The Team

  • Crescencia Maurer

    CO-FOUNDER

  • Sharon Squassoni

    CO-FOUNDER

  • David Kaufmann

    SECRETARY

  • Elise Stromayer

    TREASURER

Team Bios

Crescencia Maurer

Co-founder and Co-president of CSI, is an environmental economist and policy analyst with experience, working internationally and at the community level in the United States, Latin America and Asia.  Her areas of expertise include: the implications of trade and development finance for climate change; public participation in decision-making related to urban environmental infrastructure; and how to increase public scrutiny of regulaton and management of electricity distribution, drinking water and urban wastewater management systems.  Ms. Maurer holds a Master of Environmental Management (MEM) from Duke University, and Bachelor of Arts (BA) in International Relations and Asian Studies from Pomona College.  She currently works for the Scarborough Land Trust as their Marsh Program Coordinator, is leading a small business start-up in Alagoas, Brazil and serves  on the board of the non-profit, Vila Maria Beneficiary Association (ABEVILA) in Paripueira, Alagoas, Brazil.    

E-mail: cmaurer.csi@gmail.com

Sharon Squassoni

Co-founder and Co-president of CSI, has decades of experience in national security, nuclear weapons, and nuclear energy in the US government (Arms Control & Disarmament Agency, State Department, Congressional Research Service), in non-governmental organizations, and in academia. Her journey to the nexus of national security and climate began two decades ago researching nuclear energy’s potential contribution to climate change mitigation.  She frequently testifies before Congress, provides commentary for national and international media and advises national and international organizations (Center for Arms Control and Nonproliferation, Wisconsin Project, and PIR Center). 

E-mail: ssquassoni.csi@gmail.com

David Kaufmann

David is a literature professor at George Mason University in Fairfax, VA.  His intellectual interests include contemporary poetry, critical theory, visual art, and art history.  He attended Princeton and Yale Universities and has been a member of the English Department at George Mason since 1989.  Dr. Kaufmann is the author of The Business of Common Life (Johns Hopkins University Press, 1995), Telling Stories: Philip Guston's Later Works (University of California Press, 2010) and Reading Uncreative Writing (Palgrave, 2017).  

E-mail: dkaufmann.csi@gmail.com

Elise Stromayer

Elise is a student at Boston University majoring in International Relations with a focus on environment and development in Latin America.  Elise is a passionate Mainer with a commitment to community service. She is interested in non-profit management and brings hands-on experience in basic accounting to the CSI board. 

E-mail: elisestromaye@gmail.com