Our Team
TWINS Secretariat
HALIMEH ABUAYYASH
Halimeh has 20+ years of experience in successfully delivering projects and programs in various sectors, including but not limited to real estate development, with excellent knowledge and experience in smart cities planning and development. Halimeh has Master of engineering in Smart City Solutions- from HFT Stuttgart, Germany; Bachelor of Architecture from University of Petra, Jordan and Dip. Of Architecture, W.T.C, Amman, Jordan. Her areas of expertise are in Smart City Solutions; Architecture and Urban Planning Program and Project Management; Real estate Development and Research & Feasibility Studies.
RUBAINA ANJUM
Hailing from Bengaluru, Rubaina has over 6 years of experience working on climate and environmental issues in development sector. She worked as a consultant with the World Bank on a wide range of topics including climate resilience, environmental policy lending, migration, and greenhouse gas accounting. Rubaina holds a master’s degree in environmental management and a bachelor’s in civil engineering from Duke University and BMS College of Engineering, respectively. She is currently a PhD student at University of Vermont in the Sustainable Development Policy Economics and Governance Program.
RICHMOND SILVANUS BAYE
Richmond Silvanus Baye is a PhD candidate at the University of Vermont and a member of the Public Management Research Association and the Transboundary Water in Cooperation Network.
Richmond has a broad research interest and is keen on applying surveys, experimental designs, econometric approaches, and machine learning tools to agricultural issues, food safety and security, water resources management, climate change, cities, and renewable energy transition. He has participated in capacity building activities related to statistical and machine learning applications in various research domains. Before starting his PhD, he worked as a researcher at the German Institute of Development and Sustainability in Bonn. His focus there was on creating a globally harmonized database of cities' climate actions, commitments, and pathways to sustainability. Richmond was born and raised in Ghana. He holds a Masters in Environmental and Food Economics from the University of Milan, Italy, and a Bachelors in Economics from the University of Cape Coast, Ghana.
BINDU PANIKKAR
The Associate Director of Institute for Environmental Diplomacy and Security at the University of Vermont and her research focus is on environmental health, community-based research, environmental policy, natural resources, Arctic environment and health, environmental health social movements, environmental justice.
SCOTT TURNBULL
Scott Turnbull is a software engineer accomplished in the creation of integrated software solutions for complex systems. Scott has recently participated in research into applications and impacts of precision agriculture, and modeling of national food supply security with regards to Ecology and Evolution of Infectious Diseases. Previous research was with Vermont EPSCoR in the Basin Resilience to Extreme Events and the Research on Adaptation to Climate Change.
JEANINE VALCOUR
Jeannine Valcour has over 20 years of experience developing and managing capacity-building and research projects in the U.S. and globally. Currently, Jeannine is a Proposal Developer with UVM’s Research Development team, and specializes in large, interdisciplinary proposals focused on sustainability and the environment. She holds an MBA and master’s degree in Latin American Studies from the University of Arizona where she studied vulnerability to climate change in Central America under advisor Diana Liverman. Currently, in UVM’s Sustainable Development, Policy, Economic, and Governance doctoral program, Jeannine’s research focuses on the connection between land use and food and water security in developing countries.
EMMA SPETT
Emma Spett (she/her) is a PhD student in Sustainable Development Policy, Economics, and Governance at the University of Vermont. Emma conducts research as a graduate assistant for TWIN, the UVM Office of Engagement, and the UVM Institute for Rural Partnerships. Emma's research is concerned with how governance and networks can contribute to the resilience of communities and systems and aid in solving complex and wicked problems. She has worked as a social scientist on projects related to transboundary water management, community economic development, and collaborative governance, and is writing her dissertation on data governance and the way data resources can be managed, administered, and utilized to aid in decision making across scales. She teaches courses at UVM related to resilience theory and practice, and research project development. Prior to arriving at UVM, Emma worked in sustainable agriculture and community organizing.
