewable Resources on the Grid: Challenges and Opportunities"

    Graciela Chichilnisky, Global Thermostat - "The Paris Agreement and Global Thermostat (a CO2 capture process)"

    Eugene Cordero, SJSU Dept of Meteorology and Climate Science - "Energy and Climate Change: What's an Engineer to Do?"

    A.R.M. Nabiul Afrooz, Stanford University, Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering /ReNUWIt Center - "Biofiltration for beneficial use of urban stormwater runoff and greywater"

    Virginia San Fratello, SJSU Department of Design - "3D Printing of Sustainable Materials"

    Julie Noblitt, NeuWorld Plastics - "The importance of Green Chemistry in Ocean Cleanup"

    Topher White, Rainforest Connection - "Protecting Rainforests with Real-time Data"

    Lisa Krieger, San Jose Mercury/Bay Area News Group - "California Water: Past. Present and Future"

    Jeff Gelb, Carl Zeiss X-ray Microscopy / SJSU Chemical Engineering - "Portable Energy Solutions: Image-Based Characterization of Li-Ion Batteries in 2D, 3D, and 4D"

    Jordan O'Brien, Arup San Francisco - "Sustainable Design, at Scale"

• GreenTalk Speaker Series, Spring 2016

  • Eugene Cordero, Department of Meteorology and Climate Sciences, SJSU - "Energy and Climate Change: What's an Engineer to Do?", Chapter 9: Climate

    Gary Hsueh, Transportation Planner at Arup - "Sustainable Innovation in Transport", Chapter 15: Economics and Urbanization

    Christina Piotrowski, Collections Manager of Invertebrate Zoology, California Academy of Sciences - "Windows into the real world: natural history collections preserve time and space"

    Dr. Elizabeth McGee, Department of Biological Sciences/Education, SJSU - "The Impacts of Selective Logging on Lemurs in Tropical Rainforests in Southeastern Madagascar"

    Sonja Huang, Bay Area Director for Green Monday - "Partnering with schools to create greener campuses through food choices"

    William Chen, Coordinator, Department of Environmental Earth System Science Farm and Production Facility, Stanford - "Discussion of Sustainable Agriculture, Food Security, and Education"

    Abraham Wolcott, Department of Chemistry, SJSU - "Alternative energy production: Harvesting solar for fuel and power"

    Eric Rosenblum, CEO at Envirospectives, and in Environmental Studies, SJSU - "The Unsigned Letter: Precision and Accountability in Engineering Language"

    Jerry Smith, Department of Biological Sciences, SJSU - "Federal Lands Management and Biodiversity"

    Yves Zsutty, Department of Parks, Recreation and Neighborhood Services, City of San José - "San Jose Trail Network Overview and a Discussion of Public Policy"

• GreenTalk Speaker Series, Fall 2015

  • Eugene Cordero, Department of Meteorology and Climate Sciences, SJSU - "Energy and Climate Change: What's and Engineer to Do?", Chapter 9: Climate

    Rachel O'Malley, Department of Environmental Studies, SJSU - "Nature Preserves From Canaries in the Coal Mine to Native Species in the Santa Cruz Sand Mines: Quantifying the Environmental Effects of Human Activities., Chapter 6: Environmental Conservation: Forests, Grasslands, Parks and Nature Preserves"

    Rachael Keish, Keish-Environmental / Institute for Sustainable Infrastructure - "Building Tomorrow's Infrastructure Today (Includes LEED and EnvisionTM certification frameworks)", Chapter 15: Economics and Urbanization

    Steve Haddock, Monterey Bay Aquarium Research Institute - "A little tech goes a long way: Thoughts from an engineer turned biologist"

    Patrick Ferraro, Department of Environmental Studies, SJSU - "Basic Water Management: Reduce, Reuse, Recycle", Chapter 11: Water: Resources and Pollution

    Matthew Lambert, City of San Jose - "Regulating the industrial dischargers in our area protect our infrastructure, the health of sewer workers, and our water quality", Chapter 8: Environmental Health and Toxicology

