The CSF staff is a sustainability-minded group of undergraduate and graduate students here to help you with your project or project idea, whatever it may be.

Kyle Mcdermott (He/Him)

CSF Program Manager

csfprogram@uw.edu
3rd Year PhD , Sustainable Systems & Prototypes, College of Built Environment
Tucson, AZ

Hello! I oversee the UW Campus Sustainability Fund (CSF), its student staff, University partnerships, strategic direction, and fiscal processes. I have a diverse background, working in fields ranging from Information Technology, journalism, youth education, higher-ed curriculum development/teaching, to soil and plant sciences and research. These experiences shape my approach to sustainability and the importance of making connections across disciplines.

I completed my master’s degree at UW in Environmental Horticulture in 2019 with an emphasis on nonprofit management, and am now a PhD student in the UW’s College of Built Environments and manage the CSF in a full-time capacity. In the spring of 2022, I built & taught curriculum for a core, 5-credit course titled "Society And Sustainable Environments" for UW's undergraduate Environmental Science and Resource Management (ESRM) Program. Through my various endevours, I work to emphasize the importance of culture & class in how sustainability is conceptualized and enacted. I encourage students to go beyond mainstream, manufactured, and transactional sustainability narratives by looking at everyday, colloquial examples that are personally resonant and relational.

Outside the world of academia, you can find me practicing my cross-over dribble at the local basketball court, involved in community efforts, or watching hummingbirds come through my native plants garden. 

Tatiana Brown (She/Her)

CSF Coordinator

csfcoord@uw.edu
MPA/MPH
Vienna, VA

 

Originally from Virginia, Tatiana (she/hers) is at the UW as a dual master's candidate at the School of Public Health and Public Policy. She hopes to learn how to create better solutions for the US healthcare system and establish health as a human right. Given her interdisciplinary background largely focused on anthropology, health disparities, food justice, mutual aid, and coalition building, the CSF felt like a natural fit. 

Tatiana is particularly excited about the CSF's dual commitment to sustainability — both fighting for sociocultural longevity and environmental justice. As the CSF Coordinator, Tatiana is responsible for the day-to-day operations and strategic visioning. Tatiana hopes to build key relationships throughout her three years at UW that will help the CSF become a beacon for justice work and a leader in environmental innovation. She is looking forward to meeting all the students she will have the opportunity to work with and learn from.

When not studying, she enjoys discovering new music, anything outdoors, cooking (and eating new foods), and exploring the city.

Francis Abugbilla (He/Him)

Diversity Equity and Inclusion Coordinator

equitysustain@uw.edu
Ph.D , Ph.D. candidate in the Henry M. Jackson School of International Studies
Bawku, Ghana

 

Francis is a Ph.D. candidate in international studies in the Henry M. Jackson School of International Studies at the University of Washington. He is currently a Harry Frank Guggenheim Foundation 2021 Emerging Scholar and a Visiting Researcher at the German Development Institute in Bonn, Germany. His dissertation research is on conflicts and peacebuilding in post-conflict societies. He researches sustainable conflict resolution mechanisms in Africa.

Francis is actively engaged in promoting diversity, equity, and inclusion initiatives on campus. He has served on the Jackson School of International Studies Diversity and Equity Committee where he advocated for the recruitment and retention of students, faculty, and staff of color. He is currently the graduate representative to UW Population Health Initiative Executive Council to advance health equity on campus and beyond.

In addition to his academic research and DEI advocacy, Francis is an environmental justice advocate and social entrepreneur. He has been championing rural electrification efforts in his home country of Ghana using solar. In 2018 and 2019, he received the Marcy Migdal Fund for Educational Equality from the UW and fundraised to electrify his community's primary and junior high schools as well as the teachers’ quarters. He believes in sustainability and renewable energy. He is currently collaborating with the UW chapter of Engineers Without Borders to manufacture substantive charging stations for the community and also with the UW Global Renewables Infrastructure Development (GRID) to design solar modules for fundraising to build a computer laboratory and a library complex for the community.

Born and raised in rural Ghana, when he is not working on his research and promoting social justice, he loves to enjoy the beauty of nature. His pastimes are hiking and jogging.

Gulsima Young (She/Her)

Project Development Specialist

csfproj@uw.edu
Senior , Environmental Studies and Informatics
Pullman, WA

 

Gulsima is pursuing a double degree in Environmental Studies and Informatics at UW. She is passionate about learning how to evaluate and develop policy to address structural inequalities, build resilient communities, and advocate for environmental justice. As the Project Development Specialist, Gulsima helps prospective project teams navigate the grant application process and supports active project teams through check-in meetings, partnership building, and resource sharing. She is also responsible for collecting and analyzing project metrics to evaluate student engagement and impact. Gulsima is excited about the CSF’s commitment to justice-centered sustainability and enjoys speaking with students about their experiences, ideas, and projects that enrich environmental stewardship, equity, and well-being efforts on campus and beyond.

Kort Maeda (She/Her)

CSF Outreach Coordinator

uwcsf@uw.edu
Sophomore , Visual Communication Design and Environmental Studies
Irvine, CA

 

Kort is an undergraduate student at the UW pursuing a double degree in Visual Communication Design and Environmental Studies with a minor in Urban Ecological Design. She is interested in using design for environmental justice while learning about the social and political forces that impact the built environment as symptoms of systemic racism. She is passionate about integrating all facets of creativity and storytelling into amplifying BIPOC narratives around justice-centered work. As the CSF Outreach Coordinator, her work focuses on redefining the sustainability narrative on campus away from mainstream environmentalism towards one that integrates the intersections of race, class, and gender. Her work is focused on building connections and having conversations about intersectional sustainability in non-traditional environmental spheres. On slow days and when the sun is out, she enjoys rock climbing, experimenting with film photography, and making art for the sake of it.