Our Team

Lori Catalano, Ph.D.
Landscape Architecture

Lori Catalano is an Associate Professor in the Department of Horticulture and Landscape Architecture. As a teacher and licensed landscape architect, she fosters an environment that inspires students to think critically and creatively about the world around them by making difficult concepts relevant to the individual experience of the student. Two principals are at the heart of her teaching philosophy: 1) providing meaningful experiences through experiential learning, and 2) helping students translate theory into application. She is compelled to integrate her relevant knowledge, experience and passion as a practitioner with well-executed pedagogical approaches. Lori graduated from Iowa State University with a Bachelor of Landscape Architecture and earned a Master of Landscape Architecture from the University of Pennsylvania.

Work with IBE: healthy buildings, sustainability, applied transdisciplinary research.

Rodolfo Valdes Vasquez, Ph.D.
Construction Management

Dr. Rodolfo Valdes-Vasquez holds the position of Associate Professor in the Department of Construction Management at CSU. His unwavering dedication to sustainability permeates his research, teaching, and engagement work, earning him recognition nationally and internationally. Dr. Valdes-Vasquez’s innovative teaching methods have been honored with prestigious awards, including the 2019 Award for Excellence in Education Abroad Curriculum Design and the 2024 Associated Schools of Construction Outstanding Teacher Award from Region 6. Alongside his teaching commitments, he leads groundbreaking research initiatives focused on sustainable design and construction, attracting grant funding from federal and state agencies and private organizations. Outside the lecture hall, he actively supports sustainability initiatives, mentoring student clubs and guiding sustainability teams. His impact extends globally through collaborations with esteemed colleagues and editorial contributions to leading construction journals. Dr. Valdes-Vasquez is not merely educating minds; he is shaping the trajectory of sustainable design and construction practices for generations to come.

Work with IBE: Healthy buildings, sustainability, education, applied research.

Tami Bond, Ph.D.
Civil Engineering

Tami Bond is the Walter Scott, Jr. Presidential Chair in Energy, Environment and Health. Her research has followed a thread from combustion, to atmospheric chemistry and climate, to technology change and future scenarios, to the intimate relationship between technology and human choice. Her work spans considerations as small as a particle’s skin and as large as a national transportation system in the quest to characterize the dance between humans, their energy use, and the atmosphere and climate. Tami is a Fellow of the American Geophysical Union and a 2014 John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Fellow.

Work with IBE: healthy buildings, sustainability, applied transdisciplinary research.

John Volckens, Ph.D.
Air Quality

Dr. John Volckens is a professor of Mechanical Engineering and the Director of the Center for Energy Development and Health at CSU. He holds affiliate appointments in Environmental Health, Biomedical Engineering, the Colorado School of Public Health, and the CSU Energy Institute. His research interests involve air quality, low-cost sensors, exposure science, and air pollution-related disease. He is a founding member of the CSU Partnership for Air Quality, Climate, and Health – an organization that seeks to develop practical, science-vetted solutions to intertwined problems of air quality, climate, and health that we face as a society. He received a BS in Civil Engineering from the University of Vermont, and MS and PhD degrees in Environmental Engineering from the Gillings School of Public Health at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.

Work with IBE: Healthy buildings, applied trans-disciplinary research.

Lindsay Burnette, MLA
Landscape Architecture

Lindsay’s teaching, professional work, and academic research are focused on cultural landscapes, resilient design, and community-centered development. Lindsay is passionate about design in rural areas, and in 2020 she co-founded the Rural Futures Collaborative to bring together communities, designers, and their collaborators around rural issues. Her current body of research involves employing speculative design methodologies for rural, community-based projects aimed at innovative climate solutions.

While completing her Masters of Landscape Architecture at the University of Pennsylvania, Lindsay was awarded an ASLA Honor Award, the Narendra Juneja Medal, and a Van Alen Travel Fellowship to study rural refugee resettlement in Southern Italy. Lindsay was a 2014-2015 Fulbright Research Scholar in South Korea and an Americorps service member in Portland, Oregon. She is currently a board member of the Refugee Collective in Austin, TX, where she is part of a team creating a carbon farm plan and developing a refugee-centered fibershed. In 2024-2025, Lindsay received a CSU School of Global and Environmental Sustainability Resident Fellowship for her research on the future of agriculture in Colorado.

