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Dr. Ellen Szarleta-Yancy
 Dr. Szarleta-Yancy is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Public and Environmental Affairs at Indiana University Northwest. She earned a Ph.D. in agricultural and natural resource economics from the University of Wisconsin-Madison and a J.D. from the University of Iowa. She currently teaches classes in environmental law and policy as well as in the area of public management economics. The research and service includes work in the areas of public participation in environmental decision-making processes, effective public notification of water quality impairments, and watershed planning for sustainable development. She is actively involved in a number of local environmental organizations that work on issues related to the quality of life of Northwest Indiana residents and those living in the Great Lakes Basin.
Susan Stuart
 Susan Stuart received her JD from Indiana University and practiced law for eleven years in Indianapolis after a three year clerkship with the Indiana Court of Appeals. Her practice focused on education, labor and employment law, but also included commercial litigation and bankruptcy matters. She left practice in 1996 to join the faculty at Indiana University School of Law-Bloomington and joined the Valparaiso University School of Law faculty on a full-time basis in Fall, 2001. She is now a tenured professor at VU Law and teaches Legal Writing, Education Law, Trusts and Estates and Insurance Law. Professor Stuart received her undergraduate degree from DePauw University and her Masters in Education from Valparaiso University.
Julie Peller
 Julie Peller is an Associate Professor of Chemistry at IU Northwest in Gary, Indiana. She received her Master’s and PhD from the University of Notre Dame in Organic Chemistry, where her research focused on the oxidative transformations of problematic organic contaminants in water. While her research in the oxidative remediation studies of organic contaminants continues, her interests and projects have expanded to analytical determinations of water contaminants, studies of chemical compositions of invasive plant species and investigations into photocatalytic breakdown of problematic algae in the Great Lakes. Dr. Peller teaches Organic Chemistry, Environmental Chemistry and various General Chemistry courses. She also holds visiting scholar appointments at the Radiation Laboratory on the University of Notre Dame campus and the IU School of Medicine.
Paul Kohlhoff
 Paul Kohlhoff is an Assistant Professor of Law and Director of the Tax Clinic at Valparaiso University School of Law where he teaches taxation, IRS Practice and Procedure, Estate Planning, Conservation Easements and Charitable Gift Planning. Before coming to Valparaiso Law School, Professor Kohlhoff operated his own law practice concentrating in the areas of taxation, estate planning, business law and real estate. He developed a professional interest in the legal issues affecting non-profit land conservation organizations, and held management positions in 2 such organizations. Prior to this, Professor Kohlhoff practiced as a Trial Attorney for the Office of Chief Counsel, Internal Revenue Service. He began his legal career as a Law Clerk for the Honorable Alfred J. Pivarnik, Justice of the Indiana Supreme Court after earning his J.D. from the Valparaiso University School of Law in 1986.
Sergey Grechukhin
Sergey is a third-year law student at Valparaiso University School of Law and recently elected President of the Valparaiso Environmental Law Society (VELS). As VELS President, he serves as the law student representative on LEAF's Board of Directors for a one year term.
Dr. John Crayton
Dr. John Crayton graduated from Oberlin College (1961) and the University of Rochester Medical School (1966). He was a research neurophysiologist at the University of London Laboratory of Psychoneuroendocrinology (1964-65) and at the National Institutes of Health, Laboratory of Neuropharmacology (1966-70). After his residency in psychiatry at The University of Chicago, he has held academic research appointments at The University of Chicago and Loyola Medical School. He is currently Professor of Clinical Psychiatry at Loyola Medical School. Over the past 25 years he has had a strong research interest in the effects of the environment on human functioning with a special focus on brain function. The author of over 80 scientific publications, he has been a grant awardee of the National Institutes of Health, the Veterans Administration, and numerous foundations and private sponsors. He has extensive experience in the statistical analysis of large data sets. He is also an avid amateur botanist and birder.
Kevin Cornett
Kevin Cornett is a 40-year resident of Northwest Indiana and has taken many opportunities in that time to advocate for environmentally sustainable living conditions. As an operating engineer of 30 years, working in a wide variety of industrial and commercial settings, Kevin brings an on-the-ground perspective to issues of environmental justice. In his work as an operating engineer, he has often acted to promote awareness of the negative impact of business decisions made and implemented without regard to the environment, but that are evident in the workplaces of thousands of Indiana citizens. Kevin incorporates environmentally sustainable choices into his personal life by working with a variety of organizations. He is the Northwest Indiana coordinator for Working Bike Cooperative in Chicago, IL. Working Bikes is a non-profit that collects, rehabs and donates bicycles for transportation and electricity-generation to Africa and South America countries. Kevin is a partner with Save the Dunes in the creation and ongoing maintenance of two large rain gardens on his family's property in Valparaiso, IN. He is also active in the Northwest Indiana Paddler's Association, LEAF and Green Indiana.
Walt Breitinger
 Walt Breitinger began his career as an environmental activist while studying biology at Valparaiso University in the mid 1960’s. He is nationally known for his demonstrations of alternative fuels and his family’s environmental lifestyle has been featured in multiple news articles and inspired many to reduce consumption and pollution while increasing their commitment to health, education, and the environment. In 2003, Breitinger received the Indiana DNR Honorable Mention for Conservationist of the Year and in ’04 and ’06 the South Shore Clean Cities Alternative Fuel Champion Award. Breitinger has served as president of the Valparaiso Chain of Lakes Watershed Group, Inc. for the past 10 years and as a founding member of the Friends of Silver Lake. He currently sits on the board of the Mayor’s Pathway Committee, the Energy Task Force, Woodland Savanna Land Conservancy, the Advisory Board of the Shirley Heinz Environmental Land Trust, serves as board member and V.P. of the Porter County Recycling and Waste Reduction District, and is an active member of the Indiana Lakes Management Society. Breitinger’s work-day occupation focuses on brokering, teaching and speculating in currencies, grains, metals, and other natural resources as President of Breitinger & Sons, a brokerage firm.
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