The Nelson Institute Blog

Below is a mind map created by yours truly and based on the alphabetical list on the Sustainability@Wisconsin website. It provides a new way of thinking about the content of the website and was the motivation for an exciting meeting this morning with folks from the Wildlife Disease Information Node (WDIN). In that meeting we began thinking about how we might evolve sust@wisc to take advantage of information architecture expertise in the library school and information infrastructure provided by DoIT and WDIN.

In the mean time, what do you think?

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Congratulations to Nelson Institute faculty and staff members who have received the following university awards this spring:

H.I. Romnes Faculty Fellowships, recognizing rising faculty stars tenured within the past four years. Each Romnes Fellow receives $50,000 for research support.

• James Schauer (civil and environmental engineering/environmental studies), a leader in the development of advanced chemical analysis methods to understand the sources and fate of air pollution. His research has been applied to study human health, urban air pollution, ecosystem changes, and global climate change throughout the U.S. and in many other regions of the world.
• Emily Stanley (zoology/environmental studies), who studies management and restoration practices for streams, rivers, and their watersheds. She teaches introductory zoology, limnology, and ecology of rivers and streams and is associate editor of the journal Ecological Applications and the Journal of Geophysical Research Biogeosciences.

Chancellor’s Distinguished Teaching Awards

• Edward Friedman (political science/environmental studies) has taught at UW-Madison for 41 years. He specializes in Chinese politics, democratization, and globalization, and is recognized for his curriculum development. His latest new course addresses the politics of human rights, looking at many different countries and issues and incorporates literature in philosophy and diplomacy. He has also taught weekend seminars for high school social studies teachers, sessions for the College of Agricultural and Life Sciences’ seminar on sustainable development, and modules for the School of Business’ executive master’s program.
• Anthony Ives (zoology/environmental studies) teaches introductory ecology, theoretical ecology, and graduate seminars. Thirteen undergraduates and high-school students have published first-author papers from his lab, and undergraduates have been co-authors 20 times. Ives was one of the first two faculty members to teach Biology Interest Groups (BIGs) three-credit seminars for first-semester students. The courses are case-based, and student-directed learning is a focus. In his BIGs, Ives concentrates on environmental issues ranging from transgenic agricultural products to global climate change.

Class of 1955 Distinguished Teaching Award

• Trina McMahon (civil and environmental engineering/environmental studies), a faculty member since 2003, implements new teaching ideas and technology to engage students and solicit their feedback on what they’re learning. She also works hard to integrate her teaching with her research in the microbial ecology of natural and engineered systems. McMahon is involved in the Delta program, a research, teaching, and learning community that supports science, technology, engineering math and faculty in their improvement of student learning.

Chipman Outstanding Academic Staff Teaching Award (from the UW School of Business)

• Tom Eggert (business/environmental studies), a senior lecturer who teaches courses covering social and environmental stewardship and advises student organizations in this area. For their combined efforts to incorporate environmentalism, sustainability, and social justice into the business curriculum, Madison Magazine cited Eggert and Professor Dan Anderson (business/environmental studies) in April as local Green Heroes.

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A new online map makes it possible to track news of disease outbreaks around the world that threaten the health of wildlife, domestic animals, and people.

The Global Wildlife Disease News Map is a product of the Wildlife Disease Information Node (WDIN), a five-year-old collaboration between UW-Madison and two federal agencies, the National Wildlife Health Center and the National Biological Information Infrastructure, that are part of the U.S. Geological Survey.

WDIN is housed within the Nelson Institute and the USGS. Read more.