    Joshua Mackie - "Increasingly urban ecology – ways of learning about impacts of human populations and technologies on wildlife. New York Times: Evolution Right Under Our Noses"

    Bret Carr, GRID Alternatives, San Francisco - "Grid alternatives and the impacts we have on the environment, communities we serve, the solar industry", Chapter 13: Energy

    Mandeep Khera, Daintree Networks - "Smart Buildings and the Internet of Things", Chapter 13: Energy

    Cynthia Ginestra, Aviation Fuels Research, Shell Global Solutions - "Aviation Fuels Research, Shell Global Solutions", Chapter 12: Environmental Geology and Earth Resources

• GreenTalk Speaker Series, Spring 2015

  • Sven Thesen, Energy & Electric Vehicle Consultant - "Renegade House: Forays into Deep Energy Efficiency in the Residential Sector"

    Mark Jenkins, Senior Consulting Scientist, Pacific Gas and Electric Co. - "Integrated Natural Resource Management at a Large Hydroelectric Project in Northern California"

    Eugene Cordero, Professor of Meteorology and Climate Science, SJSU - "Energy and Climate Change: What's an engineer to do?"

    Susan Schwartz, President, Friends of Five Creeks - "Bay Area Urban Creeks and Watersheds"

    Dustin Mulvaney, Assistant Professor, Environmental Studies Department, SJSU - "Exploring Tensions between Solar Innovation and Environmental Justice"

    Andrea Case, Environmental Services Specialist, Environmental Services Dept, City of San José & Jacob (Jake) Custodio, Engineer II, Public Works Dept, City of San José - "The Story of Stormdrains: Trash Reduction in San Jose"

    Bernie Kotlier, Executive Director, Sustainable Energy Solutions, Labor Management Cooperation Committee, California - "The Zero Net Energy Center: What We Must Do Today To Build A Better Tomorrow"

    Rose Marie Caraway and Karen Henry, Environmental Protection Agency Region 9 - "U.S EPA Part 1: Superfund Process and Environmental Justice Communities: A case study of the Pemaco, Purity Oil and East Palo Alto Superfund Sites" (Rose Marie Caraway), "U.S. EPA Part 2: When Things Go Boom: Chemical Accident Prevention, Incident Investigations and Enforcement" (Karen Henry)"

    Marshall Burke, Assistant Professor, Environmental Earth System Science, Center Fellow at the Center on Food Security and the Environment (Freeman Spogli Institute for International Studies) - "The Social and Economic Impacts of Climate Change"

    Erskine Benjamin and Bola Odusoga, Environmental Protection Agency Region 9 - "U.S. EPA Part 3: Solid Waste Management and Tribal Water Issues" (Erskine Benjamin), "U.S. EPA Part 4: Sustainable Water Projects" (Bola Odusoga)"

• GreenTalk Speaker Series, Fall 2014

  • Gary Hsueh, Senior Transportation Planner, Arup - "The future of transportation"

    Shani Kleinhaus, Environmental Advocate, Santa Clara Valley Audubon Society - "Should sustainability include nature? The case for birds in the City"

    Josh Mackie, Conservation Genetics Laboratory, Dept of Biological Sciences, SJSU - "How aquatic organisms are responding to environmental change"

    Joan Maher, Deputy Operating Officer, Water Supply Division, Santa Clara Valley Water District - "Water supply and environmental stewardship"

    Laura Tam, Sustainable Development Policy Director, SPUR - "Ready or not: How the Bay Area can build resilience to climate change"

    Will Chen, Farm Manager, Veggielution - "Creating a sustainable food system using Veggielution as a case study"

    Peter Drekmeier, Policy Director, Tuolumne River Trust - "Turning waste into resources: A case study of a wastewater treatment plant"

    Gerhard H Achtelik, Jr., Manager, Zero Emission Vehicle Infrastructure, California Air Resources Board & Michael J Kashuba, Staff Air Pollution Specialist at California Air Resources Board - "Zero emission vehicle policy and hydrogen vehicles and infrastructure in California"

    Greg McPheeters, Senior Engineering Manager, SnapNrack - "Making solar energy cost competitive with utility energy"

    Eugene Cordero, Professor of Meteorology and Climate Science, SJSU - "Energy and Climate Change: What's an engineer to do?"

