SPER'2013: Sustainable Perspectives Symposium
Event Information
Event description
Description
SPER 2013: The Systems Approach
Sustainable Perspectives Symposium
Presented by
The Columbia University Sustainability Management Student Association
An affiliate of
& 
Venue: Low Library, Columbia University, Morningside
Date: March 30, 2013
Program
9.30 Registration
10.00 Welcome
10.20 Keynote
10.45 Speaker Session
1.00 Panel discussion
1.30 Reception
2.30 Close
Description
In order to develop viable solutions to the problems facing our global society, we need to understand how to think sustainably -- and systematically. SPER'2013 is a half-day symposium of dynamic speakers across many industries, and a panel discussion dedicated to applied systems thinking.
Keynote speaker, Elizabeth Thompson of the Buckminster Fuller Institute, will unpack the core concepts of systems thinking and show how they're being implemented with new approaches to design. An interactive workshop will explore previous winners of the annual BFI Challenge.
Speakers
Elizabeth Thompson, Buckminster Fuller Institute, Keynote Speaker
Elizabeth Thompson has catalyzed the development of a variety of cultural and educational initiatives throughout her 20+ year career. Her impact in both the non-profit and for-profit realms has centered around the creation, dissemination and 'synergizing' of leading edge ideas, people, and networks of communities across disciplinary boundaries and media platforms. These include the worlds of contemporary art, experimental theatre, global change activism + information technology, and whole systems design.Ms. Thompson currently serves as the Executive Director of The Buckminster Fuller Institute. Since her tenure began in 2004, she has led BFI through a critical organizational transition launched with the move of BFI to NYC after it's location in California of its first 20 years. Under her leadership BFI has reconstituted its mission, staff, board, and program focus. She has incubated a number of educational initiatives, led the preservation and restoration of several iconic large-scale Fuller artifacts, and served as advisor or curator to numerous contemporary art exhibitions, books, articles, films, digital media, etc. . In 2007 she developed and launched The Buckminster Fuller Challenge, recently recognized as socially-responsible design’s highest award. She is a frequent panelist and lecturer on the contemporary relevance of Bucky's work.
Neil Chambers, chambersdesign
Neil B. Chambers is an award-winning green designer, founder of chambersdesign and author of Urban Green: Architecture for the Future, published by Palgrave|MacMillian. For nearly 20 years, Chambers has been committed to green building and ecological design. By 2000, he served as a project architect on the Stillwell Avenue Subway Terminal in Coney Island, NY commissioned by the New York City Transit Authority. The terminal consists of 76,000 square feet of building integrated photovoltaic (BIPV) panels generating 250,000 kWh of electricity annually. It won the Second Annual Green Building Competition for New York City in 2002 and was part of the Big and Green Exhibitions at the National Building Museum in 2003.
In 2004, Chambers founded chambersdesign to continue his commitment and grow his passion for integrating cities, infrastructure and green buildings with the natural world. His projects tie together concerns such as endangered species and ecological services with renewable energy and net zero design. His work expresses a desire to interconnect ecosystematic intelligences with the needs of the built environment through in-depth research and contemporary sensibilities toward architecture, urban design, science and habitat restoration.
Chambers has spoken at colleges and universities throughout the United States as well as at numerous conferences throughout the world. He has taught at New York University, and developed the Green Design Entrepreneurs Certificate Program at the Fashion Institute of Technology, a State University of New York college of art, business, design, and technology, training hundreds of business owners within the design professions on how to go green with their companies.
Chambers is a native of South Carolina and attended Clemson University for Architectural Design. He studied Studio Arts at Maryland Institute, College of Art and is a graduate of the Goldman Sachs 10,000 Small Business Program. His company is based in the historic district of DUMBO in Brooklyn, NY.
David Turnbull, Atopia research
David Turnbull is a director of ATOPIA designcommunicationurbanism (LLC), and a founder of ATOPIA_RESEARCH (inc), He has worked extensively in the UK, Japan, SE Asia, China, the Middle East, Europe and the USA, and has specific expertise in the area of new lifestyles and the way that individual buildings and new patterns of development take advantage from advances in telecommunications and digital media. His academic career started in 1989 at The Architectural Association in London. He was Professor of Architecture at the University of Bath in the UK from 2000-2005. He is currently a Professor of Architecture at The Irwin S. Chanin School of Architecture at the Cooper Union where he held the Ellen and Sidney Feltman Chair in 2008 and 2009. He is a Fellow of the Royal Society for the Arts in the UK.
ATOPIA and ATOPIA_RESEARCH run on parallel paths, but knowledge migrates from one to the other. ATOPIA_RESEARCH, a 501(c)3 non-profit corporation founded in 2004 and supported by a major grant from The Annenberg Foundation, tends to work in some of the most ecologically challenging areas of the World, Sri Lanka (post Tsunami, Sudan (post Civil War), The Mississippi Delta (post Hurricane), The Ogalala Aquifer (ecological devastation caused by Agri-business), Sichuan, China and Haiti (post Earthquake).
