CES Newsletter, Monday, April 6, 2009
CES News
- · Spring 2009 Seminar Series
- · CES Graduate Student Presentations Next Week!
- · Brown Degree Days at CES
- · CCURB Info Session
On Campus
- · The Darwin Bicentennial: “What's New in Evolution?”
- · Final S4 colloquium of the semester
Off Campus
- · SuFI Farm Tour
- · Preservation Steps Out
Internships & Opportunities
- · Summer Internship for 2009
- · Cyberinfrastructure Summer Traineeships 2009
- · 2009 Kalpana Chawla Ocean Journey Scholarship to the Galapagos Islands
- · AmeriCorps Environmental Educator Positions
- · Project Racine: Volunteer for a summer in Haiti
- · SEEDS (Strategies for Ecology Education, Diversity, and Sustainability)
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CES News______________________
Spring 2009 Seminar Series
Thursday, April 9th at noon
UEL Classroom
Alex Chuman
Bristol Harbor Sensitivity Analysis
Claire Santoro
Energy Star Appliances and the Effect on Residential Energy Consumption
Pizza served for $1/slice
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CES Graduate Student Presentations Next Week!
UEL Classroom
Please join the CES graduate students as they publicly defend their Master’s theses. Delicious lunches and brunches will be served.
Monday, April 13th at noon
Marie-Laure Couët
Strengthening Providence with Community Gardens
Tuesday, April 14th at noon
Andy Posner
Green Microfinance: Advancing Social Equality and Sustainability in the United States
Friday, April 17th at 10am (note earlier time)
Laura Mattison
Participatory Equality in the Governing of Marine Resources; A Gender Focused Study on Fisheries Management in Kerala, India and Southern New England, USA
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Brown Degree Days at CES
Friday, April 10, 4:00pm, UEL Classroom
Make a difference! Change the World with a degree in Environmental Studies/Science
Environmental Studies and Environmental Science alumni will present a panel discussion highlighting their activities since graduating. Come hear how their work in the environmental field has made a real and positive difference in the world. Mini posters will also highlight the work of many of our alums around the globe. A reception will follow in the Urban Environmental Laboratory's Community Garden.
Panelists include:
Kevin Bruebaker ’85, Deputy Director of the Environmental Law and Policy Center of the Midwest
Christine Gaspar ’96, Architect
Noam Ross ’06, Consultant
Elizabeth Forsyth ’06, Harvard Law School
Laura Genello ‘ 07, Agriculture and the Environment
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CCURB Info Session
Community Carbon Use Reduction at Brown
Tuesday, April 7th at 8:30pm
UEL Classroom, 135 Angell Street
Learn how to apply for a grant to get your carbon-reducing project in motion.
Join the ranks of:
Project 20/20
Project HeatSave
Pump It Up!
Letters of Interest due April 13th, 2009 at 11:59pm
Proposals due April 26th, 2009 at 11:59pm
With questions, contact ccurb@brown.edu or check www.brown.edu/Departments/CCURB/
Partnership with Sophia Academy
On Campus______________________
The Darwin Bicentennial: “What's New in Evolution?”
April 6, 2009 at 4:30pm
Pembroke Hall, Room 305
Don't miss the final installment of a series of special events and panel discussions celebrating the birth of Charles Darwin (b. 1809) and the 150-year anniversary of the publication of Origin of Species.
Participants:
- Jonathan Kaplan, Philosophy, Oregon State, co-author of Making Sense of Evolution "Variation and Inheritance: Horizontal & Vertical, Genetic & Non-Genetic"
- Marc Kirschner, Systems Biology, Harvard University, co-author of Cells, Embryos, and Evolution and The Plausibility of Life: Resolving Darwin’s Dilemma "How the Organism Facilitates Its Own Evolution"
- Johanna Schmitt, Stephen T. Olney Professor of Natural History, Professor of Biology and Environmental Studies, Director, Environmental Change Initiative, Brown University "Darwin Meets the 21st Century”
-Peter Taylor, Graduate College of Education, Program in Critical & Creative Thinking, University of Massachusetts, Boston "Making Evolutionary Theory More Ecological: An Update on Chapter 3 of Darwin's Origin"
Sponsored by The Humanities/Science Project: The Committee on Science and Technology Studies and the Cogut Center for the Humanities
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Final S4 colloquium of the semester
Tuesday, April 14th at noon
PSTC seminar room
Elizabeth Bruch (Michigan) will give a talk on "Dynamic Models of Race and Income Segregation." Her work builds from agent-based modeling and uses data from Los Angeles to study processes of residential change.