• GreenTalk Speaker Series, Spring 2014

  • Beth Ferguson, Founding Director, Sol Design Lab - "Sol Design Lab, Solar Design, Public Art, and Consulting"

    Kirsten Ritchie, PE, LEED AP O+M - "The Infrastructure and Manufacturing of "Smart Cities" "

    Mr. Eddie Inamdar, CEO, E-Waste Recycling Center - "The Real E-waste and Proper Recycling"

    Ved Chirayath - "Drones for Atmospheric and Environmental Monitoring"

    Cameron Singh, Department of Aviation and Technology - "The Power of Urine and other Aviation Environmental Issues"

    Arvand Sabetian, Founder/CEO, Arvixe, LLC & Avesta Sabetian, SJSU Associated Students Controller & CFO

    Rob Best, Stanford University Solar Decathlon Team - "The Start.Home Solar Decathlon Competition"

    Dr. Scott A. Shaffer, SJSU Associate Professor of Biology, Department of Biological Sciences - "A New Form of Biotechnology: Novel Data Logging Devices Reveal Secrets about the Lives of Marine Animals"

    Craig Clements, Assistant Professor, SJSU Department of Meteorology - "Wildfires and Atmospheric Interactions"

    Ken Ronsse, VTA's Deputy Director, Construction - "BART Silicon Valley Project"

• GreenTalk Speaker Series, Fall 2013

  • Dennis Dowling, Director of Ulistac Natural Area Restoration & Education Project Inc. (UNAREP), Director of Montebello Ridge MBR environmental project for SCUSD - "Restoring California native habitat at Ulistac Natural Area in the city of Santa Clara"

    Mary Comerio, Professor, Graduate School, Department of Architecture, University of California, Berkeley 2013 EERI Distinguished Lecturer - "Resilience: An Engineering Challenge"

    Robert Stevens, Vice President of BKF Engineers - "Sustainable Design in Green Engineering Projects"

    Michael Flynn, Bioengineering, NASA Ames Research Center, Moffett Field - "NASA's Water Recycling System for Rapid Development"

    Ashwini Kantak, Assistant to the San Jose City Manager, San Jose City Green Vision, City's Environmental Services Department - "City of San Jose's Green Vision Goals"

    Sean Christensen, Engineers Without Borders, SJSU Chapter President - "Engineers Without Borders—Local and International Activities"

    David Freyberg, Associate Professor Civil and Environmental Engineering, Stanford University - "The History and Engineering of Searsville Dam and Reservoir in Palo Alto"

    Joy Franco, Civil Engineering, SJSU, Past President of SJSU SWE (Society of Women Engineers), represented SJSU at the Salzburg, Austria Program - "Salzburg Leadership Council and Global Citizenship"

    Eugene Cordero, Professor of Meteorology and Climate Science, SJSU - "Climate Change and Energy: The Path Forward"

    Dave Cramer, Agriculture Specialist, Retired SJSU - "The Salinas Valley Salad Bowl, Food and Water Safety"

• GreenTalk Speaker Series, Spring 2013

  • Dr. Jeanne Linsdell, College of Engineering Director of Technical Communication - "Antarctica"

    Robert Stevens, Vice President of BKF Engineers - "Sustainable Design in Green Engineering Projects"

    Dr. Samuel Obi, Technology Professor​ - "Green Manufacturing and Sustainability"

    Kif Scheuer, Sustainable Communities Program Director - "Strategic Energy Innovations (SEI) and its work on Climate Change Solutions"

    Tim Stanley, Author - "Farming in Silicon Valley, from Past to Present"

    Robert Handa, Channel 2 News - "Environmental Stories and the Need for Solid Communication"

    Keith Perry, Entrepreneur, Environmentalist, Instructor, Author - "Project Kaisei and its work to clean up the Great Pacific Garbage Patch"

    Ryan Heacock, Santa Clara Valley Water - "Mercury Remediation Project"

