Junior Fellows 2012-2013

Graduate Assistants

Jessica Reeve | Events Coordinator

Jessica Reeve is a second year Master’s student in the Faculty of Environmental Studies. Her role at IRIS is as a Graduate Assistant Events Coordinator. Jessica’s research in the Faculty of Environmental Studies is on food security and community activism and mobilization within the food movement. Her major research paper is on the benefits of prison farms and the political ecology that helps to shape those institutional models. Jessica brings with her a passion for environmental and sustainability issues and experience in community and youth engagement. She loves to connect with people about sustainable food production and food policy and has spent time farming and facilitating garden programming for children.

Darnel Harris | Events Coordinator

Darnel Harris has a B.A. in History from Glendon College and is currently enrolled in the joint MES/JD program at York University. His past involvement has included Glendon Model United Nations, and running for president of the Glendon College Student Union/Association Étudiante du Collège Glendon. In addition, Darnel is currently the Chair of the PSC Student Subcommittee, and a member of the York University Board of Governors. Finally, for the last two years, Darnel has served as co-president of Regenesis @ York.

 Prabin Sharma | Campus Sustainability Surveyor

Prabin Sharma is IRIS’ Sustainability Surveyor Graduate Assistant. He is responsible for developing and coordinating Campus Accessibility Survey, and analyzing results of the Survey at York University. The objectives of the survey are to examine the state of physical accessibility at York University and identify priorities of York community. He is currently focusing on governance of transit-oriented developments at York’s Master of Environmental Studies planning program. He completed his MSc in Environmental Science from Nepal, and brings environmental planning experience from the Himalayas.

Yvette Guo | Campus Sustainability Surveyor

Yvette is IRIS’s Campus Sustainability Surveyor, responsible for coordinating research tasks related to an electric charging feasibility project at York University. She has been involved in a diversity of research projects prior to coming to York U, where she is currently a Masters student at the Faculty of Environmental Studies specializing in urban planning. Yvette’s current research interest involves a nexus between culturally inclusive planning and green consumption. She received a B.Sc in Environmental Biology and B.A. in French at the University of British Columbia (UBC).

 

Work/Study Students

Hao Yang | Events Coordinator

Hao Yang is a third year undergraduate student in the Business Administration program at the Schulich School of Business. She is dual specializing in accounting and finance. She has previously worked with York University's counselling and disability services. At her new role as the event coordinator with IRIS, she hopes to gain exposures and increase awareness about different environmental issues that currently exist. In addition, she hopes to spread the message around of the importance of being environmentally friendly. Her primary role is to organize events/speaker sessions throughout the year. She will be involved throughout the event planning process, from advertising to delegating the details of the actual events.

Enrique Miranda | Engagement Officer

Enrique Miranda is a fourth year undergraduate student in the Political Science; Liberal Arts and Professional Studies program at York University. He is also minoring in the Environmental Studies program at York. As an Engagement officer, Enrique hopes to empower student and faculty members to unite and promote a more sustainable world.  His role at IRIS will be to ensure that social capital is being developed with students at York and that an inspiring “Earth Hour” activity will be developed to represent campus solidarity on sustainability-related issues. His main research interests centres around the democratization process in Southern countries and how regional and multilateral arrangements can be used to develop a more just, humane society.

Mitra Alizadeh | Communications and Website Coordinator

Mitra Alizadeh is a fourth year undergraduate student, double-majoring in Psychology (faculty of health) and Environmental Management (faculty of environmental studies) at York University.  In her role at IRIS as the Website and Communications Coordinator,  Mitra is involved in organising various projects/events at IRIS such as the Sustainable Furniture Workshops for the Centre for Green Change, as well as the Focus on Sustainability Film Festival. Her major research involves linking together environmental influences (nature-exposure) and human health issues (neurochemical aspects of mood disorders).

 

Jennifer Evola | Graphic Designer

Hao Yang is a third year undergraduate student in the Business Administration program at the Schulich School of Business. She is dual specializing in accounting and finance. She has previously worked with York University's counselling and disability services. At her new role as the event coordinator with IRIS, she hopes to gain exposures and increase awareness about different environmental issues that currently exist. In addition, she hopes to spread the message around of the importance of being environmentally friendly. Her primary role is to organize events/speaker sessions throughout the year. She will be involved throughout the event planning process, from advertising to delegating the details of the actual events.

Bushra Noureen | Events Coordinator

Bushra Noureen is a third year undergraduate student in the Bachelor in Environmental Studies (BES) program at York University. Her area of concentration is in Urban and Regional Environments: Analysis, Planning and Design. Over the past summer she worked as an Environmental Assistant for Ontario’s Ministry of the Environment. Here, she led and encouraged members of the Ontario public sector as part of the first sustainable office certification program, The Sustain Campaign. She has previously worked as an Information Assistant at the CENTRAL P.A.R.C. in Founders College. Currently, she is the secretary of the President’s Sustainability Council Student Sub-Committee (PSCSS) and is a founding member of the first renewable energy club of its kind at York University - YU Solar.  In her role at IRIS as the Events Coordinator, her primary role is to design posters, advertise, and organize events/speaker sessions and activities throughout the year such as the David Miller: Nations Talk. Cities Act.,  the Sustainable Value Creation Speaker Series, and the Greening Transportation Survey. She hopes to create awareness and engage members of the community about sustainable practices.

Netta Untershats | Research at York, Digital Archiving

Netta Untershats is a fourth year undergraduate Biology student at York
University. As a research student for Dr. D.R. Bazely, Netta is creating a
digital archive on York University's institutional repository - York Space. To commemerate the legacy of the Churchill Northern Studies Centre and Wapusk National Park, as well as some of their key researchers, Dr. F. Cooke and the late Dr. R.L. Jefferies, a collection of key documents, articles and photographs are available at http://pi.library.yorku.ca/dspace/handle/10315/9273 Through this project, Netta is gaining valuable experience on the exciting and developing field of digital archiving and metadata. Her duties include ensuring that all copyright and publisher policies are met prior to submitting document into the collection. Netta is networking with many experts in the field, including Andrea Kosavic, the Digital Initiatives Librarian at York University. Netta aspires to continue her career in the field of digital archiving and is considering a career as an Intellectual Property Lawyer.

Volunteers

Sanaz Hojati | Sanaz Hojati is a third year undergraduate Biology student at York University. As a research student supervised by Dr. D. R. Bazely, she is working on digitizing a collection of significant documents, articles and photographs gathered by the Churchill Northern studies Centre and Wapusk National Park. Specifically, she is working on the research of Dr. F. Cooke and the late Dr. R. L. Jefferies. Sanaz is also responsible to ensure that copyright and proprietary rights of publisher are not violated when submitting documents into the collection. The collection can be viewed here.

Other Junior Fellows

• Michael John Long