Alicia Marseille
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Mail code: 8604Campus: Tempe
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Alicia Marseille is working at the intersection of applied systems design, community-anchored economic development, and circular economy implementation. Her work focuses on how institutional structures—governance, ownership, incentives, and capital flows—shape long-term social, environmental, and economic outcomes. This work emphasizes translating research into operational models that prioritize durability, local stewardship, and viability beyond grant funding.
Her approach is grounded in systems thinking and commons-based governance, with a focus on identifying structural leverage points that enable communities and institutions to retain agency and sustain impact over time. In practice, this includes developing community-centered economic models, aligning incentives across sectors, and supporting partners in building shared assets and long-term capacity.
Her work centers on reframing persistent societal challenges, from waste and materials flow to urban economic resilience, by interrogating assumptions, posing questions that expand the solution space, and designing experiments that test new system architectures. She leads initiatives that move intentionally from open-ended challenge definition to real-world pilots, iterative learning, and scalable models that integrate research, policy, market dynamics, and community priorities. Her leadership is rooted in building interdisciplinary teams and coalitions that span faculty, practitioners, government, industry, and communities. Her work emphasizes co-creation, equity, and long-term impact, ensuring that solutions are grounded, learnable, and able to migrate beyond pilot contexts into broader adoption.
- MBA, Business Administration, Grand Canyon University
- BS, Philosophy in Interdisciplinary Studies, Miami University
Projects as a PI or CO-PI
- US Department of Agriculture, Urban Forestry Accelerator, in partnership with 5 community based organizations, 4 municipalities, 4 industry partners, 3 national organizations, and 3 ASU departments ($5M)
- Goodwill of Central and Northern Arizona, Textile Industry Applied Research Study to understand the current textile and apparel market circularity landscape and a technoeconomic analysis to understand circular economy opportunities ($150,000)
- Arizona Board of Regents grant in partnership with Arizona Department of Environmental Quality, Making Recycling Economical Again ($1.7M)
- City of Phoenix grant, Pilot Testing a Cooperative-based Business Model for a Circular Plastics Microfactory, in partnership with a regional BIPOC organization ($750,000)
- City of Phoenix grant, Sustainable Agrifood Tech Incubator, in partnership ASU's J. Orin Edson Entrepreneurship + Innovation Institute ($750,000)
- USDA Rural Hub and Spoke Recycling grant, which is in partnership with municipalities, tribal communities, New Mexico Recycling Coalition, and the Arizona Department of Environmental Quality
- Office of Naval Research grant (ONR), Micro-factories with Advanced Manufacturing to Support Adaptive Basing at Scale ($250,000)
- USAID grant funded the Amazon Business Alliance (formerly the Amazon Development Entrepreneurial & Learning Alliance (ADELA) or Green Growth Peru program) to “engage investors, entrepreneurs and conservation-focused businesses to promote green growth, and decrease deforestation and natural resource degradation, while improving community livelihoods." ASU is a sub-recipient to Conservation International ($450,000)
- Wells Fargo Foundation grant, (1) Sustainable Urban Ecology (SUE), (2) Remanufacturing Plastic Waste as a Circular Option for Small Business, (3) Sustainable Earth online educational platform ($750,000)
Buch, R., Marseille, A., Williams, M., Aggarwal, R., & Sharma, A. (2021). From waste pickers to producers: an inclusive circular economy solution through development of cooperatives in waste management. Sustainability, 13(16), 8925. https://doi.org/10.3390/su13168925
Singh, S., Babbitt, C., Gaustad, G., Eckelman, M. J., Gregory, J., Ryen, E., Mathur, N., Abhijeet, P., Buch, R., Marseille, A., & Seager, T. (2021). Thematic exploration of sectoral and cross-cutting challenges to circular economy implementation. Clean technologies and environmental policy, 23, 915-936. https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s10098-020-0
Marseille, A; R. Buch; Escobar, Y.; Zhang, H; Holly, D. Circularity and Plastics, National Academy of Sciences Engineering and Medicine Workshop
Marseille, A.; Buch, R. “From Waste Pickers to Producers: An Inclusive Circular Economy Solution through Development of Cooperatives in Waste Management”, 2020 International Labor Organization COOP Symposium presentation.
Marseille, A.; Buch, R.; Aggarwal, A.; Merrigan, K,; Roseland, M. "Realizing the SDG's to Build Ethical Circular Economies", 2020 United Nationals Global Compact: Uniting Business
Marseille, A.; Buch, R. "Accelerating a Regional Circular Economy", 2019 The Sustainable Denver Summit
Marseille, A.; Bakaya, P; Barrett, B. "Reimagine Phoenix," 2019 Keynote Speaker, WASTECON hosted by Solid Waste Association of North America
City and County of Denver, Sustainable Denver Summit Leading the Change, Marseille., A., Buch, R., 2019
Marseille, A.; Jordan, A. " Circular Economy Solutions: Innovation + Disruption + Collaboration", 2019 VentureWell Open Conference
Marseille, A.; Buch, R. “Ethical Circular Economy Workshops & Professional Certifications”, RISN Incubator cohort, 2019; GreenBiz 2018
Sustainable Brands, Circular Economy Incubator, Marseille, A., 2018
Marseille, A.; Spencer, G.; Collins, L. "RISN and Reimagine Phoenix", 2018 Ellen McArthur Foundation CE100 Acceleration Workshop
Marseille, A.; "RISN and Reimagine Phoenix", 2018 Net Impact Conference
Marseille, A.; Spencer, G.; Buch, R.; Al Ghassani, A, "Public/Private Partnerships for Sustainability" 2018 Omani Delegation
Ethical Circular Economy Professional Certification Workshops: Recycle Colorado 2020 Summit for Recycling, Circular Economies for Resiliency and Efficiency, Marseille, A., Buch, R., 2020; Goodwill of Central and Northern Arizona 2024; RISN Incubator Cohort 2019; City of Denver 2019; Greenbiz 2018; US Chamber of Commerce Foundation 2017
Vision Award Winner, ASU Office of Knowledge Enterprise, 2018
Leadership Award Winner, ASU Office of Knowledge Enterprise, 2021
Leadership Academy Cohort IX, ASU
ASU Global Futures Scientist, Julie Ann Wrigley Global Futures Lab, 2020-Present
ASU Global Futures Lab Human Economies Collaborative, 2020-Present
Transforming PET Packaging and Textiles in the US study, Committee Chair, Systemiq, Closed Loop Partners, Eunomia, and The Recycling Partnership 2024
Consumer Brand Association, Recycling Leadership Council Policy Brief 2021
Ocean Plastics Leadership Network Advisory Board 2019-2022
ASU Technology and Entrepreneurship Management Advisory Council 2015-2021
Metro Phoenix Export Advisory Board (MPEXA) 20015-2017