SSI Board

      Aashika Sulabelle - Grants Coordinator

Aashika is a sophomore pursuing studies in the health sciences and education. She hopes to be involved in the overlap between environment and public health, and the preventative measures that can help ensure environmental well being across all communities. On campus, she is involved in the U-M Red Cross Club, Prison Creative Arts Project, and The Michigan Daily. In her free time, Aashika likes running, reading in the library, watching movies, and drinking smoothies. As one of the Grants Coordinators on the SSI Board, she looks forward to collaborating with innovative students on campus sustainability ideas and projects.

 

 

   Amelia Harris - Grants Coordinator 

Amelia is is pursuing an MBA and M.S. at the University of Michigan's Erb Institute with the Ross School of Business and the School of Natural Resources & Environment. She is interested in sourcing for international food companies and building healthy relationships among companies, farmers and distributors around the world. After an undergraduate degree in agriculture, conservation and development from Carleton College, Amelia spent four years at the Forest Stewardship Council helping companies and organizations transition to more responsible sourcing for their forest products. She also worked several seasons as a farmhand on organic farms and has sold at farmers markets for nearly a decade. Through the graduate programs at the University of Michigan and role on the SSI board, she is eager to support students in the funding and implementation of ideas that will make our local and global communities more environmentally and socially responsible places to live.

 

 

   Lea Boreland - Outreach and Communications Chair

Lea is a junior studying political science with interests in international development and associated sustainability challenges. Her work in poliitcs has taken her across the state of Michigan and as far away as the Asian Pacific where she has studied variation in political and governmental structure and worked to establish policy change. She is passionate about effective and productive political commication, especially surrounding issues like environmentalism, and hopes to work in the policy sector to address these issues. On campus, Lea is a member of the environmental honors fraternity Epsilon Eta and the club Rugby team. Outside of academics, she loves sports, traveling, books, and writing. She is excited to work and collaborate with students to better coordinate the sustainability community here at Michigan. For SSI, Lea leads the communication and outreach efforts of the group by managing monthly roundtables, various social media platforms and the biweekly SSI newsletter. 

 

   Jack Hyland - Administrative Liaison

Jack is a senior in the Stamps School of Art & Design, and is interested in the intersection of environmental responsibility and socially engaged design. His main body of work consists of many collaborative and community engaged design/build projects, from Michigan to Africa. Jack was apart of Michigan's first student-built, off-grid straw bale building at the UM Biostation, and has studied a wide range of sustainability topics through UM's Program In the Environment. He is a co-founder of the campus student organization EnAct, and is a recipient of numerous grants for domestic and international sustainability projects through the University. Jack has traveled to Gabon three times as a design student intern for the Energy Institute's REFRESCH project, an interdisciplinary initiative to create solutions to water, food, and energy challenges. He spent the 2017 summer in Gabon volunteering for a non-profit focused on environmental education, conservation, and community outreach. Jack serves as SSI's administrative liaison, bringing students and University administration together to create on-campus sustainability initiatives. 

 

   Greg Cogut - Zero Waste Events Coordinator

Greg is a Junior in Program in the Environment studying sustainable development. He is also minoring in both environmental geology through the department of Earth and Environmental Sciences, and in business through the Ross School of Business. As a Planet Blue Student Leader, he worked towards increasing water bottle filling stations in the dormitories, helped increase composting on campus, and ran training events to help increase environmental literacy. He also worked as a research assistant at the Institute for Social Reach studying human behavior and environmental sustainability, researching factors that influence sustainable behavior change. Greg’s interest in sustainability stems from an interest in understanding how increasing societal environmental literacy is changing consumer markets, and hopes to make a career based on the implementation of green technologies and practices in the global economy. In his free time Greg enjoys photography, hiking, reading, and studying foreign affairs. Greg’s primary role on the SSI board is managing the University’s zero waste program for students.

 

   Clare Kucera - Zero Waste Events Coordinator                         

Clare is a senior in Program in the Environment studying urban and environmental planning. She is a Spanish major as well and has spent a summer studying abroad in Spain. She is passionate about studying how cities function and exploring ways to make them more equitable and sustainable. On campus, Clare is involved with conducting research on land use strategies that cities can implement in order to adapt to climate change. She also has been a part of the Planet Blue Student Leaders program, working to implement post-consumer composting in campus cafes as well as composting programs for students in the residence halls. In her free time, she enjoys being outdoors playing softball, hiking, and learning native plant species. On SSI, Clare serves as one of the Zero Waste Coordinators and is excited to have the opportunity to work with students and faculty on achieving the university’s waste reduction goals.

 

         Akintunde Oluwadare - Eco Equity Chair

Akintunde is a MSW candidate with a practice method in social policy and evaluation with a practice area in children and youth in families and society. He is interested in working at the intersection of Social Work and Education so that he can help aid and facilitate the empowerment of individuals who are disadvantaged by social systems, such as schools that determine life opportunities. While an undergraduate student at Adrian College, he drew upon a study done by the Director of Multicultural affairs, to survey African American students at Adrian College about their academic, social, and emotional needs. The combination of student teaching and research on African American students in higher education sparked his interests in first generation students in higher ed. At the University of Michigan, he looks to utilize the resources available to allow him to continue his work at a deeper and more professional level. In his free time, he enjoys working on photography and videography. For SSI, he aims to engage, empower and support faculty, students and external groups outside the environmental realm across the University of Michigan and beyond. His goal is to integrate talent though a diverse stakeholder perspective to propose viable options for complex sustainability challenges.

 

To contact the SSI Board, e-mail ssi-board@umich.edu. 

Our 2015-2016 Group Charter can be found here. More information about SSI here.