The Nelson Institute Blog

Assistant Professor of civil & environmental engineering (and Nelson Institute Affiliate) Trina McMahon, with colleagues Marc Anderson, Timothy Donohue, Isabel Tejedor-Anderson, and graduate students Yun Kyung Cho and Rodolfo Perez, hopes to develop a large-scale microbial fuel cell system for use in wastewater treatment plants. . . .

“In nature,” says McMahon, “photosynthetic bacteria effectively extract energy from their food — and microbial fuel cells capitalize on that efficiency. By having the microbes strip the electrons out of the organic waste, and turning that into electricity, then we can make a process of conversion more efficient. And they’re very good at doing that-much better than we are with our high-tech extraction methods.”

Read the full story here:

Researchers harness the power of bacteria (Aug 22, 2006)

Researchers at Newcastle University looked at temperature trends in the western Himalaya over the past century.

They found warmer winters and cooler summers, combined with more snow and rainfall, could be causing some mountain glaciers to increase in size.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/england/tyne/5283278.stm?ls�

People ask me why I am interested in the environment and I never can give a response I am happy with. Maybe my love of oysters is too abstract for the average person to find interesting. Or perhaps I can’t give a great definition for a watershed. This summer, I realized my passion for environmental studies comes from a source that is completely relatable. It’s all about people.

The history of oyster restoration in Virginia doesn’t sound like a topic that movie producers would love to turn into a screenplay. But, after my summer in Norfolk, Virginia, I feel like I could make a case for quite the drama. As an intern with the Chesapeake Bay Foundation, I came face-to-face with the personalities that drive, or stall, environmental issues in Virginia. I worked on two oyster restoration projects: a shell-recycling program called CBF CARES and a shoreline-softening program. Through these assignments, I met scientists, politicians, oystermen, citizens, and conservationists and attended press releases, meetings in the governor’s office, town hall gatherings with small communities, and worked on an oyster boat. I found that saving oysters was not just about the animal; it was about livelihood. Intertwining livelihood with nature meant that human emotions, egos, and expectations were hung on the oyster. The situation today is just as “human” as it is “environmental.”

After working a few days a week with the Bay Foundation, I spent time at several local libraries, including my favorite, the Mariner’s Museum library. At the Mariner’s Museum, I was able to thumb through 150-year-old documents, including a plea from Virginians in 1858 to save the oyster that seems almost verbatim to modern-day editorials. After interviewing people as part of my research, I was again confronted with how little has changed in the course of fifteen decades. Perhaps it is human nature to resist change.

I look forward to finishing my research and writing a paper that captures what I experienced this summer. I hope that my work will mean something to the people who I met and perhaps will contribute to better natural resource management in tidewater Virginia. More importantly, though, I am excited to have a better answer the next time someone asks why I’m such an oyster nerd.

Professors Caitilyn Allen (plant pathology and women’s studies), Harvey M. Jacobs (URPL and Nelson Institute), and Donald M. Waller (botany and Nelson Institute) have received funding to continue a France-based graduate student exchange opportunity initiated in 2005-2006 in the areas of land use, conservation biology, and environmental management. The exchange has been funded for a second year by the French American Cultural Exchange Foundation for French-American Academic Partnerships (approximately $120,000). In addition, the team has secured a three-year grant from the U.S. National Science Foundation International Research Experiences for Students Program (approximately $150,000). Both grants are managed through the UW Dean of International Studies. The exchange opportunity provides for approximately five students per year to go to France in the spring semester to take classes or undertake research (and for a similar number of French students to come to UW). To date, the primary partner institution in France is AGRO-M, an “ecole supérieure” for agriculture, located in Montpellier in the south of France. The exchange began in spring 2006 with four UW students, including two Nelson Institute students and five AGRO-M students, and it will continue at least through the 2008-2009 academic year. (See application instructions.)

With seed funds from UW-Madison’s Center for European Studies, Professor Harvey M. Jacobs (URPL and Nelson Institute) will organize and coordinate a three-year seminar series on European innovations in urban and environmental management. This series will examine the specific innovations being explored within individual countries and across Europe. Invited speakers will be scholars, professionals and activists engaged in the promotion and assessment of these innovations, individuals who study and care about the physical and social qualities of urban and environmental spaces. One of the goals for the series is to create a dialogue about the lessons to be learned from Europe for the engagement of similar problems in the U.S.

The Nelson Institute Community Environmental Forum begins this fall with a series on water issues in Wisconsin. The Forum, which will focus on a different topic each semester, will serve as both a for-credit course for students, and a public discussion of pressing environmental issues. Speakers and audience members will represent a cross-section of the community, including the private sector, state and local government, non-profit organizations, and academia. Our goal is to facilitate positive, productive and informative interaction among this broad array of interests and our students and faculty.

