Shantanu Pai is an assistant sustainability researcher at the Illinois Sustainable Technology Center (ISTC) and the interim zero waste coordinator for the University of Illinois at Urbana Champaign. At ISTC, Shantanu has managed over 30 projects providing hands-on technical assistance to citizens, businesses, institutions, and governments across the state of Illinois. Projects range from identifying individualized solutions in material management to implementing sustainable transitions that increase resilience. At the University of Illinois, he manages their waste transfer station and material recovery facility that processes over 30 tons of material daily. Shantanu received his B.S. in soil science and waste resources from the University of Wisconsin-Stevens Point and a master’s in urban planning at the University of Illinois at Chicago. Outside of his full-time job, he is currently a Ph.D. student at the College of Urban Planning and Policy where he studies the challenges of efficiency and equity in climate adaptation and mitigation planning.