MARYAM SHABBIR ABBASI
Maryam Shabbir Abbasi is Program Coordinator at the University of Vermont. She is also Advisory member to Environmental Justice Council to the State of Vermont. She has 10 years of experience in development sector as researcher and communication expert. As Senior Research Associate she worked in the field of climate induced migration, air pollution, plastic issue, water governance and policy issues related to environment and climate change.
PANAGIOTIS (TAKIS) OIKONOMOU
Panagiotis Oikonomou is Research Assistant Professor in the University of Vermont's Civil and Environmental Engineering Department. My research interests include extreme hydrological hazards (droughts and floods), climate change impacts on water resources, environmental informatics (big data, models, DSS, and GIS), integrated water resource management, and the Water-Energy-Food Nexus.
BEN RYAN
Upon graduating from the University of Vermont with a BS in Community and International Development, Ben began working for an international education non-profit, Wells Mountain Initiative as development and communications coordinator.
His research focus is on motivating sustainable agricultural practices using AI-driven information technology and monetary incentives. The impacts of this research extend beyond the study locations of Vermont and South Dakota, with global implications in developing empirically-based sustainable policy and innovations.
SUSAN SGORBATI
The Director of the Elizabeth Coleman Center for the Advancement of Public Action at Bennington College. She a professional mediator and educator whose creative research has led to collaboration across disciplines ranging from dance improvisation to biology to visual arts, as both an artist and a driver of social change.
CAITLIN WADDICK
Research Fellow with the Elizabeth Coleman Center for the Advancement of Public Action at Bennington College. Her work encompasses cooperation, solidarity economics, environmental health, agroecology, permaculture, racial justice, and facilitation. Her early research concerned human exposures to environmental pollutants.
ASIM ZIA
Asim Zia is the Director of Institute for Environmental Diplomacy and Security at the University of Vermont. His research is focused on the development of computational and complex-systems based approaches for Policy Analysis, Governance Informatics and Adaptive Management. Dr. Zia has published widely on international climate policy, management of social ecological systems, risk communication, risk management, international development, tropical forest conservation, and adaptation to climate change in the US, Latin American, African and Asian contexts.
Lizah Makombore
Lizah has over 10 years of experience working in the NGO sector, development sector, public finance institutions, and institutions of higher learning. Lizah contributed to multi-faceted projects at the regional level and local level in the following sectors, climate change, water sustainability, regenerative agriculture, public-private partnerships, equity and justice, and local economic development. After the development sector, Lizah ventured into academia and has spent the last 6 years of her life being a research assistant, lecturer, curriculum developer, and reviewer of assessments. Lizah is currently a Ph.D. student at the University of Vermont and is a fellow of the Leadership of the Ecozoic and The Gund Institute of the Environment. Her current research interests include cooperative economies, solidarity economies, environmental and social justice, resilient communities, and ecological economics. Lizah is married, is a mom to a pair of twins, and loves to write children's books as her all-time hobby.
LINDSEY BOUZAN
Lindsey Bouzan (she/her) is completing an M.S. in Community Development and Applied Economics at The University of Vermont. She possesses 5+ years of nonprofit management experience in the US education sector, and a range of international development experience in Massachusetts, Serbia and Uganda. Human-centered, and people-focused, Lindsey uses a multidimensional approach for analyzing conflict through lenses of Critical Theory, cultural meaning-making, and social psychology of what gives communities hope in the face of natural and man-made disasters. As a believer that we are the sum of our experiences, Lindsey remains inspired by the communities who carry with them an unnegotiable hope for a better future. Previously she has served as the Professional Development Chair for NECBAC, an organization dedicated to spearheading PD initiatives for BIPOC institutional members and holds a certificate of completion in Training Active Bystanders (TAB) from Quabbin Mediation Group located in Massachusetts. Lindsey is also 200-Hour Registered Yoga Teacher (RYT) with Yoga Alliance.