Meet Our Team
Boston College
The Schiller Institute for Integrated Science and Society
140 Commonwealth Avenue
Chestnut Hill, MA 02467
617-552-3503
schiller.institute@bc.edu
Office of the Executive Director
Laura J. Steinberg
Seidner Family Executive Director
Laura J. Steinberg is the Seidner Family Executive Director of the Schiller Institute for Integrated Science and Society and Professor of Earth and Environmental Sciences. Dr. Steinberg has worked extensively on research in infrastructure management, disaster preparedness and response, environmental modeling, and higher education leadership. She served on the EPA Science Advisory Board, Drinking Water Committee and as an editor and advisory board member for Natural Hazards Review, Journal of Homeland Security and Emergency Management, and the Journal of Environmental Engineering. For the American Society of Civil Engineers, she served three terms as a member of the Industry Leaders Council representing civil engineering faculty members throughout the United States.
Previously, Laura was a tenured Professor of Civil and Environmental Engineering at Syracuse University where she held several positions including Special Assistant for Strategy to the Vice Chancellor, co-founder of the Syracuse University Infrastructure Institute, Executive Director of NY State’s Center of Excellence in Environmental and Energy Systems, and Dean of the College of Engineering and Computer Science.
Dr. Steinberg holds a B.S.E. in Civil and Urban Engineering from the University of Pennsylvania and an M.S and Ph.D. in Environmental Engineering from Duke University.
Greg Adelsberger
Director of Finance and Operations
Greg Adelsberger is the Director of Finance and Operations for the Schiller Institute for Integrated Science and Society. In his role, Greg oversees the budgeting and financial planning for the Institute. He also works closely with the Seidner Family Executive Director on strategic planning and other initiatives led by the Institute.
Prior to joining the Schiller team, Greg served as the Associate Director of Finance and Administration for the National Research Mentorship Network (NRMN), a multi-million dollar NIH grant, administered by the Boston College Biology Department. He previously worked as a Senior Associate at PwC in their assurance practice in Northern Virginia.
Greg holds an MBA from the Carroll School of Management at Boston College and a BS in Accounting from the University of Maryland.
Jim West
Assistant Director, Programs
Jim West is the Assistant Director, Programs for the Schiller Institute for Integrated Science and Society. Jim is charged with the design and delivery of programs for faculty and students, and manages communications. He serves as the Designated Point of Contact for Boston College's role as an observer organization at the United Nations Climate Change Conference (COP27).
Previously, Jim worked at the University of Massachusetts Amherst and the Harvard School of Public Health. As a graduate student he held a range of positions at Michigan State University including serving as managing editor of the Journal of Transformative Education and as a team member of the National Center for Institutional Diversity at the University of Michigan collaborating on the design and delivery of leadership programs to promote diversity, equity, and inclusion.
Erik Sjostrom
Administrative and Fiscal Assistant
Erik Sjostrom is the Fiscal and Administrative Assistant for the Schiller Institute for Integrated Science and Society. Erik provides support for the Schiller team and Schiller's collaboration with associated departments.
Prior to Boston College, Erik held various roles with Harvard University Health Services, coordinating wellness offerings for students, faculty and staff. Erik holds a BA from Davidson College.
Kim Nelson Pryor
Senior Research Fellow
Kim Nelson Pryor is the Senior Research Fellow of the Schiller Institute for Integrated Science and Society. She is also a Higher Education Program Affiliate in the Lynch School of Education and Human Development. At Schiller, Kim conducts research that informs and assesses the Institute’s efforts to address critical societal issues through multi-disciplinary, collaborative research and teaching. She also assists in the general administration of the Institute.
