#SLAGCWater
SPEAKERS
CARA HOROWITZ, J.D.
EMMETT INSTITUTE ON CLIMATE CHANGE AND THE ENVIRONMENT
Cara Horowitz is the co-executive director of the Emmett Institute on Climate Change and the Environment at UCLA School of Law, where she also co-directs the Environmental Law Clinic. The Emmett Institute was founded as the first law school center in the nation focused on climate change law and policy. Cara teaches at the law school and directs the work of the Emmett Institute to advance innovative research, public policy debate, and legislative reform to address climate change and its effects.
CHRISTINE LEE, Ph.D.
EARTH SCIENCE/ APPLIED SCIENCES, JET PROPULSION LABORATORY
Christine joined the Science Applications and Data Interactions group at the NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory in 2014 after a 2-year term at NASA Headquarters in Washington, D.C as an AAAS Science and Technology Policy Fellow. Her professional interests include working to improve the utility of remote sensing for water quality monitoring through conducting applied research and developing partnerships within the water resources/water quality management practitioners community. Christine is also an Associate Program Manager for the NASA Applied Sciences Water Resources program. Christine has a Ph.D. in Civil and Environmental Engineering from UCLA studying coastal water quality issues and developing rapid, viability-based detection methods for monitoring water quality.
DANIEL GLIEBERMAN
FALCON WATER TECHNOLOGIES, SLOAN
Daniel Gleiberman has held the position of Manager of Product Compliance and Government Affairs for Sloan Valve Company since 2012. He has held previous chair posts with Plumbing Manufacturers International on the Government Affairs Committee and is currently the co-chair of the Water Efficiency and Sustainability Committee. Gleiberman has served as a three-time board member and current emeritus director of the U.S. Green Building Council - Los Angeles Chapter. He has also served on the board of directors for the California Urban Water Conservation Council, during which time he worked on programs that highlighted commercial water-use efficiency and initiatives to promote wider utilization of water-efficient commercial plumbing fixtures throughout California.
DELON KWAN
DEPARTMENT OF WATER RESOURCES, LOS ANGELES DEPARTMENT OF WATER AND POWER
Delon received his bachelors degree in civil engineering from UCLA, and is a registered Civil Engineer in California. He has been with the City of Los Angeles for over 28 years, with 10 of those years at LADWP and 18 years with public works engineering and department of airports, overseeing design and construction of major infrastructure programs. At LADWP, he oversees long term strategic planning, watershed management, resources development, and is the member agency manager's representative for the City at the Metropolitan Water District of Southern California.
ERIC HOEK, Ph.D.
DEPARTMENT OF CIVIL AND ENVIRONMENTAL ENGINEERING, UCLA
Eric M.V. Hoek is a Professor in the UCLA Department Civil & Environmental Engineering. His UCLA research group explores the union of nanomaterials and membrane technologies for water, energy, biomedical and environmental applications. He is the Editor in Chief of the Nature journal "npj Clean Water", a former Editor of the journal Desalination and recently co-edited The Encyclopedia of Membrane Science & Technology for John Wiley & Sons. Dr. Hoek has served as an advisor on major water reuse and desalination projects in Southern California, and has been involved with the formation of several water technology startup companies including NanoH2O (nanoh2o.com) and Water Planet Engineering (wpeh2o.com).
GREG PIERCE
DEPARTMENT OF URBAN PLANNING AND LUSKIN CENTER FOR INNOVATION, UCLA
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Greg Pierce serves as the Associate Director of Research at the UCLA Luskin Center for Innovation (LCI), and as an Adjunct Assistant Professor in the Department of Urban Planning. Greg engages in environmental planning and policy research— particularly for disadvantaged populations— connecting the sub-national, metropolitan and household scales, with a primary focus on drinking water. Greg's research has been published in 25 peer-reviewed articles, many in prominent planning and policy journals. Current and past sponsors of this work include the California Water Board, the Strategic Growth Council, WaterAid, the Water Foundation, The Resources Legacy Fund, Environment Now, the DiCaprio Foundation, the World Bank and others.
JESSICA CATTELINO, Ph.D.
DEPARTMENT OF ANTHROPOLOGY AND THE CENTER FOR THE STUDY OF WOMEN, UCLA
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Gender and Everyday Household Water Use in Los Angeles
Jessica Cattelino studies Indigenous sovereignty and everyday American political processes and imaginations, with emphasis on economy, gender, and environment. She is author of the book High Stakes: Florida Seminole Gaming and Sovereignty. Cattelino's current book-in-progress and a collaborative museum exhibition examine the cultural politics of water in the Florida Everglades, and she directs a team research project at UCLA's Center for the Study of Women on gender and everyday household water use in Los Angeles. She is a UCLA associate professor of Anthropology and Gender Studies, and a faculty affiliate in American Indian Studies.
J.R. DESHAZO, Ph.D.
