Your Future For Planet Future
Environmental Careers Webinar
Are you passionate about the environment? Do you want to know how to get involved and what career you can pursue in this field? Register for this virtual webinar and learn from the four speakers
Date: May 22, 2022 3:00-4:30 pm (Eastern time)
For students, parents and anyone interested in environmental career
Alexandra Fitzgerald
Alex Fitzgerald is a first-year engineering student at the Tufts University School of Engineering pursuing a major in Environmental Engineering and a minor in Science, Technology, and Society. On-campus Alex is a member of the Tufts Engineers Without Borders chapter and The Breakthrough Journal, reporting on research taking place on campus. Throughout her highschool career, Alex pursued her passion for the environment via the Horace Greeley Science Research program in the classroom and as an active member of the environmental volunteer community in the Hudson Valley outside of school. Some of her most rewarding environmental work came from collaboration with organizations including, but not limited to, Coastal Ocean Vision Inc., Second Chance Foods, Riverkeeper, and Bedford 2030.
Alex will discuss her participation in volunteer work and environmental research and how these experiences shaped her perspective in the college search process. She will then share some about her time as a first year engineering student including her path to her major declaration, community involvement, and her life as an individual outside of the classroom.
Claire Kokoska
Ms. Kokoska manages the opt-in Sustainable Westchester Community Solar program, launched in 2018. Since its establishment, Ms. Kokoska has worked to enroll several thousand residents, municipalities and small businesses across 30 community solar farms with 10 solar developers to provide guaranteed savings through local community distributed energy generation. Ms. Kokoska began working with Sustainable Westchester’s Solar Programs in 2017 to administer and manage the successful Solarize Westchester program, which ultimately led to 600+ solar installations across 22 municipal campaigns. She specializes in research, marketing, logistics, and enthusiastic support implementing clean energy projects in the Hudson Valley. Prior to Sustainable Westchester, Ms. Kokoska worked in high-rise commercial property management in downtown Chicago, implementing sustainability initiatives to advance eco-friendly practices among the commercial tenants, which included several Fortune 500 corporations. Ms. Kokoska studied Philosophy at Union College in Schenectady, NY, finishing Magna Cum Laude with a focus on environmental ethics.
Claire will share opportunities for high school and college level students to get involved with sustainability initiatives across Westchester County. Claire is also happy to share her sustainability journey.
Jack Chien-Yu Lin
Currently as a PhD student, Chien-Yu has honed increased skills which focus on strategies of digital analysis for mitigating global warming and UHI in developing regions. Priorly, Lin served as a landscape designer at Halvorson Tighe & Bond Studio. Stimulated by academic and practical experience, Lin has become interested in technology adoption in design and planning practice through data-driven modeling. While at SUNY College of Environmental Science and Forestry, Lin has taken on a leadership role in developing workflows for landscape architects and designers in the environment profession within BLA and MLA curriculum by providing digital media instruction in both seminars and studios.
Jack will share his experience from academic performance to implementation in practice for environmental dedication. Besides projects demonstrating concepts and protocols for friendly environmental decision making, Jack will illustrate interactions and collaborations with disciplinary professions in the environment. From a junior landscape designer in the office to a mid-level environmental researcher, Jack will also discuss learning patterns specifically in the environment profession including roles, passion, conflicts, coordination and so on. A potential outcome from this brief section would be the balance between academy and practical fields.
Professor Aidan Ackerman
Aidan’s work investigates the agency of digital tools, computation, parametric design, and visualization in landscape architecture. His research is performed through project-based digital experimentation to develop novel workflows, and practice-based study of emerging technology. He is an Assistant Professor of Landscape Architecture at SUNY College of Environmental Science and Forestry. Previously, Aidan was the Director of Digital Media and Landscape Architecture Faculty at Boston Architectural College. He holds a Master of Landscape Architecture from Harvard Graduate School of Design, and a Bachelor of Fine Arts from Alfred University.
Aidan will present his research creating virtual reality scenes of environmental change, showing degradation of forest ecology and sustainable restoration methods that can contribute to atmospheric carbon capture. He will also discuss pathways to working in environmental stewardship, from high school and college to graduation and professional work.
