Joshua Sperling
Josh is an NSF-funded IGERT Fellow in the Sustainable Urban Infrastructure program at University of Colorado Denver (UCD). His masters in civil and environmental engineering focused on coupled city carbon and water budgets and the preliminary focus of his PhD research is on the integration of engineering, planning, and policy as it relates to climate change; healthy cities; sustainable urban infrastructure systems development and management; and urban poverty alleviation strategies.
Since joining the IGERT program in Aug. 2009, Josh has had opportunities to work with the:
Prior to joining the IGERT program, Josh worked professionally as a planner and engineer at global firm Arup on several sustainable development and infrastructure planning projects in the United States, Australia, Chile, Mexico, and Canada. Josh first joined Arup’s Sustainable Technologies Group in 2006 as a US exchange student at the University of New South Wales (UNSW) in Sydney, Australia followed by placements with Arup in Melbourne, San Francisco, and most recently New York (from 2007-2009).
Josh has been invited as a visiting research fellow at the Royal Melbourne Institute of Technology (RMIT) School of Property, Construction, and Project Management (in 2006) and the United States Department of Energy (DOE) – Lawrence Berkeley National Lab (LBNL) in the Environmental Energy Technologies Division (in 2005). Throughout the past seven years, Josh has also been active with Engineers Without Borders-International (EWB-I), a non-profit humanitarian organization established to partner with developing communities worldwide in order to improve their quality of life. Through this involvement, and through a volunteer role as the Americas region co-organizer of the Arup Poverty Action Network, he has developed a broad portfolio of international experiences, skill sets, and project management expertise. One of his recent volunteer assignments was Cyclone Sidr rehabilitation work and climate change planning with the world’s largest NGO, BRAC, in the most affected (and vulnerable) districts of Southern Bangladesh.
Josh hopes to continue leveraging all his interests and experiences with the great opportunities offered by this unique, innovative, and interdisciplinary IGERT program at the University of Colorado Denver.
Since joining the IGERT program in Aug. 2009, Josh has had opportunities to work with the:
- UCD IGERT Sustainable Urban Systems, Vulnerability and Resilience, and Active Communities and Transportation (ACT) thematic research groups.
- World Bank as part of a team of four international faculty and four PhD students on proceedings of the International 5th Urban Research Symposium on Cities and Climate Change;
- ICLEI-South Asia on sustainable infrastructure interventions for two rapidly-developing cities in India (Coimbatore and Rajkot) as part of the Urban Climate Project;
- National Academy of Sciences Disasters Roundtable on theme of disaster resilient design;
- Yale University’s SAGE Magazine on a ‘Mass Transit in India’ short article;
- World Water Organization on the theme of water and global health;
- World Energy Forum on the theme of world energy justice;
- Living City Block, launched out of Rocky Mountain Institute, on resource-efficient cities; and
- City of Golden, Eagle County, and Vail on carbon footprint and sustainable energy planning.
Prior to joining the IGERT program, Josh worked professionally as a planner and engineer at global firm Arup on several sustainable development and infrastructure planning projects in the United States, Australia, Chile, Mexico, and Canada. Josh first joined Arup’s Sustainable Technologies Group in 2006 as a US exchange student at the University of New South Wales (UNSW) in Sydney, Australia followed by placements with Arup in Melbourne, San Francisco, and most recently New York (from 2007-2009).
Josh has been invited as a visiting research fellow at the Royal Melbourne Institute of Technology (RMIT) School of Property, Construction, and Project Management (in 2006) and the United States Department of Energy (DOE) – Lawrence Berkeley National Lab (LBNL) in the Environmental Energy Technologies Division (in 2005). Throughout the past seven years, Josh has also been active with Engineers Without Borders-International (EWB-I), a non-profit humanitarian organization established to partner with developing communities worldwide in order to improve their quality of life. Through this involvement, and through a volunteer role as the Americas region co-organizer of the Arup Poverty Action Network, he has developed a broad portfolio of international experiences, skill sets, and project management expertise. One of his recent volunteer assignments was Cyclone Sidr rehabilitation work and climate change planning with the world’s largest NGO, BRAC, in the most affected (and vulnerable) districts of Southern Bangladesh.
Josh hopes to continue leveraging all his interests and experiences with the great opportunities offered by this unique, innovative, and interdisciplinary IGERT program at the University of Colorado Denver.