Faculty, Staff and Graduate Students

Patti Caton

Administrative Manager

Box 1943
Brown University
Providence, RI 02912
Patti_Caton@Brown.edu

Center for Environmental Studies
Office: Room 203
Phone: (401) 863-1224

Patti came to Brown in 1989 as a Resumed Undergraduate Education Student. She earned her Bachelor's degree in Environmental Studies in 1992 and her Master's Degree in Environmental Studies in 2002.
When not at CES, she can be found at her sewing machine, quilting.

AB Environmental Studies
Center for Environmental Studies
Brown University
1992

Thesis: "The Consumption of the Colorado River: Water Supply Management in the Southwestern United States"

MA Environmental Studies
Center for Environmental Studies
Brown University
2002

Thesis: Developing an Effluent Trading Program to Address Nutrient Pollution in the Providence and Seekonk Rivers

Jeanne Loewenstein

Administrative Assistant

Box 1943
Brown University
Providence, RI 02912
Jeanne_Loewenstein@Brown.edu

Center for Environmental Studies
Office: Room 202
Phone: (401) 863-3449

Jeanne Loewenstein currently resides in historic Warren, Rhode Island, a seaside town with an emerging art community. Though originally a native of upstate New York, she draws constant inspiration from New England’s coastal region, and has developed a deep affection for her adopted home.

Jeanne majored in ceramics at Rhode Island School of Design, graduating with a BFA honors degree in 1996. While attending RISD, her work was displayed in two juried exhibitions, and granted a feature presentation at the Ceramic Department’s senior show.

Although an art major, Jeanne also has an extensive business background.  She has worked as a small business consultant, project coordinator, production coordinator, administrator and a shipping manager.  Previous employers include Hasbro, Farmaesthetics, Altamira Lighting and Pat Warwick’s Studio.

Jeanne is very excited to become the newest member of the CES team.

Lynn Carlson

GIS/Systems Manager
Lynn_Carlson@Brown.edu
Box 1846
Brown University
Providence, RI 02912

Environmental and Remote Technologies Lab
Office: MacMillan Hall Room 111
Phone: (401) 863-9917

Lynn Carlson came to Brown in October of 1998 to manage the Remote Sensing and Geographic Information System lab in MacMillan Hall and to provide technical support, instruction through courses and workshops, project management, and GIS-related services to the Brown University community.

Prior to taking this position, she was employed by the Rhode Island Department of Environmental Management for ten years, first as staff in the Nonpoint Source Pollution Management Program, and for the last six years, as the Department's GIS Coordinator. Lynn has served on the Executive Board of the Northeast Arc User's Group, and as Chair of the Rhode Island Geographic Information System Executive Committee. Her goals here at Brown are to integrate the use of GIS technology throughout the campus, and provide students, faculty, and staff with assistance in utilizing the technology in their courses and research.

Lynn holds an undergraduate degree in Biology from Willamette University in Salem, Oregon; her graduate degree is in Marine Affairs from the University of Rhode Island. She is a native of the State of Colorado and is a die-hard Broncos fan.

EARTH Lab Homepage

Erika Bradbury

Erika graduated from University of California, Los Angeles in 2010 with a double major in political science and geography. While at UCLA she became interested in how industrial processes, particularly mining, affect both the environment and local community health. Her undergraduate research explored mountaintop removal in the Appalachian Mountains, the alteration of the Appalachian environment as a result of surface mining, and the impact of the General Mining Act of 1872 on the environment of the Western United States. Erika plans to continue her research on industrial contamination with emphasis on environmental justice, community health, and government regulation.

Deanna Kristine Dottai

Deanna comes from both the land of the rain (Seattle, WA) and the land of the sun (Santa Cruz, CA).  She completed her undergraduate studies at California State University Chico, receiving a B.S. in Sustainable Coordination and Resource Management. During her time at Chico she played a leadership role in various environmental campaigns, projects, and events both on campus and in the community. The highlights of her undergrad were working as the Assistant Sustainability Coordinator for the Associate Students, the Project Director for Take Back the Tap, and as Conference Coordinator for Chico’s fifth annual sustainability conference. At Brown, her research interests revolve around the intersection of public awareness, industry response, and policy formation/enforcement of environmental issues, specifically regarding toxins and product stewardship. Among her favorite hobbies, Deanna enjoys cooking, cycling, local food, good wine, live music, yoga, and playing with her 3 cats.

Katherine England

Kate graduated from Northeastern University in 2008 with a BA in Political Science and a BA in International Affairs. While in undergrad, she spent time abroad in Egypt, Brussels and Geneva where she studied desertification in the Middle East and North Africa as a result of climate change and potential policy solutions. After graduation, she spent three years overseeing an environmental education program that employed at-risk urban teens to do maintenance, restoration and programming work in the Boston Parks. Kate is currently the UEL Community Garden Coordinator and is working on her thesis at RIDEM. She is studying Stormwater Utility Districts and their application in improving Rhode Island's stormwater management by incentivizing impervious surface reduction. When not working on her thesis or in the garden, Kate enjoys playing ultimate frisbee, hiking/backpacking and traveling.

