Team - Emory Office of Sustainability Initiatives

Ciannat Howett

Associate Vice President, Sustainability, Resilience and Economic Inclusion Adjunct Associate Professor, Emory University

Ciannat founded Emory’s first Office of Sustainability Initiatives in July 2006 before assuming her current role as Associate Vice President in 2019, managing an enterprise-wide effort to ensure that Emory’s actions and policies support environmental, social, and economic systems that provide a healthy, productive, and meaningful life for current and future generations. She is also an Adjunct Associate Professor in Emory’s Rollins School of Public Health and Emory College’s Environmental Sciences Department and a Senior Faculty Fellow with Emory’s Center for Ethics. Ciannat attended Emory as an undergraduate, receiving her B.A. in 1987, and she received a law degree from the University of Virginia in 1992. She practiced environmental law with Kilpatrick Stockton for four years and was Senior Attorney with the Water Enforcement Division the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency in Washington, D.C. for six years before serving as Director of the Southern Environmental Law Center’s Georgia and Alabama office until 2006. She is a Trustee for the R. Howard Dobbs, Jr. Foundation, the PATH Foundation, and serves on the Advisory Board of Emory Law School’s Turner Environmental Law Clinic and the National Council on Competitiveness. She received the 2002 U.S. EPA Gold Medal for Exceptional Service, the 2004 Environmental Hero Award from The Wilderness Society, the 2010 Pillar of Sustainability Award from EARTH University, the 2013 Outstanding Adjunct Faculty Award from Rollins School of Public Health, a 2014 Award of Distinction from Emory, and a 2020 Woman to Watch award from the U.S. Green Building Council. She is a co-founder of the Greater Atlanta Regional Centre of Expertise on Education for Sustainable Development of the United Nations. She is a frequent regional and national speaker on sustainability issues, and, for four years, was named a “Georgia Super Lawyer” by Atlanta magazine.

ciannat.howett@emory.edu

Cyrus Bhedwar

Director of Sustainability

Cyrus joined the Office of Sustainability Initiatives team in 2023. His career has focused on advancing energy efficiency and sustainability at the local, state, and regional levels. As the Director of Energy Efficiency Policy at the Southeast Energy Efficiency Alliance, he worked with state and local policymakers to advance energy efficiency across the Southeast. He spends his time thinking hard about how we create the understanding, connections, and infrastructure needed to advance a clean energy future in a region where grits and/or sweet tea are in plentiful supply, truly a perfect fit for Emory! After 18 years of experience working in energy and sustainability, he’s an expert at stakeholder facilitation and strategic thinking, meaning that post-its, markers, and flip charts are on “subscribe and save". In between his busy work schedule, he finds time to give back to the community as a board member of the Decatur MLK Service Project.

cyrus.bhedwar@emory.edu

Erik Edwards

Educational Garden Project Coordinator, Office of Sustainability Initiatives

Erik grew up on a family farm outside of Athens, GA. As a child, he had a passion for plants and gardening with some of his fondest memories being outside with his parents and grandparents working in the dirt of his family’s garden. Erik graduated from the University of Georgia with a B.S.A in Horticulture in 2013 and took a job managing 5 acres of floriculture greenhouses in Denver, Colorado. In 2017, he and his wife moved back to Georgia as he took on the position of research greenhouse manager for Emory’s biology department. During his time as the research greenhouse manager, he assisted with the garden project by growing the plant starters and volunteering his time. In June of 2019, he was able combine his position as the greenhouse manager with coordinating the OSI garden project.

erik.a.edwards@emory.edu

Mindy Goldstein

Faculty Fellow

Clinical Professor Mindy Goldstein is director of the Turner Environmental Law Clinic and director of the Environmental and Natural Resources Law Program at Emory Law School. Her work focuses on matters related to sustainable energy and climate change, land use and conservation, sustainable agriculture and urban farming, protection of natural resources, and access to information.

magolds@emory.edu

Rebecca Philipsborn

Faculty Fellow

Dr. Rebecca Philipsborn is an Associate Professor of Pediatrics at Emory University School of Medicine. In research and in medical education, she focuses on the intersection of climate change and health, especially child health, and implications for health equity, clinical practice, and healthcare delivery.

rpass@emory.edu

Eri Saikawa

Faculty Fellow

Eri Saikawa is a Professor in Environmental Sciences at Emory University. She conducts interdisciplinary research on the environment, and her main research questions are related to the source and the magnitude of emissions linked to air pollution, ozone depletion and global warming, as well as the impacts of these emissions on humans and on society.

eri.saikawa@emory.edu

Lydia Fort

Faculty Fellow

Lydia Fort is an Assistant Professor in Theater Studies at Emory University. Her work focuses on the intersection of performance, social change and the environment. She is the co-founder of Atlanta Green Theatre Alliance (AGTA) and a founding member of Climate Commons. Ms. Fort is an alum of Creative Climate Leadership, an international group of artists and cultural workers, and artEquity’s National Facilitation Training for DEI (Diversity, Equity and Inclusion). At Emory she teaches a course on Eco-theatre, co-leads an annual workshop on interdisciplinary between art and science, and has hosted Earth Matters On Stage New Play Festival, Climate Change Theatre Action, and the “Theatre and the Environment: Representations of Climate Change on Stage” event.

lydia.fort@emory.edu

Anna Brachey

Assistant Director

Anna joined the Office of Sustainability Initiatives team in 2023 as a Climate Solutions Fellow. As the Assistant Director, she facilitates the completion of Emory’s annual greenhouse gas emissions inventory, collaborates with student and community groups to advance climate resilience, and supports Emory’s research into climate mitigation and adaptation innovations. She earned a B.A. in Anthropology and a B.S. in Biology from the University of Georgia in 2020, then graduated in the inaugural class of Columbia University’s Climate School with an M.A. in Climate and Society in 2022. In her research, Anna uses social and environmental sciences to better understand how climate and conservation solutions can be most effective and just in practice.

anna.elyse.brachey@emory.edu

Sofie diTommaso

Climate and Sustainability Program Coordinator

Sofie diTommaso joined the office as its Climate and Solutions Fellow back in 2022-2023. After completing her Master of Environmental Management degree at Yale University, Sofie rejoined the Office of Sustainability Initiatives as its Climate and Sustainability Program Coordinator. In this role, she will lead OSI's student engagement efforts, contribute to communications, and manage some of OSI's flagship programs.

sofia.ditommaso@emory.edu