    Dr. Eugene Cordero, Professor of Meteorology and Climate Science, SJSU, Jointly Sponsored by the Meteorology and Climate Science Department and the College of Engineering - "Climate change and some of the interesting solutions related to food, energy, and water"

    Selected ENGR 100W Student Presentations

• GreenTalk Speaker Series, Fall 2012

  • Alexander Bayen, Berkeley Professor, Researcher at the Center for Information Technology Research in the Interest of Society (CITRIS) - "The Floating Sensor Network Project"

    Keith Perry, Environmentalist, entrepreneur, and instructor - "Green Management and Related Topics"

    Susan Wright, Resource Conservation Specialist, County of San Mateo, Department of Public Works - "Energy Watch"

    Ray Wong, Santa Clara Valley Water District - "Bay Area Regional Desalination Project"

    Bill Vass, President and Chief Executive Officer of Liquid Robotics, Inc. - "Liquid Robotics and its Wave Glider"

    Kristen Brubacker, Program Manager - "Climate Corps Bay Area"

    Ron Swenson, Co-founder of INIST and solar and energy conservation development, B.S. Engineering Science and M.S. Mechanical Engineering, Stanford University - "Sustainable Transportation"

    Shannon Johnson, Research Technician and Alana Sherman, Electrical Engineer, Monterey Bay Aquarium Research Institute (MBARI) - "Ocean Environmental Research at MBARI"

    Dave Cramer, Agriculture Specialist - "Salinas water use and the issues with run-off and nitrates/Food safety"

    Carol L. Sjoberg, National Ignition Facility (NIF) - "NIF: The "Crown Joule" of Laser Science"

• GreenTalk Speaker Series, Spring 2012

  • Dr. Nicole Okamoto, Associate Professor and Associate Chair, Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering, SJSU; Ph.D. University of Illinois., Specialties: Heat Transfer, HVAC, Electronic Systems Cooling - "Environmental Legislation (ozone depletion, DDT, MTBE, CAFE standards, renewable energy resources)"

    Shannon Johnson, Research Technician, Monterey Bay Aquarium Research Institute - "Ocean Environmental Research"

    Terri Ramirez, SJSU, IWM, Recycling & Moving Services Specialist - "Recycling, Waste Reduction, and Campus Improvements"

    Dave Cramer, Master's Organizational Management, BS Horticulture, Food Processing and Safe Manufacturing Practices Cert., Advanced Hazardous Materials Management Cert. Director of Technical and Environmental Services and Programs, Grower-Shipper Association of Central California (recently retired) - "Salinas water use and the issues with run-off and nitrates/Food safety"

    Dr. Walter D'Ardenne - "Nuclear Engineering Safety Requirements, Implementation, Case Studies"

    Julie Corbett, Founder and CEO of Ecologic - "Ecologic Brand's sustainable containers and how they divert cardboard and plastic from our landfills and oceans"

    Gerard Achtelik Jr., Manager, Zero Emission Vehicle Infrastructure, California Air Resources Board - "The Hydrogen Infrastructure in California"

    Mike Woelk, CEO, Picarro Joint Meteorology/Climate Science Department - "How does Picarro measure these changes?"

    Dr. Mark Jacobson, Professor of Civil and Environmental Engineering and Stanford Woods Institute Senior Fellow - "Urban heat island research"

    Cedric De la Beaujardiere, BS Electrical Engineering and Computer Science, US Berkeley, Co-Chair of Palo Alto's Composting Task Force - "Waste management/anaerobic digestion/politics/communication in the public arena"

• GreenTalk Speaker Series, Fall 2011

  • Dr. James Wilson and Dr. Manoj Pillai, Engineers, Bloom Energy - "Bloom Energy, Changing the Face of Energy"

    Reuben Thibodeau, KLA-Tencor Corp, Facilities Engineer - "Ocean Environmental Research"

    Chris Verges, Senior Systems Software Engineer - "Smart microgrids – using power management technologies in commercial buildings and datacenters to intelligently reduce power consumption"

    Ed Taylor, Director of Product Marketing, Coulomb Technologies, Inc. - "Coulomb Technologies Worldwide ChargePoint Network for Charging Electric Vehicles"

