Introducing New Colleagues Caroline Taylor and Jillian Crowley

One of the best aspects of EarthShift Global’s ongoing growth is the arrival of new colleagues. We’re pleased to introduce two people – Director of R & D Caroline Taylor and Analyst Jillian Crowley -- who will play important roles in helping our clients advance their sustainability efforts and expanding our organization’s intellectual capabilities.

Caroline Taylor, PhD, Director of Research and Development

Caroline is responsible for leading rigorous research and analysis efforts that support strategic decision-making for our client companies, governmental bodies, and NGOs. She draws on two decades of modeling and analysis experience, including 10 years in the energy and sustainability fields, and an educational background that includes Bachelor’s degrees in Classics and Chemistry from the University of California at Irvine, a Doctorate in Chemistry (Chemical Physics) from the University of Chicago, and post-doctoral work at Cornell University.

What’s your favorite aspect of working in the sustainability field?

The combination of the complexity and the fact that it matters so much. Sustainability decisions have an impact on many people, some of whom are very vulnerable, so the stakes are high. It’s an area where there are lots of wicked problems - multidimensional challenges that involve complex system dynamics and evolve very rapidly, and can’t be solved by one person with one perspective.

Addressing them requires a large and extremely diverse group of people to work together and balance different priorities; I enjoy the fact that we get to work with everyone from policy people to mathematicians to engineers to organizational psychologists.

What appeals to you about EarthShift Global as a place to work?

It’s an organization that realizes the importance of a team built around complementary capabilities. We value rigor and individual knowledge and skills, and daily collaboration in a comprehensive and supportive environment. Also, the standards that we set for ourselves are spot-on with my own values. I love the blog post that [founder and CEO] Lise Laurin did about that; I keep a copy on my wall.

Do you have any special skills or capabilities, beyond your professional qualifications, that inform your work?

Part of my undergraduate studies focused on the development of early power structures in the pre-Classical world. It turns out that understanding history and how power structures evolve is very helpful in deconstructing a problem and seeing things in a larger systemic way. Also, I hope it makes it easier for me to bridge from technical to non-technical perspectives.

Jillian Crowley, Junior Sustainability Analyst

Jillian’s focus is on conducting LCI, Life Cycle Assessment (LCA), and Greenhouse Gas (GHG) studies for EarthShift Global clients, as well as assisting with project management and development of tools for LCA and Sustainable Return on Investment (S-ROI). She joins EarthShift Global after earning her BS in Environmental Engineering at the University of New Hampshire, where she also served as a researcher for the Infrastructure and Climate Network , a regional group focused on climate science and engineering research in the Northeastern US.

What’s your favorite aspect of working in the sustainability field?

I really enjoy how the results of the data analysis work I do are placed in a larger social and economic context. I believe this makes me both a better analyst and communicator.

What appeals to you about EarthShift Global as a place to work?

I like working with ESG's software and organizing analyses, and exploring how they can be automated to create more efficient workflows. I also appreciate the expertise and dedication of ESG employees; just working with everyone this summer has taught me a lot.

Do you have any special skills or capabilities, beyond your professional qualifications, that inform your work?

A fascination with books and logic puzzles as a kid definitely shaped who I am today.
In addition to my engineering education background, I often use my critical reading and writing skills to communicate effectively. I think there is great importance, and synergy, in thoughtful writing and clever programming.