Iona Isachsen

Project Manager

Iona is a Project Manager for the Smart Surfaces Coalition, where she supports policymakers and program developers in adopting cost-effective urban resilience strategies through the development of educational resources, model policy and codes, and peer learning programs. Iona oversees SSC’s Peer Learning Network and the Cool Roadways Partnership, the leading forum for reflective pavement performance research and adoption insights. Iona is an active member of the Cool Roof Rating Council’s Education Committee and Pavement Ratings Steering Committee.

Before joining SSC, Iona conducted laboratory research on environmental detoxification with algae at the Arizona Center for Algae Technology and Innovation and King Abdullah University of Science and Technology in 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 researched heavy metal recovery and management with extremophilic microalgae.