Annual Sustainability Champion Awards
Every year, The Office of Energy & Sustainability honors some great, green leaders on campus with our own Sustainability Champion Awards.
Nominate your Sustainability Champion for this year's award here. We'd love for you to nominate those you feel are worthy of the honor.
We strive to annually recognize a faculty member, a student, and a staff member.
2024-2025 Academic Year
Faculty
Dr. Cassi Pittman Claytor, Associate Professor of Sociology
Dr. Pittman Claytor has been at CWRU since 2014. She is deeply committed to climate justice and ensuring that marginalized communities are included in conversations about the environment. She led a research study team to better understand the climate attitudes of our Cleveland neighbors and stakeholders on campus. And this Fall she led the creation of a community conversation event on climate justice and fostering local engagement and action at the East Cleveland Library. She teaches a course on race, climate change, and environmental justice that equips students with tools to also create change beyond the classroom.
Dr. Alp Sehirlioglu, Department Chair of Materials Science and Engineering
Dr. Sehirlioglu came to CWRU in 2006 as a research associate, in 2014 he became a tenure track assistant professor. He not only brings a sustainability focus to his classes and his research but to his professional associations, voluntarily taking on roles that drive collaboration for good with groups like the SFS International Alliance of Societies for a Sustainable Future and the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers. He is striving to harness his Phd, Masters and undergraduate students to analyze CWRU’s real research and lab footprint to lighten the environmental impact of research, starting with his own department and labs.
Staff
Grant Goodrich, is the Executive Director of the Great Lakes Energy Institute and has been at CWRU since 2016. Grant was a co-founder of the CWRU Climate Action Network and has helped create three Climate Action Weeks on campus. He strives to bring sustainability and Climate to much of his work on campus and in the community. He is a part of the CWRU team consulting with the City of Cleveland’s decarbonization planning efforts. He represents CWRU and the School of engineering in many community conversations about local climate action and is always striving to think critically about how to harness CWRU’s community to do good outside of our institution’s walls. Grant is also on the campus Sustainability & Energy Committee.
Dr. Ina Martin, is the Director of Research Cores and Operations with the Office of Research & Technology Management AND is Adjunct Associate Professor, Department of Materials Science and Engineering. Dr. Martin was a co-founder of the CWRU Climate Action Network, has led three CWRU Climate Action Weeks, and also worked on the CWRU CAN research study team to better understand the climate attitudes of our Cleveland neighbors and campus stakeholders. She helped create and lead the Lab Greening Committee and helped create the Quad Clean out program that has moved 50,000 tons of end of life or broken materials out of CWRU labs. And she’s mentored dozens of students doing sustainability and climate-oriented research on campus. She is also on the campus Sustainability & Energy Committee.
Laurie Dudik has worked at CWRU for 39 years, since 1986. She is a Managing Engineer in the Engineering Design Center. Laurie was also a founding member of the Lab Greening Committee four years ago. Due to Laurie’s volunteer efforts, organizational prowess, and collaborative nature, the three-year quad cleanout total material collected exceeds 50,000 pounds, recycled, re-homed, and properly disposed of metal, small equipment (some of it not so small), and e-waste! Laurie brings a sustainability mindset to her lab, school and work.
Students
Shejuti Wahed is a senior graduating this Spring with a Neuroscience B.S., a Psychology B.A., Minoring in Bioethics, Medical Humanities and Chemistry. She is a student sustainability ambassador with the Office of Energy & Sustainability and was also the Climate Action Network’s most excellent intern for this year’s Climate Action Month. Shejuti was involved in planning most (if not all) of the 2024 Climate Action Month events, from booking rooms, to speaking on panels, and bringing together students across campus, as well as doing ALL the social media. She's a truly effective student leader really driving collaboration between many student groups on sustainability and climate topics.
Joel Linebach is anticipating completing a PhD in Macromolecular science and engineering in 2026, he’s been at CWRU for seven years for his undergrad, masters, and now PhD.