Previously, Kim served as a Graduate Research Assistant at Southern Methodist University, where her dissertation focused on teaching socialization experiences and outcomes for early-career higher education faculty in a context of increasing diversity. She has also conducted research on academic structure and high education organization, interdisciplinary fields and labor issues among non-tenure-track and adjunct faculty. In addition to her research, Kim has taught English Language Arts to high schoolers, taught humanities and writing to community college and adult students and provided career services to university students in the liberal arts. She has also served as an AmeriCorps*VISTA and worked in nonprofit publishing.
Kim holds a PhD in Education from Southern Methodist University. She holds an MEd in language and literacy from The University of Texas at Austin, an MA in the Humanities from the University of Chicago and a BA in English and Classical and Medieval Studies from Bates College.
Saber Khani
PhD Research Assistant
Saber Khani is the Ph.D. Research Assistant for the Schiller Institute for Integrated Science and Society. In his role, Saber operates similarly to an in-house consultant, providing input on a range of strategic, planning, and organizational activities. In addition, he contributes to the day-to-day operations of the Institute and works on a variety of projects. For example, he is creating and designing a database of the expertise and interests of Boston College faculty members.
Saber has previously worked in universities conducting qualitative and quantitative research containing data gathering, processing, and management.
Saber received his BA in sociology from Tehran University in Iran and is currently working on his Ph.D. in sociology at Boston College. His research mainly hovers around the intersection of national resources, environment, and social movement. He is specifically interested in knowing how natural resources in general and oil resources, in particular, give rise to social, non-violent protests when local people in the resource sites are responsible for paying the environmental and hazardous costs.
Sara Zakaria
Undergraduate Assistant
Sara Zakaria is an undergraduate assistant for The Schiller Institute for Integrated Science and Society. Her responsibilities consist of providing research support, performing administrative tasks, and offering student insight for developing projects.
As a member of the Boston College Class of 2024, Sara is currently pursuing a Bachelor of the Arts in Communication. She attended the University of Massachusetts Boston for two years before transferring to BC. Outside her academics, she serves as a council member for The Laughing Medusa, BC’s literary magazine featuring works from female-identifying and nonbinary artists. She is also a member of the Quiz Bowl competition team.
Jesse Julian
Schiller Institute Poet Laureate
Jesse Julian is the poet laureate for the Schiller Institute for Integrated Science and Society. In her role, she composes poetry, covering topics relevant to Schiller’s research and focus.
As a 2026 member of Boston College, Jesse plans to pursue an English major with a Chemistry minor. She received the Schiller Prize for the top submission on energy, environment, & health, responding to “What the Constitution Means to Me.” Prior to Boston College, she graduated from Trabuco Hills High in California with an International Baccalaureate Diploma. She enjoys listening to music, playing the ukulele, and spending time with friends.
Grace Dennis
Undergraduate Assistant
Grace Dennis is an undergraduate assistant for The Schiller Institute for Integrated Science and Society. Her responsibilities consist of providing research support, performing administrative tasks, and offering student insight for developing projects.
As a member of the Boston College Class of 2023, Grace is currently pursuing a Bachelor of the Arts in History and Journalism. Grace spent her sophomore year involved in the Boston College PULSE program, writing obituaries with a publication in New York City to honor those who lost their lives during the Coronavirus pandemic, which was awarded the Punch Sulzberger Innovator of the Year Award from the News Leaders Association. She is a member of Boston College's Women in Business chapter and history club.
Institute Core Faculty
Yi Ming
Institute Professor of Climate Science and Society
Yi Ming is the Institute Professor of Climate Science and Society and Professor of Earth and Environmental Sciences. Dr. Ming uses climate models, observations and theories to elucidate the physical mechanisms governing Earth’s climate system and applies the fundamental understanding to practical issues of societal and policy importance. A current focus is on how climate change may affect precipitation patterns (e.g. droughts and floods) and extreme events (e.g. hurricanes, wildfires and winter storms). He has authored more than one hundred peer-reviewed papers, and mentored a number of Ph.D. students and postdocs. His honors include the U.S. Presidential Early Career Award for Scientists and Engineers (PECASE), the World Meteorological Organization (WMO) Norbert Gerbier-Mumm International Award, the American Meteorological Society (AMS) Henry G. Houghton Award and the American Geophysical Union (AGU) Ascent Award. Previously, Dr. Ming was a Senior Scientist and Divisional Leader at the U.S. National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) Geophysical Fluid Dynamics Laboratory (GFDL). He was also a faculty member of the Program in Atmospheric and Oceanic Sciences (AOS) at Princeton University.
