Project Leader: Dr. Ashok Gadgil
At Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, Dr. Gadgil leads a group of about 20 researchers conducting experimental and modeling research in indoor airflow and pollutant transport. He has authored or co-authored more than 70 papers in refereed archival journals and more than 100 conference papers. Dr. Gadgil has a doctorate in physics from UC Berkeley, and is a Senior Staff Scientist in the Environmental Energy Technologies Division of Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, and an Adjunct Professor in the Energy and Resources Group at UC Berkeley. He has substantial experience in technical, economic, and policy research on energy efficiency and its implementation — particularly in developing countries. For example, the utility-sponsored compact fluorescent lamp leasing programs that he has pioneered are being successfully implemented by utilities in several east-European and developing countries. He has several patents and inventions to his credit, among them the “UV Waterworks,” a technology to inexpensively disinfect drinking water in the developing countries, for which he received the Discover Award in 1996 for the most significant environmental invention of the year, as well as the Popular Science award for “Best of What is New – 1996”. In recent years, he has worked on ways to inexpensively remove arsenic from Bangladesh drinking water.
Other Team Member(s) Info:
William Babbitt, Joint Medical Program, UCSF & UC Berkeley
William is a second-year medical student in the UC Berkeley - UCSF Joint Medical Program. Originally from northern California, he earned undergraduate bachelor's degrees in Molecular and Cell Biology and Peace and Conflict Studies from UC Berkeley in 2005. He then spent a year and a half as an HIV vaccine researcher at the UCSF, during which time he worked on an HIV cultivation project that published one paper. He is particularly interested in environmental health and preventive medicine.
Tasnuva Khan, Economics, UC Berkeley
Tasnuva received her BA in Economics (minor in Industrial Engineering) from UC Berkeley in 2008. A native of Bangladesh, she has done much work aiding the urban poor of the country. She is interested in combining her interests in business and engineering through work in the rural development sector.
Kristin Kowolik, Chemistry, UC Berkeley & LBNL
Kristin received her BS from the University of California, Berkeley in Chemistry in 2008. Her major interests are environmental and organic chemistry. She has spent the past two years working on arsenic remediation projects at the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory. Over the 2008-2009 academic year she will be researching batteries for hybrid cars at LBNL. She hopes to pursue a doctoral degree in the field of chemistry.
Mahbuba Iasmin, Civil Engineering, BUET
Mahbuba is an MS student at the Bangladesh University of Engineering and Technology (BUET), Dhaka. She is also serving as a lecturer of Civil Engineering at Presidency University, Dhaka. She completed her BS at BUET in 2007. She is interested in researching sustainable water quality development and providing cost-effective solutions to the rural poor of her home country. She wishes to pursue her PhD in Environmental Engineering.
Nadia Madden, Energy and Resources, UC Berkeley
Nadia Madden is a second year PhD candidate in Energy & Resources at UC Berkeley where she is working on answering “How do we provide safe water to the 1.2 billion who currently go without?” Before coming to Berkeley, she was a project manager for WaterHealth International, implementing its turnkey water solutions for rural villages in India and Sri Lanka. She also advises the YE Water Program, a nonprofit that builds public health for slum communities in Jakarta through environmental education and technology transfer. Nadia obtained her B. Sc. in Earth Science from MIT.
Johanna Mathieu, Mechanical Engineering, UC Berkeley
Johanna is a third year PhD student in the Department of Mechanical Engineering at UC Berkeley. She earned her undergraduate degree from MIT in Ocean Engineering in 2004 and then spent a year in Tanzania teaching secondary school physics and math. She is interested in designing technologies for sustainable communities in the developing world, sustainable energy (especially ocean wave power), and energy efficiency technologies.
Shefah Qazi, Chemistry, UC Berkeley
Shefah Qazi is a senior at UC Berkeley studying chemistry. Her long-term goals include using chemistry to improve the lives of people in impoverished and developing countries. She has career interests that span industries such as medicine, pharmaceuticals, and academia. Shefah plans to go to graduate school.
Mehmet Seflek, Economics, UC Berkeley
Mehmet is a fourth year economics student at the University of California, Berkeley. His main academic interest is the economic development of the Middle East. He spent the summer of 2007 volunteering for the UNDP in Istanbul and returned for the summer of 2008 to conduct his undergraduate thesis research. He hopes to pursue a graduate degree in the field of developmental economics.
