Environmental Science and Sustainability

Professor of Environmental Science Richard Bowden and Lauren Deem ’13 co-authored “Litter Input Controls on Soil Carbon in a Temperate Deciduous Forest” in a special edition of the Soil Science Society of America Journal. The paper, based on a 20-year experiment at Allegheny’s Bousson Experimental Forest, showed that soil C is susceptible to decreases in forest productivity and is very slow to increase soil C. Thus intact forest soils have limited potential to help reduce global warming pollution.

Source: Academics, Publications & Research

Laura Branby, Pittsburgh field educator for Creek Connections, presented on the role of Creek Connections in western PA K-12 watershed education and stream health analysis at the Ohio River Basin Consortium for Research and Education Symposium at Robert Morris University. The group brings together universities, colleges, governmental agencies, industries, and individuals to promote inter-institutional research, education, and information exchange in water-related concerns and other environmental issues in the Ohio River Basin.

Source: Academics, Publications & Research

“I felt truly closer to Vietnamese culture.”

October 21, 2014 UBELONG
UBELONG Snapshot

Name: Joseph Phelps
Age: 21
Hometown: Meadville
Nationality: United States
University: Allegheny College
Degree: Environmental Science And Studio Art
Languages spoken: English, French (beginner)
Past travel experience: Newbie
Volunteer Abroad: Caring for disabled children in HCMC, Vietnam
Duration: 6 weeks
Start month: June 2014
Claim to fame: He’s the Secretary and Webmaster of Meadville Council on the Arts via the Bonner Scholar Program at Allegheny College.

Read the full story.

Source: Academics, Publications & Research

By Melissa Mattwig ’17

This past summer I was given the amazing opportunity to represent Allegheny College and Creek Connections at Osa Conservation in Costa Rica for two months. The primary reason for my trip was to conduct global health research on the water quality on road transects and in the nearby town of Puerto Jimenez.

With this data I was able to get an idea of the effects that certain activities, such as deforestation and agriculture, had on the surrounding ecosystems.

In addition to my research, I also was able to help Jim Palmer, associate professor of biology and environmental science and Creek Connections director, with chemical testing and macroinvertebrates when La Paz International School (La Paz, Bolivia) came down to Osa for a week. It was really great to incorporate all the Creek Connections skills I had developed throughout my first year as a Creeker and put them to use in helping kids develop their own research projects during their stay.

After La Paz left, I was able to use my spare time to participate in the sea turtle program at Osa and often went on turtle patrols to keep track of the sea turtles that frequented the beaches.

Throughout the summer, I was able to meet people from all over the world and seized the educational opportunities given to me when other educational groups came to Osa to utilize the rich environment.

I am so grateful for the experience, and I really hope I can travel back to Costa Rica and continue to develop the relationship that Creek Connections has in Central America!

Melissa Mattwig is a biology and environmental science double major with a French and Spanish double minor. Her project was funded by a grant from the Howard Hughes Medical Institute that supported the development of the Allegheny College Global Health Studies program.

Source: Academics, Publications & Research

Allegheny graduates Jim Castle ’72, Kristin Egers Carter ’91 and Michele Cooney ’13 have more in common than their alma mater.

In addition to pursuing careers in geology – and the obvious fact that all three share last names that begin with the same letter – Castle, Carter and Cooney have served as the last three editors-in-chief of an internationally renowned environmental geosciences journal. Carter passed the torch to Cooney earlier this year.

“It’s pretty amazing to have three generations of Allegheny alumni serving as editors-in-chief of the same journal,” says Carter when referring to their roles for Environmental Geosciences, a publication of the American Association of Petroleum Geologists. “The journal has been around for about 20 years, and Michele is probably the youngest editor. I think it says a lot about Allegheny’s geology program.”

The three alumni met on campus during the Allegheny Geology Alumni Symposium held Sept. 26 and 27. The symposium included alumni presentations, meetings and mentoring opportunities for alumni and geology students, a field trip and time for socialization.

