Hitesh Soneji

I come to the sustainability world from a background that started in robotics and making computer chips. I even dabbled in designing and developing an automated bicycle sharing scheme with smart racks. More recently, I completed an MS degree in Sustainability Science at Lund University in Sweden, where we worked across many disciplines and countries to investigate the sustainability dilemma in detail. There we posed many questions engaging current paradigms against various social theories, natural physical constraints, and societal responses. In my research there, we utilized agent based models and system dynamics models, among others.

My research interest is book-ended by two pillars that both work to bring us closer to a condition that might resemble sustainable. The first pillar is that of education, or outreach if you will. Sustainability is no trivial problem, and my interest here deals with how best to distill an inherently complex problem into simpler messages that promote social and cultural values consistent with sustainability. I do not believe that sustainability can be achieved if left only for the activists, advocates, and scientists to pursue. Sustainability is a problem of and by the masses. Their engagement is key, and I wish to test and explore media-based and educational pathways to increase the penetration of sustainability as a lay concern.

The second pillar of my research interest is far more technical. It involves agents of the computational sort, modeled after the carbon-based sort. Here I wish to better understand human behavior in complex systems involving constrained and/or hazardous resources. The applications I am most interested in include distributed energy systems, multi-stakeholder water management, and rare/hazardous material flows in information technology equipment.

My research interests go beyond only understanding agent behavior. They extend to the development of the tools and frameworks to enable active participation by a broader group of stakeholders in the sustainability decision-making process. System dynamics and agent-based model improvement hold the promise of allowing policy makers to actively see how stakeholders and ecosystems might respond to policy proposals. My ultimate interest is in formulating a level of understanding of systems and agent behavior that is complete enough to be conducive to predictive computational analysis that enables experimentation with various social and policy tools to achieve greater sustainability.

Currently, I am a faculty at City College of San Francisco, where I am working to integrate sustainability both at the institutional level and in new courses addressing sustainability. I have also been assisting the Green Belt Alliance, a San Francisco non-profit dedicated to preserving open space and promoting smart growth for the bay area. I am also active in San Francisco's sustainable transportation movement, trying to improve SF's transit system and promote bicycling as a safe and legitimate means of transportation. In my spare time, I enjoy hiking, camping, cycling, reading, and of course, my 17 month old.