Executive Committee

The Executive Committee is charged to handle the affairs of the society between meetings and consists of five officers.

President: Daniel Benkendorf

Daniel Benkendorf is a professor at the Fashion Institute of Technology (FIT) in New York City. His research interests lie at the intersection of consumer behavior, environmental sustainability, and gender. His past work has explored the ways in which outdoor experiences relate to well-being, how pursuit of the muscular ideal in men can have negative environmental implications and how hope can inspire pro-environmental behavior. He teaches conservation psychology, social psychology, and positive psychology courses at FIT.

Past President: Ezra Markowitz

Ezra Markowitz is an assistant professor of environmental decision-making at the University of Massachusetts Amherst. He studies the intersection of decision-making, persuasive communication, public engagement with science and environmental sustainability. He is an author of "Connecting on Climate: A Guide to Effective Climate Change Communication." Ezra teaches courses on environmental decision-making, conservation social science, and public engagement for scientists. He holds a PhD in environmental science, studies and policy from the University of Oregon.

President-Elect: Kim Wolske

Kim Wolske is a research associate (assistant professor) in the Harris School of Public Policy at the University of Chicago. Her work draws on environmental and social psychology to examine the behavioral dimensions of public-facing energy policies and programs. She is particularly interested in understanding the motivations and barriers associated with consumer adoption of efficient and renewable energy technologies as well as public perceptions of climate change and related emergent technologies. Kim teaches courses on using behavioral science to improve policy design.  

Secretary: Reuven Sussman

Reuven Sussman manages human dimensions of energy efficiency programs at the American Council for an Energy-Efficient Economy (ACEEE) in Washington, D.C. He is co-chair of the annual Behavior, Energy and Climate Change conference (BECC). Reuven was a behavior change consultant, university instructor, and researcher at the U. Victoria in Canada. Currently, he studies energy efficient behavior and programs that encourage energy efficiency through behavior change.

Treasurer: Nicole Sintov

Nicole Sintov is an assistant professor of "Behavior, Decision-Making, and Sustainability" in the School of Environment and Natural Resources at The Ohio State University. She holds a BS in psychology/ecology from the University of California, San Diego, and a PhD in psychology from the University of Southern California. She studies the influence of interpersonal interactions on environmental behaviors, as well as the roles of identity and status in environmentally relevant decisions. She teaches sustainability psychology courses at the undergraduate and graduate levels.

Council Rep: Nancy Piotrowski

Nancy Piotrowski works as a professor, researcher, consultant, advocate, and psychological services provider. Trained as a clinical psychologist, she has 25-plus years of professional experience working at the local, state, federal, and international levels. She is interested in the transtheoretical model of change, expectancies, and how models of addiction may help influence science in the area of environmental, population, and conservation psychology.

Chair of Awards Committee: Sonya Sachdeva

Sonya Sachdeva is a computational social scientist with the U.S. Forest Service in the greater Chicago area. She is part of a Forest Service research unit that studies the human component of natural resource management within urban ecosystems. She uses wide-ranging methods like field studies, behavioral experiments, and automated content analyses to understand the sociocultural factors that shape environmental values and people’s relationship to nature.

Chair of Communications Committee: Sabrina Köhler

Sabrina Köhler obtained her masters degree in psychology at the University of Mannheim in Germany. She is now keen on starting a PhD on a topic that combines her interests in psychology and global climate change. She is particularly interested in how perceptions of global warming and climate change risks influence adaptation behavior, and in addition, how this knowledge can then be used for effective policy-making. 

Student Committee Chair: Jess Lasoff-Santos

Jess Lasoff-Santos is a PhD candidate in the School for Environment and Sustainability at the University of Michigan. He holds an MS in natural resources and environment from the University of Michigan and a BA in writing from Ithaca College. His research encompasses neighborhood resilience initiatives and their connections to community and individual psychology. More specifically, he is interested in the ways in which neighborhood climate initiatives can support individual self-efficacy and emotional health while providing practical, critical tools that are needed to prepare for the climate emergency.

Program Chair: Nélida Quintero, PhD

Nélida Quintero, PhD is an environmental psychologist and licensed architect based in New York. She is a fellow at the Centre for Urban Design and Mental Health, an American Psychological Association NGO representative at the United Nations, member of the NGO Committee on Ageing/NY Executive Committee and of the Habitat Civil Society Working Group. Her project list includes consulting on well-being and the physical environment, as well as designing and managing architecture and interiors projects in the U.S. and Latin America. She has taught at various academic institutions including Hunter College, Parsons School of Design (certificate program), as assistant-in-instruction at Princeton University, and is currently an adjunct faculty member at the Fashion Institute of Technology. Her research interests are broadly focused on the interactions between people, behavior, and the physical environment, in particular in relationship to health, well-being, culture, new media, and gender. She holds a PhD in environmental psychology from the Graduate Center of the City University of New York, a master's in architecture from Princeton University, and a master's in fine arts from Parsons School of Design.

Fellows Chair: Elise Amel

Elise Amel holds a PhD in industrial-organizational psychology, is a professor of psychology at the University of St. Thomas, and has directed the environmental studies program. She co-created the Sustainable Communities Partnership, which links St. Thomas courses across disciplines to city-identified, high-priority sustainability projects created and leads culture change as director of the Office of Sustainability Initiatives. She has served as president for the Society of Environmental, Population, and Conservation Psychology, is a fellow of the American Psychological Association, and has co-authored the popular textbook, "Psychology for Sustainability."

Membership Chair: Amanda Carrico

Amanda Carrico is an associate professor of environmental studies at the University of Colorado, Boulder. Her research examines the factors that shape environmentally significant behavior in the U.S. and in international contexts. More specifically, her research seeks to understand (1) the psychological and social drivers of conservation behavior, and (2) the factors that facilitate or constrain household adaptation to environmental change. She uses a range of methods, but emphasizes quantitative approaches such as large-sample surveys, behavioral experiments, and observational research. Carrico teaches courses on environmental psychology and research methods.