Joel is studying sustainable processing for recycled plastics and is directly involved with Precious Plastics, a student group chapter of an international project. The local Precious Plastics group is working to take some of CWRU’s plastic recycling stream and turn it into new usable products right here on campus. Joel also choreographed a dance performance about plastic waste and recycling which was performed in Chicago last month.
Past Award Recipients
2019-2020 Academic Year
Faculty: Dr. Beverly Saylor, Professor of Earth, Environmental, and Planetary Sciences Department and endowed Armington Professor
Student: Maia Gallagher, Civil Engineering, class of 2020, Sustainability House Captain (leader), former Student Sustainability Council Chair
Staff: Siu Yan Scott, School of Medicine Registrar, Master Recycler
Learn more about these winners in our 2020 news post about the awards.
2018-2019 Academic Year
Faculty: Dr. Kurt Rhoads, Assistant Professor in the Department of Civil Engineering at CWRU and the director of the new first-year engineering experience.
Students: John Turner, MBA student who also studied at CWRU for his undergraduate degree with a dual major in Economic and Environmental Studies. He is a Fowler Family Fellowship Recipient of the Fowler Center for Business as an Agent of World Benefit. Catherine Chervenak, Biology and Environmental Studies dual major has served as a Sustainability Ambassador with the Office of Energy & Sustainability for two years.
Staff: Sam Arlia, Mechanical Coordinator for Plumbing in the Facilities Services Department.
Learn more about these winners in our 2019 news post about the awards.
2017-2018 Academic Year
Faculty: Dr. Chris Laszlo, PhD, Professor of Organizational Behavior, former Executive Director of the Fowler Center, currently leading the Quantum Leadership initiative at Weatherhead.
Students: Cara Fagerholm, fifth-year Mechanical Engineering and Environmental Studies major, member of the initial cohort living in the CWRU Sustainability House and past chair of the Student Sustainability Council (SSC). Also, Naveen Rehman, fourth-year Nutritional Biochemistry major/ Religious Studies minor, held many exec positions with CWRU’s Food Recovery Network, and instrumental in the development and expansion CWRU's Food Symposium, Sustainability Ambassador for the Office for Sustainability.
Staff: Bill Frank, CWRU Biomedical Service Engineer, recipient of the 1995 CWRU President's Distinguished Service Award.
Learn more about these winners in our 2018 news post about the awards.
2016-2017 Academic Year
Faculty: Dr. Narcisz Fejes, SAGES professor in the CWRU College of Arts and Sciences; and faculty advisor of CWRU’s Food Recovery Network
Student: Grace Cammarn, Statistics and Environmental Studies major with a Spanish minor, Student Sustainability Council past Chair and past PR Director, former Office for Sustainability SURES intern and student worker
Staff: Brian Gray, Team Leader of Research Services at Kelvin Smith Library; Librarian of Chemical & Biomolecular Engineering and Macromolecular Science & Engineering; and Chair of the Garden@Case
Learn more in our 2017 news post about the awards.
2015-2016 Academic Year
Faculty: Dr. Peter McCall, Earth, Environmental and Planetary Sciences professor
Students: Matt Patten and Kelly Hacker, both Mechanical Engineering majors, University Farm SURES research students
Staff: Kathleen Dowdell, Senior Administrator at the Department of Anthropology
Learn more on our 2016 news post about the event and the awards.
2014-2015 Academic Year
Faculty: Dr. Karen Braun, Associate Professor of Accountancy, Weatherhead School of Management
Students: Mischelle Brown, Positive Organization Development and Change graduate student and Steven Cramer, Cognitive Science and Economics major and Chair of the Student Sustainability Council
Staff: Gene Matthews, Director of Facilities Services and Kathy O’Linn, HR and Facilities Manager FPB School of Nursing and Green Team Leader
Learn more on our 2015 news post about the event and the awards.