Doctoral students in the group lead their own lines of inquiry while mentoring master’s and undergraduate researchers. Master’s students work on funded projects alongside research faculty.
Doctoral Students
Charlotte Sedlock
Ph.D. candidate, joined 2023, expected 2028. Co-chaired with Benjamin Goldstein.
Research interests. Supply chains, sustainability governance, deforestation-free regulations, smallholder farmer exclusion, just transitions, corporate social responsibility.
Charlotte is a fourth-year Ph.D. candidate working with the USRG and SURF Labs at the University of Michigan. Her research examines the opportunities and challenges of implementing sustainability governance in agricultural supply chains, with a particular focus on how sustainability initiatives affect smallholder farmer market participation. Her interests include market participation dynamics, supply chain structure and power imbalances, traceability and transparency, and the tensions between environmental responsibility and just transitions.
Her interest in supply chain sustainability governance builds on a background in corporate sustainability and environmental science. Her sustainability work began as an undergraduate in the Honors College at the University of California, Santa Barbara, where she double-majored in Environmental Studies and Communication. While at UCSB she joined the mission-driven startup Apeel Sciences, where she spent seven years helping build the company’s sustainability team and ESG strategy. During that time she served on the Produce Marketing Association’s Sustainability Committee and the International Fresh Produce Association’s Sustainability Council, and participated in Food Waste and Sustainable Packaging task forces.
After years of helping companies develop and implement sustainable sourcing strategies, Charlotte was eager to bring her industry experience into academic research and investigate the social and environmental implications of sustainability governance in supply chains.
When Charlotte is not at her desk, you can find her paddling on the water, gleaning with the local food bank, browsing friends’ bookshelves, or going on evening walks with her husband, son, and dog.
Chandler Sachs
Ph.D. candidate, joined 2023, expected 2028.
Research interests. Transboundary flows of natural resources, climate change and natural hazard impacts on critical infrastructure, complex systems, security and social vulnerability in coupled human-environment systems.
Chandler is a doctoral candidate in the School for Environment and Sustainability. His research addresses transboundary flows of natural resources, the impacts of climate change and natural hazards on critical infrastructure, complex systems, and the security and social vulnerabilities associated with coupled human-environment systems. He is a co-author on a 2025 inventory of in-situ groundwater data for Pacific islands, produced for the group’s water security work.
Before the University of Michigan he received his M.Phil. from Christ’s College, University of Cambridge. Prior to Cambridge he worked for the RAND Corporation in Washington, D.C. He completed his undergraduate studies at Cornell University, where he was a Meinig Scholar.
Master’s Students
Noel Boland
M.S. Sustainability, Sustainable Systems, 2025 to present.
Research interests. Urban systems, urban-rural teleconnections, built environment, planetary urbanization, sustainable supply chains, resource stewardship.
Noel’s work combines critical urban theory with empirical models, challenging the asymmetrical power systems that shape the production of space. Her research develops a hybridized empirical framework to quantify urban-rural teleconnections by reconstructing the domestic aggregate supply chain, demonstrating the linkages between limestone quarries, cement producers, and the city block.
Outside of work she can be found rollerblading around Ann Arbor, thrifting at local resale shops, tending to her house plants, or hanging out with her cat, Maggie.