Laura Ana Jardieanu

In 2017, Laura Ana Jardieanu received word that she was as one of 2017's Emerging Leaders in Transportation, which is pretty exciting. She works on environmental planning for [Superstorm] Sandy Recovery and Resiliency projects at New York City Transit.

As for sustainability-specific work, Laura is part of the Metropolitan Transportation Authority’s (MTA) Climate Change Adaptation Task Force and collaborates with Professor Klaus Jacob from Columbia University to analyze data on vulnerabilities in the transit system in regards to flooding and storm surge.

Laura has also given tours of the MTA’s infrastructure protection projects to researchers at The World Bank which resulted in a published article on lessons learned from Sandy.

Prior information when a G&A Intern:

Laura Jardieanu is a graduate of The University of California, Berkeley and recently earned her masters degree in Sustainability from Lund University in Sweden. Her background is in environmental science, geography and public policy with a specialization in sustainable agriculture. 

Throughout her academic career, Laura pursued unique study programs and relevant practical application opportunities including a forestry internship in the Sierra Nevada and field research in her native Romania in addition to writing two theses focusing on the social dimensions of environmental sustainability. She also was elected to represent sustainability researchers within the Social Sciences Student Union at Lund University and to present her thesis proposal at the International Conference on Environmental Conflicts (2011) in Barcelona, Spain.

Laura cites her experience living in Scandinavia as a key influence in her holistic and international perspective on sustainability best practices including public engagement and corporate partnerships. She is also grounded in domestic issues and the power of grassroots initiatives, as exemplified by her year of service with AmeriCorps. Stationed in rural Maine, she actively incorporated environmental awareness through the creation of an elementary school level gardening and recycling program. 

Laura's interests include public transportation, environmental justice, agroecology, eco tourism, and forging partnerships among public, private and community organizations. She looks forward to continuing to collaborate with organization that promote understanding and innovative solutions to the multidimensional environmental issues of our time.