Richard C. Smardon - US grants

The Great Lakes Research Consortium (GLRC) is immersing 20 undergraduate faculty in a three week summer practicum that is demonstrating environmental problem-solving as an effective teaching strategy to stimulate undergraduates' interest in environmental science. Undergraduate faculty participants are learning environmental analysis techniques and preparing environmental impact statements for a hypothetical development project in a contaminated harbor of Lake Ontario. As they are being exposed to new innovative theoretical concepts and techniques developed by the Great Lakes Research community to understand and solve environmental problems, participants are being shown how to integrate environmental problem-solving into curricula at their home institutions. Special topics, based on the Great Lakes experience are including the theories and applications of cascading trophic interactions and particle-size spectra in community ecology; analytical methods for determining toxic chemical concentrations in sediments and fishes; and use of microcomputers for mass-balance and bioenergetics modeling of large lake systems. Through preparation of environmental impact statements for a realistic project, these techniques are being integrated into the overall environmental analysis and problem-solving approach that has stimulated undergraduate interest in science at two GLRC campuses for a decade. Participants in the practicum are returning to their home institutions with expanded and updated professional skills and new strategies, methods and techniques for improving undergraduate education and addressing environmental problems in local communities.

9353978 Smardon The Great Lakes Research Consortium proposes to immerse 20 undergraduate faculty in a 3-week summer practicum that demonstrates environmental problem-solving as an effective teaching strategy to stimulate undergraduates' interest in environmental science. This model has proven to be effective during a summer practicum for undergraduate environmental science teachers of two and four year colleges who, as a result of the practicum, successfully incorporated environmental problem solving curriculum into their courses. Undergraduate faculty participants learn environmental analysis techniques and prepare environmental impact statements for a hypothetical development project in a contaminated harbor of Lake Ontario. As they are being exposed to new innovative theoretical concepts and techniques developed by the Great Lakes research community to understand and solve environmental problems, participants will integrate environmental problem-solving into curricula at their home institutions. Special topics, based on the Great Lakes experience, will include the theories and applications of cascading trophic interactions and particle-size spectra in community ecology; analytical methods for determining toxic chemical concentrations in sediments and fishes; and the use of microcomputers for mass balance and bioenergetics modeling of large lake systems. Through preparation of environmental impact statements for a realistic project, these techniques will be integrated into the overall environmental analysis and problem-solving approach. Participants in the practicum will return to their home institutions with expanded and updated professional skills and new strategies, methods and techniques for improving undergraduate education and addressing environmental problems in local communities. ***

The Great Lakes Research Consortium (GLRC) proposes to immerse 20 undergraduate faculty in a 3-week summer practicum that demonstrates environmental problem-solving as an effective teaching strategy to stimulate undergraduates' interest in environmental science. This model has proven to be effective during a summer practicum for undergraduate environmental science teachers of two and four year colleges who, as a result of the practicum, successfully incorporated environmental problem solving curriculum into their courses. Undergraduate faculty participants learn environmental analysis techniques and prepare environmental impact statements (EIS) for a hypothetical development project in a contaminated harbor of Lake Ontario. As they are being exposed to new innovative theoretical concepts and techniques developed by the Great Lakes research community to understand and solve environmental problems, participants are shown how to integrate environmental problem-solving into curricula at their home institutions. Special topics, based on the Great Lakes experience, will include the theories and applications of cascading trophic interactions and particle-size spectra in community ecology; analytical methods for determining toxic chemical concentrations in sediments and fishes; and the use of microcomputers for massbalance and bioenergetics modeling of large lake systems. Through preparation of environmental impact statements for a realistic project, these techniques will be integrated into the overall environmental analysis and problem-solving approach that has stimulated undergraduate interest in science at two GLRC campuses for a decade. Participants in the practicum will return to their home institutions with expanded and updated professional skills and new strategies, methods and techniques for improving undergraduate education and addressing environmental problems in local communities.

