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Ask Pitt's Experts

Pittsburgh's Green Transformation

Green Pittsburgh

department of civil and environmental engineering

Melissa Bilec
Assistant professor, Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering, Swanson School of Engineering

office: 412-648-8075
mbilec@pitt.edu
Web site

For assistance in reaching this faculty member, contact:
Morgan Kelly
office: 412-624-4356
cell: 412-897-1400
mkelly@pitt.edu

Areas of Expertise

Pittsburgh’s green initiatives, sustainable engineering and design

Background
Bilec, an assistant professor in the Swanson School of Engineering’s Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering, studies and teaches engineering issues related to sustainability, green design, and construction. She focuses largely on the practical aspects of sustainable building, from the life-cycle and cost benefit of “green” materials to lending civic initiatives a greener touch and conducting metrics research to understand and evaluate high-performance green buildings. She translates her work in these areas—as well as that of other Pitt sustainable engineers—into student projects as the assistant director of education outreach in the Mascaro Center for Sustainable Innovation, Pitt’s center for green design.

Bilec has worked on several green projects in Pittsburgh, including a student-led assessment of LED (light-emitting diode) lights conducted at Pitt on behalf of the City of Pittsburgh. Pitt engineers investigated the life cycle and pay-off time for LED street lights considered by the City of Pittsburgh. The Pitt evaluation found that the 40,000 LEDs the city wants would provide more light with lower energy consumption than conventional lights and would pay for themselves within 10 years.

Bilec also analyzed the design and construction of the new Children’s Hospital of Pittsburgh of UPMC, a multi-million-dollar green campus in Pittsburgh’s Lawrenceville neighborhood that features two pending LEED-certified buildings. She also has experience in funding and managing sustainable transportation projects, including the Hot Metal Pedestrian Bridge project. That effort converted an old railroad trellis used to transport molten steel over the Monongehela River into a bridge that connects the bike and pedestrian trail in Pittsburgh’s Oakland neighborhood to the trail in the South Side neighborhood. As codirector of the Swanson School’s Center for Sustainable Transportation Infrastructure, Bilec works to evaluate, support, and implement designs for more efficient and long-lasting bridges, roadways, and areas surrounding them.

In addition, Bilec is part of two sustainability-specific engineering groups in the Swanson School: The Construction Management and Sustainability Group, with Assistant Professor Joe Marriott, which develops applications for sustainability principles in the construction engineering and management sector, including advanced life-cycle assessments of vegetated roof systems; and the Sustainability and Green Design group, with Marriott and Assistant Professor Amy Landis, which specializes in interdisciplinary research, education, and outreach in environmental science, engineering, and sustainability.

Landis and Bilec are working on a life-cycle assessment for the Phipps Conservatory and Botanical Gardens’ Center for Sustainable Landscapes, which will be a “living
building” that generates its own power with renewable resources and captures and treats all of its water on site. The conservatory was selected to host the G-20 summit’s opening ceremony because of its sustainability efforts.

Joe Marriott
Assistant professor, Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering, Swanson School of Engineering

office: 412-628-2106
marriott@pitt.edu
Web site

For assistance in reaching this faculty member, contact:
Morgan Kelly
office: 412-624-4356
cell: 412-897-1400
mkelly@pitt.edu

Areas of Expertise

Pittsburgh’s green initiatives, energy-consumption impact analyses and emerging energy technologies, sustainable engineering and design

Background
Marriott studies the broader effects of current energy consumption and the emerging methods for future electricity generation. His work includes analyses of the environmental, social, and economic impact of energy production and use, as well as “cradle-to-grave” life-cycle assessments of energy systems, particularly fossil fuel and nuclear power.

Marriott also applies life-cycle assessment to a range of sustainable materials and environmental policies, evaluating their true cost, effort, and effectiveness from the early implementation stage until the idea or material’s expiration.

Marriott is associated with the Mascaro Center for Sustainable Innovation, Pitt’s center for green design, and translates his work in these areas into student projects. Marriott most recently worked with Assistant Professor Melissa Bilec on a life-cycle assessment of LED (light-emitting diode) lights being considered by the City of Pittsburgh. He and Bilec worked with Pitt students to investigate the life cycle and pay-off time for LED street lights and found that the 40,000 LEDs the city wants would provide more light with lower energy consumption than conventional lights and would pay for themselves within 10 years.