That is the rough estimate of the Nelson Institute’s carbon footprint calculated by EAP capstone students Jeannette LeBoyer and Damon Clark. Roughly 2/3s of that is steam, a bit less than 1/3 is electricity and the remainder is travel. As I said these numbers are rough and there are large uncertainties associated with especially the steam number; but we now have a starting point for thinking about our own contributions to ghg emissions. Pete Nowak has calls our attention to the following:

Colleagues: I think we all recognize that the complexity and dynamic nature of the environmental issues we study often requires an interdisciplinary or even transdisciplinary approach. Experience has taught us that while this approach may be difficult, it is also very rewarding. However, professional opportunities to learn from others who have also taken on these same environmental challenges has been limited up to now. I am excited to announce the formation of a new professional society that will help us in this line of scholarship, the Association for Environmental Studies and Sciences (AESS). Membership ($30 per year for professional membership) information can be found at: http://aess.info I encourage you to join and then help make this professional association consistent with the level of environmental scholarship found on the UW-Madison campus. Moreover, I am working to host the AESS meetings here in Madison during October of 2009 which will give you a chance to showcase this scholarship. Please give membership some thought, and if you have any questions or concerns, please contact me at your convenience. Thank you

At our recent staff meeting we returned once more to our objectives for the semester. Our progress is summarized in the diagram below. We did fairly well this semester. Some of the items that are marked in progress or un-started will still be attended to and some will remain for attention over the summer and in subsequent semesters. I am now in the process of thinking about goals for the summer and will report on those shortly. We are pleased to welcome Jean Touchette to the Academic Programs Office. Over the last few weeks Jean has been transitioning from the School of Social Work to her new home at the Nelson Institute. Please stop in to introduce yourself and begin directing all of the questions that you used to send Sue Fafard to Jean (jtouchett@wisc.edu). Same timely, high-quality service! The Business, Environment and Social Responsibility (BESR) certificate in the Business School has been approved by the Graduate Faculty Executive Committee (GFEC). This certificate has been specifically designed for Nelson Institute students who want exposure to concepts of sustainable businesses. Bill Bland and I met with the Letters and Science APC recently to continue our work toward establishing a framework for undergraduate majors in the environment. We were joined by Molly Jahn, Bob Ray and Steve Ventura. The discussion was lively and clear in its acknowledgment of the important role the L&S will play as we develop a portfolio of majors that will prepare our students for the breadth and complexity of the environmental challenges we will face in the decades to come. In a few days I will join the leadership of the University on the stage in the Kohl Center for our Spring commencement exercises. These ceremonies celebrate the accomplishments of our students and honor one of our most important missions. In the Nelson Institute we will recognize our graduating students with a reception on Saturday. Congratulations and good luck to all of our graduating students.

The Conservation Biology and Sustainable Development (CBSD) M.S. program is in the early stages of its ten-year review. This is a great opportunity to build on the program’s strengths and improve what needs attention. Professor Nancy Langston (Nelson Institute, Forest Ecology & Management and History) has graciously agreed to serve as the chair of the review. As we move forward in the process, we will actively seek your participation and input. If you have any questions about the time line or process, please contact Sara Lorence (email or 262-9206). Thank you in advance for your help!

You’re ready to invest in an alternative-fuel vehicle to cut your greenhouse gas emissions and perhaps even save money at the pump. But where, exactly, do you find the right kind of pump?

Ask Kavi Turnbull. He hopes to launch a Web-based service to make locating any of more than 7,000 alternative-fuel stations across the United States as easy as looking up phone numbers.

Turnbull’s idea earned him the Nelson Institute’s Green Entrepreneurial Venture Recognition Award at the 11th annual G. Steven Burrill Technology Business Plan Competition in April, sponsored by the University of Wisconsin School of Business. He received a $1,000 cash prize provided by an anonymous donor.

A hint of what Turnbill plans appears on DriveAlternatives.com, where one eventually will be able to search the country for fueling stations serving hybrid, biodiesel, ethanol 85, electric, compressed natural gas, hydrogen, and propane vehicles. He also expects to supplement the database with recommendations for more than 100 new models of green vehicles based on fuel availability and driving preferences.

A first-year MBA student, Turnbull is a graduate of the University of Minnesota’s Carlson School of Management and a veteran of two startup businesses.

Initiated in 1998, the Burrill competition encourages UW-Madison students to develop and present technology-based business plans. Seventeen plans were entered and six cash prizes were awarded in this year’s competition.

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M.B.A. student Kavi Turnbull (right) discusses his business idea during a break at the 11th annual G. Steven Burrill Technology Business Plan Competition.