    David Crammer, (Master's Organizational Management, BS Horticulture, Food Processing and Safe Manufacturing Practices Cert., Advanced Hazardous Materials Management Cert.) Director of Technical and Environmental Services and Programs, Grower-Shipper Association of Central California (recently retired). Currently professional video photographer for agri-business and environmental case studies. - "Food Safety and Environmental Practices in Agriculture"

    Jeffrey A. Adams, Ph.D., P.E., REA I - "Green and Sustainable Remediation – A Holistic Approach for Contaminated Site Cleanup"

    MaryAnne Lauderdale, P.E., Senior Consultant, Lime Energy, and General Manager Applied Energy Management, Inc."

    Carol Beebe, Program Manager, Energy Utilities and Engineering, SJSU and Jared Issacson, Energy Analyst, Facilities, Development & Operations, SJSU

• GreenTalk Speaker Series, Spring 2011

  • James G. Bellingham, Ph.D., Chief Technologist, Monterey Bay Aquarium Research Institute - "The challenges of technology development and engineering in the ocean sciences"

    Keith Perry, E100W Instructor, General Engineering, SJSU - "Essential skills in education for sustainable development"

    Richard Simonitch, PE, PLS, Engineer, Sand City Desalination Plant Sr. Vice President, Engineering Manager Creegan + D'Angelo Infrastructure Engineers - "What is desalination, how is it being implemented, and what are the huge benefits to the coastal community of Sand City, in northern California?"

    Clifford Clarke, Silver Spring Networks - "Silver Spring Networks and engineering jobs relating to smart grid technologies"

    Matt Banet, Ph.D., Founder, CEO, President of Sotera Wireless - "The evolution of a medical device company, from conception to exit, including a demonstration of their newest technologies."

    Lisa Benatar, LEED Home Designer - "The creation of a unique environmental home in Palo Alto"

    Michael Lehnen, Civil Engineer, VTA, and active in Engineers Without Borders (EWB) - "Engineers Without Borders"

    Dr. Seebany Datta-Barua, Aviation and Technology Dept., SJSU - "Weather Satellites"

    Devin Mody, PE, Senior Engineer, West and Guadalupe Program Support Unit, and Al Gurevich (College of Engineering alum), Santa Clara Valley Water District - "Guadalupe River Park and Flood Protection Project"

    Eugene Cordero, Ph.D., Associate Professor, Meteorology and Climate Science, SJSU, Named 2011 Google Science Communication Fellow, Author of Cool Cuisine: Taking the Bite out of Global Warming - "Food climate connections - How burritos can save the world"

• GreenTalk Speaker Series, Fall 2010

  • Rob Bearman, Global Energy and Utility Alliances Team, BETTER PLACE, Palo Alto - "Better Place, Electric Vehicles, and the Electric Grid Better Place: The global provider of electric vehicle networks and services"

    Grayson Morris, Director of Sales, SunRun Inc. - "Making Solar Affordable for Homeowners"

    Jim Crawford, President, Turner Designs - "The Engineering Challenges of Ocean Monitoring"

    Ed Taylor, Director of Product Marketing, Coulomb Technologies, Inc. - "Coulomb Technologies' Worldwide ChargePoint Network for Charging Electric Vehicles"

    Dr. Thalia Anagnos, Professor, College of Engineering, SJSU - "Earthquakes and Their Effects and Predictions"

    Dr. Juneseok Lee, Assistant Professor, Civil and Environmental Engineering, SJSU - "Sustainable Drinking Water Infrastructure: Focusing on a Service Line"

    Dr. Frank Agardy, Forensic Environmental Science - "Forensic Investigation—an Unusual Environmental Career"

    Lee Butler, Planner II, City of San José - "Envision San José 2040 General Plan Update and Proposed Environmental Goals"

    Carol Beebe, Program Manager, Energy Utilities and Engineering, SJSU & Jared Issacson, Energy Analyst , Facilities, Development and Operations, SJSU - "Sustainable Buildings at SJSU and LEED Certification"

    Adam Bayer, Director, Energy and Utilities, SJSU - "Smartgrid and its Applications, such as Demand Response"