Adam Kotin

Adam is a lifelong Californian braving the fabled East Coast weather (and accents) for the first time. He graduated from Pomona College in 2009, where he studied Environmental Analysis and Theatre. Research topics there included environmental guardianship practices in New Zealand; the ‘ecological’ theatre; and depictions of gender in Balinese dance. He’s worked in the non-profit world on issues from sustainable agriculture to electric vehicle infrastructure to environmental art, and in the theatre world as crew member and actor. Interests include: environmental history, sustainable agriculture, green urbanism, and environmental awareness through the arts. He’s currently attempting, without success, to write a musical theatre adaptation about ethical crises in a resource-depleted world. In his spare time he enjoys purchasing warm clothing he prays he’ll never have to wear.

James LaChance

Jim graduated from Emory University in 2007 with a degree in English and a minor in Music.  After working for a year in Austin, TX as a technical writer and editor, Jim spent two years working as an apprentice on a small organic farm near his home town on the North Shore of Boston.  His academic interests include climate adaptation strategies for sustainable agriculture and aquaculture, heritage-based approaches to rural economic development, and community development of resilient food systems.  As a member of Brown’s Agricultural Resilience Initiative (BARI), his thesis research investigates New England’s oyster aquaculture sector as a potential economic cluster, with a specific focus on its heritage and climate resilience.  When not studying or farming, he spends his time fishing, running, or on his boat, a Swampscott Dory.

Susanna (Suzy) Mage

Susanna (Suzy) Mage is a M.A. student in the Center For Environmental Studies. She graduated in May 2010 from the College of Earth, Ocean, and Environment at University of Delaware with a B.S. in Environmental Science. Her undergraduate research focused on temperate deciduous forest hydrology and biogeochemistry. Her research interests at Brown University involve terrestrial biogeochemical cycling, particularly soil fertility (P dynamics) in the tropical rainforest ecosystem of Puerto Rico. She is researching the controls of soil nutrient availability, in particular the importance of parent material, climate and topography as predictors of soil fertility.  Her other interests include environmental science policy and advocacy. When Suzy is not in the lab, she enjoys cooking, traveling, and being outdoors.

Loreana Marciante

Loreana’s work experience is concentrated on major urban transportation development projects, including the Juan Santamaria International Airport in San Jose, Costa Rica and the Sound Transit Link Light Rail System in Seattle, Washington. An affinity for living near to city centers, and the realization that an ever increasing majority of the world's population now lives in an urban setting, have led her to an exploration of urban sustainability issues at Brown University. Loreana earned her undergraduate degree in Engineering from the University of Costa Rica and holds a certificate in Construction Management from the University of Washington.

Taryn Martinez

Taryn is a native New Yorker who received her Bachelor’s degree in Environmental Studies from Brown University. Her undergraduate honors thesis assessed how Rhode Island governmental and non-governmental organizations internalized environmental justice principles, and offered suggestions for improvement. After graduating from Brown in 2008, Taryn worked for conservation nonprofit The Audubon Society for two years, where she assisted in outreach and promotion for the new TogetherGreen initiative. Her academic interests include literary ecocriticism, environmental justice, urban environmental education, and increasing the diversity of the environmental movement. She looks forward to participating in the environmental justice dialogue here at Brown! In her spare time, Taryn likes birdwatching, travelling, watching terrible reality shows, and playing with her dog, Abby.

See Taryn's page

Sara Mersha

Sara Mersha was born in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, grew up in Lynn, Massachusetts, and has been living in Providence, Rhode Island since 1993.  She studied International Health and Human Rights during her undergraduate years at Brown, and was Visiting Faculty in the Department of Ethnic Studies in 2008, teaching the "Activism Practicum" course.  On May 1 of this year she made a transition from her position as Executive Director of DARE - Direct Action for Rights and Equality, a grassroots community organizing group in Providence where she had been working for the past twelve years.  During this time, Sara organized around a variety of issues, including low-wage worker organizing, youth organizing, anti-criminalization, and anti-gentrification work, along with political education and broader movement-building work.  Sara's involvement with national networks has included the Right to the City Alliance, Grassroots Global Justice, and Jobs with Justice (of which she is a former board member).  After wrapping up her transition from DARE, Sara took some time off this summer to garden with her father and spend time with her 11 nieces and nephews. Sara is interested in exploring issues of climate justice on local and international levels.

Lauren Watka

After receiving a dual degree in Biology and French from UMass Dartmouth in 2009, Lauren spent a year working in unfamiliar places ranging from the Gulf of Mexico Coast to George’s Bank as well as tutoring math and science to high school students (an equal but entirely different challenge). During this year post-undergrad, she identified her passion to improve environmental stewardship in New England by educating the general public- children and adult, alike. While at Brown, Lauren is looking forward to joining the conversation regarding the use and protection of coastal waters in the greater Providence community. Having interned at the Medical School at Dartmouth College and in a toxicology lab at the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution, Lauren considers her most valuable research experience to be afternoons tidal pooling with her younger cousins on the beaches of Cape Cod.