Work with IBE: Sustainable landscapes and placemaking, belonging, sense of place

Ellison Carter, Ph.D.
Civil Engineering

Ellison Carter joined the Civil and Environmental Engineering Department as an Assistant Professor in January 2017. Ellison began her career working with forest and marine ecologists in Costa Rica and went on to complete MS and PhD degrees in Civil Engineering from the University of Texas at Austin, focusing on indoor air quality, particularly in low-income housing. Ellison’s postdoctoral work was at the Institute on the Environment at the University of Minnesota, where she carried out field-based studies in China concerning air quality, climate, energy, and health. Her current research combines interests and expertise in air quality, exposure science, and chemistry and aims to answer questions relevant to energy policy and housing and transportation planning and their impacts on air pollution exposure and human health.

Work with IBE: healthy air quality for schools

James Hale, PhD
Social Sustainability

James Hale is the Research Director of Community Food Systems and Social Sustainability, a new research and engagement position tied to CSU’s Spur Campus in Denver. Through engaged research, his work aims to contribute to knowledge of community food systems, and agricultural sustainability efforts more broadly. He does this in several ways including leading and supporting research and evaluation, connecting students and researchers to community and institutional partners, partnering with organizations and institutions throughout the region, providing technical assistance, and facilitating educational experiences.

James has spent time in both practitioner and research settings including working as a Peace Corps agroforestry agent in Malawi, helping spearhead alternative food network projects in Colorado, and leading related research projects at CSU and the Colorado School of Public Health. He was Postdoctoral Fellow at the Centre for Sustainability at the University of Otago in New Zealand examining social sustainability and accountability in agricultural industry. Since 2019, James has worked on a variety of food systems related research and engagement at CSU. His work has been published in journals such as Geoforum, Local Environment, Journal of Rural Studies, Community Development, Agriculture and Human Values, Social Science and Medicine, and Journal of Agriculture, Food Systems, and Community Development.

Work with IBE: Food systems and social sustainability

Jeni Cross, Ph.D.
Director of Research

Jeni helps community partners, diverse teams, and organizations solve complex problems by leveraging social science to co-create transformational solutions. Known for her ability to make complicated science accessible and actionable, Jeni specializes in behavior change, social networks, and the science of team science. Her work is driven by the belief that transformational change is possible when we focus on enhancing our collective capacity to organize for the common good and evolve our relationships with one another and the earth.

Jeni has spent over twenty years teaching and conducting research that spans public health, place attachment, and community engagement. Her current work is focused on regenerative regional development and the social processes of innovation in multi-sector teams. Published in more than two dozen scientific fields, she collaborates with scientists and community partners on topics ranging from ecology to sustainable infrastructure to human well-being. She is a sought-after speaker at national and international conferences, with a TedX talk on behavior change that has reached nearly 1.5 million views. Jeni earned her Ph.D. in Sociology from the University of California, Davis, and is a committed advocate for creating systems that support life and well-being.

Paul Francisco, M.S.
Mechanical Engineering

Paul Francisco is a Research Scientist at the CSU Energy institute and the Senior Coordinator of the Indoor Climate Research & Training (ICRT) group at the Illinois Applied Research Institute at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. Paul’s work focuses on the intersection of energy efficiency and indoor air quality including indoor air quality sampling, energy use logging, and airflow and insulation characterization of buildings. Through his work at ICRT, Paul has designed and led extensive training programs for the Illinois Home Weatherization Assistance Program which serves thousands of low-income clients each year. Paul holds Bachelor’s degree in Mechanical Engineering from the University of Delaware and an Master of Mechanical Engineering from the University of Washington.

