Office of Energy & Sustainability Staff

Michael oversees the Weill Cornell Medicine Facilities Management and Campus Operations department, which includes an extensive facilities management team responsible for the overall physical plant, regulatory, security, emergency management, and energy efficient operation of approximately 2.5 million square feet of educational, clinical, residential, and medical research space. Michael has 28 years of experience within the design, construction, and facilities management industries and holds a degree in Mechanical Engineering from the State University of New York at Buffalo.

Lara joined Weill Cornell Medicine in 2014 as a Postdoctoral Trainee in the Radiology Department. In 2019, she became interested in climate change and environmental conservation and became an active member of the local zero-waste community. She then took a sabbatical year to train in the environmental sustainability field and completed a Graduate Certificate in Sustainability Management and Policy from Penn State University. In 2020, Lara returned to Weill Cornell Medicine as a Laboratory Supervisor and co-founded the WCM Green Labs group, a program that helps laboratories reduce their environmental footprint and minimize energy and water use. In 2022, she became the first WCM Sustainability Program Manager. Lara’s initial focus in her new position is to improve recycling infrastructure and create related educational material for the WCM campus. Other responsibilities include expanding on the Green Labs group and other general sustainability projects.

Lara has a PhD in Chemistry, and her training brought her from Italy to Ireland, Germany, and finally to New York City. 

Akhil joined Weill Cornell Medicine as an Energy Engineer in 2020, and identifies and implements projects that help lower energy use in WCM buildings. His projects have included demand response, steam pipe and fittings insulation, lighting upgrades, airflow optimization, energy metering upgrades, and chiller plant optimization. He has performed data analysis on building systems to identify potential energy conservation opportunities and managed incentive applications to reduce the upfront capital investment from WCM. In 2023, he became the Energy Manager and now leads the energy team to mitigate Weill Cornell Medicine’s campus carbon emissions.

Before joining Weill Cornell Medicine, Akhil worked as a thermal equipment design engineer in Thailand and an energy engineer at UMass Amherst’s Industrial Assessment Center. He holds a Bachelor’s degree in Mechanical Engineering from the University of Calicut, India, and a Master’s degree in Thermofluids from UMass Amherst.

Olivia joined Weill Cornell Medicine as an Energy Engineer in 2025. As part of the energy team, Olivia works to facilitate the implementation of various energy savings projects and investigations, ensuring Weill Cornell Medicine complies with Local Law 87 & Local Law 97 and evaluating future decarbonization and facility electrification pathways. Before joining Weill Cornell Medicine, Olivia worked as an Inside Sales Engineer & Service Technician Coordinator at Tower Enterprises, a HVAC system company. She holds a Bachelor Degree in Mechanical Engineering.