A team of four dual-degree SNRE students took second place last week in the Clean Energy Prize contest for their master's project. Team Smart Energy—Andrew Lubershane, who is completing a master's in applied economics in addition to a degree at SNRE, and Erb students Mike Elchinger, Ryan Flynn, and Graham Brown—won $25,000 for a plan that uses an innovative financing model to retrofit municipal buildings for energy efficiency savings. Their master's project client is the Clean Energy Coalition. The group has also received a $50,000 grant from the Ford Motor Company to support implementation of their business plan over the summer.

Ten students at the School of Natural Resources and Environment have been named Scholars and Fellows by two prestigious environmental organizations. Eight have been named Doris Duke Conservation Fellows as future leaders in nonprofit and public sector conservation. The Wyss Foundation awarded fellowships to two students as future leaders in Western land conservation issues.

Eight students at the School of Natural Resources and Environment have been named Doris Duke Conservation Fellows as future leaders in nonprofit and public sector conservation. "More Michigan fellows were named than was the case at any of our peer schools, a wonderful outcome that reflects the stellar qualities of our students and the commitment of the School to the program,"  said Steven L. Yaffee, an SNRE professor and director at the SNRE-based Ecosystem Management Initiative, which administers the Duke Fellows program at the University of Michigan.

Ginger Murphy, who received a master of landscape architecture degree from SNRE in 2000, was named this week by U.S. Department of Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack to a year-long assignment providing support to the agriculture mission in Afghanistan.