Sustainability Studies at the University of Massachusetts Dartmouth boasts an interdisciplinary program with contributing faculty from nearly every department and college on campus.
Please note this is not a comprehensive list, rather a sampling of faculty contributing to current courses.
Rob Darst, Director Sustainability Studies (On sabbatical in spring, 2013)
Ph.D. University of California-Berkeley
Associate Professor; Associate Director of the University Honors Program, Research interests: International relations, environmental politics and policy. Professor Darst is a specialist in international relations, environmental politics, and human rights. He is author of the book Smokestack Diplomacy: Cooperation and Conflict in East-West Environmental Politics (MIT Press). He has also published articles in journals such as Environment, The Journal of Environmental Politics, and The Journal of Human Rights. Prof. Darst's most recent article, "'Baptists and Bootleggers, Once Removed': The Politics of Radioactive Waste Internalization in the European Union," was published in Global Environmental Politics.
Tara Rajaniemi, Undergraduate Sustainability Studies Curriculum Chair, Acting Director
PhD, 2001 (University of Michigan)
Her research investigates the mechanisms that determine species diversity in plant communities. She is especially interested in explaining patterns of species diversity along environmental gradients. Her work has included experimental approaches to separate the effects of aboveground and belowground competition on diversity in an old field and analytical approaches to tease apart the effects of species pools, long-term and short-term abiotic conditions, and species interactions on diversity in Israeli sand-dune communities. She is also interested in the strategies plants use to compete for patchy soil resources.
Dan Braha, Graduate Sustainability Studies Curriculum Chair
PhD (Tel Aviv University, Israel)
Dan Braha is a Full Professor at the University of Massachusetts, Dartmouth. He is also an affiliate of the New England Complex Systems Institute (NECSI) in Cambridge, MA. Prior to that he was a Visiting Professor at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), and a researcher at Boston University. Professor Braha has published extensively in various prestigious journals, including three books (all with Springer).
Marguerite Zarillo
PhD Civil & Environmental Engineering, Transportation Engineering, 1998 (University Central Florida)
Dr. Marguerite Zarrillo performs research in the area of Surface Transportation Engineering with special expertise in Intelligent Transportation Systems, ITS. She designs computer simulation models of traffic flow, including interruptive flow models and queuing models at toll collection facilities and intersections.
Chad McGuire
BS, MS Environmental Science,JD, LLM Environmental Law
Chad is currently the program director for the newly created online post-baccalaureate environmental policy certificate program (EPCP). In that capacity, he is responsible for curricula development and student advisement. He is also active in the campus sustainability initiative.
D. Steven White
DBA, 1996; MBA, 1991 (Cleveland State University)
Dr. D. Steven White is the Director, Sustainability Studies and Professor of Marketing & International Business.
His research interests include green business, seafood marketing and logistics, international services marketing, service exporting, global and social entrepreneurship, international marketing, global e-commerce, open source applications in global business and international business education. Dr. White is an award winning author and a prolific researcher. His research has been published in International Marketing Review, Journal of Business Research, Journal of Services Marketing, Thunderbird International Business Review, Journal of Marketing Management (U.K.), Journal of Marketing Education and International Business Review. In addition, he has received the Charlton College of Business Higginson Award for Excellence in Teaching three times since joining the faculty.
Prior to entering academia, Professor White was the vice president of an advertising agency, worked in the promotion of sporting and special events, managed outdoor sporting goods stores/ski shops and served as an alpine ski instructor. He earned the rank of shodan in Uechi-ryu karate, practiced Brazilian Ju-Jitsu and is a PADI certified scuba diver. His hobbies include physical fitness and traveling.
