Titles

• MS, 2019, Sustainability, School of Sustainability

Biography

Mary Fastiggi is a first-year MS student in the School of Sustainability. She is interested in a wide range of sustainability questions related to urban social-ecological systems, city planning, and green infrastructure as tools to reinvent the built environment. Particularly, she is interested in automobile-centric urban design and its lasting effects on human health and biodiversity.

While an undergraduate at the University of Michigan–Dearborn, she developed a passion for outdoor education, urban ecological fieldwork, and public outreach. She has worked as an intern with DTE Energy in the Corporate and Governmental Affairs Department and as an independent contractor with the DTE Energy Foundation. After graduating with a BA in Environmental Studies and History in 2013, she worked at the University of Michigan–Dearborn’s Environmental Interpretative Center as an environmental educator where she worked to bring people closer to the natural world within an urban context.

Projects

• Sensory Pollinator Garden Project - created a public garden on University of Michigan - Dearborn campus. Received Edward J. Bagale Grant to launch project

Education

• MS, Sustainability, Arizona State University, 2019
• BA, Environmental Studies/History, University of Michigan-Dearborn, 2013
• Certified Interpretive Guide, National Association for Interpretation

Expertise

• urban social-ecological systems
• decision making
• systems thinking
• social and ecological impacts
• communities
• environmental education