In addition to his research and training efforts, Paul is involved in setting national standards and policy regarding ventilation, indoor air quality, and best practices in residential retrofit. He is the current chair of the ASHRAE Standard 62.2 committee which sets national standards for residential ventilation and was a former chair of ASHRAE’s Environmental Health Committee.

Work with IBE: residential indoor air quality and energy efficiency

Sylvester Kalevela, Ph.D., P.E.
Civil Engineering

Sylvester Kalevela is a Professor of Civil Engineering Technology and a registered Professional Engineer focused on transportation systems, highways, and traffic engineering. Sylvester has taught courses in transportation and traffic engineering, engineering economy, statics, soil mechanics, structural analysis, reinforced concrete design, hydraulics, highway materials, and computer applications in problem solving. His industry experience includes transportation system planning, analysis of traffic operations, design of highway traffic control, analysis of land use and development impacts to transportation demand, large event traffic management, and research in highway safety and pavement surface characteristics. Dr. Kalevela is member of the American Society of Civil Engineers, Institute of Transportation Engineers, Chi Epsilon (the civil engineering honor society), and the American Society for Engineering Education. He has a B.S. in civil engineering from the University of Dar-es-Salaam, a M.S. in civil engineering from Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University, and a Ph.D. in civil engineering from Arizona State University.

Work with IBE: Regional sustainability research network

Sheryl Magzamen, MPH, Ph.D.
Environmental Epidemiology

Sheryl Magzamen’s primary research focus is understanding the relative contribution of social factors and environmental exposures on childhood chronic disease. Sheryl has worked extensively in the elementary school setting on developing surveillance methods and educational programs for childhood asthma, understanding the role of lead exposure in educational outcomes, and analyzing the role of social culture and indoor environmental quality and the health and performance of students and teachers. She has active collaborations with exposure scientists to develop refined exposure assessment models in community and agricultural settings in studies of childhood and occupational respiratory disease. Her current methodological work focuses on application of novel approaches to understand environmental pollutant mixtures in community-based studies.

Work with IBE: Indoor air quality and green schools

Laura Malinin, Ph.D.
Interior Architecture & Design

Laura Malinin is an Associate Professor of Interior Architecture and Design in the Department of Design and Merchandising, serves as the director of the Nancy Richardson Design Center at CSU. She is a registered architect (Texas) and cognitive scientist at CSU where she has received awards for teaching and research excellence. She holds an undergraduate degree in architecture and art and art history from Rice University, an M.Ed. in educational technology from the University of Texas, and a joint Ph.D. from the University of Colorado in design and planning through the College of Architecture and Planning and cognitive science through the Institute of Cognitive Science.

Work with IBE: healthy interiors, design thinking

Mohammed Mehany, Ph.D.
Infrastructure Resilience and Sustainability

Mohammed Mehany is an Associate Professor in Construction Management at CSU. He earned his B.S. in civil engineering from Arab Academy for Science and Technology in Cairo, and his master’s in construction management and Ph.D. in civil engineering with a focus on construction management from Colorado State University. Mohammed has extensive construction experience including running his own contracting company in Egypt. His international experience has taught Mehany to work effectively with individuals from different backgrounds and cultures and reduce barriers to success related to differences. Mohammed has several research interests and publications including construction claims, risk management, life cycle costing, green and resilient infrastructure, alternative project delivery, construction safety, fracking, construction education, and lean construction.

Work with IBE: green and sustainable infrastructure, project delivery systems

Matt Ross, Ph.D.
Geospatial Data Mapping

Matt Ross is an ecosystem scientist interested in how people control and change the environment and how altered landscapes impact the streams and rivers. To explore how people reshape landscapes and create novel controls of ecosystem processes, Matt uses a range of approaches from remote sensing to intensive field sampling. Current projects include remote sensing of water quality at a national scale, using fish otoliths as way to look back in time at water quality changes in lakes and rivers, and ongoing work looking at the long water quality legacies of mining operations. Matt’s work aims to enhance our understanding of ecosystem change for scientists and society alike.