This talk is co-sponsored with the Department of Sociology.
Off Campus____________________
SuFI Farm Tour
Saturday, April 11th from 9:30am to 3pm
Spring is finally here, and it's time to get outside and get your hands dirty! There will be a farm tour to Notarianni Farms in Ashaway, RI. The Notarrianis will provide lunch at the farm and are looking forward to having some help from us!
*Drivers of personal or UEL vehicles are needed.
Please email emilyviggiano@gmail.com if interested in coming and/or driving.
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Rhode Island Historic Preservation & Heritage Commission Bulletin
2009 RI Preservation Conference: Register today!
Preservation Steps Out
Saturday, April 25th, 2009
University of Rhode Island, Kingston Campus
24th Annual Rhode Island Statewide Historic Preservation Conference:
Download a pdf copy of the program:
Visit the conference website:
The day-long conference costs $40 and includes your choice of 25 programs, snacks, lunch, and a closing reception.
Early registration is open through April 17. After that, register on site on the day of the conference.
Note that two tours are already SOLD OUT: Olde Kingstowne (B6) and Coastal Matunuck (B8).
Internships & Opportunities______
Summer Internship for 2009
Denise O'Brien and Larry Harris of Rolling Acres Farm are looking for summer intern(s) who are looking for a unique experience on a small farm in Iowa. This internship will be will focus on 1) producing crops for a CSA, 2) being involved in regional food system work, and 3) assisting Denise with on the ground work of organizing the Community Food Security Coalition annual conference to be held in Des Moines, Iowa October 11-13, 2009.
Skills needed:
* Willing to work hard
* Love of the out of doors
* Sense of humor
* Interest in the politics of food and regional food systems
* Driver's license
* Knowledge of small equipment is good but not required.
* Web construction and/or blogging/twittering experience desired but not required
Room, board and a stipend will be provided. There will also be the possibility of extra paid work with Harrisdale Homestead http://www.harrisdale.com/ working with pumpkins and herbs.
The Harris O'Brien's have been farming on the Harris farm for thirty three years using organic practices. Small farm equipment as well as manual labor is a part of the daily operation. They are interested in providing people with the experience of farming but also in helping get people started in farming. They operate a small CSA and sell at a local farmer's market. This spring they are constructing a hoop house that will be used for food production. Denise has extensive experience in work that has helped create a local food system in Southwest Iowa. She also serves on the Iowa Farm to School Council.
The farm raises turkeys and chickens that are sold locally and to Iowa State University and Grinnell College dining services. There will be opportunities to attend Practical Farmer's of Iowa field days, workshops sponsored by the Leopold Center and other learning experiences as available and as fit with the farm production schedule. Iowa has led the way in food systems work. This internship will provide an opportunity to experience a wide range of a regional food system work from production to institutional food buying.
Send cover letter, resume and two references to:
Denise O'Brien or Larry Harris
hnob@metc.net
712-243-3264 or 712-249-3197
http://www.localharvest.org/farms/M26719
http://attra.ncat.org/attra-pub/internships/
http://www.growfood.org/
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Cyberinfrastructure Summer Traineeships 2009
Virtual Data Center for Biodiversity, Earth, Ecological, and Evolutionary Science Data
http://hackathon.nescent.org/Cyberinfrastructure_Summer_Traineeships_2009
Summer traineeships are available for up to four students and postdocs interested in informatics as applied to scientific data ranging from the fields of biodiversity, ecology, and evolutionary biology. The program provides a unique opportunity for undergraduate, masters, and PhD students as well as postdocs to obtain hands-on experience writing and extending open-source software as part of a distributed collaborative software development team building a Virtual Data Center (VDC) that includes major data and metadata repositories in those fields.
Trainees accepted into the program will receive a stipend ($4,500), and with the exception of attending one meeting near the beginning and one near the end of the 3-month program period may work from their home, or home institution.
