Lab Members

Assistant Professor Benjamin Goldstein

Benjamin is an Assistant Professor of Environment and Sustainability at the University of Michigan. Prior to that he was an Assistant Professor of Bioresource Engineering at McGill University. He completed his graduate and post-graduate studies at the Technical University of Denmark and the University of Michigan. He develops models to understand the multi-scalar environmental impacts of cities and to explore issues of environmental justice. Research domains include food systems, energy use, and corporate sustainability.

Publications

Orcid

LinkedIn

Official U-M Profile

E-mail

PhD Student - Ali Taghdisian

Ali got his B.S. in Civil Engineering, and his M.S. in Civil and Environmental Engineering. After graduating, he tested designed novel waste technologies to re-use of saline waste to tackle water scarcity and food security in his home country of Iran . Since then, he has shifted away from conventional engineering solutions towards system analysis of the  underlying social and political drivers of environmental change. He likes to link quantitative and qualitative concepts, and move beyond pure technological silo-based answers to sustainability problems of socio-natures.

He has experiences as an engineer, researcher, and lately as geospatial data scientist. His current focus is on how human society, specifically urban areas, interact with their environment and metabolize socio-ecological flows and co-evolve. Sustainability of urban food system and supply chain are areas that he is currently researching on through urban metabolism lens.

MSc Student - Estefany Cabanillas

Estefany completed her bachelor's degree in industrial engineering at Cetys University and enrolled as a master's student in Bioresource Engineering at McGill. She is passionate about technology, social sustainability, community engagement and is currently working towards finding environmentally friendly ways to create innovative solutions for an efficient urban food system. She is interested in optimizing food production with a controlled environment agriculture (CEA) system and satisfying society's food demand without endangering future generations' resources.

Research Assistant - Sadie MacDonald

Sadie is a third-year undergraduate student studying Bioresource Engineering at McGill. She is interested in using engineering thinking to sustainably manage the Earth's natural resources and to better understand the environmental and social problems facing humanity. This summer she will be working in the S.U.R.F. lab, looking at the environmental impacts of food produced by Advanced Plant Factories (technologically advanced urban farming systems).

Sadie is a recipient of the 2022 NSERC Undergraduate Student Research Award.