麻豆传媒

Kathleen Merrigan is an expert in food security, food systems and sustainability.

Her research focuses on sustainable innovations for food and agriculture among urban cities as well as food deserts.

Merrigan serves as the executive director of the Swette Center for Sustainable Food Systems, and she is a professor within the School of Sustainability, College of Health Solutions and the School of Public Affairs.

Prior to her position at ASU, Merrigan was U.S. Deputy Secretary and Chief Operating Officer of the U.S. Department of Agriculture where she created and led the Know Your Farmer, Know Your Food Initiative to support local food systems.

Klaus Lackner鈥檚 work focuses on closing the carbon cycle by capturing carbon dioxide from the air through the use of 鈥渕echanical trees.鈥� His device is currently being commercialized. 

Lackner鈥檚 other research interests include carbon sequestration, carbon foot-printing, innovative energy and infrastructure systems and their scaling properties, the role of automation, robotics and mass-manufacturing in downscaling infrastructure systems, and energy and environmental policy. 

Lackner, director of ASU鈥檚 Center for Negative Carbon Emissions, was the first person (in 1999) to suggest artificial capture of carbon dioxide from air as a way of reducing atmospheric carbon and lessening global warming.

Lackner is a professor at the School of Sustainable Engineering and the Built Environment of the Ira A. Fulton Schools of Engineering at ASU. He is a fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science and he was recognized for contributing to the 2007 Nobel Peace Prize for the IPCC. His interest in self-replicating machine systems has been recognized by Discover Magazine as one of seven ideas that could change the world. 

Yekang Ko directs the Sustainable Cities and Landscapes Hub of the Association of Pacific Rim Universities (APRU), a global network of 60 leading research universities across the Pacific Rim. She also holds a joint appointment with the Pacific Northwest National Laboratory (PNNL) as a Senior Scientist. Her research focuses on place-based renewable energy landscapes, green infrastructure planning, and climate actions for resilience and justice. An associate professor of landscape architecture, she teaches design for climate action and landscape planning and analysis. Her work is highly interdisciplinary, based on community service-learning and outreach, collaborating with governments, non-profits, professionals, and educators locally and internationally. She is also the co-founder of the Landscape for Humanity (L4H) Lab, which supports social and environmental justice through design research and education.