Video: From Snow Days to Heat Waves

Director of Climate Adaptation and Resilience
MA Executive Office of Energy and Environmental Affairs 

Mia is the Director of Climate Adaptation and Resilience at the MA Executive Office of Energy and Environmental Affairs. In this role, she co-leads the implementation of the State Hazard Mitigation and Climate Adaptation Plan, and the Municipal Vulnerability Preparedness (MVP) program. She most recently managed Climate Ready Boston and the Resilient Boston Harbor Vision for the City of Boston. She has a Master's in City Planning from MIT and a BA from Brandeis University. 

Public Health Planner II
Metropolitan Area Planning Council  

Jeanette Pantoja is a Public Health Planner at MAPC and focuses broadly on supporting collaborative approaches to address the social and physical conditions that impact health outcomes and disparities in the region. She is particularly interested in supporting local healthcare and public health institutions’ engagement in efforts to address housing instability and in the integration of public health and local climate resiliency planning. 

Jeanette’s work at MAPC includes evaluation of collective impact initiatives, policy research and analysis, and the development of tools and training materials to support public health stakeholders’ participation in local planning and land use decision-making. Jeanette received her Master’s in Urban Planning with Distinction from the Harvard Graduate School of Design and holds a Bachelor of Arts in Integrative Biology from the University of California, Berkeley. 

Manager, CAPA Strategies 

Joey Williams manages operations of the CAPA Heat Watch program, supporting local partners in a community-engaged urban heat mapping effort to identify and address disparities in climate exposures. He combines his background in engineering and urban planning with care for human and environmental health to help the CAPA team advance climate resilience efforts with cities and communities around the US and world. 

Education Associate
Museum of Science, Boston

Sara Benson is an Education Associate at the Museum of Science, Boston. Sara’s current work is focused on engaging audiences of all ages about climate change, more specifically around extreme heat and sea level rise. Before joining the museum, Sara was an environmental educator and worked on research projects surrounding marine policy. Sara has her MA in Marine Affairs from University of Rhode Island and her BS in Marine Biology from University of North Carolina Wilmington.

Associate Professor of Environmental Health
Boston University School of Public Health 

Patricia Fabian, ScD. Patricia Fabian is an Associate Professor in the Environmental Health Department at Boston University School of Public Health. Her research spans the fields of environmental health and engineering, respiratory infectious disease transmission, system sciences and geographical information systems (GIS), with a focus on asthma, indoor air, housing and other aspects of the built environment. Along with Madeleine Scammell she co-directs the C-HEAT project of heat exposure and vulnerability in Chelsea and East Boston.

Senior Planner & Project Manager
City of Chelsea 

Ben Cares works as the Senior Planner & Project Manager for the City of Chelsea's Department of Housing & Community Development. Ben supports the City of Chelsea within urban heat mitigation, coastal resilience, community engagement, and open space & transportation planning and implementation.   

Climate Justice Organizer
GreenRoots 

Ibrahim López-Hernández is a Climate Justice Organizer with GreenRoots working on extreme heat, sea-level rise and social vulnerability projects in Chelsea and East Boston. He was born and raised in Puerto Rico and became passionate about climate change, urban planning and just transitions after experiencing the impacts of Hurricane María in 2017. Ibrahim is currently completing his MS in Urban Planning & Policy from Northeastern University and holds a BA in Political Science from the University of Puerto Rico. 

GreenRoots is a community-based organization dedicated to improving and enhancing the urban environment and public health in Chelsea & surrounding communities, using collective action, unity, education and youth leadership to enable positive change. 

Climate Resilience Project Manager
City of Boston Environment Department 

Zoe serves on the Climate Ready Boston Team at the Environment Department. As a project coordinator, she supports the development of neighborhood climate resilience planning, the integration of climate change preparedness projections into municipal projects, planning, and permit review, and the development of resources for residents, small businesses, and other stakeholders to take action. Previously, Zoe served as a land stewardship coordinator and TerraCorps Service Member with the Mystic River Watershed Association. There, she organized habitat restoration projects in public parks and partnered with community groups and local government to create climate education programs and forums for public discourse about coastal resilience. Zoe received a Bachelor of Science in Biology with an Environmental Science Concentration from Gordon College. 

Climate Resiliency Manager
Mystic River Watershed Association 

Melanie Gárate enthusiastically joined the MyRWA team in October 2019 working towards climate resilience and justice in the Mystic. She holds a Master of Science degree in Marine Ecology and Climate Change from the University of Rhode Island where she studied nutrient cycling and greenhouse gas fluxes from coastal Rhode Island and Puerto Rico. Through her research projects revolving around climate change, she was struck by the disproportionate environmental education and access to green spaces within low-income communities, which sparked her passion for environmental justice work. Prior to MyWRA, she focused on educating community members of the greater Boston area at the New England Aquarium and Mass Audubon. A native of the Pacific Ocean and Andean mountains of Chile, Melanie enjoys hiking and spending time by the water with her Puerto Rican street rescue dog. 

Clean Energy and Climate Planner II
Metropolitan Area Planning Council 

Sasha is a planner in the Clean Energy Department, where she works on a variety of clean energy and climate projects including supporting the Metro Mayors Coalition Climate Taskforce. Her work includes supporting communities on both climate mitigation and adaptation, including efforts on renewable energy policy, climate zoning, and resilience planning. Sasha holds a Master in City Planning (MCP) from Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), with a Certificate in Environmental Policy and Planning, and holds a Bachelors in Anthropology from Reed College.