Mark Van Putten, a friend of SNRE with more than 30 years of experience in environmental policymaking and nonprofit organizational leadership at the international, national, regional, and local levels, delivered the Spring 2013 Commencement Address to graduating students Saturday, May 4.

The largest harmful algae bloom in Lake Erie's recorded history was likely caused by the confluence of changing farming practices and weather conditions that are expected to become more common in the future due to climate change. Rather than an isolated, one-time occurrence, it was more likely a harbinger of things to come, according to U-M researchers and other.

Strictly protected areas such as national parks and biological reserves have been more effective at reducing deforestation in the Amazon rainforest than so-called sustainable-use areas that allow for controlled resource extraction, two University of Michigan researchers and their colleagues have found. In addition, protected areas established primarily to safeguard the rights and livelihoods of indigenous people performed especially well in places where deforestation pressures are high. The U-M-led study, which found that all forms of protection successfully limit deforestation, is scheduled for online publication March 11 in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.

Amanda Carrico is a research assistant professor at the Vanderbilt Institute for Energy & Environment at Vanderbilt University. She also is a faculty fellow in the Climate Change Research Network at Vanderbilt, where she was a postdoctoral fellow from 2009-2012. She earned a doctoral degree in Social Psychology (2009) from Vanderbilt University; a master of arts in social psychology (2005) from Vanderbilt and a bachelor of arts (2002) from Transylvania University.

Eleven more faculty at the School of Natural Resources and Environment have become part of winning MCubed projects funding by the university under a new interdisciplinary program.