| Lisa Alvarez-Cohen | |
| Alma Mater: | Harvard University (BS) Stanford University (MS, PhD) |
| Workplaces: | University of California, Berkeley |
| Awards: | Member of the National Academy of Engineering (2010) |
| Thesis Title: | Cometabolic Biotransformation of Trichloroethylene and Chloroform by Methanotrophs: Experimental Studies and Modeling of Toxicity and Sorption Effects |
| Thesis Url: | https://search.proquest.com/docview/303931704 |
| Thesis Year: | 1991 |
| Doctoral Advisor: | Perry McCarty |
Lisa Alvarez-Cohen is the vice provost for academic planning, Fred and Claire Sauer Professor at the University of California, Berkeley. She was elected a member of the National Academy of Engineering in 2010 for the discovery and application of novel microorganisms and biochemical pathways for microbial degradation of environmental contaminants. She is also a Fellow of the American Society for Microbiology.
Alvarez-Cohen studied engineering and applied science at Harvard University and graduated in 1984.[1] She was a postgraduate student at Stanford University, where she earned her master's degree in 1985 and a PhD in 1991.[2]
Alvarez-Cohen works in environmental microbiology and ecology.[3] She joined the faculty at University of California, Berkeley in 1991, and was the first woman to achieve tenure in Berkeley's Civil & Environmental Engineering Department.[4] She is interested in species that can perform environmentally relevant functions, including studies of biotransformation and the fate of environmental water contaminants.[5] Alvarez-Cohen uses omics based molecular tools to optimise bioremediation. Amongst other contaminants, Alvarez-Cohen's lab have studied the remediation of trichloroethene, aqueous film forming foams and arsenic:
In 2007 Alvarez-Cohen became chair for the Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering, a position she held until 2012.[6] She has served as the diversity director of the Stanford University Engineering Research Center and elected chair of the Berkeley Division of the Academic Senate.[7] [8] She was appointed the vice provost for academic planning in July 2018.[9]
Alvarez-Cohen has appeared on NPR and served on the editorial advisory board of Environmental Science & Technology.[10] [11] She has represented the United States at the National Academy of Engineering Frontiers of Engineering in India, Arlington County, Virginia, and Irvine, California.[12]
Alvarez-Cohen is married to Mike Dean Alvarez Cohen, with whom she has two children, Jason and Ryan.[17]