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Sustainability Research Grants Awarded
Five Indiana University research projects -- examining topics that include forest management in the U.S., land use patterns in Brazil and Honduras and student transportation choices in Bloomington -- have been awarded IU School of Public and Environmental Affairs Sustainability Research Development Grants.
Projects and researchers selected for the awards include:
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"Studying the Sustainability of Urban Social-Ecological Systems through the Urban Forest: Development of the Urban Forestry Resources and Institutions (UFRI) System." SPEA clinical professor Burney Fischer and doctoral students Sarah Mincey and Richard Thurau will lead a project to develop and test a new methodology for assessing urban forest sustainability.
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"Third Party Sustainability Certification: Does the Forest Sustainability Certification (FSC) Program Deliver?" SPEA associate professor Kenneth Richards and master's student Miranda Hutten, in collaboration with Steven Rayner of Oxford University, will investigate whether forestry certification programs increase the global application of credible sustainable forest practices.
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"Sustainable Development Strategies in Western Amazonia: A Spatial and Temporal Analysis of Land Use, Livelihood and Institutions." Eduardo Brondizio, associate professor of anthropology, and SPEA doctoral student Francisco deSouza will evaluate changes in land use, livelihood and institutions under three land tenure types in Acre state, Brazil.
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"Sustainable Land Use: An Assessment of Technology Transfer Programs in Rural Honduras." SPEA professor J.C. Randolph, assistant professor of anthropology Catherine Tucker, and SPEA doctoral students Monica Paulson Priebe and Carlos Gonzalez Jaimes will study the degree to which technology transfer initiatives by non-governmental organizations influence environmentally sustainable land-use practices, using the example of NGO interventions in the aftermath of Hurricane Mitch.
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"Transportation Sustainability at Campus Level: Students' Residential Location Choice and Transportation Mode Shift." SPEA associate professors Diane Henshel and David Good, master's students Yonghua Zou, Craig Harper, Max Jie Cui and Courtney Bonney, supported by adjunct advisers Kent McDaniel (IU Transportation Services), Rob Fischman (IU Maurer School of Law) and Nicole Schonemann (Office of Service Learning), will focus on the relationship between alternative transportation incentives and students' residential and behavioral choices and their impact on goals of transportation sustainability.
Events
Upcoming Events
Past Events
Transport Electrification Panel: Meeting II
Held October 18-19, 2010. The 13-member panel's work was released February 2, 2011 at a news conference in Washington, D.C. The full report is available at the link below.
Plug-in Electric Vehicles: A Practical Plan for Progress, The Report of an Expert Panel, February 2011
Transport Electrification Panel: Meeting I
May 10-11, 2010
President Obama has established goals, policies, and public funding to advance plug-in vehicles and overcome the barriers inhibiting commercialization. During his candidacy, he announced a goal of putting one million plug-in electric vehicles on the road by 2015. In 2009, President Obama designated $2.4 billion in stimulus funds to battery technology development and manufacturing capacity expansion ($1.5 billion), recycling capacity development for lithium batteries ($500 million), and infrastructure concepts ($400 million).
The Transport Electrification Panel (TEP), organized and funded by the Indiana University School of Public and Environmental Affairs (SPEA), will convene at an informal workshop on May 10-11, to address the adequacy of President Obama's policies.
The panel will represent a diversity of disciplines and perspectives, similar to a panel of the National Academy of Sciences or National Academy of Public Administration, but it is not designed as a stakeholder negotiation -project description.
The Formation and Change of Public Attitudes Toward Carbon Capture and Storage: State and Local Responses to Persuasive Communication
April 30, 2010
On April 30, the Indiana University School of Public and Environmental Affairs hosted an informal workshop to help guide a new project on the formation of public knowledge and attitudes toward carbon capture and storage (CCS) at coal-fired power plants. We are particularly interested in how public view is likely to be formed and changed over time in an adversarial context, where proponents and opponents of CCS have an opportunity to design and deliver divergent messages.
Our purpose is not to develop risk education materials or to lay the groundwork for public acceptance or rejection of CCS. Rather, we seek to determine which messages (and associated contexts) are likely to be influential in the formation of public knowledge and attitudes. Such information will make a contribution to the scientific literature and may also be useful to multiple stakeholders with differing views -project description.
The Search for Wise Energy Policy
June 11, 2009
On June 11, the Indiana University School of Public and Environmental Affairs (SPEA) presented "The Search for Wise Energy Policy," a conference featuring energy experts and academics tackling complex issues on the future of energy. The conference had four panels:
- Policy Drivers: Energy Security, Environmental Protection and Affordability
- Changing Patterns in Energy Supply
- Changing Patterns in Energy Demand and Use
- Climate Policy
Panelist presentations from the conference are available here.
For more information about the conference, including a full list of topics and panelists see The Search for Wise Energy Policy conference website.