Janelle Robbins

Janelle joined Waterkeeper Alliance in 2003 as a research fellow to write A Citizen’s Guide to Manure Treatment Technologies (link).  Janelle now fields scientific and water monitoring questions from our ever-growing Waterkeeper organizations, coordinates our anti-coal campaign, The Dirty Lie, covers the scientific and engineering aspects of our other campaigns and works to reduce Waterkeeper Alliance’s ecological footprint.


Janelle graduated with honors from Cornell University in 2001 with a BS in Agricultural and Biological Engineering where she was part of a research team developing biosensors to detect viable Cryptosporidium parvum in water, and later to detect and distinguish between different strains of HIV. After completing her degree at Cornell, Janelle interned at Hudson Riverkeeper, and later went on to earn a MS in Biological Systems Engineering with a concentration in Land and Water Resources from Virginia Tech. There, she conducted research in the James River Basin of Virginia, studying the quality of agricultural best management practices.  Janelle has been featured as a Green Guru in the “Green Babies” books, in Glamour’s 2009 green issue as a female eco-achiever and as a success story in the forthcoming “Ten Ways to Change the World in Your Twenties.” Janelle is also a LEED (Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design) Accredited Professional.

Janelle and her husband Steve live in the Hudson Valley and enjoy making their old house more sustainable, gardening and cooking, raising chickens, hiking, traveling and playing with their dog Riley.