Environmental Sciences Commons^™

How Pennsylvanians Define Environmental Justice, Kayla Hofmann

Sociology Summer Fellows

The Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection (DEP) defines an environmental justice area as any census tract that partially or wholly includes a 30 percent or greater minority population or 20 percent or more of a population living in poverty. However, little is known about how the average Pennsylvanian defines environmental justice, hindering our ability to determine whether the current definition is adequate. Using transcripts from nine listening sessions on the DEP’s tour of affected counties, I address 3 questions: (1) How do people define environmental justice? (2) What do people think are the most pressing issues in each county? And …

Outreach In Archaeology With Agent-Based Modeling: Part 3 Of 3, Stefani Crabtree, Kathryn Harris, Benjamin Davies, Iza Romanowska

Environment and Society Faculty Publications

A major challenge facing archaeologists is communicating our research to the public. Thankfully, new computational tools have enabled the testing and visualization of complex ideas in an easily packageable format. In this article we illustrate not only how agent-based modeling provides a platform for communicating complex ideas, but also how these game-like computer models can be explored and manipulated by members of the public therefore increasing their engagement in archaeological explanations. We suggest that these new digital tools serve as an excellent aid for education on the importance of archaeological sites and artifacts. To illustrate the above we walk the …

Clean Energy And Climate Policy In Massachusetts, Dwayne Breger

Sustainability Education Resources

Over the past 20 years, Massachusetts has evolved as a leader in clean energy policy, which has led to market development, job and economic growth, and reductions in greenhouse gas and other emissions. This course will provide direct insights into the brief history of these policy developments, including policy objectives, legislative and regulatory roles, tradeoffs of costs and benefits, the use of analytical methods to establish program design, and stakeholder perspectives and engagement. The course will explore the market and economic development and challenges that have resulted from the policy, and explore the economic tradeoffs and distributional impacts that may …

Analytical Methods For Energy And Climate Policy, Dwayne Breger

Sustainability Education Resources

Course Description

The course will introduce students to analytical methods applicable to the evaluation of energy and climate problems and policy solutions. The methods include ethical analysis, spreadsheet analysis, lifecycle analysis, optimization and systems analysis. While applicable across many fields, the methods will be applied through class and assignments to current issues in clean energy and climate policy.

Learning Objectives

The course will provide students with the understanding and skills to analytically address issues of policy pertaining to clean energy and climate policy. Students will understand the theory and practice associated with conducting economic cost benefit analysis, optimization under constraints …

Unclogging The Pipeline: Advancement To Full Professor In Academic Stem, Helga Van Miegroet, Christy Glass, Ronda R. Callister, Kimberly Sullivan

Ecology Center Publications

Purpose: Women remain underrepresented in academic STEM, especially at the highest ranks. While much attention has focused on early-career attrition, mid-career advancement is still largely understudied and undocumented. This paper analyzes gender differences in advancement to full professor within academic STEM at a mid-size public doctoral university in the western US, before and after the NSF-ADVANCE Program (2003-2007).

Methodology: Using faculty demographics and promotion data between 2008 and 2014, combined with faculty responses to two waves of a climate survey, the magnitude and longevity of the impact of ADVANCE on mid-career faculty advancement across gender is evaluated.

Findings: This study …