Engineers Week - Innovation in Engineering

Meet the Panelists

Christine Houston: Christine Houston has worked as an environmental scientist in the public and private sectors for 43 years. Career activities ranged from scoring potential Superfund sites for USEPA to writing oil spill plans for liquid bulk terminals along California’s coast. 25 of those years have been with the Port of Long Beach where she managed environmental investigations and multi-million-dollar remediation projects.  In her position as the Manager of Sustainable Practices at the Port, she advises on construction and operational best practices and also has been spearheading green energy planning and power systems resilience activities since 2013. She is currently managing a complex microgrid project, partly funded by the California Energy Commission, at the Port’s critical emergency response facility. She has a degree in Geology.

Jonathan Leung: Mr. Jonathan Leung is the Assistant Director of the Water Quality Division at the Los Angeles Department of Water and Power (LADWP). Jonathan has nearly 30 years of experience at the LADWP in a variety of roles for the Water System, Power System, and General Manager’s Office. Currently, Jonathan oversees the broad activities of the Water Quality operations staff. Jonathan is a champion of numerous innovation and customer service initiatives at LADWP, and has participated in several international collaborations to develop innovative technology. Jonathan has a B.S. Civil Engineering from Stanford University (’91) and an M.B.A from the University of Southern California (‘00).

Josiah Cain: Josiah Cain is a a multi-disciplinary ecologoical design professional who has dedicated his career to the advancement of sustainable design stystems. He has built projects, companies and teams that have consistently been at the forefront of innovation, combining Permaculture, ecology, on-site water reuse, natural building, living roofs and walls, native ornamental planting, and urban agriculture since 1997. As a landscape architect, Josiah became well known for his ecological landscapes and deeply technical approach to designs that often included graywater, rain harvesting, habitat, stormwater, recycled materials, and food production. As co-founder and Director of Sherwood Engineers’ Innovation Lab, Josiah has worked to establish and expand multi-disciplinary teams specializing in on-site water reuse systems, large scale green roof and podium landscapes, resilient urban waterfronts, sustainability and circular economic frameworks, and high performance engineered landscapes. Josiah is currently leading efforts to re-engage urban river systems and advance ecologically integrated campus and district infrastructure.

Sujaya Kalainesan: Dr. Sujaya Kalainesan is the Office Chief in the Division of Local Assistance at the California Department of Transportation (Caltrans). As a Supervising Transportation Engineer, she manages a team of fifteen senior technical and analytical staff and is responsible for authorizing nearly two billion dollars in federal funds annually to transportation agencies in California. She has been with Caltrans for fourteen years and has held various positions during her tenure including Senior Project Manager and Design Manager roles in Los Angeles, Caltrans District 7. She has worked as the SB1 Program Manager within Caltrans Director’s office and led the “Rebuilding California” project, CalSMART initiative, and supported CTC on metrics development for SB1 programs. Her experience outside Caltrans includes working in international development for the World Bank, prioritizing investments in the South East Asia region, and conducting research on projects funded by the Pennsylvania Department of Transportation and the Department of Defense. Dr. Kalainesan holds a Ph.D. in Civil Engineering from The University of Pittsburgh, a Master’s Degree in Chemical Engineering from Kansas State University, and a Bachelor’s Degree in Chemical Engineering from the University of Madras, India.