Prior to her September 2008 appointment as Executive Director of Engineers for a Sustainable World, Julie served as Co-Founder and Managing Director of Geneva-Cathay Holdings Corp., and held management positions in strategy, business development, marketing and operations at several Fortune 100 companies.
Julie holds a B.S. in Industrial Engineering from Columbia University, an MBA from the Harvard Business School, and an M.S. in Real Estate Development from Columbia University's Graduate School of Architecture Planning and Preservation. She served as a Fellow of the Deming Center at the Columbia School of Business, and was named a regional finalist for the 2007-2008 White House Fellowship Program.
In the non-profit sector, Julie has been active in children’s issues, her church and Habitat for Humanity. She presently sits on the board of the Alameda Point Collaborative. In her spare time, she enjoys international travel, tennis, golf and classical music.
Rob is the Director of Education & Outreach. This position has primary responsibility for educational programs at the national level (look for these in upcoming months!), as well as connecting ESW to other opportunities and bring knowledgeable people to ESW chapters to help develop beneficial relationships.
Rob Best is a senior engineering major at Harvey Mudd College in Claremont, CA. He is the former co-President of HMC's ESW chapter and the sister organization, Mudders Organizing for Sustainability Solutions. He is also the 2009-2010 President of HMC's Tau Beta Pi chapter and an active member of Mudders Making a Difference, the school's community service organization. Between clubs and school work, Rob finds time to play saxophone in the Pomona College Jazz Band and on breaks enjoys hiking, camping, and umpiring Little League baseball.
Alex is in the position of Director of Communications & Technology. In this capacity, Alex is responsible for the content in the monthly ESW newsletter as well as for the new members forum just launched this fall. He also helps the national team evaluate new technologies needed for their various projects. Alex is also active in helping with some education-related projects.
Alex is the former president of the University of Pittsburgh’s ESW chapter, and has also been the leader of one of its flagship projects. Alex has his B.S. in Engineering Physics from Pitt, and is now working towards his PhD in the Civil Engineering department with Pitt's Sustainability and Green Design group. Outside of ESW, he is involved with Pitt's other environmental groups, the Honors College, and the TEDx project. In between working on random ideas and projects, Alex enjoys video games, cooking, and coming up with new random ideas to work on.
In his position as Director of Chapter Relations, Chris is in charge of connecting student chapter leaders to increase collaboration between/among our chapters, ensure that ESW National is providing value to the local chapters, and provide overall chapter relations support and communications.
Chris served as president of the ESW-University at Buffalo (UB) chapter for the past two years, where he worked with the ESW-UB executive board to grow, network, and redefine the structure of the chapter to increase continuity and excite students about creating positive change in the world. Chris is majoring in Electrical Engineering with intended minors in Mandarin Chinese and Mathematics. Chris was named a 2009 Udall Scholar for his work and leadership in sustainability. He also remains active in UB's School of Engineering where he is serving as the 2009-10 chapter president of Tau Beta Pi. In his spare time, Chris enjoys the occasional videogame, listening to music and hiking with friends.
Kalpana is the Director of the SEED Incubation Fund. She is responsible for overseeing the web page for the program, updating corresponding application documents and supporting fund raising efforts.
Kalpana participated in an ESW project during her undergraduate career while she was studying biological engineering at Cornell University. After completing a project on Cayuga Lake watershed coliforms, her team was invited to present the results at the 2008 ESW conference in San Francisco. Ever since the conference, Kalpana dedicated her academics to sustainability. She completed a Master of Engineering in chemical engineering, with an emphasis on energy, at Cornell University and participated in large student led projects such as Aguaclara and Solar Decathlon.
Kalpana is Process Engineer at Intel. In her spare time, she likes to travel, knit/crochet, dance (swing is her newest interest) and make/eat any kind of dessert.
Vicky is our Director of Member Relations. This position is tasked with the job of making sure that members receive value for their dues, and have a network to work within. Vicky will be helping with the upcoming webinar series, as well as heading the creation of a membership directory (another item to look for in the future), and possibly green jobs listings.
Vicky Tian is currently studying for her Bachelor of Science in Operations Research & Information Engineering. She has served as both Co-President and Vice President of Publicity of Cornell's ESW Chapter, and plans to serve as VP of Finance in her upcoming senior year. She has also served as student manager of the Cornell Annual Fund, where she helped to raise support and builds alumni relations. For her efforts, Vicky was awarded the Cornell Engineering Global Fellow in Academics and Service this past year. In her free time Vicky enjoys snowboarding in the ample Ithica snow and taking pictures with one of her nine cameras.