Travel costs incurred in connection with the meetings will be reimbursed. Each student will have at least one dedicated mentor to show them the ropes and help them complete their project.
Initial project ideas are listed on the website. These range from validation of metadata and identifier resolution, to supporting LSID and semantic-web compliant PURLs for digital data objects, to implementing modern web-service APIs, to cataloging the diversity of metadata schemas. The project ideas are flexible and can be adjusted in scope to match the skills of the student. We also welcome novel project ideas that dovetail with student interests.
Students apply online. Instructions for applying are at the website (see "When you apply"), along with program rules and eligibility requirements.
The 15-day application period for students opens on Monday March 30th and runs through Monday, April 13th, 2009.
Inquiries: vdc-twg {at} ecoinformatics {dot} org. We strongly encourage all interested students to get in touch with us with their ideas as early as possible.
http://hackathon.nescent.org/Cyberinfrastructure_Summer_Traineeships_2009
To sign up for quarterly NESCent newsletters: http://www.nescent.org/about/contact.php
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2009 Kalpana Chawla Ocean Journey Scholarship to the Galapagos Islands
Blue Ocean Institute
Applications are due April 30th, 2009
To see the day-by-day itinerary of the Galapagos voyage, click here
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EV2KlYFWuJmw5srzu0opCXCAr0OgXxY4PCTLQIHpbUPwwxHOzIl-r3hj16XGdakbLI4p_zvs
MaEmtYaAG9FF7o8cPswstbuWbPDoaEsVvzBqvcwctpKs8xrPBI-kP9ChrqnUsfycz6ZkkEHR
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Honoring Kalpana Chawla:
The scholarship is named for the NASA astronaut who perished aboard the Columbia Space Shuttle in 2003. Kalpana Chawla had a profound connection with the ocean and planned to devote herself to conservation after her space mission. Following her death, her friends and family set up a special fund in her memory. With proceeds from the fund, Blue Ocean offers the scholarship to students who will carry on Kalpana's spirit of discovery, adventure, and reverence for the natural world.
In July, winners will travel on a 10-day Lindblad Expeditions voyage aboard the National Geographic Endeavour. Activities will include hiking, kayaking, snorkeling, swimming, and getting up close and personal with the unique creatures who live in the "Enchanted Islands."
Please visit www.blueocean.org for an application and details about the program.
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AmeriCorps Environmental Educator Positions
The Maine Conservation Corps is dedicated to environmental education, outdoor recreation and conservation projects, volunteer opportunities, and developing career and leadership skills.
Qualifications include a 4-year degree or equivalent experience, good organizational skills, initiative, good communication, writing and public speaking skills, ability to work independently and as part of a team, computer skills, a valid Driver’s license, and a commitment to environmental issues and community service.
1700 hour positions receive a living allowance of $11,400 ($253.50/week for 45 weeks) and if eligible, an AmeriCorps education award of $4,725.00 upon successful completion of the program.
900 hour positions receive a living allowance of $6,035 ($253.50/week for 24 weeks) and if eligible, an AmeriCorps education award of $2,362.50 upon successful completion of the program.
Other benefits include health insurance, childcare reimbursement if eligible, experiential learning, a wide range of training and networking opportunities and a Maine State Park Pass.
The Maine Conservation Corps application is available to download from our website (log on to www.maine.gov/doc/parks/mcc/ and download our MCC application) OR by contacting the MCC at 207-624-6085 (800-245-5627 in Maine only) or corps.conservation@maine.gov.
Send completed applications and reference forms to
Brenda Webber, Recruitment Assistant
Maine Conservation Corps
124 State House Station
Augusta, ME 04333-0124
Deadline Date: April 10, 2009
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Environmental Educator – 900 hours May - October
Maine Department of Inland Fisheries and Wildlife, Swan Island (Steve Powell WMA)
Successful applicant will live in shared housing on the island, which includes utilities. They will meet and transport visitors and their camping equipment from the mainland boat landing across the Kennebec River to Swan Island, assign camping sites, maintain campground and other facilities and equipment, conduct interpretive tours and educational programs, and oversee the welfare of visitors. Other duties include assisting in reservations and collection of fees, trail maintenance, habitat management activities, etc
http://www.maine.gov/ifw/education/swanisland/main_content.htm
Environmental Educator – 900 hours May - October
DHHS – CDC – Drinking Water Program, Augusta
The Maine Drinking Water Program is committed to working with public water systems to improve the protection of their wells. The program geo-locates each new well, and also surveys the area around the well for potential threats. An assessment of the current and future risks to the source is then conducted, and a report with recommendations for the system is prepared. Where systems are willing, technical assistance is offered and outreach to local government and neighbors to improve protection is provided. This MCC position would assist in working on the backlog of new wells and systems. These activities often require collaboration with local government, nearby landowners, and land trusts.