Dr. Ming holds a B.E. in Chemical Engineering (with a second B.E. in Environmental Engineering) from Tsinghua University and a Ph.D. in Civil and Environmental Engineering from Princeton University.
Hanqin Tian
Institute Professor of Global Sustainability
Hanqin Tian is the Institute Professor of Global Sustainability and Professor of Earth and Environmental Sciences. Dr. Tian’s research and teaching concentrate on the broad area of climate and sustainability sciences. He has been pursuing a data-driven systems approach to understanding, quantifying, and predicting drivers and effects of global-scale changes in the biosphere, climate, and human activity. He has worked across the disciplinary lines of ecology, biogeochemistry, hydrology, economics, earth system modeling and data science. His research covers a wide range of topics, including studies of climate change impacts, mitigation and adaptation at multiple scales from local to global.Through the integration and communication of knowledge across the physical, ecological, and human systems, Dr. Tian intends to advance scientific understanding of complex interactions among climate, ecosystems, and humans for providing science-based solutions to climate change and sustainability challenges. His research has resulted in over 300 peer-reviewed journal papers, including 30 papers published in Nature/Science/PNAS and their sister journals, with over 35,000 citations and an H-index of 91 (Google Scholar).Dr. Tian is a coordinating lead author for the International Nitrogen Assessment and a contributing author for IPCC AR6. He has served on the Steering Scientific Committee of Global Carbon Project (GCP) and as Co-Chair for the international consortium of Global Nitrous Oxide Budget Assessment supported by GCP and the International Nitrogen Initiative (INI). Dr. Tian is an elected Fellow of the American Association for the
Advancement of Science (AAAS), the American Geophysical Union (AGU), and the Ecological Society of America (ESA). He was named an Andrew
Carnegie Fellow (Brainy Award) in 2019.Previously, Hanqin Tian
held the Solon and Martha Dixon Endowed Professorship and Alumni
Professorship at Auburn University. He also held several leadership
roles at Auburn, including serving as Director of the International
Center for Climate and Global Change Research, and Leader for the interdisciplinary cluster of the Climate, Human and Earth System Science (CHESS), which consists of over 40 faculty members from five Colleges at Auburn University.
Global Public Health and the Common Good
Philip J. Landrigan
Director
Philip J. Landrigan is the Director of the Program for Global Public Health and the Common Good. In addition to leading the program, he advises students, and teaches and conducts public health research within the Program. Dr. Landrigan is a pediatrician, public health physician and epidemiologist. His research uses the tools of epidemiology to elucidate connections between toxic chemicals and human health, especially the health of infants and children. He is particularly interested in understanding how toxic chemicals injure the developing brains and nervous systems of children and in translating this knowledge into public policy to protect health. He is a member of the National Institute of Medicine. Please see his faculty page for further information.
Heather Jones-Lawlor
Fiscal and Administrative Assistant
Heather Jones-Lawlor is the Fiscal and Administrative Assistant for the Program for Global Public Health and the Common Good. Heather provides support for the GPHCG team and also provides guidance and assistance to the students in the GPHCG academic minor.
In addition, Heather is the Managing Editor for Annals of Global Health, a peer-reviewed, open access science journal focused on global health supported by Boston College. Prior to joining the team at Boston College, Heather was a marketing professional in the consumer products industry. Heather holds an MBA from the Carroll School of Management at Boston College and a BS from Babson College.