The goals of the Great Lakes Consortium Summer Practicum in Applied Environmental Problem-Solving are to encourage participants to revise or create new multidisciplinary environmental science courses based on applied environmental problem solving; and to expose participants to innovative new theoretical and practical techniques being used in the Great Lakes basin and to introduce faculty to involved scientists. The project theme--environmental impact analysis--ties together the methods necessary for analyzing and solving environmental problems. The project also addresses the gap existing between the availability of up-to-date information about a major national resource--the Great Lakes-St. Lawrence ecosystem--and what is currently taught at the undergraduate level. The practicum is familiarizing participants with related developments in environmental analysis; cascading trophic dynamics, particle-size spectrum theory, and endocrine system-disrupting pollutants; and environmental sampling, analytical methods, and mass balance/bioenergetics modeling of toxic chemical dynamics in aquatic ecosystems. Scientists with the Great Lakes Research Consortium who have made significant contributions in these fields are leading each of the practicum's modules. Although the Great Lakes are used as an example, the theories, methods and models learned are applicable anywhere. The three week practicum in June 1998, combines field/lab experience, classroom instruction and skills development exercises in four course modules: I) Great Lakes Ecosystem Science/Issues and Lake Ontario Environments; 2) Techniques for Analyzing Toxic Chemicals Commonly Found in the Great Lakes, 3) Ecosystem Modeling with Spreadsheets: Mass Balance/Bioenergetics 4) Writing an Environmental Impact Statement (EIS) and Developing Problem-Solving Curricula for Undergraduates.

Once dominated by energy-intensive, ferrous-based industries, "Rust Belt"? cities in the Northeast and Midwest were the backbone of the U.S. economy. Over the last 50 years, however, their populations and economies contracted dramatically with many social and ecological ramifications. By re-envisioning blighted urban spaces and reconnecting to regional natural productive capacity, Rust Belt cities may arrive at a more sustainable social and ecological future. This collaborative research project will engage university-based scholars, government scientists, and local stakeholders in an examination of the process of urban greening to mitigate rust belt urban "blight" while enhancing the socioecological metabolism of these cities. The investigators' objectives are to use the theory of socioecological metabolism and behavioral decision theory to assess how the socioecological metabolism of a typical Rust Belt city has changed over time as well as its vulnerability to future external factors, such as restrictions in oil availability, climate change, and reverse migration from the Sunbelt. They also will investigate how city revitalization emphasizing natural ecosystem processes via green infrastructure might affect socioecological metabolism at both the city/regional and the household/neighborhood levels in the future. The investigators will explore with local government and citizen stakeholders the institutional and societal constraints that may limit transitioning to this new city form and how urban ecosystem science can be transferred from the scientific community to local actors. They also will explore the potential range of socioecological options and possibilities of land-use and land-cover structure and management and how it can contribute to long-term future sustainability and quality of life in Rust Belt cities.

This project will advance the scientific understanding of the human dimensions of urban ecosystem material and energy flows within the socioecological metabolism framework, particularly as related to the necessity of: providing reliable energy sources to support urban metabolism and understanding how alternative land-use and land-cover patterns will impact energy budgets, water. and air quality. The project will advance the scientific understanding of socioecological metabolism and its utility in urban planning, particularly with respect to urban greening; and it will provide an educational tool to cultivate urban citizens' interest about urban fauna and its evolution over time, ecosystem services, and biodiversity. The value of this work is not limited to Rust Belt cities. More broadly, the project will provide knowledge about the human dimensions of urban green revitalization, which has become an important national initiative, and a suite of tools designed with and for managers and decision makers that will help them explore alternative urban design and planning policies to mitigate the impact of potential external events, incorporate regional ecosystem production capacity, evaluate physical opportunities for green infrastructure, honor citizen preferences, and educate the community toward new paradigms in urban form. This award was funded as an Urban Long-Term Research Area Exploratory (ULTRA-Ex) award as the result of a special competition jointly supported by the National Science Foundation and the U.S. Department of Agriculture Forest Service.