New York State Pollution Prevention Institute
About NYSP2I
The New York State Pollution Prevention Institute (NYSP2I) is a statewide research and technology transfer center funded by the New York State Department of Environmental Conservation. RIT and its partner universities, Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, Clarkson University, and the University of Buffalo, along with the state’s ten regional technology development centers (RTDC) together comprise the NYSP2I.
The vision for the NYSP2I is to foster the transformation and development of sustainable businesses and organizations in New York State in a collaborative program committed to making the State a leader in environmental stewardship.
The mission of the P2I is to provide a state-wide, comprehensive and integrated program of research, technology development and diffusion, outreach, training and education aimed at making New York State more sustainable for workers, the public, the environment and the economy.
NYSP2I’s goal is to provide full geographic coverage of P2 programs and services across the state. This will be achieved through a number of mechanisms including strategic partnerships with the RTDCs, other technical assistance providers in the public and private sectors, universities and non-profit organizations.
NYSP2I Staff
Dr. Anahita Williamson serves as Director of the New York State Pollution Prevention Institute (NYSP2I) hosted by Rochester Institute of Technology. In this role, Williamson leads NYSP2I’s statewide research and technology transfer efforts in pollution prevention, sustainable design and life cycle engineering. She also works closely with the New York State Department of Environmental Conservation to provide comprehensive pollution prevention resources to companies across New York.
Williamson has a strong background and extensive experience in the field of environmental engineering, including manufacturing process modification for improved material recovery and reuse, design for the environment and life-cycle assessment. Prior to joining NYSP2I, she served as a senior engineer at Xerox Corporation where she assisted in implementing companywide sustainability and pollution prevention processes. Williamson led numerous teams at Xerox Corporation in defining environmental opportunities within processes/products by optimizing complex systems. She performed detailed material and energy balances on manufacturing processes in order to develop a quantitative baseline and capture all environmental inputs and outputs for a system. Dr. Williamson also has extensive experience in utilizing life-cycle assessment (LCA) methodology for evaluating the environmental performance of a process/product over its entire life-cycle and has performed multiple LCAs throughout her career. She has multiple peer-reviewed publications including the Journal of Cleaner Production and has presented at numerous international conferences including the International Society of Industrial Ecology conference in Stockholm, Sweden.
Dr. Williamson is a Lean Six Sigma certified Greenbelt. She understands the importance of applying lean thinking when defining the root causes of deficiencies in processes and utilizing lean tools when implementing solutions. Dr. Williamson holds a B.S in Chemical Engineering and M.S. and Ph.D. in Civil and Environmental Engineering, all from Clarkson University.
Erica Flores is Assistant to the Director for the New York State Pollution Prevention Institute (NYSP2I) at Rochester Institute of Technology. She is the first point of contact for the NYSP2I and provides program and administrative support to its staff. Flores also serves as the program manager for the Community Grants Program and the Client Recognition Program, is the editor of the NYSP2I newsletter and is a member of the institute's marketing team.
Prior to joining NYSP2I, Flores worked for six years as a lead-based paint risk assessor and project manager for Proway Management Corporation where she conducted lead paint and risk assessments throughout Upstate New York for federal, county and city governments. Flores also served as a mediator for four years at the Consumer Fraud and Protection Bureau of the New York State Attorney General's Office.
Flores has a BS in Management Information Systems with a minor in Criminal Justice from Rochester Institute of Technology. Erica is also an EPA certified Lead Based Paint Risk Assessor.
Newton B. Green II currently serves as technical manager of the New York State Pollution Prevention Institute at Rochester Institute of Technology. In this post, Green coordinates the institute’s technical assistance and technology transfer programs working with companies, industrial clusters and the NYSP2I’s university and RTDC partners to incorporate pollution prevention and sustainable design technologies in New York state industries.
Green has over 25 years of work experience in consulting engineering, project and program management, business administration, and management of technical personnel. Prior to joining NYSP2I he served for 11 years as a senior staff engineer with RIT’s Center for Integrated Manufacturing Studies (CIMS), now part of the Golisano Institute for Sustainability. During his tenure he implemented sustainable practices and pollution prevention technologies in hundreds of companies throughout the United States, presented his research at numerous national and international conferences and published technical articles in multiple peer-reviewed publications. Prior to joining CIMS, Green served as a visiting assistant professor of environmental management in RIT’s College of Applied Science and Technology, where he taught undergraduate and graduate level courses in environmental law, environmental accounting and finance, project management, environmental physics, air emissions management, and waste reduction. He also worked for three years at General Engineering Laboratories in Charleston, SC where he managed a department of seven professionals engaged in pollution prevention, comprehensive compliance, and multi-media permitting for the Southeastern United States.
Green is a certified Professional Engineer in four states, a Board-certified Environmental Engineer, an expert witness, and a certified Project Management Professional. He holds one U.S. patent for the design of an environmentally sound surface cleaning system for reusable packaging. Green holds an MBA degree in accounting and finance from the Amos Tuck School of Business Administration at Dartmouth College and a Master of Engineering degree in mechanical and chemical engineering from the Thayer School of Engineering at Dartmouth College. He holds a Bachelor of Science degree in biomedical and environmental engineering from Brown University.
Kathleen Kosciolek, serves as Business Manager of the New York State Pollution Prevention Institute (NYSP2I) at Rochester Institute of Technology. Working closely with the Director and Technical Manager, she assists with the development and implementation of the work plan, marketing plan, program strategy and budget.
Kosciolek has over 15 years of business experience across various industries including healthcare, pharmaceutical manufacturing and marketing research. Immediately prior to joining the NYSP2I team, she served as Contracting Specialist and Program Manager at the Center for Integrated Manufacturing Studies at RIT.
