Dr. Sasha Kramer, CV

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Education

Ph.D. Ecology – Stanford University – Palo Alto, CA, 2000-2006

B.A. Biology – Reed College – Portland, OR,  1996-1999

Georgetown University – Washington, DC, 1994-1995

Awards and Honors

Blackstone Innovation Fellowship, 2012

National Geographic Emerging Explorer, 2011

Clinton Global Initiative Partner, 2011

Architect of the Future Award, Waldzell Institute, 2010

Stanford Presidential Fund for Innovative International Studies Grant, 2006

National Science Foundation Graduate Research Fellowship, 2001-2004

Natural Systems Agriculture Graduate Fellowship from the Land Institute, 2001-2004

Teresa Heinz Environmental Science and Policy Fellowship, 2001-2003

Excellence in Teaching Award (Stanford University), 2001

Phi Beta Kappa (Reed College), 1999

Howard Hughes Undergraduate Research Project Award (Reed College), 1998-1999

Howard Hughes Summer Research Grants (Reed College), 1997-1999

Awards for Academic Excellence (Reed College), 1996-1999

Experience

Sustainable Organic Integrated Livelihoods (SOIL), Co-Founder and Executive Director

Cap-Haitien and Port-au-Prince, Haiti, 2006 – present

  • Designed, built and maintained ecological sanitation (EcoSan) toilets around the country:
    • Built Haiti’s first EcoSan toilet in 2006.
    • Installed over 50 public EcoSan toilets for schools, community groups, tourism cooperatives and clinics in or around the northern Haitian communities of Cap-Haitien, Milot and Borgne.
    • Piloted a unique program to use ecological sanitation in emergency settings with the support of Oxfam GB following the earthquake in 2010. After just a few months on the ground in Port-au-Prince, built over 200 public EcoSan toilets which provided sanitation services to over 20,000 people living at over 31 camps in the neighborhoods of Delmas, Tabarre, Petionville and Cite Soliel.
    • Working with Gates-funded engineering students from Stanford University to develop and pilot a sustainable business model for providing household EcoSan toilets in urban slums.
    • SOIL’s public ecological sanitation (EcoSan) toilets are currently providing essential sanitation services to over 14,000 people living in the camps of people displaced by the 2010 earthquake in Port-au-Prince, Haiti and over 5,000 people living in communities throughout northern Haiti and in Cap-Haitien.
    • SOIL’s clean, effective and well-received EcoSan toilets in Port-au-Prince have been widely recognized as some of the most well-functioning and cost-effective toilets built as part of the earthquake relief effort.
  • Built Haiti’s first waste treatment facility and provide waste treatment services for the cities of Cap-Haitien and Port-au-Prince:
    • Designed and built Haiti’s first waste treatment site near Cap-Haitien, Haiti in 2009.
    • Constructed several more decentralized waste treatment facilities around the country that treat the wastes from toilets built by SOIL as well as those built by other organizations and individuals.
    • At the composting sites, over 5000 gallons  of human excreta per week are transformed into rich compost, critical for agriculture and reforestation efforts in Haiti.  Temperatures are documented throughout the composting process to ensure that sufficient heat has been generated to kill all pathogens.
    • Thus far compost has been sold to over a dozen organizations and community groups, thereby assuring a sustainable income stream to support future sanitation programs.
  • Collaborated with other organizations and community groups as well as the Haitian department of water and sanitation in order to provide national EcoSan trainings and educational resources:
    • Co-authored The SOIL Guide to EcoSan, a 140+ page document outlining lessons learned, toilet designs, composting techniques and implementation strategies in order to increase the speed and success of EcoSan technology transfer in Haiti and around the world. Currently available in English and Haitian Creole, the guide has been distributed to over 150 individuals from 20 countries.
    • Offer monthly one-day trainings on how to implement ecological sanitation projects.
    • Worked with the Hesperian Foundation to translate “A Community Guide to Environmental Health” into Haitian Creole and provided toilet designs for the most recent version of the health guide “Where There is No Doctor”.
  • Planted experimental gardens to test and demonstrate the impact of EcoSan-generated compost vis-à-vis other soil augmentation options available in Haiti.
  • Fostered international exchange by hosting students from the University of Miami, the University of Minnesota, the University of California, Santa Cruz, etc. for spring break experiential learning seminars and by collaborating with Engineers Without Borders students in the development and implementation of new sanitation and water filtration technologies.
  • Implemented several youth empowerment projects such as contests and photo exhibits to inspire youth participation in SOIL programming.

