Members

University Distinguished Professor of Sociology and Health Sciences; Director, Social Science Environmental Health Research Institute

Phil Brown joined Northeastern University in 2012 after 32 years at Brown University. He is University Distinguished Professor of Sociology and Health Sciences, and director of the Social Science Environmental Health Research Institute (SSEHRI), whic…

Assistant Professor of Public Policy and Health Sciences

Dr. Kaitlyn S. Alvarez Noli, Assistant Professor of Public Policy and Health Sciences, holds a joint appointment in the School of Public Policy and Urban Affairs (College of Social Sciences and Humanities) and the Department of Health Sciences (Bouvé…

Assistant Professor of Environmental Health in the Department of Health Sciences and Civil and Environmental Engineering

Professor of Sociology

Alissa Cordner is Associate Professor of Sociology and Paul Garrett Fellow at Whitman College. She teaches courses in sociology and environmental studies, including Environmental Sociology, Environmental Health, Social Research Methods, Sociology of Health and Illness and Environmental Justice. Professor Cordner’s research focuses on environmental sociology, the sociology of risk and disasters, environmental health and justice, and politics and participation. Her two major areas of research are the social and political aspects of wildfire risk management and the social and scientific discoveries of perfluorinated chemicals.

Associate Professor Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering Department of Marine and Environmental Sciences

Professor of Political Science; Founding Director, Global Resilience Institute and Defense Industrial Base Institute

Professor Flynn is recognized as one of the world’s leading experts on critical infrastructure and supply chain resilience. He has led teams in conducting post-disaster resilience assessments, with support from the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation, the U.S…

Associate Professor of Public Policy and Urban Affairs and International Affairs

Laura Kuhl’s research examines climate adaptation and sustainable transitions in the United States and internationally. She is particularly interested in questions of power and equity in processes of transformation across multiple scales from individ…

Associate Professor of Communication Studies at Northeastern University

Broadly, her research interests lie at the intersection of risk perception, health communication, and the environment. Her recent work explores how exposure to risk information in the media, specifically about environmental toxins, COVID-19, and cancer, impacts individual perceptions and protective health behaviors. Her research has been published in Journal of Health Communication, Risk Analysis, and Nicotine & Tobacco Research, among other journals, and she has peer-reviewed research proposals for Cancer Research UK and the U.S. Food & Drug Administration (FDA).

Professor of Law and Public Policy

Professor Sharmila Murthy joined the Northeastern University in 2023 as professor of law and public policy within the School of Law and the College of Social Sciences. Initially, Professor Murthy is on leave to serve as director for environmental jus…

Professor of Design and Public Policy

Dietmar Offenhuber’s research focuses on the relationship between design, technology, and governance. He is the author of the award-winning monograph “Waste is Information” (MIT Press) and has published books on urban data and accountability technolo…

Professor, Marine and Environmental Sciences

Assistant Professor, Chemistry and Chemical Biology

Professor Department of Communication Sciences & Disorders

Affiliate Faculty, Assistant Professor of Public Health, CUNY

Kim is a member of the interdisciplinary PFAS Project lab and her work involves modeling presumptive PFAS contamination sites and studying the interactions of environments, communities, and governments on PFAS contamination. Previously, she studied the toxicology of mitochondrial poisons at the University of Pittsburgh. Outside of the lab, you can find her birdwatching.

Assistant Professor, University of Toronto Mississauga

Adjunct Lecturer, Postdoctoral Research Associate

Grace Poudrier is an Adjunct Lecture and Postdoctoral Research Associate at Northeastern University. She received her PhD in the Department of Sociology & Anthropology at Northeastern University and a researcher at the Social Science Environmental Health Research Institute. She studies mechanisms of knowledge production, ignorance, and agnotology in the field of environmental health, particularly in the contexts of per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) and hydraulic fracturing. Her work draws from the sociology of the environment, medicine, and STS, and is published in Engaging Science, Technology, and Society, Environmental Research and Public Health, and Sexual Medicine. Prior to graduate school, Grace worked in clinical research at NYU Langone Medical Center, where she coordinated mixed methods research on gender affirming surgery for the Hansjorg Wyss Department of Plastic Surgery. She received her B.A from Sarah Lawrence College in 2011, where she studied the sociology of health, illness, and environmental health politics.

Postdoctoral Research Associate

Michael is a Social Science Postdoc who studies the dynamics of violence, development, and environmental justice. Prior research includes comparative-historical work on the environmental consequences of Cold War nuclear weapons production and the U.S. War on Drugs in Latin America, including publications in the Journal of World-Systems Research, Environmental Justice, Sociology of Development, Social Science & Medicine, Human Ecology Review, and Armed Forces & Society. He received my Ph.D. at Washington State University and previously taught courses at Gonzaga University, Goucher College, Widener University, and Bemidji State University, with a focus on social and environmental transformation. He has previously collaborated with non-profit community organizations such as the Food Recovery Network and the Goucher Prison Education Project.

