Princeton University Office of Sustainability

 Neil Kittredge , architect, urban designer, and planner, leads Beyer Blinder Belle's urban design and planning studio. He directs large-scale planning projects in the New York City and Washington, DC offices for both public and private sector clients. Neil's work in the Northeast includes the Princeton Campus Plan for Princeton University (awarded a 2008 SCUP, AIA-CAE Honor Award); "A Vision for Growing an Inclusive City," a citywide visioning process for the District of Columbia; the Anacostia Waterfront Initiative, Washington, DC; the Near Southeast Urban Design Framework, Washington, DC (winner of the American Planning Association's 2004 "Outstanding Planning Award for a Plan"); and the Coney Island Strategic Plan in Brooklyn, NY. Other notable projects include a master plan for the RiverSouth district in Columbus, OH; the Uptown Strategic Framework Plan in Cincinnati, OH; and a Downtown Master Plan for Fort Lauderdale, FL. In addition to Princeton University, Neil's leadership in campus planning and design includes long-term projects for Indiana University and the Stony Brook University. Neil joined Beyer Blinder Belle in 1997, became an Associate Partner in 2002, and a Partner in 2005. He is a graduate of Carnegie-Mellon University (B.Arch.) and the Harvard Graduate School of Design (M.Arch., Urban Design). Neil is a registered architect and certified planner.

 Nicole Holmes is a Project Manager at Nitsch Engineering, a Boston-based firm providing civil engineering and sustainable site consulting services. Nicole has extensive experience in civil engineering and site development, primarily in providing sustainable site design and consulting for various projects around the world. Nicole’s key projects have included innovative stormwater management design and master planning services at Princeton University, the University of Virginia, and Yale University.   Her experience also includes sustainable consulting services for Philadelphia’s GreenPlan, Washington Canal Park, Taiwan National Palace Museum, Harvard University’s Allston Initiative, and the New York Botanical Garden.   Nicole is one of the creators of Nitsch Engineering’s proprietary RainUSE ^® Software program, a rainfall reuse simulation program that simulates scenarios to optimize rainfall capture and reuse systems.   Nicole has held leadership positions in the Women’s Transportation Seminar and actively participates in the Boston Green Roundtable discussions and the USGBC Massachusetts Membership Forum. She was selected by the American Society of Civil Engineers (ASCE) as one of the Top 20 New Faces of Engineering of 2003.   Nicole earned her B.S. in Civil Engineering from Northeastern University. Nicole is a registered professional engineer and a LEED Accredited Professional in Building Design + Construction.  

Michael is principal of Michael Van Valkenburgh Associates (MVVA), a landscape architecture firm based in NY and Cambridge that creates environmentally sustainable and experientially rich places across a wide range of landscape scales, from city to campus to garden.   Founded in 1982, MVVA’s commissions are on a scale of landscape that allow achievement of an “ecological urbanism,” with projects such as the Master Plans for Brooklyn Bridge Park and Wellesley College, and built work like Mill Race Park and Allegheny Riverfront Park. (MVVA’s design for Brooklyn Bridge Park was awarded the Municipal Art Society’s Brendan Gill Prize and was selected as the work of art in 2010 that best exemplifies and contributes to the vibrant life of New York City.) The office has worked on campus plans and projects for Princeton, Harvard, Cornell, and the University of Pennsylvania, and has developed – or is developing   -   public landscapes for Pennsylvania Avenue in Washington, D.C., the G.W. Bush Museum in Texas, Teardrop Park in NY, and the Jefferson National Expansion Memorial in St. Louis. The firm’s collaborative approach with urban planners, architects, engineers, and ecologists and its integrated design methodology ensures that the experience of MVVA’s built landscapes grows from, and is supported by, integrated sustainability and outstanding environmental performance.   Currently a Professor in Practice of Landscape Architecture at Harvard’s Graduate School of Design, Michael is a registered landscape architect and is a Fellow of the American Academy in Rome and the American Academy of Landscape Architects. Michael received the National Design Award in Environmental Design from the Smithsonian Institution’s Cooper-Hewitt National Design Museum in 2003. In 2010 Michael received the American Academy of Arts and Letters Arnold W. Brunner Memorial Prize in Architecture for contributions to the practice of architecture as an art, the second landscape architect to be honored in the award’s 45-year history. In 2011 Michael was the recipient of the ASLA Design Medal. Michael earned a B.S. in Landscape Architecture from Cornell University’s College of Agriculture and an M.F.A. in Landscape Architecture from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. 