LUSKIN CENTER FOR INNOVATION, UCLA
Dr. J.R. DeShazo directs the UCLA Luskin Center for Innovation and is the Chair of the Department of Public Policy in the Luskin School of Public Affairs. He holds joint appointments within UCLA's Institute of Environment and Sustainability as well as the Urban Planning and Civil and Environmental Engineering Departments. He has a Ph.D. in Urban Planning with a concentration in Economics from Harvard University, a master’s of science in Development Economics from Oxford University, St. Antony’s College where he was also a Rhodes Scholar, and a bachelor’s in Economics and History from the College of William and Mary. His academic and research areas include valuing health risk - reductions, environmental valuation, health and the built environment, as well as local public finance, clean technology, climate change policy, renewable energy policy, and sustainable transportation and water.
V. KELLY TURNER, Ph.D.
DEPARTMENT OF URBAN PLANNING, UCLA
V. Kelly Turner's research addresses the relationship between institutions, urban design, and ecosystem services. She received a Ph.D. in Geography from Arizona State University, where she was an IGERT Fellow in Urban Ecology. Her work is funded by the National Science Foundation and the National Socio-Environmental Synthesis Center.
LAWREN SACK, Ph.D.
DEPARTMENT OF ECOLOGY AND EVOLUTIONARY BIOLOGY AND THE INSTITUTE OF THE ENVIRONMENT AND SUSTAINABILITY, UCLA
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Predicting Leaf Water Stress and Water Needs Using Terahertz Laser Technology
Lawren Sack is a Professor of Plant Physiology and Ecology and Vice Chair in the Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology and the Institute of the Environment and Sustainability at the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA). Professor Sack received his BS degree from McGill University (Montreal, Canada), his PhD degree from Cambridge University in the UK, and after postdoctoral work at Harvard University, joined the faculty at the University of Hawaii at Manoa in 2003, and at UCLA in 2007. Professor Sack has authored or co-authored over 160 publications, and his current research mainly focuses on mechanisms for plant water transport and drought tolerance and their implications in a wide range of ecosystems, including urban, wild and crop ecosystems. He is the Principal Investigator of a current $1.2 million grant from the National Science Foundation Integrative Organismal Systems Program and a co-PI on a current $3 million grant from the NSF Division of Graduate Education on “Integrated Urban Solutions for Food, Energy, and Water Management”. Pofessor Sack co-founded and serves on the Steering Committee for the Environmental and Ecological Plant Physiology (EEPP) section of the American Society of Plant Biologists (2013-), now the largest section of the ASPB.
MARIA KENNEDY
KENNEDY COMMUNICATIONS, INC.
Maria Elena Kennedy helps disadvantaged communities access safe drinking water by working with federal, state and local agencies to get funding to build solutions.
MARK PESTRELLA 
DEPARTMENT OF PUBLIC WORKS, COUNTY OF LOS ANGELES
Mark Pestrella is the Director of Los Angeles County Public Works. In this capacity, he serves as the County Engineer, the County Road Commissioner, and the Chief Engineer of the Los Angeles County Flood Control District. With an annual budget of more than $2.7 billion and a workforce of 4,000 employees, Los Angeles County Public Works is the largest municipal public works agency in the United States, providing vital public infrastructure and civic services to more than 10 million people across a 4,000-square-mile service area. Public Works’ diverse operations are defined within six core service areas: Water Resources, Transportation, Environmental Services, Public Buildings, Developmental Services, and Emergency Management. Mr. Pestrella is a licensed civil engineer and a 32-year veteran of Public Works and has held a variety of management positions. He is a native of Southern California and attended California Polytechnic State University, San Luis Obispo, where he received a Bachelor of Science Degree in civil engineering with concentrations in structural engineering and water resource management.
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NAOMI GOLDENSON, Ph.D.
CENTER FOR CLIMATE SCIENCE AND INSTITUTE OF THE ENVIRONMENT AND SUSTAINABILITY, UCLA
Evaluating projections of changes to high flood-risk precipitation events
Dr. Goldenson received her PhD in Atmospheric Sciences from the University of Washington in 2017. She is currently a postdoctoral scholar at UCLA, studying global precipitation changes as well as projected meteorological changes of relevance to regional precipitation in western North America.
RUTH ENGEL 
DEPARTMENT OF GEOGRAPHY, UCLA
Ruth Engel is a PhD candidate in the geography department. She completed her BA at Harvard and her MA at UCLA. Currently, she works on land cover and water use across Los Angeles.
SANJAY MOHANTY, Ph.D.
DEPARTMENT OF CIVIL AND ENVIRONMENTAL ENGINEERING, UCLA
Dr. Sanjay Mohanty is an assistant professor at the Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering at UCLA. His research connects the links between natural weather cycles, subsurface biogeochemical processes and contaminant transport, and he uses the knowledge to improve the design of stormwater treatment systems that are resilient during climate change.
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TRACI MINAMIDE
LA SANITATION AND ENVIRONMENT, CITY OF LOS ANGELES
Traci has worked with the City of Los Angeles for over 30 years and currently serves as the Chief Operating Officer for LA Sanitation and Environment, a department of 3,300 employees with an annual revenue of $1 billion. She holds a BS in Civil Engineering from California State Polytechnic University Pomona and a MS in Environmental Engineering from Loyola Marymount University.
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