Administrative Staff:
Professor Jennifer Cardinal, Vasudha Director
Jennifer Cardinal is a cultural anthropologist who studies community-led sustainable development and climate justice. Her ethnographic research extends a political ecology approach to questions about the precarious relationships, practices, and discourse at the intersection of community and sustainability. She teaches methodological and conceptual tools to understand local meanings and practices in the context of global systems. This attention to the local within the global frame includes a commitment to support inclusive sustainability initiatives.
Jennifer’s current research interests in Troy, NY include care, community, precarity, and disaster. She is studying viable community networks for maneuvering climate insecurity with a focus on water and food. This local research also includes questions about how well-resourced institutions can better support local needs, and the role of community-engaged work and learning in building mutually supportive networks including transitory student populations and rooted community organizations. This local ethnographic research will build on a larger comparative project integrating research on grassroots sustainable development in sites in Mexico, the United Kingdom, and the United States.
https://faculty.rpi.edu/jennifer-cardinal
Venetia Palamari, Vasudha TLA
Venetia comes from a background in Sociology and Political Science. Her first published paper is titled “Opening the black boxes of the black carpet in the era of risk society: a sociological analysis of AI, algorithms and big data at work through the case study of the Greek postal services”. Her current interests focus on the critical analysis of outer space exploration, and the use of human genetic enhancement for the purpose of inhabiting other planets in the future.
Julian Counterman, Vasudha Mentor
Julian is a current sophomore at RPI studying a dual major in Electrical Engineering and Computer Systems Engineering. He is also pursuing both a pathway and a minor in Sustainability Studies. Julian is an active member of multiple outreach organizations on campus and organizes volunteer events in his hometown. In his free time, he enjoys wrestling, hiking, and playing in the RPI jazz band.