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WINTER 2014

Stephen Aldrich (Geography) Assistant Profes-sor of Georgraphy, Indiana State University.

David Bidwell (Sociology) Assistant Professor of Marine Affairs, University of Rhode Island

Victoria Campbell-Arvai (CARRS) Post doctoral fellow, Institute for Sustainable Energy, Environ-ment and Economy, University of Calgary

John Clements (Sociology) Research Manager, College of Medicine, CMED Synergy, Central Michigan University

Benjamin M. Gramig (Agricultural Economics) Associate Professor of Natural Resources and Environmental Economics, Department of Agri-cultural Economics, Purdue University

Matt Grisko (Philosophy) Adjunct Faculty, Phi-losophy, Harper College

Marcia JnBaptiste (Crop and Soil Sciences) Research Scientist, USDA Agricultural Research Service, Bowling Green, KY

Jason Karl (Fisheries & Wildlife) Research Ecologist, USDA Agricultural Research Service, Jornada Experimental Range, Las Cruces, New Mexico

Nicole Lamp (Fisheries & Wildlife) Biologist, U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, Endangered Spe-cies Program, Atlanta, GA

Zarraz Lee (Microbioogy and Molecular Genet-ics) Postdoctoral fellow, School of Life Sciences, Arizona State University Erin Maloney (Communication) Research Director, Message Core, Center of Excellence in Cancer Communication Research, Annen-berg School of Communications, University of Pennsylvania

Colleen McLean (Environmental Geosciences) Assistant Professor, Geological and Environmen-tal Sciences, Youngstown State University

Max Melstrom (Economics and Agricultural Economics) Assistant Professor of Economics, Salisbury University, Maryland

New Students Where They Are Now

ESPP recieves endowment fromSawyer-Koch family

The Fate of the Earth

ESPP Director Dr. Jinhua Zhao, Social Science Dean Dr. Marietta Baba, Barbara Sawyer-Koch, Don Koch and MSU President Dr. Lou Ann K. Simon at the en-dowment reception.

Stephen Vrla is a PhD student in the Depart-ment of Sociology. In addition to the ESPP specialization, he is also in the Animal Stud-ies specialization. Vrla’s research interests are in the sociological and social psychological aspects of the relationships among humans, non-human animals, and the environment.

Melissa Rojas completed her BSc. Degree and post-graduate degree in the School of Agricultural Engineering at the University of Costa Rica. Rojas then performed ad-ditional research in a short-term internship at the Biosystems and Agricultural Engi-neering (BAE) department of MSU. She is continuing her studies in BAE department with the ESPP specialization.

ESPP serves as an umbrella for environmental research and graduate education at Michigan State University.ESPP’s newsletter and Website - environment.msu.edu- highlight the interdisciplinary environmental work of faculty,

staff and students at MSU.

April 3, 2014

Sophia Tanner is a first year Ph.D. student in the department of Agricultural, Food, and Resources Economics. Tanner is origi-nally from North Texas and received her bachelor’s degree in economics at Trinity University in San Antonio. Tanner’s inter-ests lie within the realm of environmental economics.

Hongbo Yang is a doctoral candidate in the department of Fisheries and Wildlife. Yang will also specialization is Systems Modeling and Integration, with a focus on the study of Coupled Human and Natural Systems (CHANS). Yang’s interest in the CHANS derived from his long-term con-cern for endangered wildlife.

Fate of the Earth Speakers:

Marina Fischer-Kowalski, PhDInstitute of Social Ecology, University of ViennaTom Lovejoy, PhDBiology, George Mason UniversityAmanda Lynch, PhDEnvironmental Change Initiative, Brown UniversityBonnie McCay, PhDHuman Ecology, Rutgers University Michael Vanderburgh, JDClimate Change Research Network,Vanderbilt Law School

The Sawyer-Koch family gave a generous endowment grant to Michigan State University’s Environmental Science and Policy Program in an effort to encourage students and scholars to address global environmental concerns. The endowment—entitled “The Fate of the Earth”—will provide opportunities to expand interdisciplinary environmental education, increase professional networking between environmen-tal educators and enhance public awareness of environmental and sustainability issues. “Thanks to the generosity of Barbara Sawyer-Koch and Don Koch, we are poised to expand our mission to enhance international research partnerships, symposia and invited lectures by renowned scholars, and offer even broader range of experiences and support to our students and faculty,” said ESPP director Dr. Zhao. OnApril3,thefirstresearchsymposiumtiedtothisgrantwillbe hosted by ESPP. The inaugural event will explore the challenges and opportunites the world faces when balancing human well-being and protection of the environment. Distinguished speakers at the sym-posium will address issues in four themes: human well-being, ecosys-tem services, grand challenges and social learning. In celebration of the endowment, ESPP recognized the Sawyer-Koch family with a reception at the Kellogg Center on Sept. 27, 2013. The event also celebrated the 10-year anniversary of ESPP. The reception brought together interdisciplinary researchers and students from across MSU in continued engagement with ESPP, the umbrella organization for environmental research and graduate education at MSU. “This is a very important milestone day for Michigan State Uni-versity and for the program,” said MSU President Lou Ann K. Simon at thereception.“Anniversariesaretimestoreflectuponbeginningsandthe vision, not of me, but of a lot of people to believe that together we can do more than simply staying in our individual silos.”

