Co-Project Directors

Dr. Jeffrey Featherstone joined the Ambler College of Temple University in September 2001 as the Director of the Center for Sustainable Communities (CSC). He is the ex-Chair of the Department of Community and Regional Planning (CRP). Dr. Featherstone is the former Deputy Executive Director of the Delaware River Basin Commission. E-mail

Dr. Robert Traver is the Director of the Villanova Urban Stormwater Partnership and a Professor in Villanova University’s Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering. Dr. Traver teaches courses in surface water hydrology, open channel hydraulics, and urban storm water management. His research interests include mathematical and physical modeling of stream hydraulics, hydrology, and water quality. His research has been funded by Growing Greener, the EPA 319 Nonpoint Source Program, the Chesapeake Research Consortium, Inc., EPA, and Pennsylvania Department of Transportation.  Dr. Traver was a member of the American Society of Civil Engineers Hurricane Katrina External Review Panel, and a member of the National Academies committee that produced the recent report on Urban Stormwater Management in the United States. He has testified before congress on green infrastructure, and is board member of the LID Center. E-mail

Other Researchers

Mr. Derron LaBrake is a Consulting Ecologist and Certified Professional Wetland Scientist, and Group Leader at Stantec, Inc. Over his more than 20-year career he has worked on environmental projects throughout the United States that have involved wetlands, including using wetlands for water quality improvement and ecological risk assessments. Mr. LaBrake successfully designed, permitted, and constructed five stormwater demonstration projects with the CSC using a Growing Greener Grant in 2006. He and his colleagues at Stantec also performed the cost estimation for the stormwater improvements outlined in the Fort Washington Flooding and Transportation Improvement Study.

Dr. Lynn Mandarano, P.E., joined the faculty of the Department of Community and Regional Planning as an Assistant Professor in 2005. Before earning her Ph.D. in City and Regional Planning, she spent over ten years working as a consultant for national and international environmental engineering firms.  She now specializes in collaborative planning and environmental analysis and is an important member of the T-VSSI team.
 

Mr. Md Mahbubur Meenar is the Assistant Director (GIS Operations and Research) of the Center for Sustainable Communities and an Adjunct Assistant Professor in the Department of Community and Regional Planning at Temple University Ambler.  Since 1999, Mr. Meenar has been actively involved in different applications of GIS in planning.   His research interests include environmental modeling, 3-D GIS visualization, and GIS applications in sustainable development and emergency management planning.  Mr. Meenar has been the principal investigator in several research projects funded by state agency, local government, and non-profit organization.

Dr. Mary Myers is Chair of the Temple University Landscape Architecture – Horticulture department. She is also President of the Council of Educators in Landscape Architecture, an international organization of university professors. Prior to her university experience which began in 1996, she was a landscape architect in private practice. Professional application continues to guide her research which focuses on landscape aesthetics/ecological restoration. Dr. Myers has engaged in several stormwater related projects including: the redesign of a degraded stream corridor (Rocky Branch Creek, Raleigh, NC) and an urban park designed to improve riparian habitat and water quality (Pleasant Hill Park Master Plan, Philadelphia, PA).

Mr. Richard Nalbandian, P.G., AICP, joined the Center for Sustainable Communities in March 2002 as a Research Fellow and teaches environmental planning courses as a Research Professor in the Department of Community and Regional Planning of Temple University. He has more than 35 years of experience as practitioner, manager, consultant, and teacher in earth and environmental sciences and environmental planning. He was heavily involved in the CSC’s recently completed Pennypack Creek Watershed Study and the site selection and design of the demonstration BMPs at Pennypack Ecological Restoration Trust. 

Dr. David J. Robertson is the Executive Director of the Pennypack Ecological Restoration Trust in suburban Philadelphia, a position he has held for 16 years. Under his direction, the Pennypack Trust has developed expertise and leadership in the restoration of native forests and natural land stewardship. Dr. Robertson earned his doctoral degree at the University of Pittsburgh investigating the effects of forest clearing on aquatic ecosystems in western Pennsylvania. He worked for seven years restoring native ecosystems on land disturbed by phosphate ore surface mining in central Florida. Since 1995, he has served as president of the Northeast Chapter of the Society for Ecological Restoration International.

Ms. Susan E. Spinella is Assistant Director of the CSC.  Susan received an M.S. in Community and Regional Planning in January 2004. She has been actively involved in emergency management planning and mitigation analysis in Pennsylvania. Susan is an active member of the Eastern Montgomery County Emergency Management Group and is also a member of the International Association of Emergency Managers (IAEM).

Dr. Laura Toran is the Weeks Chair in Environmental Geology at Temple University. Dr. Toran’s expertise is in the study of ground water quality and quantity. She has been a member of the Temple University faculty since 1997, having worked 11 years at Oak Ridge National Labs in Oak Ridge, Tennessee, prior to her appointment.

Dr. Bridget Wadzuk joined the faculty at Villanova University in 2005 as an Assistant Professor in the Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering. She has taught courses in fluid mechanics, hydrology and hydraulic engineering and will be teaching graduate courses in open channel hydraulics and environmental fluid mechanics. Her research specialty is in the area of computational fluid dynamics, specifically examining hydraulic modeling applications of stormwater best management practices, such as constructed stormwater wetlands.

Dr. Andrea Welker is an Associate Professor in Villanova University’s Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering. Since joining Villanova’s faculty in 1999, she has taught courses in geology, soil mechanics, foundation design, geosynthetics, and geo-environmental engineering. Recent research projects include the study of 100 year old seepage pits and a side-by-side comparison of pervious concrete and porous asphalt.  She is a licensed professional engineer in the state of Pennsylvania.

Research Assistants

James Barbis graduated from Springfield College in 2002 with a B.S. degree in Sports Biology and a minor in Chemistry. In the summer of 2007, James began his graduate studies at Villanova University in the Civil and Environmental Engineering Department. His research is focused on comparing the water quality of porous asphalt and pervious concrete, along with the ability of underground storage and infiltration basins decrease stormwater temperature ranges. After finishing his work at Villanova he plans to continue to work with sustainable stormwater control measures and watershed planning. James currently lives in Wilmington, Delaware, and enjoys outdoor activities spending time with friends and family.  

Meghan Feller graduated from Bucknell University in 2007 with a Bachelors degree in Civil and Environmental Engineering.  In the fall of 2007, she came to Villanova working under Dr. Robert Traver as a full time graduate student and research assistant. Her personal research has focused on quantification of the evapotranspiration portion of the water budget from stormwater BMPs (primarily green roofs and bioinfiltration sites). Upon completion of her thesis, she hopes to take a position working towards sustainable stormwater management.

Ryan Lee is pursuing his Ph.D. in Water Resources Engineering. His main focus of research is in developing a usable, process-based model for ponded infiltration. He is using the data available from Villanova's bioinfiltration traffic island to test and develop the model.

Gerrad Jones has been a graduate student in the Civil and Environmental Engineering department at Villanova University since August 2007. He has a B.S. in Biology and an M.S. in Fishery and Wildlife Sciences, but recently made the switch to water resources and environmental engineering to find practical solutions to environmental issues. His current research is on creating an optimum hydraulic redesign for Villanova’s constructed stormwater wetland using computer models. He has an interest in geospatial analyses and has participated on GIS projects in Costa Rica and Peru. He intends to pursue his Ph.D. at Villanova after completing his M.S. in Water Resources and Environmental Engineering.