Work with IBE: geospatial data mapping, environmental justice

David Rojas, MD, MPH, Ph.D.
Environmental Epidemiology

David Rueda-Rojas’s primary research focuses on promoting a healthy urban design, supporting mitigation, and adaptation to climate change. David is an environmental epidemiologist with over ten years of experience evaluating the health impacts of urban and transport planning policies, related to air pollution, traffic noise, green spaces, heat island effects, physical activity, and traffic accidents. He has worked in several countries across Europe, Africa, Latin, and North America. David specializes in methods such as health impact assessment, populational risk assessment, the burden of disease, and citizen science. His research actively involves citizens, stakeholders, local and national authorities. He is also a member of the university’s Partnership of Air Quality, Climate, and Health (PACH). He has active collaborations with United Nation agencies, such as the World Health Organization (WHO), the Pan-American Health Organization (PAHO), and UN-Habitat.

Work with IBE: environmental justice, public health, transportation, community engagement

Dawn Thilmany, Ph.D.
Agricultural Economics

Dawn Thilmany is a Professor of Agribusiness and Agribusiness Extension Economist with Colorado State University and specializes in analyzing markets and consumer behavior surrounding local, organic and other value-added food market segments. Dawn’s work specializes in rural economic development and focuses on opportunities related to value-added food market supply chains, as well as applied research on food market analysis and consumer behavior. Her work on agricultural diversification also includes work with agritourism and entrepreneurship in Colorado and the Western United States. She is currently the president of the Ag and Applied Economics Association and has held several leadership positions with national ag, food, and regional economic associations. She has been a visiting scholar and collaborated with several USDA agencies, including a current project focused on food supply chains during COVID with the Ag Marketing Service. In addition to her other roles, Professor Thilmany is the Director of Engaged Research at CSU.

Work with IBE: Regional sustainability research network

Joe von Fischer, Ph.D.
Ecosystem Ecology

Joe von Fischer is a professor in the Department of Biology who studies the human and natural forces that give the atmosphere its greenhouse gas composition. One major aspect of that work asks how much methane is being emitted by cities, and what can be done to reduce those emissions. His work bridges across companies that manage greenhouse gases (e.g., natural gas distribution and leak detection companies), environmental groups (e.g., Environmental Defense Fund), and policy groups (e.g., EPA, DOT/PHMSA, California and Colorado agencies). He is a proponent of transdisciplinary research that brings together expertise in social, technological and environmental systems to address issues in sustainability, like climate change. In addressing these issues of sustainability, Joe also seeks to restore social justice.

Work with IBE: Regional sustainability research network, transdisciplinary science

John van de Lindt, Ph.D.
Civil & Environmental Engineering

John W. van de Lindt is the Harold H. Short Endowed Chair Professor in the Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering at Colorado State University. Over the last two decades, van de Lindt’s research program has focused on performance-based engineering and test bed applications of buildings and other systems for earthquakes, hurricanes, tsunamis, tornadoes and floods. He has led data collection efforts following hurricanes, earthquakes, floods, and tornadoes with the most recent being the December 2021 Midwest tornado outbreak.

Professor van de Lindt is the Co-director for the National Institute of Standards and Technology-funded Center of Excellence (COE) for Risk-Based Community Resilience Planning headquartered at Colorado State University in its tenth year. A major portion of the COE is to develop a computational platform IN-CORE to enable communities to measure their resilience to natural hazards. He has published more than 450 technical articles and reports, including 250 journal articles. He currently serves on a number of journal editorial boards worldwide and is the Editor-in-Chief for the ASCE Journal of Structural Engineering.

Work with IBE: Structural engineering for mass timber

Stephanie Malin, Ph.D.
Environmental Justice

Stephanie Malin is Associate Professor of Sociology at Colorado State University. Her research interests include environmental justice, health, and governance in extractive communities, as well as communities building more distributive and regenerative economies and systems. She utilizes primarily qualitative fieldwork methods in rural and peripheral regions in the US and works to conduct community-based research and build relationships with community partners. Stephanie is the co-founder and co-director of the Center for Environmental Justice at Colorado State University, where she also teaches undergraduate and graduate courses on these topics. She is also an active affiliate with the Colorado School of Public Health, School for Global Environmental Sustainability, and the Colorado Water Center. 