David Bidwell (Sociology) Assistant Professor of Marine Affairs, University of Rhode Island

Victoria Campbell-Arvai (CARRS) Post doctoral fellow, Institute for Sustainable En-ergy, Environment and Economy, University of Calgary

John Clements (Sociology) Research Man-ager, College of Medicine, CMED Synergy, Central Michigan University

Benjamin M. Gramig (Agricultural Eco-nomics) Associate Professor of Natural Resources and Environmental Economics, Department of Agricultural Economics, Purdue University

Matt Grisko (Philosophy) Adjunct Faculty, Philosophy, Harper College

Jason Karl (Fisheries & Wildlife) Research Ecologist, USDA Agricultural Research Service, Jornada Experimental Range, Las Cruces, New Mexico

Nicole Lamp (Fisheries & Wildlife) Biolo-gist, U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, Endan-gered Species Program, Atlanta, GA

Zarraz Lee (Microbioogy and Molecular Genetics) Postdoctoral fellow, School of Life Sciences, Arizona State University

Erin Maloney (Communication) Research Director, Message Core, Center of Excel-lence in Cancer Communication Research, Annenberg School of Communications, University of Pennsylvania

Colleen McLean (Environmental Geosci-ences) ‘Assistant Professor, Geological and Environmental Sciences, Youngstown State University

Max Melstrom (Economics and Agricultural Economics) Assistant Professor ofEconom-ics, Salisbury University, Maryland

Linda Novitski (Zoology) Assistant Re-searcher, University of Michigan

Allison Rober-Wyatt (Zoology) Assistant Professor of Biology, Ball State University

Mamta Vardhan (CARRS), Post Doctoral Fellow Haskayne School of Business, Uni-versity of Calgary

Leigh Whittinghill (Horticulture) 2012-2014 cohort at the Earth Institute, Columbia Uni-versity, New York

Adebiyi Jelili Adegboyegba, otherwise known as Gana, is an international student and world citizen from Nigeria. Gana earned a National Diploma in Agricultural Engineering and a B.S. in Mechanical Engineering from Nigeria. He also obtained an M.A, in History and Civiliza-tion from a renowned university in Malaysia. Gana also completed dual master’s degrees in Community and Regional Planning and Sus-tainable Agriculture at Iowa State University.

Modeling Certificate Modeling is a tool that requires interdisciplin-ary research, said Dr. Sandra Marquart-Pyatt. Because current modeling is formed on a structure of disci-plines and departments, the Environmental Science and Policy Program is uniquely positioned to provide a way to cross disciplines and increase modeling suc-cess throughout the university. To that end, ESPP is now offering a Modeling Certificate program to teach graduate students the importance of modeling and exposes them to some of the most successful model-ers MSU has to offer. The nine required credits will allow students to learn both computational and analytical modeling and apply it to their own research interests. “Each course represents a suite of courses across different domains,” said Dr. Marquart-Pyatt. The foundation of the course will be ESP 850 Introduction to Environmental and Social Systems Modeling that will be offered for the first time in the fall of 2013. Students will continue to learn modeling through a series of courses offered in eight different fields, from Geography to Natural Resources to Soci-ology. The capstone of the course will be ESP 890, a two-credit course that offers hands-on modeling ex-perience in environmental and social systems. There is project component to each course. “This is designed to enhance communication and col-laboration in interdisciplinary research,” Dr. Marquart-Pyatt said.

January 2014 Every day, environmental

issues continue to play a larger and more prominent role in the mainstream news media and gar-ner a bit more attention from every corner of society from the halls of research to the backrooms of pub-lic policy.

Here at the Environmental Science and Policy Program, we’ve known for a decade that environ-mental issues rarely stop at one discipline or single issue. That is why we continue to strive to bring

together experts, researchers, students and activists together from across the vast reaches of Michigan State University to tackle the diverse and complicated environ-mental problems we face today. As we continue to celebrate our 10-year anniver-sary and began working toward our next decade, we are excited to announce several new programs that combine the expertise of ESPP with the resources of other colleges and universities through research initiatives, funding op-portunities and symposia. Thanks to the general support of the Sawyer-Koch family, ESPP is the recipient of the Fate of the Earth En-dowment. This allows us to recruit and support the most promising doctoral students around the world through our expanded Doctoral Recruiting Fellowship program, offer interdisciplinary perspectives through seminars and guest lecturers, and advocate for inter-university scholar-ship and research. These will be showcased in April at the first annual Fate of the Earth Symposium. Our newly-created Visiting Scholars to Advance Science Grants (VISTAS) are designed to increase net-working opportunities for MSU faculty, bring world-class experts to MSU and facilitate research in environmental

