Student Research Opportunities in Environmental Studies

Environmental Studies Research: South China Tiger Conservation   Photo:WWF Assistant Professor of Environmental Studies Philip Nyhus and his students, with funding from public and private foundations, are working with an international team of researchers and the State Forestry Administration of China to conserve one of the world's most imperiled large carnivores - the tiger.  At the invitation of the Chinese government, Nyhus and his collaborators are now evaluating opportunities to reintroduce some of these animals back into the wild, beginning with a rapid assessment of potential South China tiger recovery zones during Summer 2005.  Environmental Studies students Brendan Carroll ('05) and Carolyn Hunt ('05) assisted Nyhus in past years and currently ES student Kevin Fritze ('07) is helping Nyhus to analyze satellite imagery and to develop detailed geographic information system (GIS) maps and models to support this research.

Click here for information regarding student research opportunities at Colby.

Funding from Colby and external sources provides opportunities for students to take part in internships during January and over the summer. Visit the internship page to read about student research experiences off-campus.

Faculty/Student Research Collaborations

Environmental Studies - Associate Professor Philip Nyhus
Professor Nyhus' interdisciplinary research bridges the natural and social sciences to address human interactions with the environment. He is particularly interested in the policy dimensions of human-wildlife conflict and endangered species conservation. His current research includes developing new tools and processes for biodiversity risk assessment, GIS-based spatial models, and tiger and large mammal conservation in the US and Asia.

Environmental Studies Research Scientist - Manny Gimond
Manuel Gimond’s research interest lies in modeling the thermodynamic processes at the earth/atmosphere interface from a second law of thermodynamics perspective with an emphasis on exergy analysis and emergy synthesis. He is particularly interested in quantifying the influence of spatial and temporal scales on such models using GIS. While employed at the Kennedy Space Center, Manuel has worked on validating land surface thermodynamic models using data from an extensive network of meteorological and Eddy-Covariance towers. Other interests include remote sensing of aquatic systems where Manuel has developed an open source stochastic model that simulates the propagation of light in water bodies.

Biology - Associate Professor Cathy Bevier
Professor Cathy Bevier's research interests include the behavioral and physiological ecology of vertebrates, particularly how behavioral performance during reproductive and locomotor activity is correlated with physiological and biochemical characteristics of the animal. Her current work focuses on the behavior, energetics, and thermal biology of frogs using techniques such as sound recording and analysis of vocalizations, focal behavioral observations, mark-recapture census, muscle biochemistry, and respirometry.

Environmental Studies - Professor Russ Cole
Professor Russ Cole's research investigates the natural history, ecology, and conservation of mammals. He also studies the impact of exotic species on the biota of the Hawaiian Islands, plant/animal interactions and their ecological implications, Maine lake water quality in relation to watershed land use patterns, and sustainable development and campus resource use.

Biology - Professor Emeritus David Firmage
Professor Firmage investigates problems in plant ecology. Recent studies focus on pollen viability and stigma receptivity, solar tracking of several species in Israel, and the reproductive biology of an important endemic plant in Bulgaria. He also conducts watershed analyses to determine sources and amounts of phosphorus additions to local lakes.

Economics - Professor Emeritus Tom Tietenberg
Professor Tietenberg is author or editor of eleven books (including Environmental and Natural Resource Economics, one of the best selling textbooks in the field, and Emissions Trading, one of the most widely cited books in the tradable permits literature) as well as over one hundred articles and essays on environmental and natural resource economics. Elected President of the Association of Environmental and Natural Resource Economists (AERE) in 1987-8, he has consulted on environmental policy with the World Bank, the InterAmerican Development Bank, the Agency for International Development and the Environmental Protection Agency as well as several state and foreign governments. Tom attended and spoke at the first Earth Summit in Rio in 1992 and has lectured on sustainable development at many international conferences. In 2006 he was designated one of six inaugural AERE Fellows and in 2010 he received the "Outstanding Public Service Though Economics" award from the Northeastern Agricultural and Resource Economics Association.

Chemistry - Professor Whitney King
Professor Whitney King recently began a study of the chemical and physical characteristics of local lakes, employing underwater mapping computer programs and chemical analysis equipment that he developed. This project will continue for several years as different lakes within the region are investigated.

History - Professor Jim Webb
Professor Jim Webb's research is in the field of historical malariology. He is working on interpretations of the microbiological evidence from the genomes of Plasmodium vivax and Plasmodium falciparum, the two most important malarial parasites. He is also investigating the global history of quinine, the first disease-specific drug in the western materia medica that was used as a cure and prophylaxis for malaria, as a means of understanding the origins of global public health.

History and Science, Technology, and Society - Professor Paul Josephson
Professor Josephson investigates the American infatuation with the highly polluting engines used for jetskis, snowmobiles, snow blowers, ATVs, ORVs, weed wackers, and leaf blowers; the influence of Soviet technological style on energy, agricultural and housing techniques and technologies in East Central Europe; and "industrial deserts," and the destructive impact of the metallurgical and nuclear industries of the Soviet development paradigm.

Science, Technology, and Society - Professor James Fleming
Professor Fleming's students are engaged in research on the history of climate change, including recent science and policy history since 1970 and the work of G.S. Callendar on the greenhouse effect in the 1930s.

Environmental Studies - Visiting Assistant Professor Susan MacKenzie
Trained in the fields of natural resource policy and organization theory, her areas of expertise include ecosystem management and institutional innovation. Susan has published or presented research on the challenge of protecting the integrity of regional ecological systems including the Great Lakes, the Gulf of Maine, and the Northwoods. More recently, the scope of Susan’s work has focused on the role of faith communities and spirituality in clarifying values and inspiring natural resource protection.

Environmental Studies and Sociology - Mellon Postdoctoral Fellow in Environmental Human Rights Sarah Lashley
Sarah’s teaching and research interests combine studies of environmental justice with theories of collaboration and conflict management to explore processes for social change. Her current research identifies the unique characteristics of environmental justice conflicts and maps the ways that these characteristics have bearing on the management, structure, and functioning of collaborative processes.  In doing so, her research also begins to identify ways that collaborative processes in environmental justice conflict situations parallel or deviate from established collaborative theory. Through this research, she seeks to provide guidance to public managers, policymakers, community leaders, and community members on when collaboration is an appropriate strategy for managing environmental justice conflicts and what cautions might accompany its application.

Environmental Studies - Environmental Studies Coordinator Lia Morris
During my tenure as graduate student in natural resource policy at Tufts University, my research efforts focused on studying trends in community and natural resource development on lands adjacent to national parks.  This research culminated in my gradate thesis Demilitarizing Nature: Ecological Restoration of Military Land, Acadia National Park.  Upon graduation I worked for three years as the Outreach Coordinator for the Penobscot River Restoration Project.  I currently serve on the board of Maine Rivers, where we address a broad range of issues affecting the rivers of Maine.  Lia is looking forward to working with the Colby community on issues of regional environmental significance and also campus greening efforts.

Also visit our Sustainability Initiatives page.

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