Climate Change in Philadelphia: A Community Conversation

Join us for a panel discussion of what climate change means for the Philadelphia region and what actions we all can take. Moderated by WHYY climate reporter Sophia Schmidt.
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Panelists
Moderator: Sophia Schmidt, WHYY climate reporter
Mathy Stanislaus, Drexel Environmental Collaboratory
Mathy Stanislaus is Vice Provost and Executive Director of Drexel’s Environmental Collaboratory. He joined Drexel from the Global Battery Alliance, a multi-stakeholder initiative established at the World Economic Forum. There, he served as its first interim director and policy director with a focus on establishing a global transparent data authentication system to scale up electric mobility and clean energy in alignment with circular economy, human rights and community development. At Drexel, he connects The Environmental Collaboratory to global partnerships including the World Bank Energy Storage Partnership, the Global Battery Alliance, the World Economic Forum and the Responsible Battery Coalition. He also continues to serve as an advisor to Carbon180 to align carbon removal strategies with community-driven environmental justice approaches. Mathy was the founding co-director of the New Partners for Community Revitalization in New York and served for eight years as the Senate-confirmed assistant administrator for the EPA’s Office of Land & Emergency Management for the Obama Administration. He saw firsthand the devastation of natural and man-made environmental disasters, serving as USEPA’s lead emergency response official to respond to some of this country’s largest environmental disasters, including Superstorm Sandy’s devastation of the East Coast and the Deepwater Horizon (BP) spill devastation of the Gulf Coast.
Abby Sullivan, Chief Resilience Officer, Philadelphia Office of Sustainability
Abby Sullivan supports municipal climate adaptation by translating climate science into actionable tools and information and leads Philadelphia’s citywide resilience planning. Previously, she served as an Environmental Scientist at the Philadelphia Water Department (PWD) with the Climate Change Adaptation Program where she led the Department’s coastal flood resilience efforts. Abby is a Certified Floodplain Manager and serves on NASA’s Sea Level Change Practitioner Consultation Board. She has a Master of Resource Management degree with a focus on coastal systems from the University Centre of the Westfjords, University of Akureyri in Iceland.
Franco Montalto, Drexel Engineering
Dr. Montalto is a civil engineer interested in the development of ecologically, economically, and socially sensible solutions to urban environmental problems, with a focus on sustainable water resources engineering and climate change. He is a Professor at Drexel University, where he directs the Sustainable Water Resource Engineering Lab. He is the Founder and President of eDesign Dynamics LLC, an environmental consulting firm based in New York City, with an international portfolio of projects. He also serves as the Director of the North American Hub of the Urban Climate Change Research Network (UCCRN).