About

Oren Pizmony-Levyis the Director of the Center for Sustainable Futures (formerly Working Group on Environmental and Sustainability Education). Pizmony-Levy is an Associate Professor in the Department of International and Transcultural Studies at Teachers College, Columbia University. His scholarship explores the intersection of global social movements and education including environmental and sustainability education. Pizmony-Levy earned his Ph.D. in sociology and comparative and international education from Indiana University, Bloomington. Prior to graduate school in the US, Pizmony-Levy worked in the Education Department of the Society for the Protection of Nature in Israel (NGO) and was involved in the development of new environmental education curriculum and professional development for K-12 schools.

Pamela Koch is an Associate Director of the Center for Sustainable Futures (formerly Working Group on Environmental and Sustainability Education). She is also Mary Swartz Rose Associate Professor of Nutrition Education. Koch’s research is at the intersection of food and nutrition education, sustainable food system, and school meals. She has been the lead curriculum writer for many school-based curricula on food and nutrition. She has also been the PI on numerous evaluation studies on the effectiveness of food and nutrition educational programming, (e.g., cooking and gardening), and initiatives to improve school meals. Koch received her EdD from Teachers College, Columbia University.

Ann E. Rivet is an Associate Director of the Center for Sustainable Futures. She is also the Assistant Dean for Research at Teachers College Columbia University, and an associate professor of science education in the Mathematics, Science and Technology Department. Between 2016-2019 Dr. Rivet served as a program officer in the Division for Research on Learning in Formal and Informal Settings at the National Science Foundation. Dr. Rivet’s research has a dual focus on student learning of core disciplinary concepts and practices, and the effective design of strategies, models and curricula that foster understandings for all learners, in particular those underrepresented in STEM. Currently, her work examines the interrelationships between students’ understandings of core scientific concepts and broader conceptions such as systems and scale, and the design of classroom instructional strategies that support students’ situated learning of full scale Earth systems. Dr. Rivet is actively involved with current efforts to support the Next Generation Science Standards (NGSS) at both the policy and practitioner levels, including the development of open source high quality science curriculum materials. Her work has been published in leading journals including Science, the Journal of Research in Science Teaching and the American Education Research Journal, and she has presented her work in multiple national and international settings. She holds a bachelor's degree in physics from Brown University, and a doctoral degree in science education from the University of Michigan.

BrightFlame (she/they) is Strategist for Regenerative Earth Practices at the Center for Sustainable Futures, which features her nonfiction writing and workshops. She is known worldwide for her teaching and writing that blend spirituality, science and activism towards a just, regenerative world. Her key focus is helping people connect with the Earth and develop a de-centered relationship with Nature and all beings. Aligned with this theme, her short climate fiction appears in Solarpunk Magazine, Optopia, Bioluminescent (Android Press) and a forthcoming solarpunk anthology. She holds a masters in educational psychology and has helped colleagues develop and sustain programs. With her partner, she tends a native plant sanctuary of forest and meadow. Her musings and doodles: http://brightflame.com.

Raksha Vasudevan is currently the Bruce S. Goldberg Postdoctoral Fellow in Youth Wellbeing for the Center for Sustainable Futures at Teachers College. Working at the intersection of youth geography, spatial justice, and sustainability, she examines how young people stake claim to city spaces in the Americas, despite planning and education systems that hinder their opportunity to thrive. In her ongoing ethnographic work in Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic, Raksha explores how the island’s history of colonialism shapes the everyday lived experiences of young people who live in river communities, or informal settlements, particularly as the government begins to prioritize climate change planning. In New York City, Raksha is beginning to examine how youth and their parents understand, frame, and negotiate climate uncertainties in the midst of other everyday challenges.  Raksha utilizes feminist, arts-based, and embodied mapping methods as a means to engage youth and other typically marginalized city stakeholders. In her work, she draws from a range of prior experiences, including her work as an intern Architect and elementary school teacher. She also managed the sustainability program for a membership organization of local elected officials.

Carine Verschueren is an Adjunct Assistant Professor in the Department of International and Transcultural Studies at Teachers College, Columbia University. Her scholarship sits at the intersection of education policy, the politics of education, and sustainability. Dr. Verschueren explores environmental and sustainability education policies in K-12 education systems worldwide. She is particularly interested in urban schools, and the implications of urban politics around sustainability for these schools. Her doctoral dissertation examined actors and factors in environmental and sustainability education policies at the school district level in the United States. She was also instrumental in 2018-2019 in launching, coordinating and moderating the sustainability webinar series: “Thinking Global, Educating Local” for the Center for Sustainable Futures. She holds a Ph.D. in International and Comparative Education from Columbia University and trained as an environmental educator at the Sheldrake Environmental Center in Larchmont, NY.

Erika Kessler is a doctoral student in the Comparative and International Education program at Teachers College, Columbia University. She was the inaugural Zankel Fellow on Environmental and Sustainability Education for All during the 2017-2018 school year. She also is a research associate for the Center for Sustainable Futures. Erika’s research interests focus on social movements in education, such as climate change education, and the role of youth in generating social change. 

Darren Rabinowitz is interested studying the impacts of education and human well-being on climate change. Specifically, how is human behavior and activities, which are seen to be the main cause of climate change, influenced by education and an individual's well-being? I am interested in exploring how education can curtail human behaviors that contribute to climate change and, in turn, support countries' sustainable development efforts toward greener economies, political structures and societies.