Ms. Kosciolek holds a B.S. in Business Administration from RIT and is currently working toward an MBA degree.
David Fister is a senior staff engineer on the Structural and Material Analysis Team at NYSP2I. Mr. Fister gained 17 years’ manufacturing experience in light industry before he joined NYSP2I. He worked for four years in Manufacturing Technology at Eastman Kodak and 13 years at Bausch & Lomb in various areas of manufacturing and research. During his tenure in industry, Mr. Fister developed strong technical skills, including in-depth knowledge of failure analysis, friction and wear, plating and finishing, joining technologies, fixture and gage design, and metal injection molding.
Mr. Fister holds a BS in biology from Cornell University and an MS in materials science from Vanderbilt University.
Kate Winnebeck is an environmental, health and safety specialist at the New York State Pollution Prevention Institute hosted by Rochester Institute of Technology. Through the NYSP2I, Ms. Winnebeck assists companies with product stewardship and reductions in toxic chemical use initiatives. She is a member of the institute’s lean, energy, and environment (LE2) assessment team and performs green product assessments, including evaluation of the product’s environmental attributes, recyclability, and human health effects. Ms. Winnebeck also performs life cycle assessments (LCA) to assist companies in quantifying their environmental effects and determine areas for improvement. In addition, she provides assistance to companies within the dry cleaning and childcare sectors with efforts to improve their environmental footprint by reducing the use of toxic and hazardous materials.
Through RIT’s affiliated Center for Integrated Manufacturing Studies, Ms. Winnebeck also performs safety and ergonomics risk assessments and training for over 140 companies in New York State. Topics include recognizing potential safety hazards, identifying root causes, developing corrective actions, addressing noise and hearing protection, personal protective equipment selection, lockout/tagout and chemical inventories. She also works with companies to develop effective safety management teams to reduce the use of toxic and hazardous materials and promote a safe work environment.
Ms. Winnebeck has a BS in environmental management and technology and is currently pursuing an MS in environmental health & safety management, both from RIT.
Tracy Freas is a senior staff engineer at the New York State Pollution Prevention Institute (NYSP2I) at Rochester Institute of Technology. Freas manages the institute’s Green Hotel Initiative, assisting New York state lodging properties in enhancing environmental quality and identifying cost savings through improved energy efficiency and reduced waste generation.
Through the Center for Integrated Manufacturing Studies at RIT, Freas also manages grants which provide safety and ergonomics assessments and training to companies in New York State through Susan Harwood Training Grants and State Department of Labor Grants. She has performed ergonomics assessments and training sessions for over 5500 individuals in manufacturing, retail and health care facilities throughout New York. She has also developed an OSHA approved Guide to Ergonomics in Retail Grocery Stores brochure.
In addition, Freas manages the Workplace Ergonomics Lab (WEL) at RIT, providing ergonomics assistance, training and product recommendations for over 3000 RIT office workers, custodial staff, food service, grounds crew, engineers, faculty and printing staff. She has developed, and uses for training, an office ergonomics guidelines brochure.
Freas has been featured in the international trade publication ReMaTec News and has been interviewed by USAToday, the Chronicle of Higher Education and numerous other outlets describing the activities performed by RIT. Freas has an MS in manufacturing management leadership and a BS in industrial and systems engineering from the College of Engineering at RIT, as well as an associate in applied science in hotel/restaurant management from the State University of New York at Delhi.
Christopher D. Chapman is a senior program manager at the Center for Excellence in Lean Enterprise at Rochester Institute of Technology’s Golisano Institute for Sustainability. Chapman has trained thousands of operators, managers and engineers in Lean workshops and improvement blitzes (kaizens) at over 80 companies, locally, nationally, and overseas. He also coordinates the Lean Energy and Environment Program, an initiative of the New York State Pollution Prevention Institute, which applied lean techniques to energy and environmental management practices.
Chapman has over fourteen years of management and manufacturing experience with Eastman Kodak Company, Delphi, and RIT. He has successfully implemented and managed Lean production systems in both union and nonunion manufacturing environments. In his management roles, he worked at a hands-on, grass-roots level with operators, union officials, and upper management to implement, improve, and sustain Lean systems. Chapman has led the deployment and implementation of Lean systems in a host of manufacturing settings including paper flow operations, punch press, plating, assembly, and material delivery.
Chapman holds a bachelors degree in Business Administration from Fayetteville State University and is a certified Management Black Belt from Eastman Kodak. He has also presented at numerous conferences and written articles for leading trade and peer reviewed journals.
Rajiv Ramchandra is a Staff Engineer at the New York State Pollution Prevention Institute (NYSP2I) at Rochester Institute of Technology. In this capacity he serves as a project manager handling a portfolio focused on enhancing productivity and efficiency, while reducing the environmental footprint of New York state companies. Ramchandra works closely with clients to create profiles of operations, scope environmental improvement opportunities and assist firms in implementing new technologies and processes designed to prevent pollution. In addition, he has played a key role in identifying high priority industrial sectors to focus NYSP2Is activities, and also taken the lead to initiate greener workplace practices at the NYSP2I.
Ramchandra holds an ME in Mechanical Engineering from the University of Sussex, England and recently completed a second ME in Engineering Management from RIT focusing on Environmental Design, Life Cycle Engineering, Project Management, and Business.
Cooperative Education: Students studying engineering, information technology, imaging science and other disciplines at RIT are employed by NYSP2I, bringing fresh perspectives, ideas and enthusiasm to our team. RIT is one of the nation’s top comprehensive universities and sets the national standard for career-oriented education. RIT’s extensive experience and resources prepare students to make valuable and immediate contributions to NYSP2I project activity.