The Fall 2006 Community Environmental Forum will focus on challenges facing our water resources. The first session, “Groundwater and Surface Water Interactions in Dane County,” will be held on Friday, September 15, 2006, from 12:00 noon to 1:15 p.m., in Rm. 3180 Grainger Hall, 950 University Avenue. Ken Bradbury of the Wisconsin Geological and Natural History Survey and Sue Jones of the Dane County Office of Lakes and Watersheds will speak about the impact of groundwater withdrawals on Madison’s lakes, streams and springs, and other issues facing these interconnected resources.

A complimentary lunch is offered as part of the event, but seating is limited. To inquire about attending or for more information about the series, including upcoming topics and speakers, visit the Nelson Institute Community Environmental Forum site, or contact Steve Pomplun at 263-3063.

As we approach September, I see a number of important issues we will need to resolve in the Institute.
The future of the Land Tenure Center once more hangs in the balance. When the governance faculty voted to take on the Land Tenure Center, it was for a three year term with no resource demands on the Nelson Institute. The University APC committee voted last year to allow for its continuance only if it showed results in terms of winning the major grants and funding streams that could make it financially independent.
Unfortunately despite strenuous efforts on the part of Matt Turner, Chris Elholm and Kurt Brown, financial independence has not been forthcoming. Indeed, in an effort to provide maximum support, the Nelson Institute has provided the LTC with space (the suite of rooms behind room 175), and this year provided some salary support for Chris and Kurt.
Now, Matt’s departure to take on the Chair of Geography leaves the Center leaderless, and no successor has stepped forward. I have talked to a number of people who feel that for the LTC to remain viable, it essentially needs to be reconceptualized. This will take someone with a real passion for the Center and the issues on which it has traditionally focused. As you may recall, Matt was given a course release from the College of Letters & Science to direct the Land Tenure Center, and it is possible that that arrangement would be maintained if someone else suitable from L&S were to take on the Directorship. If someone from another college were to volunteer, a similar arrangement would have to be negotiated, depending on the commitment of the Dean of his or her college.
If a suitable candidate for the directorship does not step forward before October, I don’t think the UAPC will support the continuing operation of LTC. Much as I feel the need for more social science based research centers in the Nelson Institute, I would have difficulty in this case arguing against this position. If anyone has thoughts or suggestions, please let me know.
Finally, I want to thank Matt for the energy and dedication he has put into trying to keep LTC afloat. If it founders now, it will not be for lack of effort.
The curriculum redesign is moving forward, thanks to the summer work of several committees. One committee has been working to design an integrative “core competency” course that could possibly be offered to all Nelson Institute graduate students. Others have been refining the models for both an applied masters and a research degree. These designs have so far been generic, i.e. created without explicit reference to our existing programs. However, this fall will be the time for the program committees to decide (I would hope by December) whether or not to restructure our existing programs in whole or in part around these concepts.
Concurrent with debates about redesign, we will be conducting program assessments for each of our programs beginning in September. These assessments are mandated by the University and will involve a facilitated analysis (by each program committee) of

• the existing design of the programs,
• the goals around which each program was designed,
• the program elements contributing to each program goal, and
• the program’s measures of success.

This will allow us to clearly identify the purposes, strengths and weaknesses of each program and should help the committees modify and strengthen program design on an ongoing basis. It should also give the committees some help in determining whether it would be useful and desirable to “graft” elements of the new design into existing programs.
Three new staff will be joining the Institute by the end of the month. Rob Beattie, who many of you met at the last staff retreat, has joined us in the position of Associate Faculty Associate to work on managing and developing the IGERT proposal, and to work on other new program initiatives in the Institute. Rob brings great experience in program design from his previous experience at University of Massachusetts, Boston, where he was in charge of an integrated, interdisciplinary undergraduate program in environmental studies. Adrian Treves will be joining us in the position of Senior Administrative Program Specialist. This position, which was specially created as part of the pre-emptive retention of Lisa Naughton, will give greater strength to the Nelson Institute in terms of funding possibilities with both Foundations and with International NGO’s. Adrian, an active researcher with experience working with both Conservation International and the Wildlife Conservation Society, will focus on increasing Nelson Institute research and program funding . He will be working on developing Foundation proposals and will be contacting many of you to explore your interests, both in terms of research and programming. Lastly, Molly Young, who worked as a PA for us last year will now be joining us full time as Associate Outreach Specialist, to support Steve Pomplun in his outreach work and in event planning. I am delighted to welcome, Rob, Adrian and Molly, and I look forward to the energy and creativity they will bring to the Institute.
That’s all for now. I will resume regular weekly blogs in September.
Frances