Postdoctoral Research Associate

Alina McIntyre is an Environmental Health postdoc. She received her PhD in Environmental Health from the Boston University School of Public Health, with concentrations in exposure assessment, environmental epidemiology, and biostatistics. Her research, part of the Chelsea and East Boston Heat Study (C-HEAT), used mixed-methods and community-engaged approaches to assess extreme heat and air pollution exposure in Chelsea and East Boston, Massachusetts. One of the most meaningful parts of her graduate degree included working alongside GreenRoots and connecting with Chelsea community members – she aims to continue to build and sustain local partnerships throughout her career. Alina also holds a MHS in Environmental Health and Engineering from the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health, and a BA in both Community Heath and Spanish from Tufts University. At Silent Spring she will collaborate on three projects: 1) The “PFAS HOME” study funded by EPA, 2) “Expanding effective report-back of environmental exposures among new researchers and clinic-based studies” funded by NIEHS, and 3) The “Occupational and other Systemic Risk Factors for Breast Cancer Among Immigrant Women” study funded by the California Breast Cancer Research Program.

Undergraduate Student, Public Health, Northeastern University

Sabrina Balmaseda is a fourth-year student from San Francisco pursing a BA in Public Health with a minor in Sociology. She also plans on obtaining a Master’s in Public Health once graduating from Northeastern University. For her first co-op Sabrina was a ROUTES Scholar and research assistant for the PFAS Project Lab. She will be continuing to work with Dr. Julia Varshavsky and Dr. Abigail Bline as a research assistant for the PFAS Project Lab. She first became interested in environmental health in high school after interning for the San Francisco Public Utilities Commission as a Project Pull Intern.

Sociology PhD Candidate

Allison D. Deese is a doctoral candidate in the Sociology department at Northeastern University and a member of the Social Science Environmental Health Research Institute (SSEHRI). Her research examines how community-based organizations adapt to cum…

Ph.D. Candidate, Population Health, Northeastern University; Research Assistant, PFAS Project Lab

Lauren Ellis is a first-year Population Health PhD student at Northeastern University and a Research Assistant in the PFAS Project Lab. She is passionate about studying the impacts of toxic chemicals, including PFAS, on human health and reducing exposures to those most vulnerable. Prior to starting her PhD program, Lauren worked as an Environmental Health Research Analyst at the Environmental Defense Fund (EDF), where she advocated for health-protective implementation of the reformed Toxic Substances Control Act (TSCA). Before EDF, Lauren earned her MPH in Environmental Health Science & Policy at The George Washington University, where she led a systematic review and meta-analysis on the effects of organophosphate and carbamate insecticides on sperm concentration. During her MPH studies, Lauren gained professional experience in systematic review and chemical risk assessment as a part-time federal contractor, and policy experience as a Health Policy intern for the U.S. Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions (HELP) Committee.

Sociology PhD Student

Jamie Hanna is a sixth-year PhD student in the Sociology Department and a member of the Social Science Environmental Health Research Institute (SSEHRI). Jamie completed her BA in Law, Politics, and Society and Sociology at Drake University in Des Moi…

Ph.D. Candidate Sociology

Emily Haberlack (Sociology doctoral program) received her BS from Iowa State University in 2019 in Environmental Science and Sociology, and did her MA in Sociology at Colorado State University, a very strong center for environmental sociology. Emily’s thesis research on PFAS contamination at the Peterson Air Force Base in Colorado Springs, CO was advised by Stephanie Malin who directs the Center for Environmental Justice. Emily already joined the PFAS Project Lab and became familiar with our many projects, and that will enable her to rapidly jump in to research here. Emily has advanced GIS skills and received a $10,000 grant for her thesis research from the US Geological Survey. She in interested in the gendered effects of pollution, environmental racism, and social movements for water protection. Emily has one published paper on disaster resiliency and is preparing another from her work with the PFAS Project Lab on quantitative research paper utilizing the PFAS Governance Tracker and state-level Census data.

COOP

Caroline Hopkins is a third year Political Science student at Northeastern University. She joined the PFAS lab in January 2025. She developed an interest in environmental justice and urban sustainability after growing up in Singapore and witnessing the country’s innovative approaches to environmental challenges. Caroline previously completed a co-op at a youth development non-profit called SquashBusters where she coordinated program activities, organized community events, and conducted data analysis. Throughout her time at the PFAS Project Lab, she hopes to further her knowledge of the policy implications of PFAS contamination and contribute to research that informs equitable environmental policies.

PhD in Public Policy

Alaina is a doctoral candidate in the School of Public Policy and Urban Affairs who researches the role of policy in advancing climate justice and overcoming fossil industry obstruction. Her dissertation research examines power, regulatory capture, a…

PhD in Public Policy

Stephane Labossiere aspires to become a researcher in the areas of housing development, health disparities, migration, community-participatory research, and public policy. He has completed internships and research projects with the United Nations, NY…

Ph.D. Student, Sociology, Northeastern University

Vic Say joined the Sociology PhD program in the fall of 2023 and is a research assistant in the PFAS Project Lab. Broadly, Vic is interested in the intersection of environmental justice and refugee health. Utilizing environmental and medical sociology, and refugee/forced migration studies, she aims to examine inequalities in maternal and perinatal outcomes. Vic received her Bachelor’s degree in Environmental Studies from Bryn Mawr College, where she was a Mellon Mays Undergraduate Fellow. She was also a Doris Duke Conservation Scholar at the University of Michigan’s School for Environment and Sustainability. Prior to graduate school, she worked as a research assistant on projects related to HIV, health equity, and family planning at AccessMatters, a Philadelphia-based sexual and reproductive health non-profit.