 Shana Weber directs the Office of Sustainability and is periodic lecturer in the Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology at Princeton University. She has coordinated University efforts in comprehensive campus-based sustainability study and implementation since 2006. Shana has conducted research on the intersection of climate change impacts and land use history, population biology of culturally-significant wetland vegetation, and climate-change driven population dynamics of high altitude small mammals. Prior to joining Princeton University, she was a founding director and faculty member of the Santa Clara University Environmental Studies Institute, and producer for a nationally-syndicated environmental radio program. She serves on the Executive Committee for NJHEPS and steering committees for the NE Campus Sustainability Consortium and Ivy+ Sustainability Group. Shana received her B.S. in Zoology from the Ohio State University, MSES and Ph.D. from the Indiana University School of Public and Environmental Affairs, Bloomington. 

 Since joining Michael Van Valkenburgh Associates’ team in 2003, Robert Rock has overseen construction of the Connecticut Water Treatment Facility Landscape and Teardrop Park South in New York City. At Princeton University he has served as project manager and overseen construction of the new Frick Chemistry Building landscape, designed with Hopkins Architects, and the Streicker Pedestrian Bridge landscape, designed with Swiss engineer Christian Menn and HNTB. Most recently he has been serving as the project manager for the Andlinger Center for Energy and the Environment landscape, designed with Tod Williams Billie Tsien Architects, and has been overseeing the execution of the Princeton University 10-Year Landscape Master Plan. In January 2011, he led the winning design proposal for the ARC Wildlife Crossing Competition in Vail, CO. Robert received his Bachelor of Landscape Architecture from Iowa State University in 2003 with minors in Psychology and Art History.
  

Jim Wallace practiced architecture for 20 years in Philadelphia, first with Kieran Timberlake and then with Venturi, Scott Brown and Associates (VSBA).  His VSBA work included leading the project design teams for Princeton University’s Frist Campus Center and a new research library and related renovation work at Harvard University’s Dumbarton Oaks in Washington, DC.   In 2005 he joined  Princeton’s Office of Design and Construction.  Since returning to campus, his responsibilities have included overseeing design and construction of Streicker Bridge, Frick Chemistry Laboratory, and related projects.  He is now leading the project team for renovation of the University’s Firestone Library. Jim is a graduate of Yale College and Princeton’s School of Architecture.

Mark is a co-founder of The Willow School and formerly served as treasurer on the Board of Trustees. He began his career in 1975 after he joined a family business, Con-Lux Coatings, Inc., an environmental and heavy-duty manufacturer of low VOC paints and coatings. After he sold the company to Sherwin Williams in 1995, he founded Solid Wood Construction, LLC, a general contracting company specializing in green construction and historic renovation using salvaged and recycled materials. Solid Wood Construction was the general contractor for both of Willow’s LEED certified classroom buildings. As founder of Sustainable Growth Technologies, a green building and design company, Mark continues to play an active role in efforts to help businesses, educational institutions, and individuals design and implement strategies that reflect the principles of sustainability and place using integrated processes. Mark earned a B.A. in Business Administration from the University of Vermont.

Ted Brown, has over 16 years of experience in environmental restoration, watershed management and planning and stormwater management services. For the last five years, Ted has served as a practice leader and water resource engineer at Biohabitats.  He has been involved in stormwater BMP and green infrastructure planning and design projects for New York City in support of their long term control plan, watershed planning and policy development for Montgomery County, Maryland, in support of the latest generation of NPDES MS4 permit, and several stormwater and ecological master planning efforts for major universities including: Rutgers University, the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, Wake Forest University, and the University of Delaware. In each of these institutional master planning efforts, green infrastructure and ecological sustainability have been focal points of the campus strategy and institutional vision.  Prior to joining the Biohabitats Team, he worked for eight years at the Center for Watershed Protection, a nationally recognized non-profit that develops innovative technical guidance relating to watershed assessment and management, stormwater management, NPDES regulatory compliance, and natural resource conservation.

Robert Traver is a Professor in the Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering at Villanova University, and Director of both Center for the Advancement of Sustainability in Engineering and the Villanova Urban Stormwater Partnership. He has conducted research on topics that include modeling of stream hydraulics, urban hydrology, water quality, and sustainable stormwater management. He initiated the Stormwater Best Management Practice Demonstration and Research Park on the Villanova Campus. Dr Traver served on ASCE’s External Review Panel (ERP) of the Corps investigation of Hurricane Katrina, and was a member of the National Academies Committee entitled Reducing Stormwater Discharge Contributions to Water Pollution.   Dr Traver received his BSCE degree from the Virginia Military Institute, his MCE from Villanova, and his Ph.D. from The Pennsylvania State University.