ABOUT FIVE YEARS AGO, Chandru Murthi developed an interest in the urban environment, both at the planning and the design levels. Deciding that he could put his engineering and his interest in environmental issues to good use, he enrolled in a Master’s program in Environmental Planning at Pratt Institute in Brooklyn, from which he has recently graduated.

Much of his research during his Master’s program was in the environmental aspects of high-performance or “green” buildings. His paper for his degree was on “Attracting ‘green’ manufacturing to the New York area”. The premise is that it is still possible, and desirable, to attract light manufacturing or assembly jobs to New York City by selecting the appropriate “green” technologies and industries.