Kurt Straif
Research Professor
Kurt Straif is a physician and epidemiologist who teaches and conducts public health research with appointments in the Global Public Health and the Common Good Program, the Schiller Institute for Integrated Science and Society, and the Biology Department. Dr Straif served for almost two decades as a senior scientist with the World Health Organization’s International Agency for Research on Cancer in Lyons, France. There he directed the flagship unit within IARC that evaluates the carcinogenic hazards of environmental exposures and oversaw the writing and continuous updating of the IARC Handbooks of Cancer Prevention.
Tara Casebolt
Core Fellow / Visiting Assistant Professor in Global Health
Tara Casebolt is a Core Fellow and Visiting Assistant Professor in Global Health. She has a PhD in Maternal and Child Health with a minor in Population Studies from the University of North Carolina Chapel Hill's Gillings School of Global Public Health.
Her research is focused on access to reproductive health services for people with disabilities in low- and middle-income countries. During her PhD program, she was a Pre-doctoral Trainee at the Carolina Population Center and served as an adjunct professor at Elon University in the departments of Public Health Studies and Poverty and Social Justice Studies.
Before beginning her PhD, she spent two years as an ASPPH/CDC Allan Rosenfield Global Health Fellow serving in the Ethiopia and Zambia CDC offices. Her work with the CDC focused on HIV prevention, gender-based violence, and monitoring and evaluation. She also spent a year as a William J Clinton Fellow for Service in India, working with a children's health and sanitation education program in Darjeeling, India.
Tara also holds bachelors degrees in social work and women and gender studies from Ohio University and a Masters of Public Health and Masters of Social Work with an emphasis on international development from Washington University in St Louis.
Elizabeth Perez
Graduate Assistant
Elizabeth is the Graduate Assistant for Global Public Health and
the Common Good. She primarily supports efforts around communication and other administrative tasks.
Elizabeth is currently pursuing a Master's of Social Work and Master's of Theology and Ministry through the dual degree program at Boston Collegeand received a BS in English and Philosophy (through the Perspectives Program) from Boston College. Prior to pursuing the dual degree program,Elizabeth worked in education and healthcare fundraising.
Global Observatory on Pollution and Health
Philip J. Landrigan
Director
Philip J. Landrigan is the Director of the Program for Global Public Health and the Common Good. In addition to leading the program, he advises students, and teaches and conducts public health research within the Program. Dr. Landrigan is a pediatrician, public health physician and epidemiologist. His research uses the tools of epidemiology to elucidate connections between toxic chemicals and human health, especially the health of infants and children. He is particularly interested in understanding how toxic chemicals injure the developing brains and nervous systems of children and in translating this knowledge into public policy to protect health. He is a member of the National Institute of Medicine. Please see his faculty page for further information.
Kurt Straif
Co-Director
Kurt Straif is a physician and epidemiologist who teaches and conducts public health research with appointments in the Global Public Health and the Common Good Program, the Schiller Institute for Integrated Science and Society, and the Biology Department. Dr Straif served for almost two decades as a senior scientist with the World Health Organization’s International Agency for Research on Cancer in Lyons, France. There he directed the flagship unit within IARC that evaluates the carcinogenic hazards of environmental exposures and oversaw the writing and continuous updating of the IARC Handbooks of Cancer Prevention.
Institute Development
Maria Lockheardt
Director of Development
Maria Lockheardt is responsible for advancing philanthropic initiatives for the Schiller Institute for Integrated Science and Society. She joined Boston College in 2018 as the Director of International Advancement to foster philanthropic engagement with BC's global community. She brings previous experience from leadership roles at Wellesley College and Bentley University. Prior to her work in education, Maria spent fifteen years in museums and cultural organizations, including the Addison Gallery of American Art at Phillips Academy, Andover; DeCordova Museum and Sculpture Park; the National Endowment for the Arts; and the Smithsonian Institution. She holds an M.A. in Art History from the Pennsylvania State University.