Chris Ellis, associate professor of landscape architecture, and SNRE researcher Byoung-Suk Kweon have been selected by the Landscape Architecture Foundation to lead the production of Case Study Briefs that quantify environmental, economic and social benefits of exemplary high-performing landscape projects.
Three new faculty positions have been added to SNRE. The positions are in the areas of sustainable food systems, sustainable energy and climate change impacts, and sustainability and behavior. SNRE received the positions from U-M as part of President Coleman's 2007 Interdisciplinary Faculty Initiative, a plan to add 100 tenure-track positions in emerging research areas across the university; as of 2010, 72 had been approved in 17 cross-disciplinary clusters.
Kenton R. Miller, a respected global leader in nature conservation and former associate professor at the School of Natural Resources from 1975-83, died earlier this month. Dr. Miller had recently retired as vice president for conservation and development at the World Resources Institute. A memorial service is May 26 in Washington, D.C.
Developing sustainable societies is a major challenge for the 21st century. Policies developed by the United States and China will play an especially important role, since these two countries consume nearly one-third of the total world energy expenditure to power their economies and are the largest emitters of greenhouse gases. Both countries have major industrial complexes, large urban population centers, and large expansive rural areas that require extensive water management.
U-M's "Out of the Blue" featured the master's projects work of Jazmine Bennett, Jarrett Diamond, Gary Fischer and Kirby Smithson in a recent episode. The interdisciplinary group of 2011 graduates devised ways to make the Corner Brewery, an Ypsilanti craft brewery, more energy efficient and sustainable.
View the profile of the Green Brewery Project
A 2010 video about SNRE's master's projects also featured the project
"I have followed a career path that did not exist when I graduated from the University of Michigan. But this great University gave me the skills to create it," Peter C. Mertz, Visiting Committee member and alumnus, delivered this year's Commencement address April 30. Mertz is chief executive officer and co-founder of Global Forest Partners (GFP), one of the largest timber investment management organizations in the world.
Air pollution from industrial sources near Michigan public schools jeopardizes children's health and academic success, according to a new study from University of Michigan researchers. The researchers found that schools located in areas with the state's highest industrial air pollution levels had the lowest attendance rates—an indicator of poor health—as well as the highest proportions of students who failed to meet state educational testing standards. The researchers examined the distribution of all 3,660 public elementary, middle, junior high and high schools in the state and found that 62.5 percent of them were located in places with high levels of air pollution from industrial sources.
The second conference of the Initiative on Climate Adaptation Research and Understanding through the Social Sciences, or ICARUS-2, will take place at the School of Natural Resources and Environment (SNRE) in the University of Michigan's Dana Building, Ann Arbor campus, May 5-8. The theme for ICARUS-2 is Climate Vulnerability and Adaption: Marginal Peoples and Environment. More than 100 papers are registered to be presented by scholars and researchers from around the world. ICARUS-1was held at University of Illinois in 2010. Since last year, interest in climate adaptation has grown substantially, and ICARUS-2 is twice as large in terms of papers submitted and registered attendees.
With 25 former Peace Corps volunteers enrolled in the Fellows program, University of Michigan ranked No. 6 as a Peace Corps Fellows/USA school in 2011. Out of those 25 students, eight are enrolled at SNRE--a disproportionately large share of fellows and an illustration of the globally oriented and service-minded goals the school shares with the Peace Corps.
The second conference of the Initiative on Climate Adaptation Research and Understanding through the Social Sciences, or ICARUS, will take place at SNRE in the Dana Building May 5 to 8. The theme is Climate Vulnerability and Adaption: Marginal Peoples and Environment. More than 150 papers will be presented by scholars and researchers from around the world. ICARUS II is twice as large as the first conference, held at University of Illinois in 2010, in terms of papers submitted and registered attendees.