Iona Isachsen

SENIOR Project Coordinator

Iona is a Senior Project Coordinator for the Smart Surfaces Coalition where she supports communities in the adoption of Smart Surfaces for a sustainable and equitable future through data analysis, research, and science communication. Iona organizes and facilitates SSC’s quarterly Cool Roadways Partnership meetings to advance cool pavement adoption.

Iona previously researched extremophilic algae and its many applications at the Arizona Center for Algae Technology and Innovation, leading projects on wastewater treatment and production of high-value products via genetic engineering in Arizona and Saudi Arabia. Prior to this, Iona supported the work of an Arizona Corporation Commissioner on the Navajo Nation by researching best practices for equitable socioeconomic transitions of coal-based communities following coal plant closures.

Iona holds a B.S. in Conservation Biology & Ecology with a minor in Sustainability and a certificate in Energy Studies from Arizona State University, where she conducted research on heavy metal recovery and management with extremophilic microalgae.