Monday, March 16th, 2009
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CES News
- Final Special CES Speaker: TUESDAY
- Spring 2009 Seminar Series
On Campus
- The Anthropology of Science and Technology
- Candidates for ECI and ECI-PSTC Postdoctoral Fellowships
- Heat Stroke: Nature in an Age of Global Warming
- The Conservation Medicine Group Guest Lecture
- U.S. Tax Assistance
Off Campus
- "Water Scarcity and Conflict"
Internships & Opportunities
- Summer in Costa Rica 2009: Ecology, Politics, and Environment
- The Tokelau Science Education and Research Project
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CES News______________________
Final Special CES Speaker
Tuesday, March 17th at noon
UEL classroom
Pizza served
Kathryn De Master
"Constructing Contradictions: The European Environmental Dream and Polish Organic Farming"
Kathryn De Master is a Ph.D. candidate and lecturer at the University of Wisconsin-Madison's Nelson Institute for Environmental Studies, as well as an honorary fellow at the University of Wisconsin's Land Tenure Center. Her scholarship emphasizes an interdisciplinary approach to environmental issues. Kathryn's research and teaching primarily explore local and sustainable agro-food systems, organic farming, global agriculture issues, European Union agri-environmental policies, environmental sociology and political ecology. Her dissertation, supported by the Kosciuszko Foundation and entitled "Waking Up to the European Dream: The Shifting Landscapes of Polish Organic Farming," emphasizes the socioeconomic transitions, environmental impacts, and changing policy regulations facing Poland's organic farmers, in the context of Poland's recent (2004) entry into the European Union.
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Spring 2009 Seminar Series
Thursday, March 12th at noon
UEL Classroom
Ryohei Moriguchi
Implementing Feed-In Tariff in the U.S: Lessons from Willingness-to-Pay Studies and Customer Research
Pizza served for $1/slice
On Campus______________________
The Anthropology of Science and Technology:
A Special Speaker Series to Continue Throughout 2009
Tuesday, March 17th at 4:00pm
MacMillan 115
“Alien Ocean: Life at Sea”
Anthropologist Stefan Helmreich, MIT, will discuss contemporary marine biology and changing scientific portraits of the ocean:
Stefan Helmreich is an Associate Professor of Anthropology at MIT. His research centers on contemporary biologists and their ideas about the conceptual and technical boundaries of the category of life itself. He has written extensively on Artificial Life, a field dedicated to the computer simulation of living systems, notably in Silicon Second Nature: Culturing Artificial Life in a Digital World (University of California Press, 1998). As part of his new research on contemporary marine biology, he is looking at how scientific portraits of the oceans are transforming as marine biologists reimagine the sea through the language and techniques of genomics, bioinformatics, biotechnology, biodiversity mapping, and systems modeling. His latest book, “Alien Ocean: Anthropological Voyages in Microbial Seas,” was published in January 2009 by University of California Press.
Sponsored by:
The Committee on Science and Technology Studies
Members of the Anthropology Department
The Pembroke Center for Teaching and Research on Women
The Marshall Woods Lectureship
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Environmental Change Initiative
Candidates for ECI and ECI-PSTC Postdoctoral Fellowships
Monday March 16th at 10:30 a.m.
GeoChem Room 150
Biogeochemistry of nitrogen – from arid deserts to temperate grasslands
JunRan Li, PhD, Environmental Sciences, University of Virginia, currently completing a postdoc at Cornell
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Wednesday March 18th at Noon
UEL Seminar Room
Remote sensing approaches to identify patterns of biodiversity and risk of extinction
Véronique St-Louis, University of Wisconsin, Madison, Forest & Wildlife Ecology
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Friday March 20th at 1 p.m.
PSTC Seminar Room, Mencoff Hall, 68 Waterman Street
Title TBD (Proposed postdoc topic: Povert Alleviation and Marine Resource Management: the case of Oportunidades in the Gulf of California, Mexico)
Sheila Walsh, Center for Marine Biodiversity and Conservation Scripps Institute of Oceanography & Center for Environmental Economics, University of California-San Diego
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Heat Stroke: Nature in an Age of Global Warming
Thursday, March 19 at 6:00 p.m.
MacMillan Hall, Room 115
Anthony D. Barnosky, University of California, Berkeley, Professor of Integrative Biology, Curator of Fossil Mammals in the Museum of Paleontology, and Research Paleoecologist in the Museum of Vertebrate Zoology. Professor Barnosky's research in paleontology, ecology, and climate change has taken him to most of the world's continents.
The reality of global warming means that nature as we know it—the species we love, the ecosystem services that sustain us, and the wild places where we seek solace--is under siege as never before. Besides adding its weight to the long-recognized ecological threats of habitat loss, invasive species, and growing human population, global warming is impacting nature in ways previously unimagined and potentially lethal, not only to myriad species, but to entire ecosystems. Daunting as saving nature is under such circumstances, it well within our grasp if we act now to slow greenhouse gas emissions, and to implement new conservation philosophies that recognize that we, and all other species, now live in a globally warming world.
Professor Barnosky will be speaking at Brown University, MacMillan Hall, 167 Thayer Street, Providence, RI. His talk will be followed by a book signing.
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The Conservation Medicine Group Guest Lecture
Thursday, March 19th, 2009 from 4-5pm
MacMillan 117
Dr. Kevin Lafferty
Environmental Stress and Infectious Disease
Dr. Lafferty is a research scientist with the U.S Geological Survey and Marine Science Institute at The University of California Santa Barbara. He is an expert in disease ecology, parasitology, invasive species ecology and marine conservation.