Work with IBE: Regional sustainability research network

Dimitris Stevis, Ph.D.
Environmental Justice

Dimitris Stevis is a professor in the Department of Political Science at Colorado State University, USA. In recent years his research, teaching and practice have centered around work and nature, with particular attention to labour environmentalism and just transitions in the USA, Greece, the European Union and globally. His published work combines academic and applied research, the latter in collaboration with labor unions, other civil society organizations, and intergovernmental organizations. He is a founder and a co-director of the Center for Environmental Justice at Colorado State University and joint coordinator of the Just Transition Research Collaborative (UNRISD), the Just Transition in Care Project, and the Planetary Justice Working Group of the Earth System Governance Project.

Work with IBE: Regional sustainability research network

Laura Cole, Ph.D.
Interior Architecture & Design

Laura Cole, Ph.D., is an Associate Professor of Interior Architecture and Design (IAD) in the Department of Design and Merchandising. She has a joint Ph.D. in Architecture and Natural Resources from the University of Michigan, Ann Arbor. As a design scholar and educator, she specializes in the educational potential of green building design. Her recognized scholarship on “green building literacy” crosses informal and formal learning environments to enliven the practice of and theory behind effective green building education. See current projects, publications, and people at www.greenbuildingliteracy.com. She is a LEED accredited professional with prior professional experience in green commercial interior design at Perkins+Will Chicago, a global architectural practice. Within IAD, she teaches upper-level interior architecture studios and sustainable design.

Work with IBE: Green building education and outreach, green schools initiatives

Alexis Kennedy, Ph.D.
Public Policy

Dr. Alexis R. Kennedy is an Assistant Professor of Public Policy and Administration at CSU. Her research focuses on public management topics including the interactions between public, private, and nonprofit organizations in the pursuit of public outcomes, community engaged research, and social equity. Her articles have appeared in Administration and Society, Review of Public Personnel Administration, and Journal of International Development. In addition to her academic work, Kennedy has worked as a practitioner in the energy industry in New Jersey and as a public finance consultant for nonprofit and public entities in Colorado.

Work with IBE: Research network

Brian Dunbar, Executive Director

Professor Emeritus, M.Arch, LEED Fellow

Brian is Executive Director of IBE and Professor Emeritus at Colorado State University, where he has taught courses in Construction Management, Interior Architecture, and Sustainability. Brian holds degrees in architecture from the University of Michigan and is a WELL Accredited Professional (AP) and LEED AP. Brian helped create IBE’s Lifelong Homes & Communities program, which was established to guide developers, designers, builders, and homeowners to create places that support healthy, active, generative lives.

Through IBE, Brian has guided project work for the National Park Service, American Institute of Architects, cities, universities, housing authorities, and school districts. Brian’s healthy, sustainable building teaching and research has been honored by AIA, the Colorado Governor, communities, businesses, and universities. The U.S. Green Building Council recognized Brian with one of its first LEED Fellow distinctions (2012) and its National Leadership Award (2022).

Credentials

Josie Plaut, Associate Director

M.S., LEED AP

Serving as IBE’s Co-Director, Josie helps project teams, communities, and organizations realize their goals and aspirations through designing and delivering effective group processes. Josie is known for framing complex issues, working across boundaries, and elevating collective thinking. Her work is driven by the belief that positive change is possible when we focus on evolving relationships with each other and the places where we live and work.

Josie has designed and delivered hundreds of workshops, strategic planning processes, organizational development programs, and a variety of public and stakeholder engagement initiatives. Her current work is focused on climate response, equity, community planning, transportation, and regenerative business. She is a published and cited author on the topics of regeneration, sustainability, and green building, and is regularly a featured speaker for regional, national, and international events and conferences. Josie is a lineage member of the Carol Sanford Institute, former faculty for The Regenerative Practitioner Series at the Regenesis Institute for Regenerative Practice, and a Patterson Center Certified StratOp Facilitator.

