Biographies of Speakers

Marilyn Averill is a doctoral student in Environmental Studies at the University of Colorado.  Her research interests focus on international environmental governance, the politics of science, and science and technology policy, particularly in the context of global climate change.  Her most recent work involves the use of science and the treatment of uncertainty in litigation relating to climate change, and the effects these cases may have on law, science, and policy.  Before returning to graduate school, Marilyn was an attorney with the Office of the Solicitor, United States Department of the Interior, where she provided legal advice to the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service and the National Park Service.  She holds Master’s degrees in Public Administration from the Kennedy School of Government and in Educational Research and Evaluation Methodology from the University of Colorado, and a law degree from the University of Colorado.

Jack Debell has directed the University of Colorado’s recycling program as a State employee since 1985. His accomplishments include teaching a certification and internship program for students interested in recycling careers, publishing a Decision Makers Guide to Recycling, and overseeing C.U.’s solid waste management plan. He was recognized with the University’s highest staff honor, the Robert Sterns Award, in 1997. 

He was elected to the National Recycling Coalition’s Board of Directors in 1991 and now serves as a special liaison to their College and University Recycling Council. Prior to his position on the NRC Board, he was appointed Technical Advisor to the EPA’s Peer Match program. He has assisted over 80 colleges and universities in the design or expansion of their programs.

With Mr.DeBell’s assistance, C.U. Recycling has gained widespread recognition including Colorado’s Recycler of the Year in 1988, the EPA’s Pollution Prevention Award in 1992, the National Recycler of the Year award for Outstanding School Recycling Program in 1995, the Office of Federal Environmental Executive’s Model Campus Recycling Program award in 1999, Dell Computer’s Recycling Leadership award in 2005, and earlier this month, the American Forest and Paper Association’s first University award.

Lisa Dilling is a Visiting Fellow of the Cooperative Institute for Research in Environmental Sciences (CIRES) at the Center for Science and Technology Policy Research at the University of Colorado, Boulder, USA and holds a Ph.D. in biological sciences from the University of California, Santa Barbara.  Her career has spanned both research and practice arenas of the science-policy interface, including 6 years in Washington, DC as a program manager for the US National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration managing research in the U.S. Global Change Research Program, and 3 years researching the connection of carbon cycle science to policy, communication for climate change, and scales of decision making.  While in Washington she co-chaired an interagency group of six Federal agencies working to better integrate carbon cycle science in the United States.  Prior to her current position at the University of Colorado, she was at the Environmental and Societal Impacts Group (now the Institute for the Study of Society and Environment) at the National Center for Atmospheric Research.  Her current research focuses on the use of information in decision making and science policies related to climate and, in particular, the carbon cycle.

Genevieve Maricle is a graduate student in Environmental Studies at the University of Colorado at Boulder studying Atmospheric Science and Environmental Policy. Her research focuses on climate services and the transfer of technology from climate research to useful weather and climate products for both decision-makers and climate-sensitive end users.  She graduated from Northwestern University with a BA degree in both Mathematics and Environmental Science. Her undergraduate studies were primarily in the sciences but she maintained a keen awareness and interest in the political implications of her work. She became extremely interested in studying problems that transcend traditional disciplinary boundaries as she began to see a disconnect between the scientific and political worlds. This is what drew her to the University of Colorado.

James Maslanik has been involved in Arctic climate research for over 20 years.  During that time he has specialized in remote sensing and field studies of sea ice and its interactions with atmosphere, ocean and human activities.  Prior to beginning his Ph.D. work in climatology at CU with Prof. Roger Barry in 1984, he worked on a variety of forestry, mined-land reclamation and rangeland-related jobs following receipt of bachelors and masters degrees from Penn State University.  Jim is originally from Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, and has lived in Colorado since 1981 with his wife and two children.

Diane McKnight is an associate professor of civil, environmental and architectural engineering at the University of Colorado. Her research focuses on interactions between hydrologic, chemical, and biological processes in controlling the dynamics in aquatic ecosystems. This research is carried out through field-scale experiments, modeling, and laboratory characterization of natural substrates. In addition, Dr. McKnight conducts research focusing on interactions between freshwater biota, trace metals, and natural organic material in diverse freshwater environments, including lakes and streams in the Colorado Rocky Mountains and in the McMurdo Dry Valleys in Antarctica. She also develops interactions with state and local groups involved in mine drainage and watershed issues in the Rocky Mountains. Dr. McKnight is a member of the NRCS Water Science and Technology Board and is a former member of the Polar Research Board. She received her Ph.D. in environmental engineering from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.

