Environmental Science and Sustainability

In April, Lindsey Kelley’s ’15 comp, “Corporate Social Responsibility in Supply Chains: Factors for Consideration in Developing Adaptation Strategies for Ugandan Vanilla Farmers Affected By Drought,” was distributed to development specialists in Africa. Her research was also being shared with the corporate leadership team at Ben and Jerry’s. Her research looked at how Ugandan farmers that want to supply vanilla to Ben and Jerry’s could best adapt their practices to accommodate incipient climate change

Source: Academics, Publications & Research

Assistant Professors of Environmental Science Benjamin Haywood and Brittany Davis, along with Jessica Schombert ’16, presented research at the annual American Association of Geographers meeting in San Francisco. Professor Davis served as a discussant on a panel about fieldwork in political ecology and presented research on sustainability and eco-labeling. Professor Haywood presented research on avian interactions with energy landscapes. Jessica was part of a session on water resources where she shared her senior research work on neoliberalism and climatic maladaptation.

Source: Academics, Publications & Research

Assistant Professors of Environmental Science Benjamin Haywood and Brittany Davis, along with Jessica Schombert ’16, presented research at the annual American Association of Geographers meeting in San Francisco. Professor Davis served as a discussant on a panel about fieldwork in political ecology and presented research on sustainability and eco-labeling. Professor Haywood presented research on avian interactions with energy landscapes. Jessica was part of a session on water resources where she shared her senior research work on neoliberalism and climatic maladaptation.

Source: Academics, Publications & Research

Assistant Professor of Environmental Science Brittany Davis was selected from a national applicant pool to participate in a NEH Summer Institute on “Extending the Land Ethic: Current Humanities Voices and Sustainability” for four weeks this summer at Northern Arizona University. During the month, scholars selected for the institute will study with leading voices in the fields of environmental ethics, nature writing, and sustainability studies. Each scholar will also develop a new course or work on a publication.

Source: Academics, Publications & Research

Assistant Professor of Environmental Science Brittany Davis was selected from a national applicant pool to participate in a NEH Summer Institute on “Extending the Land Ethic: Current Humanities Voices and Sustainability” for four weeks this summer at Northern Arizona University. During the month, scholars selected for the institute will study with leading voices in the fields of environmental ethics, nature writing, and sustainability studies. Each scholar will also develop a new course or work on a publication.

Source: Academics, Publications & Research

Eric Pallant, the Christine Scott Nelson Professor of Environmental Sustainability and chair of the Department of Environmental Science, has been awarded a 2016-17 Fulbright award to the United Kingdom. He plans to spend half his time undertaking research into the scientific transformation of bread production as part of a book he is writing on the geography and history of sourdough cultures. The book is tentatively titled “Culture: A Short History of the World in a Loaf of Fresh Sourdough.” He also plans to teach about food, sustainability and green campus initiatives at Lancaster University. This is Professor Pallant’s second Fulbright Award. In 2001 he was awarded a Fulbright to teach and conduct research at Israel’s Arava Institute for Environmental Studies, which serves as a regional center for conservation and environmental protection activities and develops ties between Middle Eastern and Western university students.

Source: Academics, Publications & Research

Eric Pallant, the Christine Scott Nelson Professor of Environmental Sustainability and chair of the Department of Environmental Science, has been awarded a 2016-17 Fulbright award to the United Kingdom. He plans to spend half his time undertaking research into the scientific transformation of bread production as part of a book he is writing on the geography and history of sourdough cultures. The book is tentatively titled “Culture: A Short History of the World in a Loaf of Fresh Sourdough.” He also plans to teach about food, sustainability and green campus initiatives at Lancaster University. This is Professor Pallant’s second Fulbright Award. In 2001 he was awarded a Fulbright to teach and conduct research at Israel’s Arava Institute for Environmental Studies, which serves as a regional center for conservation and environmental protection activities and develops ties between Middle Eastern and Western university students.