Credentials & Training

Jennifer Schill, Senior Sustainability Manager

LEED Green Associate

A Senior Sustainability Manager at IBE, Jen leads a variety of community engagement, organizational sustainability, and education initiatives, including behavior change programs, for municipalities and corporations. She manages survey services, including community and organizational surveys related to climate perceptions and action, and building occupancy surveys that help clients understand how building design and programming are impacting occupant health and wellbeing. An implementer by nature, Jen thrives on helping organizations and interdisciplinary teams transform strategic vision into impactful projects. She blends a collaborative spirit with a “let’s get it done” attitude to keep teams moving together toward a common goal.

Jen’s project management expertise spans green building, biomimicry, education, website development, communications, marketing, and ecology. A jack of many trades, Jen has previously worked at the Biomimicry Institute, the U.S. Green Building Council headquarters, the Center for Living Environments & Regeneration, a land trust, and an aquatic entomology lab, and she has provided consulting services to a variety of conservation nonprofits.

Credentials & Training

Elicia Ratajczyk, Research Scientist & Network Facilitator

Ph.D., LEED AP

Elicia is a Research Scientist and Network Facilitator at IBE. She is an experienced facilitator, academic researcher, and designer who works with university, private, government, and non-profit partners on sustainability, community vitality, organizational development, and design projects. In addition, Elicia enjoys supporting and mentoring students at all levels from undergraduate sustainability interns to graduate associates and fellows. Elicia believes strongly in the power of collaboration and often says that “we can accomplish so much more together than any of us could ever do alone.”

Elicia completed her PhD in Environmental Social Science with a concentration in Complex Adaptive Systems at Arizona State University. She also holds a Masters of Architecture, graduate certificates in Sustainable Urban Infrastructure Systems and Historic Preservation, as well as a Bachelors in Environmental Design from the University of Colorado. She has been a LEED-AP since 2005.

Elicia bridges professional consulting in design and the built environment with deep academic grounding in participatory and community-based research. She is especially focused on how dynamic social, natural and built environments come together and how people work together within these systems to solve problems and meet their collective needs.

Tamara Martin, Business Manager

Tamara serves as IBE’s Business Manager, using her institutional knowledge to address administrative duties such as finances, human resources, and all other departmental business functions. 

Tamara holds a dual bachelor’s degree in Business Administration and Enterprise in Society from Northern Arizona University and is currently working on completing her Master of Business Administration from CSU. Tamara finds meaning in her work at IBE through the contributions she can provide behind the scenes to help the organization continue to make real and positive impacts within the community and beyond. She is proud to work at IBE, where the team works together to support real change while recognizing the value of people and place.

Clayton Bartczak, Community Engagement & Sustainability Specialist

Clayton is a Community Engagement and Sustainability Specialist at IBE. An eternal optimist and open communicator, Clayton believes we will successfully meet today’s most pressing challenges through a combination of authentic connection, compassionate communication, and recognition that we stand to gain much more working together than in competition.

Clayton’s project management and community engagement expertise is informed by over a decade of experience as a green building consultant at a Denver woman-owned business; service as a volunteer team leader with Habitat for Humanity’s Global Village program, where he has led 10 teams on build trips around the world; and five years on the board of the U.S. Green Building Council’s Colorado Chapter, where he initiated and helped lead a diversity and inclusivity task force. Clayton enjoys using his professional working proficiency in Spanish to connect with native Spanish speakers in diverse settings from the construction site to the board room.

Maria Baysinger, Certifications Manager

After serving as a student intern with IBE for nearly two years, Maria Baysinger will join the IBE team as our Certifications Manager. Maria graduated from CSU in May 2025 with a Bachelor of Science in Interior Architecture and Design and a minor in Horticulture. She is passionate about universal design, sustainability, and biophilia. While supporting diverse certification projects at IBE, her focus will be on growing the Lifelong Homes & Communities initiative, particularly helping to create the rating system Manual. Maria’s long-term goal is to empower individuals and communities while promoting environmental stewardship.