Catherine Castañeda Email & Phone Number

Remote From Home With Travel As Needed

Subcontractor to APTIM (formerly CB&I Environmental & Infrastructure) Program Managers to serve Responsible Entities in New York City and Texas to plan and implement programs for Hurricane resilient housing and infrastructure recovery activities. .Work has included managing an Environmental Assessment for a Water & Sewer Infrastructure Project in Brooklyn, NY, and authoring tiered environmental review documentation and public notices (English & Spanish) per HUD regulations at 24 CFR Part 58, agency and stakeholder consultations, compliance team building and training efforts. She recently led collaboration efforts with Environmental Compliance and Geospatial Information Management staff to expand and strengthen in-house capacity to perform various categories of NEPA reviews for the City of Houston.

Texas And Massachusetts

Work has included site investigations, NEPA environmental reviews, ASTM site assessments, compliance audits, remediation project planning/execution/reporting, community outreach efforts, and broad support of FEMA and HUD-funded disaster recovery programs. She served as Technical Support Manager for a USACE Environmental Restoration Contract, authoring or contributing to complex work plans & reports, developed/implemented project-specific websites, earning recognition as a Senior Technical Leader for spearheading adoption of GIS to improve environmental analysis and client deliverables; provided client, community, & stakeholder presentations; designed, managed large environmental studies, teams & budgets; provided training, mentoring, & supervision of technical & field staff.Projects for the NYC Mayor's post Hurricane Sandy Housing Recovery Operations include:-Environmental Advisor to NYC Housing Authority rehabilitation and reconstruction program,-Tiered Environmental Reviews for the City's Build It Back housing recovery & resilience programs.

Houston, Texas

Provided interpretation/translation services (English-Spanish-English) for the EPC-1 construction project Management Team (Bechtel, PEMEX and Brown & Root) to ensure engineering design, safety, & other legal documents controlled in accordance with environmental health, & safety regulations in both Mexico & the United States. Technical support for Hazardous Operations Workshops (for design of offshore facilities), & 3-D design review presentations, contributed to the EH&S Manual, provided contract management & general technical editing support.

Tegucigalpa, Honduras

For School of Economics, coordinated the UN-funded Post Graduate Program in Population and Development, scheduled/collaborated with visiting professors from international academic institutions to teach courses & support research projects. Also taught 3 graduate courses: 'Introduction to Geographic Information Systems'; 'Gender Studies in Demography'; 'Population, Environment & Development'; served as student thesis advisor; trained census workers & supervised Field Team for National Census of Indigenous Groups; Principal investigator for a UN research project on Comparative Study of the Pech, Mestizo and Institutional Perspectives on Reproductive Risk in Honduras for Honduran Ministry of Health.

Austin, Texas

As Teaching Assistant for 4 semesters, Ms. Castañeda assisted Professors with the following courses:- Maps and Map Interpretation- World Geography- Geografic Information Systems She prepared and led laboratory and seminar sessions, provided student guidance, reviewed and graded essays, quizzes, and tests.

Tegucigalpa, Honduras

For the University's Directorate of Scientific Research - developed environmental research proposals for donor agencies & executed those projects; promoted incorporation of environmental themes in all university disciplines (i.e. law, history, pedagogy, biology, chemistry, economics, philosophy, medicine); thesis advisor to graduate students.Managed research projects the health effects of heavy metal & pesticide pollution in watersheds; risk zone analysis and the prevention and mitigation of disasters. Secured funding and managed the organizing committee for the first Central American and Caribbean Workshop on Analytical Chemistry in Environmental Studies. Represented the University on national councils (Council for the Prevention of Natural Disasters, President's Council for Environmental Protection, Ministry of Health's Consultative Council to the Center for the Study and Control of Contaminants.

Tegucigalpa, Honduras

Per NEPA and 22 CFR 2216 for USAID’s Regional Housing and Urban Development Division in Honduras - performed Environmental Assessment for the Municipal Development Project, analyzing how financial policies & programs for infrastructure projects could be adjusted to enhance land use management in 11 medium-sized urban centers. Designed environmental planning tools for local banks to aid review of municipal proposals for housing, recreational, &infrastructure projects. For USAID’s Regional Housing and Urban Development Division in Honduras - completed Social Soundness Analysis for the Municipal Development Project, analyzing socioeconomic conditions in 11 medium-sized urban centers to describe potential social impacts of the project. She collected/analyzed information from data reviews, documents, & stakeholder consultations to support recommendations for an effective structure of citizen participation. Per 22 CFR 2216 for USAID’s Natural Resources Division in Honduras - performed Environmental Assessment of the Investment and Export Development Project, conducted multi-sector consultations across geographical regions of the country, document-based research on agricultural & industrial trends, housing & demographic analysis, & extensive survey of natural resources for the final report. Per 22 CFR 2216 for USAID’s Natural Resources Division in Honduras - performed Environmental Assessment of Pesticide Use for the Land Use and Productivity Enhancement Project with field research at small farmer level with extension agents to evaluate current practices & assess approaches for reducing farm level abuse of hazardous chemicals, recommending mitigation by enhanced training/monitoring of chemical use by small farmers, but neither promote or fund the distribution of the most hazardous pesticides.

Tegucigalpa, Honduras

Subcontractor to USAID contractor to serve as the National Coordinator for the development and publication of the 1989 Environmental Profile of Honduras . She facilitated contributions by Honduran experts, prepared chapters on Environmental Contamination & Environmental Education, and helped to edit the entire document for publication in Spanish.

Tegucigalpa, Honduras

Under contract with Honduras’ National Electric Energy Company - supported development of the Watershed Management Plan for the El Cajon Hydroelectric Power Project per World Bank Environmental Guidelines (plus NEPA) as dam construction was being completed & rural village relocation efforts were beginning. Performed stream water quality assessment, biological survey, plus many local consultations to support a fisheries development project as part of the proposed Plan.

Doctor Of Philosophy (Ph.D.), Geography

Activities and Societies: American Association of GeographersDissertation: Environmental Change and Uncertainty in Coastal Communities.

Master'S Degree, Environmental Science

Activities and Societies: Environmental toxicology work-study project (1982), produced white papers (air, water, soil contamination) &.

Bachelor Of Science (B.Sc.), Marine Sciences (Ecology)

Activities and Societies: Student representative to ad-hoc committee on curriculum, developing course in coastal zone ecology. Sports.

Marine Sciences

Summer semester (credits transferred to The Evergreen State College), with focus on icthyology and fisheries economics in the Gulf.