science, technology and policy. ESPP has also continues to expand our offerings in environmental studies. We are pleased to announce the creation of the Environmental Modeling Certificate program, an opportunity to learn first-hand from the best modelers MSU has to offer. The skills they gain through the certificate program will serve them well both in deeper and better understanding of models they encoun-ter during their studies but also the ability to create and share models of their own.The student-led ESPP Research Symposium: Water for a Sustainable World took place in November, highlighting MSU students’ research in several areas of water, environ-ment, energy, health and sustainability. Students compet-ed for prizes for the best presentation and were able to interact with and hear from some of the nation’s foremost experts in water science and policy. Finally, ESPP partnered with the United Nations Association to create the UN 68th Anniversary Commem-oration Conference: Water, Food Security and the De-veloping Global Crisis which brought together academic experts, research specialists, advocates and government officials for a three day discussion on some of the most urgent environmental issues of our time. As we begin our second decade at the Environ-mental Science and Policy Program, we are taking this opportunity to look back over our history and assess our future. We have many exciting events planned to cel-ebrate this milestone and several large announcements coming this spring, and hope to include all of you – su-dents, faculty, researchers and alumni – in both feting our accomplishments and planning the ways we can expand, grow and continue our mission. Thank you for your contributions to continuing the excellence of interdisciplinary environmental studies at Michigan State University.

Sincerely,

Jinhua Zhao

Letter from the Director

Meet the Associate Director

New Funding Opportunity for Faculty

Dr. Vlad Tarabara was appointed Associate Director of ESPP in 2012. Dr. Tarabara is an Associate Professor in the Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering at MSU. He also serves as an Associate Editor of the ASCE Journal of Environmental Engineering.Research in Dr. Tarabara’s group is in the broadly defined area of water quality engineering with particular emphases on membrane separation processes, materals science of membranes, and nanotechnology-en-abled water treatment solutions. Tarabara’s strong secondary interest is in environmental, societal, and policy implications of novel materials and technologies. He received his Ph.D. in Environmental Engineering from Rice University. He has been at MSU since 2004.

Student Opportunites

Water for a Sustainable World Student Research SymposiumESPP students, Abigail Lynch, Christopher Crock, Ellis Adams and Erin Haacker, organized an inaugural re-search symposium held at the Kellogg Center on Nov. 22, 2013.

The event, “Water for a Sustainable World,” invited 34 undergraduate and graduate students to present their research. The ESPP Student Organizing Committee judged the student presentations and eight winners were selected from four different categories: Water Quality and Health, Detection, Treatment and Model-ing Technologies, Freshwater Resources and Security, and Sustainability, Policy and Governance.

The symposium also featured two keynote speakers: Dr. Deborah Swackhamer from the University of Min-nesota and Dr. Benito Marinas from the University of Illinois.

Dr. Swackhamer Dr. Marinas

Visiting Scholars to Advance Science (VISTAS) is a new program created by ESPP with support from the Fate of the Earth Endowment. The VISTAS program provides grants aimed to provide support for scholars from other universities and insti-tutions to visit MSU to develop externally funded research pro-posals jointly with MSU researchers. The grants allow scholars to spend quality time to work with MSU colleagues. VISTAS funding is different from typical seminar support programs and feature longer visiting periods, more intensive interactions with MSU researchers, and explicit goals toward grantproposals. Dr. Mark Axelrod (James Madison College and the DepartmentofFisheriesandWildlife)isthefirstrecipientofa VISTAS grant. With a focus on international politics and environmental politics, Dr. Axelrod and Dr. Brian Roth (Fisher-

ies and Wildlife) have developed a series of studies revolving around how communities are impacted by the global market and climate change. The studies gather data from different com-munities in India, which has allowed Dr. Axelrod to partner with Dr. Shyam Salim, Senior Scientist with the Central Marine Fisheries Research Institute, Indian Council of Agricultural Research. With funding from the VISTAS program, Dr. Salim had the chance to visit Michigan State University in January 2014 to meet face to face with Dr. Axelrod and other faculty members. Together, the pair have been able to collaborate on the projectandrecentlysubmittedtheirfirstarticlefromtheproj-ect series. In addition, Dr. Axelrod and Dr. Salim have submit-ted a grant proposal to the National Science Foundation and are excited to conduct future studies together. “This trip was essential to the progress of the project proposal and helped foster new relationships between MSU faculty and the Central Marine Fisheries Research Institute,” said Dr. Axelrod. He encourages other faculty to take advantage of this opportunity.