Get a cutting edge, interdisciplinary education from a diverse group of Georgetown experts, thought leaders, scholars and innovators.
Marcus D. King
Professor of the Practice in Environment & International Affairs
Director, M.S. in Environment & International Affairs
Marcus D. King is Director of the MS-EIA and Professor of the Practice in Environment & International Affairs in the Science and Technology in International Affairs Program (STIA) at Georgetown University’s Edmund A. Walsh School of Foreign Service. He holds a joint appointment at Earth Commons, Georgetown’s Institute for Environment & Sustainability.
Prior to Georgetown, King was the John O. Rankin Associate Professor of International Affairs and Director of the Master of Arts in International Affairs Program at George Washington University’s Elliott School. Dr. King previously served as Director of Research and Associate Research Professor.
Dr. King also draws on experience from a number of governmental and non-governmental organizations including CNA Corporation’s Center for Naval Analyses, as Research Director of the Sustainable Energy Institute, and Senior Manager for Energy and Security Programs at a private consultancy. He has held Presidential appointments in the Office of the Secretary of Defense, where he represented the United States for negotiation of the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change, and the Office of the Secretary of Energy. King is Vice Chairman of the Council on Strategic Risks and a member of the Center for Climate and Security’s Advisory Board.
Dr. King maintains expertise in areas including environmental security, climate change resilience and transnational security. His present research focuses on studying how water scarcity effects fragile states. His most recent book is Weaponizing Water: Water Stress and Islamist Extremist Violence in Africa and The Middle East (Lynne Rienner 2023). King holds a Master’s and Ph.D. in International Relations from the Fletcher School at Tufts University.
Joanna Lewis
Provost Distinguished Associate Professor and Director, Science, Technology and International Affairs (STIA)
Director, STIA Program
Joanna Lewis is Provost’s Distinguished Associate Professor of Energy and Environment and Director of the Science, Technology and International Affairs Program (STIA) at Georgetown University’s Edmund A. Walsh School of Foreign Service. She has over two decades of experience working on international climate and clean energy policy with a focus on China. At Georgetown she runs the Clean Energy and Climate Research Group and leads several dialogues facilitating U.S.-China climate change engagement. Lewis is also a faculty affiliate in the China Energy Group at the U.S. Department of Energy’s Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory. Her new book, Cooperating for the Climate: Learning from International Partnerships in China’s Clean Energy Sector was recently released by MIT Press. She is also the author of the award-winning book Green Innovation in China, and was a Lead Author of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change’s Fifth Assessment Report. Lewis has worked for a number of governmental and non-governmental organizations including the Pew Center on Global Climate Change, the Asia Society and the White House Council on Environmental Quality, and has been a visiting scholar at Tsinghua University, the Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars and the East-West Center. Her research has been supported by the National Science Foundation, the Rockefeller Brothers Fund and the Center for Security and Emerging Technologies, among others. Lewis holds a Master’s and Ph.D. in Energy and Resources from the University of California, Berkeley and a Bachelor’s degree in Environmental Science and Policy from Duke University.
Megan Lickley
Assistant Professor, Edmund A. Walsh School of Foreign Service
Megan Lickley’s research examines the drivers and impacts of climate change. She uses tools from data science that bridge climate science, math and policy in order to assess a range of outcomes and their likelihood of occurring. This involves combining various Earth system models with in situ measurements and population data in a rigorous statistical framework. I apply these methods to core climate issues including water resources, the duration of rapid climate change, and sea level change. Her recent work has focused on evaluating global compliance with the Montreal Protocol, which regulates the production of ozone depleting substances and their replacement chemicals, many of which are potent greenhouse gases. Before starting her PhD she spent time in the Democratic Republic of Congo teaching math courses at the Catholic University of Bukavu. She’s consulted for the World Bank in Uganda, contributing to a climate change impacts report and strategy plan. She is a co-author to the ongoing International Ozone Assessment.
