School of Natural Resources and Environment

News and Research Digest

Third Century Initiative

Five SNRE Faculty Receive Funding Through Third Century Initiative

Five researchers at the School of Natural Resources and Environment received funding under a new University of Michigan program to promote interdisciplinary work. The funded projects are examining the challenges facing resource-constrained environments and sustainable transportation.

The Global Challenges for a Third Century (TCI) program, as the initiative is called, funded fewer than 15 percent of submitted proposals.

Van Putten welcomes graduates to 'world of wounds' in commencement address

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.

Hoffman's new book, Flourishing: A Frank Conversation About Sustainability (Stanford University Press) deals with what sustainability should be, compared with what it's become.

New book from Hoffman explores the future of sustainability

Sustainability, once thought to be the province of scientists and environmentalists, is now a mainstream business strategy. But for people like Andrew Hoffman, professor at the University of Michigan Ross School of Business, it's not cause for victory. He fought the early battles to get environmental responsibility into the C-suites, and the initiatives he's observed don't align with sustainability's original intentions.

SPH's Joseph Eisenberg (left), and SNRE's Rebecca Hardin and Johannes Foufopoulos.

SNRE, Public Health researchers share expertise to study health systems in Africa

It's the kind of scientific question tailor-made for interdisciplinary research. How does Q-fever, a highly contagious and still largely untracked disease, move among people, livestock, and wild animals, and what are the long-term effects of its presence on human health and economic systems? Answers may be closer to emerging because of M-Cubed, a new University of Michigan program that is awarding nearly 200 grants to jump start interdisciplinary work. The two-year, $15 million effort encourages faculty to explore major issues facing the planet, from climate change and poverty to health and energy.

Middy Potter

Art & Environment Gallery: Work of Middy Potter

Middy Potter is a self taught as an artist, and has always realized the connection of science and art. His formal training includes a degree in Naval Architecture and Marine Engineering, a form of art in itself. Influences include traveling throughout the United States and Europe while experiencing new cultures, art, buildings and people. Materials for my sculptures have included wood, cloth, glass mosaics on three dimensional forms, stone, metal, cast stone, and found objects.

A satellite image of Lake Erie on Sept. 3, 2011, overlaid on a map of the lake and its tributaries. This image shows the bloom about six weeks after its initiation in the lake's western basin. On this date, it covers the entire western basin and is beginning to expand into the central basin. Map by Michigan Sea Grant.

Record-breaking 2011 Lake Erie algae bloom may be sign of things to come

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.

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