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Environmental Educator – 900 hours May - October
Maine Department of Conservation – Bureau of Parks and Lands, Augusta
There are two positions with the Bureau of Parks and Lands in Augusta. They will serve to work with and and assist BP&L staff with analysis of baseline documentation information and development of an easement monitoring protocol for 35 State held Conservation easements. Baseline documentation for each of the conservation easements will be reviewed to determine if key features have been located on the ground using geographic coordinates and assisting with compiling missing baseline information.
http://www.maine.gov/doc/parks/
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Environmental Educator – 900 hours May - October
Maine Department of Conservation – Bureau of Parks and Lands
There are two positions with the Bureau of Parks and Lands serving with the (1)Androscoggin Riverlands and the (2)Seboomook Unit. They will provide key stewardship and management functions at a critical juncture in planning for and implementing significant new recreation opportunities on two hallmark state properties - the Androscoggin Riverlands in Turner and Leeds, and the Seboomook Unit north of Moosehead Lake. The Bureau of Parks and Lands is transitioning the Androscoggin Riverlands on the outskirts of Lewiston and Auburn to a new State Park linking to other water and land trails; and the Seboomook Unit is being removed from the gated North Maine Woods system beginning in 2009, allowing free day use and bicycling and ATV use of these lands for the first time.
http://www.maine.gov/doc/parks/
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Project Racine: Volunteer for a summer in Haiti
Partner with Haitian college students to restore hope and solve Haiti's environmental crisis
Project Racine is a social enterprise that started in Haiti in October 2007. We train 18-25 year-old Haitian young people how to manage their own trauma and stress, rid themselves of a lifetime of anger and hopelessness, and become powerful community organizers and leaders. Since we started, we've already trained 225 Haitians. To get a feel for what we've done, check out this video: http://gallery.me.com/mcrobot/100135
This summer, we are inviting University Partners to join us down in Haiti to partner with the Haitian youth leaders, and work with them on: 1) Micro-business development and/or 2) Sustainable agriculture.
Session 1: July 1 - 15, Port au Prince: Microbusiness Development and Advanced Leadership Training
Session 2: July 17 - August 7, Plateau Centrale: Youth Leadership Training and Sustainable Agriculture Training
Session 3: August 9 - 30: Cap Haitien: Youth Leadership Training and Sustainable Agriculture
For information and to apply, contact Uma Viswanathan, Co-Director of Project Racine at 617-645-1428 or umav@artofliving.org
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SEEDS (Strategies for Ecology Education, Diversity, and Sustainability)
Ecological Society of America Fall 2009 Field Trip
Student Field Trips meet the SEEDS mission by providing exciting opportunities for underrepresented undergraduate students to explore their interest in ecology. Field trips allow students to spend four to seven days at an ecologically significant site, such as a field station, research laboratory, or national park, learning about the science of ecology, exploring career options, and seeing the practical applications of ecology.
The 2009 SEEDS Fall Field Trip will take place from September 17-20 at the Mountain Lake Biological Station in Virginia. All expenses are covered by SEEDS.
This field trip provides a unique opportunity for students to learn from, and perhaps contribute to, scientific research programs taking place at the research station.
For more information about SEEDS field trips and to apply for the Fall 2009 field trip, please visit us online at http://www.esa.org/seeds/fieldtrips/. All applications for this field trip must be received by midnight on May 1st, 2009.
Please contact Erin Vinson at erin@esa.org or 202-833-8773 with any questions.
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Please send questions, comments and stories to:
CES Newsletter Editor, Marie-Laure Couët
marie-laure_couet@brown.edu
Thanks!