A Summer At Azavea Working With Nonprofit Organizations: The Summer Of Maps Fellowship, Sarah Gates

International Development, Community and Environment (IDCE)

This report details my experience as a Summer of Maps Fellow at Azavea during June 2017 to August 2017. As a Summer of Maps Fellow I worked with nonprofit organizations, the Fair Tech Collective and the World Resources Institute, on two geospatial analysis projects. For the Fair Tech Collective I analyzed data on refinery flaring pollution, air toxin concentrations, and sensitive receptor populations to produce a series of maps and infographics detailing the impacts of petrochemical pollution in the San Francisco Bay Area. For the World Resources Institute I used data-driven methods to analyze conservation efforts in the Central African …

Greening The Gateway Cities: Summer Internship With The Clark University Human Environment Regional Observatory (Hero) And Massachusetts Department Of Conservation And Recreation (Dcr), Zhiwen Zhu

International Development, Community and Environment (IDCE)

This report provides a detailed account of my internship experience with the Clark University Human-Environment Regional Observatory (HERO) and Massachusetts Department of Conservation and Recreation (DCR) in the summer of 2017. This internship concerns the urban tree health assessment in three ‘Greening the Gateway’ cities in Massachusetts. During the internship, I conducted tree survey field work, database management, mapping, tree survey data analysis and urban tree plantation benefits microclimate simulation. During the internship I worked with the professors and students at Clark University and University of Massachusetts, Amherst, and the staff from Department of Conservation and Recreation (DCR), Worcester Tree …

Contentions At The Human-Wildlife Interface: An Analysis Of Chicago’S Coyote Management Plan, Ilanah Taves

International Development, Community and Environment (IDCE)

Urbanization and habitat fragmentation cause animal species to either adjust to human- dominated landscapes or suffer population loss. This paper examines the municipal challenges associated with coyotes, an animal successfully adapting to cities throughout North America. The presence of predators in highly developed areas challenges conceptual and spatial attempts to separate cities from nature. This report’s introductory sections critically examine the alienation of wildlife from the urban form. Theoretical perspectives from the discipline of animal geographies are employed to deconstruct problematic relationships between cities and animals, and reimagine a metropolis that considers the presence of nonhuman others. Engaging Jennifer Wolch’s …

Cluster Approach: Gaps And Shortcomings In Un Coordination Of Humanitarian Actors In Post-Earthquake Haiti And Implications For Policy Concerns Of The New Humanitarian School Of Thought, Naomi Vinbury

International Development, Community and Environment (IDCE)

This research analyzes the role of the UN OCHA Cluster Approach in the context of Haiti after the 2010 earthquake. Gaps and shortcomings of the current humanitarian model are identified and the Sustainable Livelihoods Approach is considered as a model to be used as an instrument to inform the New Humanitarian school of thought. A recent history of Haiti and the political relationship to the international community will be reviewed as context that outlines the vulnerabilities that created a risk society leading up to the disaster. A brief history of the recent trajectory of humanitarian aid will be reviewed and …

Inequity In Rebuilding After Disasters, Sara Brown

International Development, Community and Environment (IDCE)

Natural disasters are becoming more and more frequent. Policies that help rebuild residential areas after disasters need to be equitable. The five residential programs researched are The Road Home Homeowner Assistance Program, The Road Home Small Rental Property Program, LIHTC Piggyback Program, Hazard Mitigation Gram Program, and Non- Profit Rebuilding Pilot Program. Through a case study of the Lower Ninth Ward in New Orleans this research reviews five residential rebuilding programs to see if its goals were written equitably. This research then compares the Lower Ninth Ward with the entire City of New Orleans as well as two other planning …

A Moment Became The Season: An Exploration Of Trauma Narrative Within The Community Development Context, Lydia Berry

International Development, Community and Environment (IDCE)

This research explores current methods of psychological trauma intervention within the community development context, namely the understandings that bound the clinical and diagnostic side of trauma, and the more recent victim centered approach: the trauma informed care method. The shortcomings of these approaches is that they individually lack the ability to establish the victim back into their sense of self or community, accordingly. This research argues that a narrative approach, a process by which a survivor of trauma has full agency to express their experience, used in conjunction with existing practices can rectify the shortcomings of both methods. The researcher …

Evaluating Amphibian Vulnerability To Mercury Pollution From Artisanal And Small-Scale Gold Mining In Madre De Dios, Peru, Kate Markham

International Development, Community and Environment (IDCE)

Environmental hazards commonly associated with gold mining include local pollution of the air, water, and soil. Specifically, mercury used to extract gold bioaccumulates in the environment, contaminating rivers and watersheds and posing a danger to wildlife in regards to its developmental, hormonal, and neurological effects. To conceal these typically illegal operations happening along rivers, artisanal and small-scale gold mining (ASGM) often occurs in remote areas with high faunal biodiversity. The Madre de Dios region of southern Peru is a global biodiversity hotspot and has been undergoing extensive ASGM for years. The impact of ASGM on biodiversity is largely unknown. This …

The Passage Of The 2016 Ballot Question #3 In Massachusetts And Its Implications, Hannah Silverfine

International Development, Community and Environment (IDCE)

In the 2016 Massachusetts primary election, ballot question #3, “Massachusetts Minimum Size Requirements for Farm Animal Containment”, aimed to improve welfare standards for cows raised for veal, female sows confined to gestation crates, and chickens caged for eggs. This study seeks to analyze the complex relationship between local and national food systems, and articulate the multi-level implications of Question 3. Research examines the rationale behind voting, campaign narratives, and campaign financing in Massachusetts, and ultimately compares the implications of Question 3 with those of California’s 2008 Prevention of Farm Animal Cruelty Act. The lenses of animal geographies and the political …

