About Us

Born and raised in Wilhelmshaven, Germany, Dr. Mario Bretfeld studied Landscape Ecology at the Carl-von-Ossietzky University of Oldenburg. During an exchange year in Colorado, he studied aspen (Populus tremuloides) regeneration in response to different disturbances, including fire and conifer mortality due to mountain pine beetles. After graduating in 2010, he returned to Colorado to pursue a Ph.D. at the University of Northern Colorado in the Franklin lab. His dissertation research included long-term aspen community changes in and around Rocky Mountain National Park, responses to the mountain pine beetle outbreak, and resource sharing through the connected root system of aspen (i.e. clonal integration). He received his Ph.D. in Biological Education in 2014.

After graduation, Dr. Bretfeld moved to Panama as part of a post-doctoral fellowship with the Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute (STRI) and the University of Wyoming. In Panama, he worked primarily in the Agua Salud project and measured plant water use (i.e. transpiration) in regrowing tropical forests of different ages, as well as in a cattle-pasture and a coffee plantation. From April 2017 to July 2019, he lived and worked in Laramie as a post-doctoral fellow in the Ewers lab at the University of Wyoming. Since August 2019, he has served as assistant professor of biology in the Department of Ecology, Evolution, and Organismal Biology at Kennesaw State University.

Dr. Mine Hashas-Degertekin has been teaching and conducting research on urban environments with a focus on human experience, place character and equity for humane, sustainable and healthy places for diverse groups of age, race and income.  She conducted research individually and at various research centers at NC State, GA Tech and KSU linking physical and emotional health, culture and behavior to built-environments, economic development and equity. 

She has been active on various action groups and task force groups of United Nation’s Regional Centers of Expertise (RCE) Greater Atlanta and has been co-leading its  “Advancing Justice for All” Action Group since August 2021. She also serves on NAACP’s “Centering Equity in the Sustainable Building Program Initiative Committee”. She is the founder and chair of Equitable, Ecological and Creative place Making Initiative as well as Creative Place Making Biannual Symposium. As a member of Transformation Alliance (TFA) Atlanta -one of the regions funded by The Strong, Prosperous, And Resilient Communities (SPARCC) Challenge- she has conducted research and taught urban design studios in collaboration with TFA partners focusing on sustainability with all three pillars as well as closed loop and generative economies utilizing local history and cultural elements of low-income communities. 

Dr. Hashas-Degertekin earned her PhD degree at North Carolina State University in Community and Environmental Design Program. She has been a faculty and was the coordinator for Urban Studio and First Year Design Studio for several years at KSU’s Architecture Department. She was a Sustainability Faculty Fellow at KSU in 2018-2019, is a memberof the Advisory Board for the Marietta Arts Council, and has been partnering with various local communities, governments and organizations for advocacy and awareness on equitable, ecological and creative place making.