Work with thought leaders and academic experts in waste management disposal

Michael Hickner is an accomplished researcher and educator with an extensive background in chemical engineering. He received his PhD in Chemical Engineering from Virginia Tech in 2003. For the past 15 years, Hickner has been a Rogerson Endowed Professor at Michigan State University, where he has conducted highly acclaimed research in the areas of sustainable energy technologies and nanomanufacturing. Previous to this appointment, Hickner was a Senior Member of the Technical Staff at Sandia National Laboratories, where he conducted post-doctoral research in the fields of materials science, nanotechnology, and catalysis. Given his diverse skill set and supportive leadership style, Michigan State students look to Hickner to provide them with the guidance, mentorship, and educational tools necessary to excel in the field of chemical engineering.

Senior academic and policy advisor. Public and private sector consultant with remit ranging from health ministries and public organizations to insurance and pharmaceutical companies. Cross-institutional leader in research and admin roles focusing on excellence, efficiency, innovation, and community. Strategic and proactive thinker with clear vision and plan, approaching challenges with creativity and adaptability. Highly motivational manager with strong communication skills and impeccable project management track-record.   Expert scholar and educator in health economics, discrete choice experiments, research study design and observational epidemiology. Long experience setting-up and coordinating multi-disciplinary teams into delivering high quality research.

T. Osswald is Hoeganaes Professor of Materials at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, where he has been a faculty member since 1989. Osswald received the PhD in Mechanical Engineering from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign in 1987, the MS in Mechanical Engineering from the South Dakota School of Mines and Technology in 1982, and the BS in Mechanical Engineering from the South Dakota School of Mines and Technology in 1981. Before joining the UW-Madison faculty, Osswald was a Humboldt Fellow at the Rheinisch Westfalische Technische Hochschule Aachen. Osswald’s research interests are in the areas of processing-structure-property relationships for metals and composites, with a focus on powder metallurgy and metal injection molding. His research has been supported by the National Science Foundation, the Department of Energy, the US Army Research Office, and industry. Osswald is a Fellow of ASM International and the American Academy of Mechanics, and he has received the Extrusion Division Award, the Powder Metallurgy Division Award, and the Distinguished Teaching Award from TMS.

Dr. Deopura has over 45 years of experience in the field of polymer physics.. He has been a professor at the Indian Institute of Technology Delhi since 1974, and has also served as the Head of the Department there. In addition to her teaching and research experience, Dr. Deopura has also authored or co-authored over 190 scientific papers in various international journals

Lea-Rachel Kosnik is a Professor of Economics at the University of Missouri-St. Louis. She received her BA and MA from the University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, and her PhD from the University of California, Los Angeles. Her research focuses on renewable energy and climate change, and she is considered a leading expert on the topic of hydroelectric energy generation in the U.S., and hydropower regulation by the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission. In recent years her research has expanded to include analyses of the academic economics profession itself, including with a focus on gender issues and DEI initiatives. Methodologically, her skill set includes textual analysis and natural language processing, along with traditional econometric techniques. In 2016 she received an honorable mention for article of the year from *Contemporary Economic Policy*, and in 2022 she gave the keynote address to the Illinois Economics Association. Dr. Kosnik is perhaps best known (in a service capacity) as the Association of Environmental and Resource Economist’s (AERE’s) Midwest representative, annually organizing the full track of AERE-sponsored environmental sessions at the Midwest Economic Association meetings. Dr. Kosnik has also served as President, Past-President, and Board Member of the Transportation and Public Utilities Group (TPUG), and as a Department Chair.