Barbara ReckView profile
Researcher
Barbara Reck is a Senior Research Scientist at the Yale School of the Environment (YSE) and Node Lead for Systems Analysis and Integration at the REMADE Institute, a U.S. Manufacturing Institute focused on reducing embodied energy in manufacturing. Her research emphasizes sustainable material use, circular economy strategies, and recycling technologies. She holds a Ph.D. (Dr.-Ing.) in Environmental Engineering from TU Berlin and an M.Sc. in Environmental Engineering from the University of Applied Sciences, Bingen. Her work spans metals (nickel, stainless steel), plastics, and biogenic materials like mass timber. Notable contributions include metal recycling indicators, criticality assessments, and future supply-demand scenarios for key metals. Prior to Yale, she worked at Lufthansa German Airlines as Manager of Environmental Affairs. Recent publications highlight topics such as global material stocks, recycling automation, and circular plastics supply chains. She collaborates on projects like the Future Manufacturing Research Grant for recyclable soft electronics and MSW-to-SAFT fuel analysis in Connecticut. Her research also addresses workforce impacts of AI-driven recycling systems and decarbonization pathways for steel. Affiliated with the Center for Industrial Ecology at YSE, her work intersects environmental science, policy, and engineering to advance sustainable resource management strategies globally.








