Research Champions

The Research Champions within the Sustainable Communities Research Community are subject experts who are spear-heading research community initiatives and support the formation of research teams, communication of funding opportunities, facilitate the recruitment of external partners and assist with communication within the communities. 

Dr. Erin Adams

Dr. Erin Adams

Associate Professor of Social Science Education

  • Dr. Erin Adams is Associate Professor of Elementary Social Studies Education. She earned her PhD from the University of Georgia in 2016. 

    Dr. Erin Adams teaches courses in Elementary Social Studies Methods and Classroom Community Building. She works with Ed.D. students in Teacher Leadership and Secondary and Middle Grades Education (history and social studies education). 

    Her research is primarily concerned with economic education in general, but specifically in elementary and early childhood.

    More broadly, she is interested in resource use and extraction, posthumanisms, and social studies and civic education. Her inquiries use post-qualitative, theory-driven research methodologies and analyses. She is currently investigating how economic theory developed alongside theories of energy and thermodynamics.

Dr. Mario Bretfeld

Associate Professor of Biology

  • Dr. Mario Bretfeld studied Landscape Ecology at the Carl-von-Ossietzky University of Oldenburg and received a Ph.D. in Biological Education in 2014 at the University of Northern Colorado. 

    After graduation, Dr. Bretfeld moved to Panama as part of a post-doctoral fellowship with the Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute (STRI) and the University of Wyoming to quantify the impacts of different types of land use on the water cycle. In August 2019, he joined the Department of Ecology, Evolution, and Organismal Biology at 肉肉传媒. 

    His research utilized a first-principles approach to understand the ecology and physiology of plants based on physical laws and principles. At KSU, his research is focused on native plant conservation (SEPAL) and controlled environment agriculture. 

Dr. Mario Bretfeld
Dr. Mine Hashas-Degertekin

Dr. Mine Hashas-Degertekin

Associate Professor of Architecture

  • Dr. Mine Hashas-Degertekin has been teaching and conducting research on urban environments with a focus on human experience, place character and equity for humane, sustainable and healthy places for diverse groups of age, race and income.  She conducted research individually and at various research centers at NC State, GA Tech and KSU linking physical and emotional health, culture and behavior to built-environments, economic development and equity. 

    She has been active in various action groups and task force groups of United Nation鈥檚 Regional Centers of Expertise (RCE) Greater Atlanta and co-led its 鈥淎dvancing Justice for All鈥 Action Group between August 2021-May 2023. She also serves on NAACP鈥檚 鈥淐entering Equity in the Sustainable Building Program Initiative Committee鈥. She is the founder and chair of Equitable, Ecological and Creative place Making Initiative as well as Creative Place Making Biannual Symposium. She conducted research and taught urban design studios in collaboration with Transformation Alliance (TFA) Atlanta -one of the regions funded by The Strong, Prosperous, And Resilient Communities (SPARCC) Challenge- focusing on sustainability with all three pillars as well as closed loop and generative economies utilizing local history and cultural elements of low-income communities. 

    Dr. Hashas-Degertekin earned her PhD degree at North Carolina State University in Community and Environmental Design Program. She coordinated Urban Studio and First Year Design Studio for several years at KSU鈥檚 Architecture Department. She was a Sustainability Faculty Fellow at KSU in 2018-2019 and is a member of the Advisory Board for the Marietta Arts Council as well as of the Atlanta Clean Energy Advisory Board.