About QuantSus
QuantSus is a multidisciplinary research group striving to promote sustainability research and education by incorporating quantitative modeling approaches. Our research group consists of scholars and students from several U.S. and international institutes in addition to Cal Poly. We share a common interest in improving the communication and interpretation of sustainability performance and achievement by developing a cohesive working force and empowering the next generation to engage in studying and learning quantitative sustainability.
Our Mission
To develop, promote, and advance sustainability practices and education by incorporating analytical and quantitative approaches and tools to aid communication and support decision-making processes.
About QuantSus Group Leader
Dr. Yiwen Chiu
is an Associate Professor in environmental analysis at the Department of Natural Resources Management and Environmental Sciences. She holds a PhD degree in water resources science from the University of Minnesota; and specializes in water-energy nexus, life-cycle analysis, and GIS, in addition to environmental simulation. She was a postdoctoral researcher at Argonne National Laboratory, Chicago, IL, prior to joining Cal Poly. Her current research focuses on assessing temporal and spatial flux of environmental impact footprint associated with anthropogenic activities.
Experts Partners
QuantSus has been experiencing an exciting and vibrant momentum to expand our research capacity, thanks to our diverse partners in supporting the mission and goal of QuantSus. Our partners are multidisciplinary scholars who advocate sustainability sciences and education, and have been working with us through various research and instructional activities. They serve as a critical role to help QuantSus connect with potential collaborators and continually foster student engagement in sustainability practices and learning activities.
Soil & Water Sustainability
Dr. Bwalya Malama
Assistant Professor, NRES, Cal poly
Dr. Malama specializes in soil biophysics, groundwater hydrogeology, hydrogeophysics, and contaminant transport.
Dr. Cristina Lazcano
Assistant Professor, NRES, Cal poly
Dr. Lazcano's research focuses on soil ecology with a broader interest in evaluating environmental impacts of agricultural management strategies and LCA approach.
Environmental Policies & Social Studies
Dr. Priya Verma
assistant professor, NRES, Cal poly
Dr. Verma's research focuses on estuary management and environmental policy analysis from the human dimension. She also had extended experience engaging in community-based sustainability practices.
Dr. Dawn Neill
associate professor, SSD, Cal poly
Dr. Neill's research focuses on analyzing the nexus of health and ecology, and the interaction between social and environmental factors in the realm of food sustainability.
Educational Measurement & Assessment
Dr. Chia-Yi Chiu
Associate professor, Educational Statistics, rutgers
Dr. Chiu is a NSF CAREER award recipient specializing in quantitative methods in educational testing and measurement. Her research focuses on developing new statistic assessment methods for analyzing data to aid educational and psychological research
Dr. Ying-Chih Chen
assistant professor, Arizona State University
Dr. Chen specializes in scientific writing, argumentation and STEM education. He is an award-winning faculty dedicated to promote teaching competence in sustainability.
Dr. Jason Peters
Assistant Professor, ENGL, Cal Poly
Dr. Peters’s research focuses on environmental rhetoric and the politics of language in the United States. He studies how multilingual communities respond to assessments of and manage their vulnerabilities to environmental risk.
International Collaborators
Dr. Chia-Yu Yeh
Associate Professor, National Chi-Nan University
Dr. Yeh holds a doctoral degree from Ohio State University and specializes in environmental economics. Her latest research focuses on the impact of land use change and recreational activities on environmental quality.
Prof. Dr.-Ing. Jen-Yang Lin
Professor, National Taipei University of technology
Dr. Lin is Professor of Civil Engineering and Director of Water Environment Research Center (WERC) at National Taipei University of Technology. He received his B. S. degree in Civil Engineering from National Taiwan University, and MS degree in Environmental Engineering from National Taiwan University and Dr.-Ing. degree in Civil Engineering at Kassel University in (west) Germany. He is now also adjunct Professor at graduate institute of Environmental Engineering, National Taiwan University. His current research interests are ecological engineering, watershed management (nonpoint source control), groundwater, river restoration, environmental planning and management and public participation.
Prof. Chi-Feng Chen
Associate Professor, Chinese Culture University
Dr. Chi-Feng Chen is an associate professor in Department of Natural Resources, Chinese Culture University, Taipei, Taiwan. Dr. Chen got her PhD degree in Environmental Engineering and her interested research topics are focus on watershed management, nonpoint source pollution control, low impact development, and environmental impact assessment. Water quality modeling is the major study tool, complying with onsite monitoring tasks, to provide options for decision-making.
