Monday, November 10th, 2008
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CES News
- Fall 2008 Seminar Series
- Duke Information Session
- Two Course Announcements: Spring 2009
On Campus
- Center for Vision Research at the Brown Institute for Brain Science
- Learn about SES at Woods Hole
- Brown Legal Studies Seminar
- Seminar: Environmental Change and Wetland Field Formation and Use in the Ancient Maya Lowlands
Off campus
- Water Issues Forum
- Developing Markets of Ecosystem Services
Internships & Opportunities
- The Wildlands Studies Program
- CERC & SEE-U
- Carnegie Endowment for International Peace Junior Fellows Program
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CES News________________________
CES Seminar Series Fall 2008
Thursday, November 13th, Noon UEL room 106
Brazilian Ethanol: A Gift or Threat?
Sriniketh Nagavarapu's research focuses on the economics involved in environmental issues and in the design of poverty alleviation strategies, primarily in developing countries. His dissertation examines the impact of expanding ethanol production in Brazil on deforestation and regional inequality. More broadly, Sri's current interests are centered on the interactions between traditional environmental concerns - such as land conservation, water supply, and adoption of green technology - and issues related to labor markets and health. In addition, he has participated in research on other topics, such as individual schooling decisions during times of crisis, and food assistance for low-income families in the U.S. and India.
Pizza will be served for $1 per slice.
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Duke Information Session
Thursday, November 13th at 4pm
UEL Conference Room, 1st floor
Duke's Nicholas School is among the world's premier graduate professional schools for the interdisciplinary study of the environment. Meet Lisa Rattray, Admissions Officer for the Nicholas School, at this presentation to learn about graduate opportunities as well as undergraduate courses available at the Duke Marine Lab.
Refreshments will be provided.
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Course Announcements: Spring 2009 Semester
An exploration seminar at the interfaces of sciences, social sciences & humanities…
Geol 1960F—Patterns: In Nature, In Society
M&W 3:00–4:20pm
Prof. R.F. Cooper
Nature is dominated by the rate of dissipation of energy; the Second Law defines the rules of that dissipation. Energy-dissipation rate dictates the shapes of plants and animals, of mountains and shorelines; it dictates, too, the forms of matter that arise in chemical and physical reactions. Consequently, patterns in nature can be examined to learn about the energy deployment, or “landscape” that produced them. Clearly, the Second Law is foundational to the philosophy—and practice—of science. But is it more? Societies and economies show temporal and spatial patterns as well: does the rate of flow of ideas and of value cause these patterns? We will explore just how “entropy rules.” In doing so, we will be concerned both with science and society.
• Course enrollment limited to 16. Instructor permission required: my hope is to have half of the participants be sciences concentrators and half from the humanities and/or social sciences.
• Student leadership of most discussions is required.
• The principal “deliverables” for the course are three papers (two 5-7 pages, one 10-15 pages), with due dates roughly equally spaced in the semester.
Questions? Please contact Reid Cooper (reid_cooper@brown.edu; 031 GeoChem Building; 3-2160)
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NOTE: The following course does not appear in the Course Announcement 2008-09 but WILL be offered in the spring 2009 semester. Limited enrollment. Inquiries welcome.
Anthropology 1260: Humans and Birds: Intersections
MW 8:30-9:50 am
Giddings House 212
Prof. Krech
Email: krech@brown.edu
This course offers an anthropological perspective on the intersection of birds and people. Birds (in western science, the class Aves) represent a big slice of nature. They figure in many ways in human-animal relations, from providing raw material for artifacts and fodder, to entering social and cultural arrangements, narrative, theories of sickness and well-being, ideas of the sacred, and being named and classified as animate or inanimate and part of the human or other-than-human world. By sustained focus on birds, one category of the natural world, the hope is to throw into relief the broader relationship between people, in particular those considered as indigenous or aboriginal, and the environment, and to raise questions about the natural underpinnings of cultural apprehensions of nature.
On Campus______________________
Center for Vision Research at the Brown Institute for Brain Science
Tuesday, November 11th from 3:30-4pm
Marcuvitz Auditorium, Sidney Frank Hall
Roger T. Hanlon, PhD from Woods Hole will speak on Dynamically Camouflaged Cuttlefish: how does an ancient oceanic creature become an optical illusion in the blink of an eye?
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Learn About the Semester in Environmental Science (SES) in Woods Hole, MA
Wednesday, November 12th from 12-1pm
Eddy Auditorium, Room 291, Biomed Center
A Fall Semester 2009 Off-Campus Program offering field and lab training in ecosystems-ecology and biogeochemistry sponsored by The Marine Biological Laboratory and approved for credit at Brown University. Hosted by Ken Foreman, SES Program Director.
Free pizza provided.
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Brown Legal Studies Seminar
Friday, November 14, 12:00-1:30 pm McKinney Conference Room (Room 353) at the Watson Institute.
Speaker will be Susan Silbey, from M.I.T. She is one of the leading figures in the Law and Society movement, and she'll be presenting work from an on-going project exploring how a major research university has responded to the pressures of environmental health and safety law on scientific laboratories. This should be a lively and engaging session, resonating not only with sociology of law and workplace ethnography but also with environmental studies and social studies of science.
