Our Staff
Travis Franck, PhD
tfranck
climateinteractive.org
Travis Franck is a Senior Scientist and Policy Analyst for Climate Interactive. He focuses on international partnership building.
In addition to building international partnerships, his research interests include the dynamics of climate policy and the implications of delaying action, important environmental and economic feedbacks in climate adaptation, building more climate robust communities, and uncertainty analysis of carbon permit pricing. He has published on the impact of hurricanes and sea-level rise on coastal communities development (climate adaptation), the economics of climate stabilization, and the long-term prospects of international climate cooperation.
Previously, Travis has worked at the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) in Paris. He has presented in many different forums, including World Bank, UNDP, engineering, and climate conferences.
Travis has a Ph.D. in Engineering Systems from MIT, a S.M. in Technology Policy and Civil Engineering from MIT, and a B.S. in Computer Science and Environmental Science from Iowa State University.
Dr. Franck also holds positions at MIT's Joint Program on the Science and Policy of Global Change and MIT Sloan School of Management (Research Affiliate).
Ellie Johnston
ejohnstonclimateinteractive.org
Ellie supports web development, communications, administration, and simulation development here at Climate Interactive. She has years of experience coordinating student and youth advocacy efforts to address climate change from her community to the international climate change negotiations.
Beyond her work at Climate Interactive, she is the Director of the Lead Now Fellowship Program at SustainUS, a US youth organization that promotes sustainable development. Recently, she was Chair of SustainUS and a Project Coordinator on Berkshire Publishing's Encyclopedia of Sustainability. In all of these roles she works to facilitate a greater understanding of the world's present and future challenges.
Ellie has a B.S. in Biology from the University of North Carolina Asheville. She has served as the Chair of the Southern Energy Network's Steering Committee, Executive of Sustainability in UNC Asheville's Student Government, founder of the NC Student Climate Coalition, leader of her campus environmental group, and speaker at dozens of conferences and community events.
Currently, Ellie lives in the Berkshires of Massachusetts.
Andrew P. Jones (Drew)
apjonesclimateinteractive.org
Drew is Co-Director of Climate Interactive. He is a system dynamics modeler, facilitator, trainer, and designer of simulation-based learning environments.
Trained in Environmental Engineering and System Dynamics modeling through a B.A. at Dartmouth College and a M.S. in Technology and Policy at MIT, he worked in the 1990s at Rocky Mountain Institute and in the 2000s with Dana Meadows at Sustainability Institute.
He has focused his practice on helping individuals and teams solve problems by applying system dynamics modeling and systems thinking in the areas of corporate sustainability, diabetes and public health, global climate change, and land use policy.
As part of the CDC System Dynamics team, he accepted the “ASysT Prize” for “a significant accomplishment achieved through the application of systems thinking to a problem of US national significance.”
He and his team at CI and MIT Sloan developed C-ROADS, the user-friendly climate simulation in use by the U.S. State Department’s Jonathan Pershing, John Holdren in the White House, Senator John Kerry, and analysts for the Chinese Government.
He teaches graduate and undergraduate courses in system dynamics, systems thinking, and sustainability at the Kenan-Flagler Business School at the University of North Carolina in Chapel Hill.
Drew lives with his family in the mountains of Asheville, North Carolina.
Writings, videos, and other media by Drew can be found here.
Stephanie McCauley
scmccauleyclimateinteractive.org
Stephanie serves as a Project Specialist for Climate Interactive. She is currently working to create and maintain interactive online climate models and an associated community of contributors as part of Climate Interactive’s effort to provide an open source forum on climate change research.
Before joining the team, Stephanie was a statistician and project coordinator with the State of South Carolina Office of Research and Statistics, a planner for the SC Energy Office, and a GIS analyst for Arcadis Geraghty & Miller.
Stephanie has a M.S. in Health Economics from the University of North Carolina – Chapel Hill, with a Master's thesis on "The Impact of Adolescent Overweight on Future Economic Determinants". She also holds a B.S. degree in Applied Mathematics from the University of South Carolina Honors College.
Stephanie lives in South Carolina with her husband, daughter, two Corgis, and two cats.
