Michigan Sea Grant today awarded a total of $409,417 to researchers from three Michigan universities. The research will focus on Michigan's coastal and Great Lakes issues involving wind power and restoring natural river flow in the Clinton River watershed. The funding will sustain three-year research projects and is contingent upon annual appropriations from Congress. The grant funds are leveraged by an additional $254,457 from non-federal sources, including state and university partners.
For the second consecutive year, The Journal of Great Lakes Research has given its annual award for best peer-reviewed paper to a researcher affiliated with the University of Michigan School of Natural Resources and Environment. Thomas Johengen received the 2009 Chandler-Misener Award for a paper titled, "Stimulation of Lake Michigan plankton metabolism by sediment resuspension and river runoff." He co-authored the paper with fellow researchers Bopaiah A. Biddanda and James B Cotner.
University of Michigan aquatic ecologist Donald Scavia and his colleagues say this year's Gulf of Mexico "dead zone" could be one of the largest on record, continuing a decades-long trend that threatens the health of a half-billion-dollar fishery. The scientists' latest forecast, released today, calls for a Gulf dead zone of between 7,450 and 8,456 square miles---an area about the size of New Jersey.
David Allan, professor and acting dean of the University of Michigan School of Natural Resources and Environment, will be honored Sunday (May 17) for outstanding contributions to all fields of benthic science with the "Award of Excellence" from the North American Benthological Society. The 1,500-member international organization is conducting its 57th annual meeting this year in Grand Rapids, Mich.í‚ Benthic science refers collectively to all aquatic organisms that live on, in or near the bottom (substratum) of water bodies, and the bottom environment itself. This includes organisms inhabiting running and standing waters, and also applies to organisms from saltwater and freshwater habitats.
Joan Iverson Nassauer, a professor of Landscape Architecture at the University of Michigan School of Natural Resources and Environment, has received a second consecutive award for published research from the U.S. International Association for Landscape Ecology (US-IALE). Nassauer has received honorable mentions for "Outstanding Paper in Landscape Ecology" the past two years. The latest award was given earlier this month for a paper in the September 2008 issue of Landscape Ecology, the journal of IALE. Last year, Nassauer and co-authors received an honorable mention for a paper in the December 2007 issue of the same journal.
Don Zak, a professor in the School of Natural Resources and Environment, will deliver the Francis Clark Distinguished Lectureship at the 2009 Soil Science Society of America meeting. The lectureship is the highest award given by the society for pioneering work in soil biology and biochemistry. His lecture will be delivered Nov. 3 at the International Annual Meetings of the Soil Science Society of America (SSSA). That event is Nov. 1-5 at the David L. Lawrence Convention Center in Pittsburgh, Pa. It brings together more than 3,500 people from 50-plus countries representing academia, government and private industry, including a large contingent of undergraduate and graduate students.
The Wyss Foundation has awarded fellowships to two students at the University of Michigan's School of Natural Resources and Environment (SNRE) as future leaders in Western land conservation issues. The 2009 Wyss Scholars, both first-year master's students, are: Nicholas Deyo (Landscape Architecture), who graduated with a degree in ecology from the University of Montana, was a Peace Corps volunteer in Western Samoa and worked for the U.S. Forest Service in Missoula; and Clayton Elliott (Environmental Policy and Planning), who graduated with degrees in environment and economics from the University of Wyoming and has worked for the Wyoming State Legislature.
An interdisciplinary team of University of Michigan faculty members and students collaborated on this 45-minute performance work about the Huron River. The intricately layered piece interweaves live and recorded music, dance, video and poetry.
Fred and Helen Arbuckle Scholarship in Landscape
This scholarship was established in 2005 by Fred and Helen Arbuckle. Fred, a 1978 MLA alum, established this scholarship in appreciation of the education he received at SNRE, and the start his UM degree gave to his career.
Richard R. Bertoni Memorial Fund
Established in honor of the memory of Richard R. Bertoni (BLA 1969 and MLA in 1973) who passed away suddenly while working at Sasaki Associates in Watertown, MA.
The University has been a leader in energy conservation and environmental stewardship for decades, long before "campus sustainability" became a buzzword. U-M has taken that commitment a step further with the launch of its first campuswide sustainability Web site, www.sustainable.umich.edu.