MPA Environmental Science and Policy New Faculty 2006

Columbia University’s Master of Public Administration Program in Environmental Science and Policy (MPA ESP) at The School of International and Public Affairs welcomes several new faculty members and adjunct professors who bring with them academic and professional experience. Program Director Steve Cohen observed that, “Our program continues to attract world class faculty to our team. Our faculty is deeply committed to the goal of educating the environmental leaders of the 21st century, and these new faculty continue that tradition.”

Teaching the core course, Microeconomics and Policy Analysis, and an elective course, the Economics of Sustainable Development, is Dr. Satyajit Bose. Dr. Bose received his Ph.D. in Economics from Columbia University in 2006. Bose has held positions at Aristeia Capital, LLC, as Head of Quantitative Research, at James D. Wolfensohm Incorporated as an Investment Banking Analyst and at Deloitte & Touche as a Trainee Accountant. Dr. Bose said, “A commitment to professional environmental management is an urgent and ineluctable imperative for the next generation of global leaders. I am delighted to teach a group of students who take this commitment seriously and are willing to gather every possible intellectual resource to address environmental problems.”

Teaching the Chemistry course during the summer is Dr. Lori Zakowski, Chemistry Department Chair at Dowling College in Oakdale, New York. Zakowski received her Ph.D. from Stony Brook University and has been teaching Chemistry at Dowling College for thirteen years.

The new Hydrology professor brings with him not only academic knowledge but experience in the field. Dr. Tim Eichler received his Ph.D. in Earth and Environmental Science from Columbia University in 2000 and has since worked in both the public and private sectors. Eichler’s private sector experience includes producing weather data and forecast guidance as a Senior Meteorologist for Dynegy in Texas and Worldwide Weather Trading Company in New York. In his current position as a physical scientist at the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), Eichler provides scientific expertise to specific topics including long-term climate prediction, El Nino, extreme climate variability such as droughts/floods, climate monitoring, and the impacts of aerosols on global climate.

The Environmental Protection Agency Deputy Regional Administrator, Kathleen Callahan, serves as a faculty advisor for the MPA ESP Workshop in the fall and spring. Mrs. Callahan offers real-life experience in environmental issues through her work with the EPA which began in 1971, a year after the agency was created. She currently serves as the Deputy Regional Administrator of Region 2 (New York, New Jersey, Puerto Rico, and the Virgin Islands) and has served as Associate Regional Administrator for New York City Response and Recovery Operations, 2001-2003, as well as Director for the Division of Environmental Planning and Protection, 1996-2001.

The new professors join the team of faculty members who train effective the MPA ESP students as earth systems professionals who have an understanding of the science behind environmental problems as well the skills and tools to solve them.