Check out other Conservation Medicine Group events at:
http://www.brown.edu/Research/ECI/activities/cmg_main.html
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U.S. Tax Assistance
Need help filing U.S. taxes? Not sure if you must file? Confused about income from multiple appointments?
Brown’s Office of Financial Aid and Office of the Vice President and General Counsel are pleased to host a Tax Workshop for Brown graduate students. Please attend one of two workshops being held on:
Tuesday, March 17th, 2009 from 5:00 – 6:30 p.m.
Wilson Hall Room #102
Thursday, March 19th, 2009 from 5:00 – 6:30 p.m.
Wilson Hall, Room #102
This workshop is designed to assist Graduate Students file 2008 U.S. resident tax returns
No international tax questions will be covered
Questions? Contact: GS_Financial_Aid@brown.edu
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INTERNATIONAL STUDENTS AND SCHOLARS:
International students and scholars on nonimmigrant visas (nonresidents for tax purposes) should instead follow the instructions and tax seminar information provided on the Office of International Student & Scholar Services (OISSS) website at www.brown.edu/oisss (click on 2008 Tax Filing Information)
For additional questions please attend the OISSS sponsored seminar on
Wednesday, March 18th, 2009 from 9:00 – 11:00 a.m.
CDC Library, 167 Angell Street
Questions? Contact: oisss@brown.edu
Off Campus____________________
"Water Scarcity and Conflict"
April 3rd & 4th, 2009
Connecticut College, New London, CT
Friday noon - 9 PM
Saturday 8 AM - 5 PM
Cost: $60 ($25 student rate)
The Friday evening keynote address is free and open to the public:
Water Use and Abuse: Innovations in Conservation
by Amy Vickers, President, Amy Vickers & Associates Inc.
Usable freshwater is a relatively scarce commodity on the Earth. Competition for water for human consumption, irrigation, industrial use and power generation has resulted in conflicts at both the local and international scale. Population growth, overuse of existing groundwater supplies and potential changes in local hydrology resulting from global climate change could stress existing water delivery systems and amplify political tension among users. The Conference on Water Scarcity and Conflict will examine the root causes of conflicts over water use. We will assess weaknesses in the current physical and political infrastructure and suggest ways in which water can be used in a more sustainable manner. Click here http://ccbes.conncoll.edu/ for a conference program and registration form.
For more information call 860-439-5417 or email goodwin-nieringcenter@conncoll.edu
Internships & Opportunities______
Summer in Costa Rica 2009: Ecology, Politics, and Environment
San José, Costa Rica
June 28th - August 1st, 2009
Sometimes referred to as the "green republic," Costa Rica has become a model for sustainable development of natural resources. Tulane University's Stone Center for Latin American Studies invites students to study the ecological wealth and political development of Costa Rica and surrounding countries. The program features two courses: one focused on Costa Rica's tropical ecology and the second on the contemporary politics of Central America and the Caribbean. As part of the course, students will meet with representatives of environmental organizations and visit Costa Rican political institutions. The group's weekend trips alternate between forest preserves, national parks, beaches and volcanoes. Participants study and live in the prestigious Centro de Investigación y Adiestramiento Político Administrativo (CIAPA), a private environmental and public policy think-tank within minutes of downtown San José.
Students will enroll in the following courses (all taught in English) for a total of six credits: EEOB 212 Climate change, biodiversity, and tropical forests (Ecology & Evolutionary Biology) and POLC 331 Governments of Latin America & the Caribbean (Political Science). The cost of this five-week program is $4,100 and includes the following: 6 undergraduate credits at Tulane, room and meals at CIAPA, medical insurance, specialized tours and outings designed for participants in the program. Airfare and incidental costs are not included in the program cost.
University students interested in applying must be in good academic standing and have at least a current cumulative grade point average of 2.5. Two letters of recommendation are required. Students are also required to submit a current transcript with their application. Please note that non-Tulane students are also welcome to apply to this program. Complete applications (including application form, transcript, and recommendations) and a $200 non-refundable deposit are due by 5:00 p.m. on March 20, 2009, in the Stone Center's Summer Program Coordination Office located in the Cuban and Caribbean Studies Institute in the Caroline Richardson Building.
IMPORTANT: If you are a non-Tulane student and are interested in the program but became aware of this program just before the application deadline, email Natalia Porto at nporto@tulane.edu <mailto:nporto@tulane.edu> (or call her at 504 862 8629) to confirm if the application deadline can be postponed.
Please consult the "International Programs" page of the Stone Center's web site at http://stonecenter.tulane.edu/html/International.htm#Summer. Or, contact Natalia Porto at SCLAS Summer Program Coordination Office, Cuban and Caribbean Studies Institute/ Caroline Richardson Hall, Tulane University, New Orleans, Louisiana 70118-5698, TEL 504.862.8629 / EMAIL: nporto@tulane.edu.
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The Tokelau Science Education and Research Project (www.TokelauScience.com) is a community based learning effort. After long consideration and consultation with the community we have decided as a trial to allow 5 selected off-island students to join us in 2009. This year's fieldwork will use archaeological techniques to recover samples to help understand the long term dynamics of human/environment interactions
Visiting these sea level-endangered remote atolls is a truly unique experience.
Those interested can find more information at: www.anthropology.hawaii.edu/Field%20Schools/tokelau/
Project Directors:
David Addison, PhD
Samoa Studies Institute
John Kalolo
Tokelau Dept. of Education
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Please send questions, comments and stories to:
CES Newsletter Editor, Marie-Laure Couët
marie-laure_couet@brown.edu
Thanks!