Sosyete Oganize pou Lanati (SOL), Co-Founder

Cap-Haitien, Haiti, 2006 – present

  • Co-founded SOIL’s sister organization in Haiti, SOL, a non-profit dedicated to promoting environmental justice and ecologically sound development

University of Miami,  Adjunct Professor, International Studies | Visiting Scholar, Center for Latin American Studies

Coral Gables, FL, 2007 – present

  • Host students in Cap-Haitien every January for an intersession course called “Sustainable Development Challenges in Haiti:  from Theory to Practice”

Visiting Scholar, Department of Biological Sciences, Stanford University

Palo Alto, CA, 2006 – 2007

Postdoctoral Researcher, Collaboratory for Research on Global Projects, Stanford University

Palo Alto, CA, 2006 – 2007

  • As SOIL’s first project, conducted postdoctoral research by coordinating an ecological sanitation project in Haiti in collaboration with Stanford’s Engineers for a Sustainable World

Community Schools, Education Volunteer

Northern Haiti, 2004 – 2006

  • Taught an overview of environmental and sanitation issues

Volunteer Teacher, Biology Outreach, 49ers Academy

East Palo Alto, CA, 2003 – 2005

  • Taught 6th and 7th grade students in East Palo Alto on a bimonthly basis.
  • Developed a plant science and ecology curriculum for the students.

Teaching Assistant, Stanford University

Stanford, CA, 2001 – 2006

  • Courses taught – Engineering Workshop: Ecological Sanitation, Working Group on Latin America and the Environment, Humanities Workshop: Ecology of Globalization, Sustainable Agriculture, Ecosystems of California, Introductory Field Ecology

Publications

Kramer, S.B. et. al. 2011. The SOIL Guide to Ecological Sanitation. Available at: www.oursoil.org.

Kramer, S.B. et al. 2011. Can we sell EcoSan compost in Haiti? A market analysis report. Available at: http://susana.org/lang-en/library?view=ccbktypeitem&type=2&id=1173.

Kramer, S.B. J. Glover, J. Reganold, B. Bohannan, and H.A. Mooney. 2006. Reduced nitrate leaching and increased denitrifier activity and efficiency in organically fertilized soils.  Proceedings of the National Academy of Science 103 (12): 4522-4527.

Kramer, S.B. 2006. Nitrogen, Microbes and the Human Predicament: the Ecology and Relevance of Nitrogen Recycling. Doctoral dissertation. Department of Biological Sciences. Stanford University, Stanford, CA.

Dalton, D. A. and S. Kramer. 2006. Nitrogen-fixing bacteria in non-legumes. In: Plant-Associated bacteria, Ed. S. S. Gnanamanickam. The Netherlands. Springer Press. Pp 105-130.

Dalton, D.A. , S. B. Kramer, N. Azios, S. Fusaro, E. Cahill, and C. Kennedy. 2004. Endophytic Nitrogen Fixation in Dune Grasses (Ammophila arenaria and Elymus mollis) from Oregon. FEMS Microbiology Ecology 49 (3): 469-479.

Kramer, S.B. and Mooney, H.A. 2004. Nitrogen losses following fertilization in organic, integrated, and conventional apple orchards. Abstract from the Ecological Society of America 89th Annual Meeting pp.280-281.

Kramer, S.B. and H.A. Mooney. 2002. Microbial community composition and nitrogen gas emissions in agroecosystems.  Abstracts from the Ecological Society of America 87th Annual Meeting. p.183.

Ross, S.W., D.A. Dalton, S. Kramer, and B.L. Christensen. 2001. Physiological (antioxidant) responses of estuarine fishes to variability of dissolved oxygen. Comparative Biochemistry and Physiology Part C 130: 289-303.

Ross, E.J.H., S.B. Kramer, and D.A. Dalton. 1999. Effectiveness of ascorbate and ascorbate peroxidase in promoting nitrogen fixation in model systems. Phytochemistry 52: 1203-1210.

Kramer S.B. and D.A. Dalton. 1999.  Associative nitrogen fixation in temperate coastal grasses. Proceedings of the Oregon Academy of Sciences vol. 35