ATOPIA and ATOPIA_RESEARCH run on parallel paths, but knowledge migrates from one to the other. ATOPIA_RESEARCH, a 501(c)3 non-profit corporation founded in 2004 and supported by a major grant from The Annenberg Foundation, tends to work in some of the most ecologically challenging areas of the World, Sri Lanka (post Tsunami, Sudan (post Civil War), The Mississippi Delta (post Hurricane), The Ogalala Aquifer (ecological devastation caused by Agri-business), Sichuan, China and Haiti (post Earthquake).
Dr. Dickson Despommier, VerticalFarm
Dr. Dickson Despommier, PhD, is a microbiologist, an ecologist, and emeritus professor of Public and Environmental Health at the Columbia University. For 27 years he conducted research on cellular and molecular parasitism and held lectures and courses on Parasitic Disease, Medical Ecology and Ecology. From one of these courses, in 1999, he founded the root for this idea of raising crops in tall buildings; vertical farming.
In 2010, he published his widely received book: "The Vertical Farm: feeding the world in the 21st Century", St. Martin's Press, New York. Two years ago vertical farms were regarded as a utopia, but one year ago the first prototypes were built. Among those prototypes are a three-story VF Suwon, South Korea, over 50 (plant factories that qualify as vertical farms) in Japan, a commercial vertical farm in Singapore that opened in 2012, and another in Chicago that was built in an old industrial building.
In 2010, he published his widely received book: "The Vertical Farm: feeding the world in the 21st Century", St. Martin's Press, New York. Two years ago vertical farms were regarded as a utopia, but one year ago the first prototypes were built. Among those prototypes are a three-story VF Suwon, South Korea, over 50 (plant factories that qualify as vertical farms) in Japan, a commercial vertical farm in Singapore that opened in 2012, and another in Chicago that was built in an old industrial building.
Dr. Serpil Guran, Rutgers Eco-Complex
Dr. Serpil Guran is the Director of the Rutgers EcoComplex. Her responsibilities include management of the EcoComplex operations, programs, business incubator and facilities, as well as providing vision and leadership in establishing the EcoComplex as a nationally recognized center for the commercialization of environmental and alternative energy technologies. Additionally, Dr. Guran serves as liaison to the regional environmental and alternative energy business communities, government agencies, and related organizations.
Dr. Guran was formerly a Research Scientist at the New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection for 13 years, most recently with the Office Economic Growth and Green Energy. Prior to that she was a Research Scientist at Princeton University in the Mechanical-Aerospace Engineering Dept. and at the National Renewable Energy Laboratory in Golden, CO. Dr. Guran specializes in research, development and assessment of sustainable biofuel and recycling technologies, and life cycle analysis of alternative fuel production systems. She has authored more than 25 scientific articles and holds a U.S. patent and patent disclosure. Dr. Guran has a M.S. in Chemical Engineering from Anadolu University in Turkey and a PhD in Chemical Engineering, with a specialization in Fuel and Energy Technology, from the University of Leeds, UK
Dr. Guran was formerly a Research Scientist at the New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection for 13 years, most recently with the Office Economic Growth and Green Energy. Prior to that she was a Research Scientist at Princeton University in the Mechanical-Aerospace Engineering Dept. and at the National Renewable Energy Laboratory in Golden, CO. Dr. Guran specializes in research, development and assessment of sustainable biofuel and recycling technologies, and life cycle analysis of alternative fuel production systems. She has authored more than 25 scientific articles and holds a U.S. patent and patent disclosure. Dr. Guran has a M.S. in Chemical Engineering from Anadolu University in Turkey and a PhD in Chemical Engineering, with a specialization in Fuel and Energy Technology, from the University of Leeds, UK
Chris Garvin, Terrapin Bright Green
Chris serves as a project lead for many of Terrapin’s consulting engagements while also managing projects for Cook+Fox Architects, where he is a Senior Associate. His interests include high-performance design at both the building and community scale, zero energy communities, biomimicry, and water conservation. An integral contributor to Terrapin’s development, he was named a Partner in 2008.
Complementing his work at Terrapin, Chris lectures frequently on sustainable design and has taught at the Pratt Institute’s Center for Professional Practice since 2002. He also advises several organizations on sustainability issues, including the National Building Museum and the New York Academy of Sciences. He serves on the Board of Directors for the US Green Building Council – New York Chapter and on the Advisory Board for Mayor Michael Bloomberg’s Office of Long-Term Planning and Sustainability. In addition, he is currently developing an exhibit on “Biomimicry and the Built Environment: Lessons Learned from Nature”.