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Timothy Beach (Georgetown University)
Environmental Change and Wetland Field Formation and Use in the Ancient Maya Lowlands
Thursday, November 13, 2008 at 6:30 pm
Mencoff Hall (68 Waterman Street)
Reception to Follow at 70 Waterman Street
Free and open to the public
Tim Beach is Professor of Geography and Geoscience in Georgetown University’s School of Foreign Service's Program in Science, Technology, & International Affairs (STIA), and was Director of Georgetown's Center for the Environment from 1999 until 2007. He has conducted field research in the Corn Belt of the United States, Mexico's Yucatán, Belize, Guatemala, Syria, Turkey, and Germany funded by National Science Foundation, The National Geographic Society, USAID, USIA, the Association of American Geographers, and Georgetown University. Based on these field studies, he has published many articles and chapters, has an accepted book on environmental archaeology in the Petén of Guatemala, and has made numerous scientific presentations around the world. His research focuses on soils, agriculture, environmental change, and geoarchaeology, and he was elected Fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science in Fall 2006 for "major research contributions that improved understanding of the linkages among ancient agriculture, environmental change, and soil-geomorphic processes in Mesoamerica."
Off Campus______________________
Water Issues Forum
Wednesday, November 12th from 4-6:30pm
Corliss Auditorium, URI Narragansett Bay Campus
The Coalition for Water Security, a partnership of many of the state’s leading environmental and economic groups, is joining with the Washington County (aka South County) Regional Planning Council to host a special forum on water issues.
Follow link for more information:
http://www.naturalnews.net/Joomla/Events/Our-Water-Future-South-County-Forum.html
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Developing Markets of Ecosystem Services
December 1st at 1:30pm
EPA in Narragansett, Conference Rooms A&B
Stephen K. Swallow, Professor, University of Rhode Island, Dept of Environmental and Natural Resource Economics, will be talking about his work on developing markets of ecosystem services. Much of the work he will discuss was done with Bobolinks on Jamestown Island but he will also discuss a newer project he is starting on the Virginia Coastal Reserve where he is studying the development of markets for Seagrass, clam, and migratory bird habitat conservation. This talk will be helpful to anyone who is interested in learning more about Ecosystem Services, Economic Valuation, and Market Approaches to Conservation. The title of his talk is: "Market Approaches for Ecosystem Services: Examples of Grassland Nesting Birds on Hayfields".
Please bring Photo ID if you are coming from outside of the laboratory, and please contact Walter J. Berry with questions.
Walter J. Berry
U.S. EPA
27 Tarzwell Drive
Narragansett, RI 02882
voice: (401)782-3101
cell: (401)932-9591
fax: (401)782-3030
Internships & Opportunities_________
The Wildlands Studies Program
The Wildlands Studies Program, California State University, Monterey Bay offers a series of environmental and cultural ecology field studies this winter/spring that we invite you to join. You can choose among five wildlife, wildland and cultural ecology field studies searching for solutions to environmental and cultural challenges. Each program grants 12 upper-division transferable units credit. Field studies take place in wildland locations throughout China, Brazil, Mexico, Chile and Thailand.
All of our programs, now available for your consideration, are described at our website: www.wildlandsstudies.com; or our catalog can be sent to you in the mail. Our email address is wildlands@wildlandsstudies.com. If you have questions about any of our programs, please feel free to contact us.
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Center for Environmental Research and Conservation (CERC) &
2009 Summer Ecosystem Experiences for Undergraduates (SEE-U)
CERC is now accepting applications for the 2009 SEE-U program; study-abroad courses that provide undergraduate students of all majors with a global understanding of ecology and environmental sustainability.
SEE-U offers five week long summer field ecosystem courses in Brazil (São Paulo) and the Dominican Republic (Punta Cana), for undergraduate students. Upon completion of the program, students receive six undergraduate credits from Columbia University. These credits are transferable to nearly every college and university. We also offer a two and a half week program in Upstate New York (Black Rock Forest), which earns students three undergraduate credits.
Our application deadline for fellowship consideration is November 15th, 2008. Applications will be considered as they are received and there are a limited number of spaces available for our sites in Brazil, the Dominican Republic and Black Rock Forest, New York. Applications without fellowship consideration are due by February 15th, 2008.
Our upcoming SEE-U Information Session is scheduled for:
Wednesday, November 12th, 2008 4:00PM
We are located on the 10th Floor of Schermerhorn Extension on the Columbia University campus. See http://redir.targetx.com/cgi-bin/email/redir.cgi?id=0000553494-75826860 for directions. Please RSVP to djb2104@columbia.edu.
Please see below for more information about the SEE-U program: http://redir.targetx.com/cgi-bin/email/redir.cgi?id=0000553493-75826860
Questions, contact: djb2104@columbia.edu or 212-854-0149
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Carnegie Endowment for International Peace
Junior Fellows Program
Each year, the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace holds a rigorous national competition to select approximately 8-10 graduating seniors to serve as research assistants. They are matched with senior associates – academics, former government officials, lawyers and journalists from around the world – to work on a variety of international affairs issues. Junior Fellows have the opportunity to conduct research for books, participate in meetings with high-level officials, contribute to congressional testimony and organize briefings attended by scholars, activists, journalists and government officials.
Junior Fellows spend one year (beginning August 1st) at the Carnegie Endowment in Washington D.C. Positions are full-time and include a salary and benefits package.
Campus Deadline is November 28th, 2008
For more information, contact Dean Linda Dunleavy, 213 University Hall, 401.863.2538
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CES Newsletter Editor, Marie-Laure Couët
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