Philip Rice, PhD
priceclimateinteractive.org
Phil specializes in the creation of interfaces between the technical worlds of climate science and system dynamics and the user-worlds of government, business, NGOs, and the general public. The purpose of an interface is to translate from the technical world to the non-technical while preserving the conceptual content and the access to it. These interfaces range from the form of graphical user interfaces for computer programs to conceptual interfaces in the form of workshops and briefings that translate the technical complexity of climate science and system science for the less technical or non-technical audiences. The C-ROADS-CP interface of the C-ROADS simulation is Phil’s most current example graphical user interface creation.
Conceptual interface development is in the form of developing visual materials and leading trainings for Climate Interactive with a particular focus on those tools and approaches that will allow leaders to communicate the complex and sometimes counter-intuitive dynamics of climate change and the breadth of possibility for solutions. He offers briefings on emerging climate science, the range of solutions available to climate change, and the many opportunities for building a better world while addressing climate change. He has led trainings on climate change for leaders of community groups, grassroots groups, educators, and faith communities and has co-facilitated the World Climate Exercise for citizen groups and high school participants.
Phil also conducts trainings and workshops on applying the tools of systems thinking to the challenges of sustainability. He co-developed a train-the-trainer workshop on systems thinking for sustainable development practitioners, and has lead workshops on the subject for clients that range from colleges and universities, to NGOs, to businesses. Phil works with clients on applying systems thinking to strategic analysis for change. In the past he has worked on topics ranging from forest issues, to marine hypoxia, to healthcare outcomes.
Phil has a Ph.D. in physiological chemistry from the University of Wisconsin, and lives in an eco-village farm community in Hartland, Vermont with Beth Sawin and their two children.
Elizabeth Sawin, PhD
esawinclimateinteractive.org
Beth is Co-Director of Climate Interactive. She is a scientist, writer, teacher, and public speaker whose work for the past fifteen years has combined analysis with coaching, teaching and communication approaches that help people transform systems towards sustainability. Beth leads Climate Interactive’s engagement with the climate science and policy communities – for instance she contributed as a co-lead author of the UNEP commissioned report on the pledges associated with the 2010 Copenhagen Accord. She also leads the effort to make Climate Interactive’s tools and analyses available to civil society leaders and grassroots groups.
Before co-directing Climate Interactive, Beth worked for thirteen years at Sustainability Institute (SI) where she worked closely with SI’s founder, Donella Meadows, the internationally known thinker and writer who applied systems analysis to the challenge of sustainability and whose approach continues to influence the work of Climate Interactive.
While at Sustainability Institute, Beth conducted research on the system dynamics of commodity agriculture, developed trainings in systems thinking for sustainability and served as a facilitator and coach within the Donella Meadows leadership Fellows Program.
Beth is also a writer who focuses on the systemic leverage points for a sustainable society. Her writing has appeared in a variety of publications including, Utne Reader, Timeline, Population Press, Grist, and Annals of Earth. She was also a lead writer of Sustainability Institute’s report on Commodity Systems.
Beth is a biologist with a PhD from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Beth lives in rural Vermont and is a member of Cobb Hill Co-housing along with her husband, Phil Rice, and their two daughters.
Beth's writings and presentations can be found here.
Lori Siegel, PhD
lsiegelclimateinteractive.org
Lori Siegel is a Senior Modeler for Climate Interactive. She uses system dynamics analyses (SDA) to gain insight into the complex systems involved in global climate change and to facilitate international dialogue regarding policies to mitigate climate change.
Lori has her PhD in environmental engineering, and is a Professional Engineer with expertise in SDA as well as in the fields of fate and transport in contaminants, hydrology, hazardous waste management, toxicology, and ecological risk assessment.
As a sole proprietor of Siegel Environmental Dynamics, LLC, she consulted to non-profit research organizations, academic institutions, international engineering firms, and physicians. In addition to addressing climate change, her assignments addressed water quality trading; natural resources; mercury in aquatic ecosystems and subsequent effects on the common loon; and risks of disease complication and benefits of various therapies.
She lives with her husband, three sons, and labradoodle in the Upper Valley of New Hampshire.
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