Complementing his work at Terrapin, Chris lectures frequently on sustainable design and has taught at the Pratt Institute’s Center for Professional Practice since 2002. He also advises several organizations on sustainability issues, including the National Building Museum and the New York Academy of Sciences. He serves on the Board of Directors for the US Green Building Council – New York Chapter and on the Advisory Board for Mayor Michael Bloomberg’s Office of Long-Term Planning and Sustainability. In addition, he is currently developing an exhibit on “Biomimicry and the Built Environment: Lessons Learned from Nature”.
Kubi Ackerman, Urban Design Lab
Kubi Ackerman has been conducting design-based research at Urban Design Lab since 2007. At the UDL Kubi has worked on several food systems and urbanization projects, including efforts to curb childhood obesity and assess New York City's regional "foodshed." He is currently managing a project to evaluate the capacity of New York City for urban agriculture. Kubi has also been involved with other projects including the rezoning of 125th Street in Harlem, a study of urban development patterns in the Hudson River Estuary, and designs for park infrastructure to increase physical activity and economic development in northern Manhattan. Previously Kubi taught and worked at the Salvadori Center, City College of New York, developing design and architecture-based curricula for public schools in New York City. Kubi has conducted extensive research into the history of architecture and urban development in Prague, Czech Republic. He is a LEED® Accredited Professional with the United States Green Building Council.
Travis Bradford, Prometheus Institute
Travis Bradford is the president and founder of the Prometheus Institute for Sustainable Development, a nonprofit organization focused on harnessing the power of the business sector to develop cost-effective and sustainable solutions in technologies, including energy, water, food, and recycling. Through the Institute, he helped found Greentech Media and the Carbon War Room.
Bradford is also currently the managing partner at Atlas Capital Investments, LP, a global hedge fund dedicated to investing in sustainable technology companies in energy, water, food, and materials. He consults with governments, NGOs, and corporations on strategy and execution. Bradford has lectured on finance, entrepreneurship, and alternative energy economics at many leading universities in the U.S, and has been a professor at the University of Chicago and Duke University MBA programs on Energy Innovation.
Bradford is also currently the managing partner at Atlas Capital Investments, LP, a global hedge fund dedicated to investing in sustainable technology companies in energy, water, food, and materials. He consults with governments, NGOs, and corporations on strategy and execution. Bradford has lectured on finance, entrepreneurship, and alternative energy economics at many leading universities in the U.S, and has been a professor at the University of Chicago and Duke University MBA programs on Energy Innovation.
Stefan Al, University of Pennsylvania
Stefan Al is a Dutch architect, urban designer, and Associate Professor of Urban Design at the University of Pennsylvania. In an international career to date, Al has worked on renowned architectural projects such as the 2,000-feet high Canton Tower in Guangzhou, the preservation of world heritage in Latin America at the World Heritage Center of UNESCO, and an 11,000-acre new eco-friendly city in India. His writing has been published in the Handbook of Architectural Theory, the Berkeley Planning Journal, and other publications. He has edited the books Factory Towns of South China and Village in the City (forthcoming 2013), and is currently writing a book on Las Vegas called The Strip.
Al is an EU-licensed architect and a LEED Accredited Professional. He serves as a founding member of the Hong Kong Institute of Urban Design, a co-opted member of Hong Kong's Harbourfront Commission, and as a task force member of Hong Kong's Environment Bureau.
Al is an EU-licensed architect and a LEED Accredited Professional. He serves as a founding member of the Hong Kong Institute of Urban Design, a co-opted member of Hong Kong's Harbourfront Commission, and as a task force member of Hong Kong's Environment Bureau.
Steve Sanderson, CASE
Steve Sanderson is a founding partner of CASE, a virtual design and construction (VDC) and integrated-practice consultancy based in New York City. At CASE, Steve is primarily responsible for leading building performance and technology strategy consulting for significant AECO clients. Prior to CASE, Steve was the Director of Design Technology at SHoP Architects, where he was responsible for introducing and leading SHoP’s building information modeling, parametric design, and environmental modeling efforts; establishing the firm as an industry thought leader.
Steve received his Master of Engineering from the Product-Architecture Lab at Stevens Institute and a Bachelor of Science in Industrial Design from Virginia Tech. He has led numerous workshops and speaks internationally on technology and innovation at venues such as SIGGRAPH, SmartGeometry, Autodesk University, AIANY Tech, and LA Design Technology Forum. Since 2009 he has been a part-time lecturer in the School of Constructed Environments at Parsons The New School for Design, where he teaches programming and environmental technology.
Steve received his Master of Engineering from the Product-Architecture Lab at Stevens Institute and a Bachelor of Science in Industrial Design from Virginia Tech. He has led numerous workshops and speaks internationally on technology and innovation at venues such as SIGGRAPH, SmartGeometry, Autodesk University, AIANY Tech, and LA Design Technology Forum. Since 2009 he has been a part-time lecturer in the School of Constructed Environments at Parsons The New School for Design, where he teaches programming and environmental technology.
