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Leading scientists, NGO leaders and government officials converge on Copenhagen, Denmark, this week for the United Nations Climate Conference (COP15). The event will be followed by an estimated 3,000 journalists. Three SNRE students are attending as part of a U-M delegation given 'Observer Organization' status. I encourage you to follow the students' analysis via their blog. Much of the conference's content will build upon the just-released World Development Report 2010, which I co-authored and recently discussed in Beijing with top Chinese scientists, government leaders and U-M alumni. As 2009 draws to an end, I want to wish you and other alumni a happy holiday season and ask you to remember the school in your year-end giving plans. Your support is invaluable to our future success. Please make a gift to SNRE today
Rosina M. Bierbaum, professor and dean
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Her theories on economic governance and common property earned Elinor Ostrom a share of this year's Nobel Prize for Economic Sciences. But since 2006, a major research effort she founded—the International Forestry Resources and Institutions (IFRI) Initiative—has been housed at SNRE. Professor Ostrom, who received an honorary degree from U-M in 2006, started IFRI in the early 1990s. The initiative focuses on showing how collectively managed forests around the world contribute to human livelihoods, global plant diversity and carbon sequestration. Since 1992, researchers affiliated with IFRI have investigated more than 450 communally managed forests around the world, and their research has been featured in scores of journals, including Science and PNAS. SNRE Professor Arun Agrawal has coordinated IFRI since 2006.
Visit the IFRI Web site
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Charles E. Olson, Jr. (B.S.F. '52, Ph.D. '69), an emeritus professor and dean from 1974-75, was selected as the next Honorary Member of the American Society for Photogrammetry and Remote Sensing (ASPRS). The honor is the highest an ASPRS member can receive. Olson has been an ASPRS member since 1956; he will receive the award at the ASPRS 2010 Annual Conference. During his 36-year SNRE career that started in 1964, he taught undergraduate and graduate courses in such topics as Air Photo Interpretation, Remote Sensing of Environment, Digital Processing of Remote Sensor Data and Forest Fire Ecology.
Eric Charnov (B.S. '69), a Distinguished Professor of Biology at the University of New Mexico, was recently elected a Fellow of the American Academy of Arts & Sciences, one of the nation's most prestigious honorary societies. His research combines ideas from ecology, economics and evolution to understand the life history and, reproductive and foraging decisions of plants and animals, including humans. For the past 30 years, his ideas have produced many of the most-cited publications in evolutionary ecology. He previously was named both a MacArthur and Guggenheim Fellow and has received the George Mercer Award from the Ecological Society of America.
Thane Maynard (M.S. '77) co-authored Hope for Animals and Their World: How Endangered Species are Being Rescued from the Brink with naturalist Dr. Jane Goodall. Maynard is executive director of the Cincinnati Zoo & Botanical Garden. Their co-author is science writer Gail Hudson. The book is a collection of short stories that detail the work of those who have kept countless species from becoming extinct. The book is published by Grand Central Publishing.
Amanda Garratt (M.S. '08, M.S.W. '08) was one of U-M 28 students selected as a 2009-10 Fulbright Fellow. Garratt, who received a dual degree from SNRE and the School of Social Work, plans to use the Fellowship to travel to Peru. Her topic of study is "Traditional Conservation in the Peruvian Amazon: Toward a Collaborative Approach."
Francis T. (Chris) Christy, Jr. (M.S. '59, Ph.D. '64), a groundbreaking economist in the field of fisheries management, died June 19 at home in Washington, D.C. He was 82. In May, the North American Association of Fisheries Economists recognized his contributions to the field with an award commemorating the 36th anniversary of Fishermen's Quotas: A Tentative Suggestion for Domestic Management, an occasional paper that changed fisheries management. At SNRE, he was the first student to enroll in the new graduate program in natural resources conservation established by Stanley A. Cain. His career spanned almost five decades and included extensive travel to developing countries and roles with a range of organizations, including the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations, the Inter-American Development Bank and The World Bank.
S. Ross Tocher (Ph.D. '69), an SNRE professor who held the Dana Chair for many years, died Oct. 15. Professor Tocher joined the Department of Forestry in 1965 and retired in 1981. Many former colleagues and students kept in touch since his retirement and continued to enjoy the results of his passion for photography. While at SNRE, he collaborated with Professor Grant Sharpe in expanding the focus of the forestry department's recreation program. Upon earning his doctoral degree, Professor Tocher took over the International Seminar on National Parks and Equivalent Reserves, changing its format to a four-week traveling field study that gave the school substantial visibility. Several dozen high-ranking park administrators and professionals from around the world joined the Seminar each summer. Professor Tocher also taught a very popular undergraduate course in outdoor recreation.
Send your updates to Erin Longchari in the Office of Development and Alumni Relations via e-mail (erinla@umich.edu) or regular mail: School of Natural Resources and Environment, Office of Development and Alumni Relations, University of Michigan, 440 Church St., Ann Arbor, MI 48109-1041.
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