Samantha teaches urban sustainability at Baruch College and works full time as a professional in urban waste governance in New York City. She holds a doctorate in Environmental Sociology, a MPA in Environmental Policy from New York University, and a BA in Biology from Johns Hopkins University, and has nearly 20 years practical experience in waste management. Her book, Recycling Reconsidered, is a critical but supportive examination of the history and current state of recycling in the United States. Samantha’s current academic research concerns sustainable materials policy and environmental justice, taking an interdisciplinary approach that is grounded in the fields of history, geography, environmental science, and public works administration. She is an avid composter and gardener, and has mentored engineering students at CCNY, MIT, Harvard, and Brown University.
At the conference, Samantha will draw from her historical and ethnographic research among activists, engineers, waste management consultants, community organizers, public servants and facility operators. Taking a stance that neither endorses nor condemns differing points of view, technologies and policies, she will discuss a range of perspectives that people who live and work in megacities can tap into on as they engage in participatory democracy, green design, and sustainable waste management.