Sustainability
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.
The University of Michigan's School of Natural Resources and Environment is the only graduate environmental school in the nation to combine natural science, social science and design into one shared research and educational enterprise. Nine faculty members representing multiple disciplines are hosting five symposia that address distinct and complex facets of sustainability science.
Jan L. McAlpine, a leading U.S. government advisor, policy maker, negotiator and facilitator on international issues, has assumed a new role at the University of Michigan to contribute to and learn about collaborative research and education on environmental sustainability. The 17-year government-service veteran, currently on a one-year sabbatical from the U.S. Department of State, is serving as a senior research fellow with Natural Resources and Environment and the first visiting scholar at the Graham Environmental Sustainability Institute.