Marriott belongs to two sustainability-specific engineering groups in the Swanson School comprising young faculty pursuing fresh, sustainable approaches to energy and construction. With Bilec, he forms the Construction Management and Sustainability Group, which develops applications for sustainability principles in the construction engineering and management sector, including advanced life-cycle assessments and vegetated roof systems. He and Bilec collaborate with Assistant Professor Amy Landis for the Sustainability and Green Design group, which specializes in interdisciplinary research, education, and outreach in environmental science, engineering, and sustainability.

school of law

Michael J. Madison
Professor of law and dean for research, School of Law
office: 412-648-7855
home: 412-388-1129
madison@pitt.eduFaculty Bio

For assistance in reaching this Pitt faculty member, contact:
Patricia Lomando White
office: 412-624-9101
cell: 412-215-9932
laer@pitt.edu

Background
Michael J. Madison, Pitt professor of law and associate dean for research, has gained fame for Pittsblog, his blog on all things Pittsburgh.

Considered an expert Pittsburgh commentator, Madison frequently is interviewed about Pittsburgh’s history and present trajectory, including a recent story that aired on the Dutch national TV broadcast channel. He also was part of a CNN piece and an article in The New York Times. This media attention prompted an invitation for Madison to be a keynote speaker next fall at a congress in Amsterdam on the future of world cities. Madison writes and teaches about information law and theory, including intellectual property law, and speaks and writes about information technology and economic development, both at Pittsblog and in his “day” job.

MASCARO CENTER FOR SUSTAINABLE INNOVATION

Beckman

Eric Beckman
Codirector,
Mascaro Center for Sustainable Innovation, Swanson School of Engineering

office: 412-624-4828
beckman@pitt.edu
Web site

For assistance in reaching this faculty member, contact:
Morgan Kelly
office: 412-624-4356
cell: 412-897-1400
mkelly@pitt.edu

Areas of Expertise

Sustainable design and engineering, Pittsburgh's green economy, "greenwashing"

Background
Eric Beckman is codirector of the Mascaro Center for Sustainable Innovation in Pitt's Swanson School of Engineering, which specializes in sustainable-design research and development. Beckman focuses on developing environmentally safe chemical products. He also studies and documents "greenwashing," or labeling as "green" products and industries that are not distinctly sustainable.

In 2002, Beckman received the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) Green Chemistry Challenge Award for his exploration of using carbon dioxide as an environmentally benign solvent, a medium for creating microcellular materials, and as a catalyst. Beckman was the fifth Pittsburgh-based recipient of the EPA award in four years. Beckman has supervised more than 40 PhD students and postdoctoral scientists, published more than 70 papers in peer-reviewed journals, and has more than 50 patents and published applications. Beckman also is chief science officer for Cohera Medical Inc., a company he founded in 2004 to commercialize a biocompatible surgical "glue" that can be used internally.

Beckman says that Pittsburgh is a recognized leader in sustainability for the established environmental research programs in its major universities, and the public commitment to bikes, pollution control, and green buildings. But there is still opportunity for further green growth in businesses and manufacturing jobs to sustain that progress, particularly in developing genuinely green products and services that present a verifiably more sustainable solution than current goods. Beckman's analysis of the Pittsburgh green economy is available on Pitt's Web site.

department of mechanical engineering and materials science

Weiland

Lisa Weiland
Professor, Department of Mechanical Engineering and Materials Science, Swanson School of Engineering

office: 412-624-9031
lmw36@pitt.edu
Web site

For assistance in reaching this faculty member, contact:
Morgan Kelly
office: 412-624-4356
cell: 412-897-1400
mkelly@pitt.edu

Areas of Expertise

Sustainable design and engineering, Pittsburgh's green projects, sustainable communities

Background
Lisa Weiland is a professor in Pitt’s Department of Mechanical Engineering and Materials Science and is developing electroactive materials to help supply the business district of Vandergrift, Pennsylvania, with free, clean-source hydrokinetic power. The town hopes to reinvigorate its central district by reducing its power consumption and becoming sustainable.

The materials Weiland is investigating would generate electricity as the current of the nearby Kiskiminetas River moves over them; the river is too small for conventional hydroelectric power. In 2008, Weiland received a U.S. National Science Foundation CAREER Award to fund her research. As the second and equally important portion of the project, many citizens and business owners in Vandergrift are looking closely at their energy consumption and, with Weiland’s guidance, working to be more efficient producers and consumers of energy and goods. This project has been featured in various news outlets, including the Discovery Channel. More information is available online.

In general, Weiland’s research focuses on "smart" materials, both their development and application. She directs the development of Pitt’s Mechanics of Active Materials Laboratory in which active materials such ferroelectric ceramics, electroactive polymers, and nastic materials will be considered both experimentally and computationally.