Carolyn Hayek is a student in the PhD program in Sustainable Development. She holds a B.S. in Chemistry from Boston College with a minor in environmental studies, as well as a Masters in Environmental Engineering and a Masters in Urban Planning from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT). Prior to joining the Columbia community, Carolyn spent 10 years at the US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) New England regional office in Boston, MA. While there, she was selected for a highly competitive 2-year developmental program designed to expose employees to the full breadth and scope of the Agency. Areas in which Carolyn has worked include: effective management of drinking water and wastewater utilities, grants management and federal oversight of Drinking Water State Revolving Fund programs, water quality sampling, compliance assistance and enforcement for chemical storage and usage, hazardous waste site cleanup, green chemistry, wetlands permitting, low impact development, climate change, and the Significant New Alternatives Policy Program for ozone-depleting substances.
Research Areas:
Sustainable Water Infrastructure; Comprehensive Measures of Water-Sector Utility Performance; Availability and Aggregation of Utility-Level Data; Socio-Technical Transitions towards Water Reuse.
Specialist In:
US Water-Sector Challenges; US Water Utilities; Decentralized Water Reuse; State Revolving Fund (SRF) Programs; Environmental Planning and Community Right to Know (EPCRA); Stakeholder Engagement; the Interface of Natural and Built Environments.