Phone: 217-333-6833
Email: rejhnsn1@illinois.edu
Ruth Johnson started her University of Illinois journey with the Illinois Natural History Survey in 1999, which became part of the Prairie Research Institute in 2008. She previously worked in banking for 18 years, focusing on accounting, bookkeeping, auditing, and finance. She joined iSEE in November 2023.
Phone: 217 244-4089
Email: mpward@illinois.edu
Dr. Mike Ward is originally from Jacksonville, IL and received his Ph.D. from the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign in 2004. He is currently the Stuart L. and Nancy J. Levenick Chair in Sustainability in the Department of Natural Resources and Environmental Sciences, in the College of Agricultural, Consumer, and Environmental Sciences at the University of Illinois and an Ornithologist at the Illinois Natural History Survey. Dr. Ward conducts research on avian ecology and conservation throughout the Midwest as well as in Texas, Florida, Mexico, Costa Rica, Colombia, and Cuba. Dr. Ward studies the ecology and behavior of birds in natural and modified ecosystems in order to inform conservation and management.
Phone: 217-244-4561
Email: segerth@illinois.edu
Sarah Gerth has been a Proposal Developer and Financial Specialist with iSEE since 2023, bringing 16 years of experience in grants and contracts across county government and higher education. Outside of work, she spends weekends at her son’s CUYHA hockey games and summers cheering on her daughter in local park district theater performances.
Email: latawic2@illinois.edu
Basia Nilges-Latawiec has served as a Research Project Coordinator at the Institute for Sustainability, Energy, and Environment (iSEE) at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign since December 2021. She is the primary project manager for the SCAPES initiative, supporting interdisciplinary sustainability and agricultural research through project management, stakeholder engagement, and research administration. Basia also leads iSEE’s major outreach activities, including organizing the iSEE Congress and Critical Conversations, convening partners across academia, industry, government, and communities. She holds an M.S. in Business Administration and a B.S. in Integrative Biology from the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign.
Phone: 217-333-5176
Email: khanna1@illinois.edu
Dr. Madhu Khanna is the Alvin H. Baum Family Chair and Director of the Institute for Sustainability, Energy, and Environment (iSEE). She is also the ACES Distinguished Professor of Environmental Economics in the Department of Agricultural and Consumer Economics. She received her Ph.D. from the University of California, Berkeley. She is a University of Illinois Scholar, a Stanford Woods Institute of Environment Leopold Leadership Fellow, Fellow of the Agricultural and Applied Economics Association and the European Association of Environmental and Resource Economists, and member of the Board of Directors of the International Association of Agricultural Economics and the International Consortium of Applied Bioeconomy Research.