Harvard Club of Oregon and Southwest Washington

Elsie M. Sunderland is an Associate Professor of Envioronmental Science and Engineering at the School of Engineering and Applied Sciences and in the Department of Environmental Health in the Harvard School of Public Health. She is a Faculty Associate in the Harvard University Center for the Environment and the Harvard Center for Risk Analysis. Prior to Harvard, she was a Senior Staff member at EPA Council for Regulatory Environmental Modeling. She led a cross-agency workgroup drafting guidance on the development, evaluation and application of environmental models use to inform regulatory decisions. She developed policy recommendations for improvement of nearshore water quality in the Great Lakes as the representative for the International Air Quality Planning Board (IAQAB) of the International Joint Commission (IJC). She also worked as one of the Agency's lead scientists developing federal regulations for atmospheric emissions of hazardous air pollutants from coal-fired utilities. Her responsibilities included regular briefings of senior Agency officials, White House staff environmental jounalists. 

Human activities are affecting many aspects of the global environment. Releases of greenhouse gases are warming the earth’s climate, leading to changes in air quality and heat stress in many urban areas. Human activities also result in the release of many pollutants to the environment that are associated with widespread adverse impacts on public health. This talk will discuss the links between environmental and human health, outlook for the future, and actions that can be taken to help mitigate risks.