Introduction to Green Candidates for the MWRD
Dave Ehrlich is on the faculty of the graduate Environmental Management & Sustainability and Public Administration programs at the Illinois Institute of Technology. He was previously on the faculty of DePaul University’s School of Public Service. Earlier, as a senior analyst for the US Government Accountability Office -- a watchdog and consulting agency for the US Congress -– Dave advised Members of Congress and committees on issues including energy, contracting, and privatization. GAO saved the federal government $50 billion in 2010. He also served as senior legislative assistant to several members of Congress. Education: BA, University of Michigan; MPP, Georgetown University; PhD, Wayne State University.
Karen Roothaan is an environmental activist for fun and teaches mathematics to pay the bills. As an environmental activist she is cofounder of an award-winning community vegetable garden, the Bush Community Garden of Hope, and an urban forestry project, Trees R Beautiful. Both of these projects are located in an environmentally and economically distressed area, South Chicago, where she has lived since 2000. She is a Master Certified Treekeeper. Her work as an environmentalist brought her to the Green Party for advice in 2005, and she is now proud to be a candidate for the office of MWRD Commissioner. She holds a BA in Mathematics from the University of Chicago and an MS in Mathematics from Brown University. She has a daughter, Nishi, who is a recent graduate of Columbia College.
Nasrin KhaliliDr. Khalili has a B.S. in Chemistry, MSc. in Environmental Engineering (Wastewater Treatment Design and Monitoring), and Ph.D. in Environmental Engineering (Air Pollution Modeling). She is specialized in pollution prevention and control strategic planning, environmental management system design, and development of multi-criteria decision making models for environmental project assessment and ranking. She has 20 years of experience in working on a wide range of environmental waste management issues including but not limited to solving sludge digestion problems for a selected wastewater treatment facility in IL, and design of wastewater treatment plans for high BOD industrial wastes. Since 2009 she has been working on design of sustainable waste management strategies and sustainable economic development for small towns of America (Orange, MA (2009-2011), and Coal City, IL (2011). Dr. Khalili holds two patents for design and synthesis of carbon-based catalysts and sorbents with a wide range of industrial application from biosolids (wastewater treatment sludge) and a computer program for managing energy use and carbon footprints of office buildings. Dr. Khalili is the author of more than 40 refereed publications, and peer reviewed conference proceedings and a book titled Practical Sustainability.