Gareth Alexis Brinkworth is a Ph.D. student of Comparative and International Education (Sociology specialization) at Teachers College, Columbia University. He is on a career break from his role as an education policy adviser to the UK government and has previously taught and coordinated education programs in countries including Syria, Sudan, South Sudan, Myanmar, Tajikistan, and the UK.

Gareth’s research interests span social theory, education policy, and epistemology. He examines how schooling can best address global existential threats, such as the climate crisis, as well as emerging risks from technologies including AI and nanotechnology.

Mariana Casellato is a recent graduate of the International Education Development master's program at Teachers College, Columbia University. Her background is on promoting environmental and citizenship education with youth in activities of collective communication production in Brazil, where she's from. She was a Zankel Fellow working with the Center for Sustainable Futures at TC for the academic year 2020-2021, advancing the Youth at the Center initiative. Her interests also include decolonization.

Shreya Sanjeev is a doctoral student in the Interdisciplinary Studies program at Teachers College, Columbia University. She is a marine biologist and conservation educator interested in exploring the integration of environmental education and sustainability within higher education in developing countries. Specifically, she's interested in looking at student perceptions and experiences in higher education and how this can inform sustainability practices adopted by institutions within their formal curriculum and pedagogy, business models, and operations.

Victoria Hamilton is a graduate student in the Climate and Society program at the Columbia Climate School. She is a recipient of the 2022-2023 Three Cairns Fellowship. Her academic interests are environmental justice, indigenous justice, environmental policy, and environmental education. She graduated this past spring with a Bachelor of Science degree in Environmental Science and Geography from Villanova University. She was an athlete on the Women’s Rowing Team all 4 years at Villanova. She is excited to join the Center for Sustainable Futures and work on the Climate Education For All project.

Mustafa Öztürk is the inaugural International Research Fellow at the Teachers College Initiative for Sustainable Futures. Öztürk is an instructor at Hacettepe University in Ankara, Turkey. He holds an M.Sc. and a Ph.D. in Curriculum and Instruction from Middle East Technical University. He also completed a non-degree post-graduate study in Learning, Learning Environments and Educational Systems at University of Turku, Finland. He conducted postdoctoral research at Teachers College, Columbia University on promoting sustainability competencies in teacher education. With his research initiatives on education for sustainability, he was awarded the Human Development Research Award by Koç University UNESCO Chair. He is currently engaged in designing and implementing Sustainability Training Programs for pre-service and in-service teachers in Turkey.

Lauren Decunto is a second-year master's student in the Integrated MS-RDN program at Teachers College, Columbia University. This is her first year working as an Arthur Zankel fellow in the Earth Justice Through Garden and Nutrition Program in the School of Earth Exploration and Discovery Harlem (SEED Harlem). Through her extensive and varied work experience in healthcare, food service, wellness, and working with youth, she focuses her career in addressing food inequities that affect many populations in the world. She holds strong beliefs in empowering today's youth through educational programs and hands-on learning experiences, while advocating for food justice, food equity, and sustainable practices in the food system.

Maria Huertas-Trujillo is a second-year student in the Clinical Psychology Master Program. She is a 2022-2023 Zankel Fellow for the Youth at the Center. She also is a research assistant at the Developmental Environment and wellness lab, where she researches the relationship of how connecting with the environment can improve our well-being and emotion regulation. Before coming to New York,  she was a research coordinator in the project Fostering sustainable lifestyles in Lati  America in Colombia. Her research interests lie in the nexus of cognitive and affective processing and its relationship with how people relate to their environment to ensure their well-being.

Sarah Lewis is a second year MA student in the International Educational Development program at Teachers College, Columbia University. She is a 2022-2023 Zankel Fellow for Youth at the Center, and serves on the leadership team of the Sustainability Task Force.  Driven by an interest in complex issues of community concern, Sarah's work is now focused within the field of climate change education.  Sarah received her BA from Bowdoin College in religion and has previously worked in film and documentary impact production.

Mac Mann-Wood is a first year masters' student in the Teaching of English program at Teachers College, Columbia University. They are a 2022-2023 Zankel Fellow for Youth at the Center. Their research interests include abolitionist perspectives in education, storytelling, and sustainable community futures.

Xin Rong Yeo is a second-year master’s student in the Integrated MS-RDN Program specializing in Nutrition Education at Teachers College, Columbia University. She is a continuing 2022-2023 Zankel Fellow for the MS 371 Earth Justice Through Garden and Nutrition Program. She believes food heals and empowers changes. Her background and experiences as a science teacher educator have inspired her to continue actively working and interacting with youth and their community, primarily focusing on her passions for integrating foodways, culinary arts, nutritional knowledge, and environmental justice in and outside of the classroom.

Kat Norton is a first year master’s student in the Anthropology and Education program at Teachers College, Columbia University. Her research interests are related to the ways in which schooling in the United States creates and perpetuates systemic injustices. Before coming to TC, she studied Anthropology and English at Kenyon College and was a Middle School homeroom teacher. She is excited to be a part of the CCEO Project team and work on compiling information about Climate Change Education around the world!

Jiayu Zheng is a graduate student in the Sociology and Education program at the Department of Education Policy and Social Analysis, Teachers College, Columbia University. Her academic interests focus on higher education and educational inequality, such as admission, ranking system, and labor market return. She is excited to join the Center for Sustainable Futures and work on the International Survey of Climate Communication and Education Organizations.