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Powers of Potsdam named associate director for sustainability at Clarkson

Posted 7/19/10

POTSDAM – Prof. Susan E. Powers of Potsdam has been named associate director for sustainability at Clarkson University. She will leave her post as associate dean for research and graduate programs …

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Powers of Potsdam named associate director for sustainability at Clarkson

Posted

POTSDAM – Prof. Susan E. Powers of Potsdam has been named associate director for sustainability at Clarkson University. She will leave her post as associate dean for research and graduate programs in the Wallace H. Coulter School of Engineering and assume her new duties immediately.

"Last month, Provost Tom Young and I announced the establishment of the Institute for a Sustainable Environment under the leadership of Dr. Philip Hopke," said Clarkson President Tony Collins. "Throughout campus, there is growing enthusiasm to make even greater strides in reducing our campus footprint on the natural environment, as well as advancing our world-class research and teaching agenda in the world's pressing environmental issues.

"As part of its mission and outreach, the Institute will take the lead in building sustainability into everything we do at Clarkson, from the education of future leaders in engineering, business and science, to the our campus operations. To help coordinate this effort, we have created the position of associate director for sustainability to serve as our sustainability officer.

"We are excited to have someone with Dr. Powers' talent and personal example of commitment for the programs we need to put in place to position Clarkson as an environmentally sustainable leader."

Since joining the Department of Civil & Environmental Engineering in 1992, Powers has been at the forefront of environmental studies. Her research has been widely published in professional and scientific journals, and funded through grants from the NSF, the Department of Energy, and the Environmental Protection Agency. Powers has served as the director of Clarkson's K-12 Project-Based

Learning Partnership Program and as director of Clarkson's Center for the Environment.

Her many awards include the National Science Foundation (NSF) Director's Award for Distinguished Teaching Scholars, the Association of Environmental Engineering and Science Professors Distinguished Service Award, the John W. Graham Jr. Faculty Research Award, and the Dow Outstanding New Teacher Award.

In 1995, Powers received a Career Award, the NSF's most prestigious award for junior faculty. Powers is also a member of the team of Clarkson faculty and staff recognized with the 2001 Boeing Outstanding Educator Award.

Powers graduated from Clarkson in 1983 with a bachelor of science degree in chemical engineering, and received her master's degree in civil and environmental engineering from Clarkson in 1985. From 1985-87, she served as project engineer at Engineering-Science in Liverpool, N.Y. She received a doctoral degree in environmental engineering at the University of Michigan in 1991, and served as a research assistant and lecturer there before coming to Clarkson.