According to Ron Cole, geology professor and department chair, he and Roger Willis ’80, a geology major, developed the symposium two years ago as a way for alumni to connect with each other and the department.

“For the past two decades, we have had alumni returning to campus for guest lectures and our geoscience career events, and we consistently hear that they enjoy returning to campus and would like to stay connected,” Cole says. “I credit Roger Willis with the concept of the alumni symposium, providing a balance of professional and social activities. The first symposium in 2013 was a huge success, with more than 40 alumni returning to campus and even more attending in 2014. We’ll have the next symposium in fall 2015 in honor of the Bicentennial, and thereafter we envision having it every other year.”

Another reason Cole and Willis developed the symposium was to foster student-alumni connections – and Carter and Cooney serve as a primary example. Carter, assistant state geologist with the Pennsylvania Geological Survey, first met Cooney when she came back to campus in 2009 to recruit student interns for her organization and to speak about the geology field.

“I like hiring Allegheny interns, they’ve always been reliable and are able to think outside the box,” says Carter, who double-majored in geology and environmental science at Allegheny.

After their first meeting, Carter and Cooney kept in touch, and Cooney was eventually hired as an intern at the Pennsylvania Geological Survey in 2010, the summer after her sophomore year. She was then invited back for a second summer and continued on through part of her senior year.

“My internships actually led into my junior year thesis comp-planning process. Kris gave me the idea to do something on the Utica shale, which was a project the Pennsylvania Geological Survey was researching at the time,” says Cooney, who majored in geology and minored in writing.

“So while I was doing my internship, I also was doing my comp presentation planning. In fact, every Friday I would leave Allegheny and drive down to Pittsburgh to work on research and data as part of my internship and my comp,” she adds. “I was fortunate that I had the unique opportunity to combine my internship and comp experience. Kris even served on the committee of advisers for my senior comp.”

Following Cooney’s graduation, she completed a summer internship at a different organization in Pittsburgh. She then returned to the Pennsylvania Geological Survey as a geologic contractor.

“Kris has been my mentor going on five years now. She’s a great leader,” Cooney says. “She’s also opened many doors for me, including the role as editor-in-chief for Environmental Geosciences and through an organization called the Women’s Energy Network.”

“I love making trips back to Allegheny so I can meet and mentor students like Michele,” Carter adds. “I also like coming back for this symposium because I get to see people like Jim Castle, who is a geology professor at Clemson University and one of my mentors. It really comes full circle.”

Being back on campus brings back memories – especially about Alden Hall – for Carter and Cooney. Looking back on her experience, Cooney says she believes Allegheny prepared her well.

“Allegheny gave me tools such as how to be an independent researcher and worker,” she says. “The amount of research I did at Allegheny also prepared me well for graduate school. I had so many opportunities to do research and then apply that research to the workforce. Those experiences have been invaluable for me as a recent Allegheny graduate.”

Source: Academics, Publications & Research

Assistant Professor of Environmental Science Beth Choate and Professor of Environmental Science Eric Pallant attended the 2nd World Symposium on Sustainable Development at Universities meeting in Manchester, England from September 3-5. The conference was attended by 200 delegates from 27 countries throughout the world. At the conference, Choate and Pallant presented their paper “Overcoming obstacles to classroom based cross-border environmental education in universities,” co-written with Derek Reno ’16.