Source: Academics, Publications & Research

The National Science Foundation recently announced that Professor of Biology and Environmental Science Scott Wissinger was awarded a three-year grant for $388,016 for collaborative research with undergraduates. The grant, titled “Consequences of Climate-Induced Range Shifts on Multiple Ecosystem Functions,” will provide the opportunity for nine Allegheny students to conduct summer research with Professor Wissinger and his collaborators on how climate change-induced elevational shifts in species distributions are affecting the ecology of alpine ponds and wetlands near the Rocky Mountain Biological Laboratory in Colorado. The total cost of the grant-supported research is $388,016. The grant supports 100% of the total project cost.

Source: Academics, Publications & Research

The National Science Foundation recently announced that Professor of Biology and Environmental Science Scott Wissinger was awarded a three-year grant for $388,016 for collaborative research with undergraduates. The grant, titled “Consequences of Climate-Induced Range Shifts on Multiple Ecosystem Functions,” will provide the opportunity for nine Allegheny students to conduct summer research with Professor Wissinger and his collaborators on how climate change-induced elevational shifts in species distributions are affecting the ecology of alpine ponds and wetlands near the Rocky Mountain Biological Laboratory in Colorado. The total cost of the grant-supported research is $388,016. The grant supports 100% of the total project cost.

Source: Academics, Publications & Research

March 15, 2016 – Eric Pallant, the Christine Scott Nelson Professor of Environmental Sustainability and chair of the Department of Environmental Science at Allegheny College, has been awarded a 2016-17 Fulbright award to the United Kingdom.

Pallant, who teaches a class at Allegheny titled “Soil to Plate,” an interdisciplinary survey of food production around the world, will reside in the U.K. for five months. He plans to spend half his time undertaking research into the scientific transformation of bread production as part of a book he is writing on the geography and history of sourdough cultures. The book is tentatively titled “Culture: A Short History of the World in a Loaf of Fresh Sourdough.”

He also plans to teach about food, sustainability and green campus initiatives at Lancaster University.

Pallant plans to work with the Lancaster Environmental Centre on a microbial survey of yeast sharing communities and the working microbial economy of Lancaster. He also plans to visit the National Collection of Yeast Cultures, a 65-year-old research facility with 4,000 strains of yeast, to have the yeasts in his own 122-year-old sourdough starter — from the Cripple Creek, Colorado gold rush of 1893 — analyzed for their microbial diversity.

A third component of his research will take place in the archives of the Manchester Museum of Science and Industry, where he will study the impact of the Industrial Revolution on the transformation of bread making from artisanal to mechanical.

This is Pallant’s second Fulbright Award. In 2001 he was awarded a Fulbright to teach and conduct research at Israel’s Arava Institute for Environmental Studies, which serves as a regional center for conservation and environmental protection activities and develops ties between Middle Eastern and Western university students.

In addition, Pallant has twice served as a U.S. State Department speaker and specialist. In 2008 he spent 10 days lecturing at universities and high schools in the Palestinian Authority on sustainability and green buildings. In 2014 he traveled for two weeks to Cambodia, Vietnam and the Philippines, where he lectured and held meetings to promote river rehabilitation.

For the last several years Pallant has partnered his classes at Allegheny College with classes in other countries via Skype, Facebook and on-line blogs. He has co-taught classes with professors in Pakistan, Morocco, Israel, France and England. After presenting his observations at the 2nd World Symposium on Sustainable Development at Universities, he published “Overcoming Obstacles to Classroom Based, Cross-Border, Environmental Education in Universities.”

Allegheny College has one of the oldest environmental science programs at any liberal arts college in the United States. In 2015 it was recognized by EnvironmentalScience.org as the second best program in the country.

The Fulbright Program, which increases mutual understanding between the people of the United States and the people of other countries, is the flagship international educational exchange program sponsored by the U.S. government. Only about 500 teaching and/or research Fulbrights are awarded each year.

Source: Academics, Publications & Research