School Notes: School of the Environment
January/February 2020

Environmental law scholar joins F&ES

Gerald Torres, an acclaimed global scholar of environmental law, critical race theory, and federal Indian law, has been named full professor of environmental justice at F&ES. As a pioneer in the field of environmental law, Torres has spent his career examining the intrinsic connections between the environment, agricultural and food systems, and social justice. His research into how race and ethnicity impact environmental policy has informed his teaching and practical experiences and has been influential in the emergence and evolution of the field of environmental justice. Torres, who joins the faculty in January, will teach a spring seminar in environmental justice. Next year, he plans to teach two F&ES courses: Critical Race Theory and Environmental Law and Social Movements. He will also teach a course in Native American/indigenous law at Yale Law School. “Gerald Torres’s experience, expertise, and interdisciplinary perspective in these critical areas make him a perfect candidate to support so many of our most critical goals at F&ES, including a commitment to environmental justice and cross-disciplinary scholarship,” said Dean Indy Burke.

Professor named to Connecticut Women’s Hall of Fame

In November, Marian Chertow ’81MPPM, ’00PhD, associate professor of industrial environmental management at F&ES and pioneer in the field of industrial ecology, was inducted into the Connecticut Women’s Hall of Fame, an educational outreach organization that celebrates and honors the achievements of women to inspire continued success throughout the state. Chertow, who came to Yale in 1990 after several years in government and business, helped to grow the field of industrial ecology, particularly through her research on the emerging sub-field of industrial symbiosis, which involves the shared management of resources by geographically close enterprises. In July, she became director of the Center for Industrial Ecology; she is also director of the Program on Solid Waste Policy, both at Yale. She has held an appointment at the Yale School of Management since 2009 and at the National University of Singapore since 2001. She currently lectures on topics related to industrial ecology and the circular economy to bring critical principles about materials and energy efficiency to business and policymakers.