Peter Marra
Dean, Earth Commons Institute for the Environment and Sustainability and Laudato Si’ Professor of Biology and the Environment
Laudato Si’ Professor, Biology and the Environment; Professor, McCourt School of Public Policy
Dr. Peter P Marra is the Dean of the Earth Commons—Georgetown’s Institute for the Environment and Sustainability—and Laudato Si’ Professor of Biology and the Environment. Marra uses birds to help us define and understand broad environmental issues, tackling contemporary conservation challenges by addressing fundamental knowledge gaps at the intersection of ornithology, ecology and conservation biology. His transformative work—including quantifying the loss of 3 billion birds from North America, the impacts of climate change, the astounding ecological destruction of outdoor cats and emerging diseases such as West Nile virus—explores the interaction between humans and our environment and poses critical questions to humanity about the environmental costs of urbanization and globalization. His work spans biology, engineering, physiology, and biogeochemistry, and has helped ignite new research into the study of full life cycles of migratory animals while furthering technological advances, including the use of genetics, stable isotopes and remote tracking technologies. With over 260 peer-reviewed papers, Marra uses integrative techniques and rigorous quantitative approaches, leveraging data to link fundamental ecological advances to address conservation problems and reimagine approaches that inform policy. Over 55 current and former students and his position as Founding Director and Dean of the Earth Commons, Georgetown University’s new institute for environment and sustainability, demonstrate Marra’s dedication to moving research to implementation and educating the next generation of diverse scientists.
Jeremy T. Mathis
Jeremy T. Mathis, Ph.D. is a climate security professional and has been an Adjunct Associate Professor in the School of Foreign Service at Georgetown University. since 2018. He has published more than 100 peer-reviewed journal articles that have been cited more than 15,000 times. Jeremy has chaired numerous national and international working groups, visiting more than 60 countries in a professional capacity. From January to October 2018, he served as a science policy advisor in the Office of U.S. Senator Lisa Murkowski (R-Alaska). From 2012 to 2017, Jeremy worked in various programmatic and executive roles for the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), where he specialized in global climate issues, including a rotation at the Office of Science and Technology Policy at the White House. From 2007 to 2012, he was an Assistant Professor at the University of Alaska Fairbanks and the founding Director of the first U.S. Ocean Acidification Research Center. Dr. Mathis received his undergraduate degree in chemical engineering and his Ph.D. in chemistry from the University of Miami (FL).
Lucy Zipf
Associate Teaching Professor, M.S. in Environment & International Affairs
Dr. Lucy Zipf is an ecologist studying the integrated impacts of co-occurring global changes–climate, habitat, and conservation management–on biological communities. Dr. Zipf uses observational and experimental field studies with statistical modeling approaches to forecast changes in bird and insect phenology and reproductive success. Dr. Zipf also works closely with community science organizations to involve stakeholders in her research. In her classroom, Dr. Zipf prioritizes hypothesis-driven exploration of the natural and built environment. Dr. Zipf works with students to build the foundational knowledge needed to understand big environmental problems and then reexamine their and other environments with critical thought.
Kristen Nieves
Program Coordinator, MS-EIA
Kristen plays an active role in fulfilling all academic and administrative responsibilities to support students, applicants, and faculty within the MS-EIA program. She helps administer all day-to-day and on-the-ground activities by working closely with graduate students, collaborating with the program directors, and acting as a liaison in connecting MS-EIA students with a wide variety of University resources. Kristen is passionate about advancing sustainability efforts locally and internationally. Kristen has several years of experience in the higher education and environmental nonprofit sectors. She has a background in international studies, sustainability, and sociology after attending the University of Florida and the Honors College at Miami Dade College.
Shannen Holback
Assistant Director of Admissions and Marketing, MS-EIA
Shannen Holback is the Assistant Director of Admissions and Marketing for the M.S. in Environment & International Affairs (MS-EIA) program. Shannen is passionate about supporting students and staff and the various sustainability and environmental programs taking place. She creates and implements recruitment and marketing events and initiatives, as well as assisting with the admissions process. Shannen speaks with prospective students to help them gain more information about the MS-EIA program. She has a background in law with a bachelor’s degree in Legal Studies and a master’s in Educational Leadership from the University of Central Florida.
Miriam Pineda-Gonzalez
Student Program Assistant, MS-EIA
Miriam Pineda-Gonzalez is a first-generation student born and raised in Long Beach, California. Miriam completed her undergraduate degree at the University of California, Irvine where she received a B.A. in Environmental Science and Policy and a B.A. in International Studies. It is important to Miriam to understand the science behind environmental challenges which is why she chose to pursue a Masters of Science in Environment and International Affairs at Georgetown University. Miriam is specifically interested in global sustainable energy technology and policy because as the world continues to make technological advances, we can use this knowledge to transition to clean energy resources. She would like to use the knowledge that she gains for policy advocacy and technology-driven solutions that surround renewable and sustainable energy on a global scale.