Source: Academics, Publications & Research

Professor of Psychology Juvia Heuchert took six students to Mysore, India, over the summer to help establish an internship with the Vivekananda Institute for Indian Studies. Abishai Persaud ’15, Erica Bryson ’15, Mara Steinmetz ’15, Matthew Turner ’15, Kalyssa King ’15, and Garrett Devenney ’16 spent six weeks in Mysore and the surrounding tribal areas doing research on a variety of topics. The research was presented to the Swami Vivekananda Youth Movement faculty and staff and was well received. The internship was initiated by a visit to Allegheny’s campus by the director of the Swami Vivekananda Youth Movement and months of planning by staff at the Allegheny Gateway — and was further advanced in March during a site visit by Director of International Programs Jenny Kawata, Associate Professor of Environmental Studies Caryl Waggett, Associate Director of Career Education Jim Fitch, and Juvia Heuchert. The internship is made possible primarily through funding from the Allegheny Gateway, with additional support provided by a Howard Hughes Medical Institute grant to the Global Health Studies program.

Source: Academics, Publications & Research

By Heather Grubbs and Nahla Bendefaa ’16

Everyone loves a home-cooked meal.

But when you’re away at college, enjoying grandma’s homemade lasagna is often a sacrifice one must make.

Or is it?

One student-organized group is aiming to change that. The Food Co-op began two years ago as part of Class of 2014 graduate Taylor Hinton’s senior comp titled “Activism through Food: Creating a Housing and Dining Cooperative at Allegheny College.” Hinton says she initially intended for the co-op to “address inequalities in access to cooking spaces, account for a range of dietary needs and food cultures, share cooking knowledge, and provide students with local, cheap, home-cooked food.”

Hinton’s comp then expanded upon her vision by seeking to:
• Create a sustainable organizing structure for the dining cooperative.
• Expand the population that the group was serving as a cooperative.
• Acquire a house that would both support the dining cooperative and provide a second space in which students can live and cook together.

Current students Cara Brosius ’16, Stephanie Latour ’16, and Hawk Weisman ’16, who live in what is now known as the Co-op House on North Main Street, are carrying on Hinton’s vision by hosting Friday night homemade dinners on campus. The dinners seek to accomplish Hinton’s goals, as well as allow students to share family recipes and cultures and enjoy each other’s company.

“Whether you want to share an ethnic meal or your family’s apple pie, this is a welcome space to do that,” says Weisman, who is double-majoring in computer science and environmental studies. “Cooking and eating meals together was something I always did with my family, so this is a way to continue that.”

According to Weisman and Brosius, students sign up to participate in each week’s dinner. Two students are then assigned to the “head chef” role – meaning they are responsible for planning the meal – and two other students are assigned as sous chefs to assist with preparation.

For those students who prefer to stay out of the kitchen, they still can participate by serving as grocery shoppers, by volunteering to clean up, or by simply enjoying the food.

“Everyone here is very friendly, and there is definitely a sense of community since everyone helps out either cooking or cleaning,” says Catherine Schnur ’17. “Also, the food is always delicious!”

“Co-op is a great way to meet people you wouldn’t normally meet. It’s also a very welcoming environment,” adds Kara Van Balen ’17. “My first time here I felt like everyone was immediately my friend.”

The dinners are prepared and consumed in Carr Hall, with about 20 to 30 students attending. The group asks for a suggested donation of $2 to $3 to help cover shopping costs, or students can pay $20 up front for the entire semester.

“We represent a wide variety of majors and backgrounds on campus, which leads to a diverse menu,” Weisman says.

“We’ve had everything from lasagna to soup to Mexican food, and we really try to purchase fresh ingredients when possible, especially from the on-campus garden, the Carrden,” adds Brosius, an economics major and astronomy and mathematics minor. “We’ve also had other groups on campus like Edible Allegheny and the Green Living House volunteer to cook during certain weeks. We’d like to expand this concept by having other groups on campus participate, too.”

Just like Hinton’s original vision, the group stresses that its “come one, come all” approach applies to those with dietary restrictions, as well.

“We have a number of students who are vegetarians or vegans or those who eat gluten-free or have allergies, so we always make sure there are a lot of options,” Brosius says. “Personally, I like co-op because I have problems digesting certain foods, so I like knowing how each meal is prepared. Knowing that it’s homemade is comforting to me. Co-op is kind of like our home away from home.”

Source: Academics, Publications & Research