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.

With the help of the Andrew W. Mellon grant, students are able to take part in internships during January and over the summer. Visit the internship page to read about student research experiences off-campus. Learn more about the Mellon grant that enables the ES program to conduct research over the summer and during the semester here.

Faculty/Student Research Collaborations

Environmental Studies - 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 and Government - Professor Liliana Andonova
Professor Liliana Andonova examines the role of EU institutions and markets in promoting higher environmental standards in post-communist Europe. Her recent book - Transnational Environmental Politics. The EU and the Environmental in Central and Eastern Europe - was published by MIT press on the eve of the 2004 accession of ten new members to the EU. Andonova's research also focuses on transnational public-private partnerships and the supply of global public goods, and the role of institutions in linking climate variability science to policy making in developing countries.

Environmental Studies and Government - Professor Catherine Ashcraft
Professor Ashcraft’s research and teaching focus on institutions and negotiation processes in environmental policy making. Her current research asks “How can multilateral institutions, created to address transboundary environmental problems, be designed to adapt effectively over time to changing ecological and political demands?” Catherine has been investigating this question in international river basins, in particular in the Danube and Nile. Catherine also works with partners in intergovernmental organizations, multilateral development agencies and civil society in Asia, Africa, Europe, and North America to build negotiating skills and to help address environmental and development problems.

Mellon Fellow in International Environmental Human Rights - Professor Janette Bulkan
Professor Janette Bulkan’s research is centered on forest-dependent peoples and illegal logging in Guyana. Her recent work has been published in the journal, Forests, Trees and Livelihoods 18 (2) 2008, the Commonwealth Forestry Association (CFA) Newsletter No. 38, September 2007, and several items on the principal global website on illegal logging, www.illegal-logging.info. She also contributed a briefing paper on ‘Legitimacy of public domain forest management, and combating corruption’ for a CIRAD-DFID workshop on forest taxation in Africa (London, 4-5 June 2008) and another on ‘Illegal logging by Asian-owned enterprises in Guyana, South America’ for Forest Trends’ 2nd Potomac Forum meeting on illegal logging and associated trade, Washington D.C. in February 2008. Janette Bulkan also works on independent forest certification systems, principally that of the Forest Stewardship Council (FSC). In 2006 she led a civil society group which successfully challenged the partial certification of the forestry concession of the Malaysian-owned transnational logger known as ‘Barama’ in Guyana.

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.

Environmental Studies - Beth Kopp, ES Program Coordinator
Beth's research investigates attributes of selected campus greening initiatives at Colby. Recent projects have included reviewing alternative vehicle and fuel options, studying the sustainability of seafood and other food served in our dining halls, identifying environmental purchasing options, and designing surveys to assess community attitudes towards campus sustainability initiatives.

Biology - 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.

Biology - 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 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

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.

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.

Also visit our Sustainability Initiatives page.

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