Dave Payne, co-founder of Climate Change Strategies (CCS), is currently working toward a Ph.D. in Management, with an emphasis on sustainability strategy and entrepreneurship, at the CU Boulder Leeds School of Business. In addition to his work with CCS, David is a core member of CU’s “Carbon, Climate and Society Initiative,” a three year NSF-funded Interdisciplinary research program. Outside of CU, Dave has provided climate change related strategic guidance, research, and tools development expertise for corporate clients in the beverage and pharmaceutical industries. Before coming to CU, David worked in the Natural Capitalism Consulting Practice at Rocky Mountain Institute (RMI).

Dave has led the CCS team’s development of carbon management models and tools, grounded in his ongoing research on best practices in corporate climate change strategy. Recently, he has devoted his attention to computer-assisted modeling and decision support tools, marrying his prior career as an IT consultant with his current focus on climate change. Mr. Payne’s information technology experience includes research and strategic technology planning for two major media companies, Harvard Business School Publishing and New York Times New Media, connecting people with ideas via web and Email using collaborative filtering technology. He also designed and oversaw implementation of a best practices sharing platform for the 100,000+ employees of the Royal Dutch/Shell Group. In his spare time, Dave created and managed a special interest portal for telemark skiers with an online discussion forum, listserv, and searchable database that averaged over 10,000 hits a day in its three years online.

Mr. Payne has an M.A. in Education from Harvard University, specializing in system dynamics and organizational learning, and a B.A. in Public Policy Studies with a concentration in Environmental Policy from Trinity College (CT).  In 1994, he launched his own consulting practice, managing strategic information technology projects for companies such as AutoDesk, State Street Bank, and musician/artist Dave Bowie. He was a founding partner of Conduit Communications, where he was integral to the success, rapid growth, and sale of the company to Razorfish in 1999.

Joel B. Smith is a Vice President with Stratus Consulting Inc. in Boulder, Colorado. Mr. Smith has been analyzing climate change impacts and adaptation issues for over 18 years. He was a Coordinating Lead Author for the Synthesis chapter on climate change impacts for the Third Assessment Report of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change and a Lead Author for the U.S. National Assessment on climate change impacts.  He is a lead author on the current IPCC assessment. In addition, he was the technical coordinator on vulnerability and adaptation for the U.S. Country Studies Program, is the coordinator of the Pew Center on Global Climate Change series on Environment, and is or has provided technical guidance to the Electric Power Research Institute, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, the U.S. Agency for International Development, the United Nations, and to states and municipalities on a number of vulnerability assessments and adaptation projects.

Mr. Smith worked for the Environmental Protection Agency from 1984-92, where he was the Deputy Director of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency's Climate Change Division.  He is a co-editor of EPA's Report to Congress: The Potential Effects of Global Climate Change on the United States, published in 1989, As Climate Changes: International Impacts and Implications, published by Cambridge University Press in 1995, Adaptation to Climate Change: Assessments and Issues published by Springer-Verlag in 1996, Climate Change: Adaptive Capacity and Development, published in 2003 by Imperial College Press, and Integration of Public Health with Adaptation to Climate Change, published by Taylor & Francis in 2005.  He joined Hagler Bailly in 1992 and Stratus Consulting in 1998. He has published more than a twenty articles and chapters on climate change impacts and adaptation in peer reviewed journals and books.

Besides working on climate change issues at EPA, he also served as an analyst examining oceans and water regulations, and was a Special Assistant to the Assistant Administrator for the Office of Policy, Planning and Evaluation. Mr. Smith was a Presidential Management Intern in the Office of the Secretary of Defense from 1982-1984.  He has also worked in the U.S. Department of Energy and the U.S. Agency for International Development.

Mr. Smith received a Bachelor of Arts Degree from Williams College in 1979, and in 1982, received a Master of Public Policy Degree from the University of Michigan.

Mark Squillace is the Director of the Natural Resources Law Center at the University of Colorado School of Law. Before coming to Colorado, Mark taught at the University of Toledo College of Law where he was the Charles Fornoff Professor of Law and Values. Prior to Toledo, Mark taught at the University of Wyoming College of Law where he served a three-year term as the Winston S. Howard Professor of Law. He is a former Fulbright scholar, and the author or co-author of numerous articles and books on natural resources and environmental law. In 2000, he took a leave from law teaching to serve as Special Assistant to the Solicitor at the U.S. Department of the Interior. In that capacity he worked directly with the Secretary of the Interior Bruce Babbitt, on variety of legal and policy issues.