Environmental Career Chats

Noah Hall's expertise is in environmental and water law, and his research focuses on issues of environmental governance, federalism, and transboundary pollution and resource management. Hall graduated from the University of Michigan School of Natural Resources and Environment (PitE's predecessor) with a Bachelor of Science concentrating in environmental policy. He also graduated from the University of Michigan Law School, where he later taught. He was an attorney with the National Wildlife Federation, where he managed the Great Lakes Water Resources Program for the nation's largest conservation organization. He also worked in private practice for several years, representing a variety of business and public-interest clients in litigated and regulatory matters. From 2016-2019, Hall served as special assistant attorney general for Michigan for the Flint water investigation. Hall is the founder of the Great Lakes Environmental Law Center, a nonprofit environmental organization that provides legal assistance to community organizations, environmental non-governmental organizations, and local, state, and regional governments.

Larissa is an aquatic biologist with over twelve years of experience in natural resource assessment, including wetland delineations, environmental permitting, environmental assessment reports, stream assessments, mussel/macroinvertebrate surveys and identification, threatened and endangered species surveys, and wetland restoration. Growing up, Larissa had a passion for biology, which led her to the University of Michigan, where she graduated with a B.S. in Biology and Program in the Environment (PitE). To further her education, she obtained an M.S. in Water Resource Science from the University of Minnesota Duluth. Her thesis included research on impacts of  sedimentation on Lake Superior streams. She worked on large lake research projects for the USGS and the University of Notre Dame after graduation. Ms. Herrera has been a key staff member in Holland Engineering's Environmental Group on projects throughout the Midwest. She holds a USFWS permit to survey and handle federally listed mussel species. She appreciates all mussels, but her favorite species are the spectaclecase and snuffbox.