Barriers To Sustainable Hunting-Based Conservation Of Elephants In Zimbabwe, Jessica H. Cusworth

International Development, Community and Environment (IDCE)

The international demand for ivory has devastated African elephant populations. In 2015, more elephants were poached for ivory than were born. Many countries have sought to decrease poaching pressures through ivory trade bans. However, Zimbabwe, home to the second largest African elephant population, funds its anti-poaching efforts with revenue from ivory exports. The ivory bans implemented by other countries prevent Zimbabwe from generating many sources of ivory revenue. These bans hamper Zimbabwe’s ability to fund anti-poaching efforts and exacerbate the complex interactions between the social, economic, and political factors which contribute to poaching. Increasing the understanding of the relationships between …

Be Serious About Diversity: Exploring Why Innovation Communities Are Not Diverse, Julia Carrasquel

International Development, Community and Environment (IDCE)

BE SERIOUS ABOUT DIVERSITY:

EXPLORING WHY INNOVATION COMMUNITIES ARE NOT DIVERSE

JULIA CARRASQUEL

Innovators and entrepreneurs rely on support, resources and collaboration to succeed, but who can access these resources? Failure is a constant variable in the learning progression of an entrepreneur, but who can afford to fail? There exist inherent biases that prevent women and minority entrepreneurs from entering entrepreneurial pipelines, which has led to a general lack of diversity within innovation communities. This paper, unlike other bodies of research, does not explore why diversity (or the lack thereof) is an important issue to consider in innovation and entrepreneurship. …

A Framework For Evaluating And Enhancing Resilience Integration In Conservation Policy: The Case Of Massachusetts, Kyle Pilkington

International Development, Community and Environment (IDCE)

This paper develops a framework for evaluating conservation policy from the perspective of integrating resilience, using Massachusetts as a case study. After an intensive literature review on the topics of resilience and conservation, five resilience-enhancing attributes were identified: biodiversity, stakeholder engagement, acknowledgement of climate change, multiple species or species interaction focus and ecosystem or environment health. The framework ranks the policies with respect to the effectiveness of following the resilience-enhancing attributes. Three Massachusetts-based conservation policies, Massachusetts Endangered Species Act (MESA), State Wildlife Action Plan (SWAP) and MassWildlife Habitat Management Grant Program (MHMGP), were chosen to demonstrate the evaluative capacity of …

Urban Wind Generation: Comparing Horizontal And Vertical Axis Wind Turbines At Clark University In Worcester, Massachusetts, Andrew R. Winslow

International Development, Community and Environment (IDCE)

Electricity production must shift towards carbon neutral sources such as wind power to mitigate the impacts of climate change. The wind resource in urban environments is challenging to predict but technologies, including computational fluid dynamics software, are making it possible. This software pinpoints suitable placement for wind turbines through models that show wind acceleration patterns over a building. Horizontal axis wind turbines (HAWTs) have dominated the wind industry but vertical axis wind turbines (VAWTs) offer potential to outperform HAWTs in urban environments. VAWTs can handle turbulent and unconventional wind and generate energy at slower speeds, which is beneficial for these …

Environmental Justice/Urban Initiative Project: Summer Internship With Massachusetts Department Of Environmental Protection, Tiancheng Ouyang

International Development, Community and Environment (IDCE)

This report serves as a detailed description of my internship at the Massachusetts Department of Environmental Protection (MassDEP) in Worcester, MA, during the summer of 2016. The internship was proposed by Brian Postale, the Urban Compliance Initiative Project Coordinator as a way to automate the integration of GIS data and the computation of data used for visualization purposes. The purpose of this paper is to describe the structure of the organization, my responsibilities as an intern, and my assessment of the internship.

The internship proved to be a precious experience and provided the opportunity to apply and enhance my knowledge …

Understanding And Addressing Governance Dysfunction And Unsustainable Development In The Illegal Gold Mining Region Of Madre De Dios, Peru, Phyllis Duff

International Development, Community and Environment (IDCE)

This paper endeavors to explore the link between dysfunction in governance systems and persistent challenges to sustainable development in the illegal gold mining region of Madre de Dios, Peru. Through the use of stakeholder narratives, field observations and literature review, four questions were examined: 1) What are the existing social and environmental conditions in the case study area? 2) What are the existing relationships amongst stakeholders, and how do these illustrate dysfunction of the existing system of governance? 3) What gaps and/or deficiencies in the existing system are revealed by stakeholder narratives, and what are their visions for an alternative …

Geo-Taxonomy Service Development Summer Internship At The United Nations Office For The Coordination Of Humanitarian Affairs, Nyc, Henry Mros Iii

International Development, Community and Environment (IDCE)

This report provides a detailed account of my internship experience with the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (UN-OCHA) in New York, New York during the summer, autumn, and winter of 2016. The internship was completed at Two United Nations Plaza and remotely from Clark University under the supervision of UN-OCHA Information Management Programme Officer, Andrej Verity. While temporarily serving as an international civil servant, I had the unique opportunity to contribute my knowledge and skills to an intergovernmental organization that continuously aims to improve the nations of our world. Adhering to the requirements set forth by …

Data And Geometry; Model Building At Calthorpe Analytics, Samuel M. Upton

International Development, Community and Environment (IDCE)

This report documents my Summer 2016 internship with Calthorpe Analytics, a Berkeley CA based urban planning firm. Calthorpe Analytics specializes in scenario development for planning, modeling, and plan evaluation for government and municipal clients. The primary responsibility of my internship was model development and refinement using advanced spatial analytics working in the Python programming language. The internship was extremely successful: it gave me a great opportunity to strengthen my open source GIS skillset, deepen my understanding of data science, and vastly improve my geospatial programming skillset. It also gave me a chance to apply advanced geospatial modeling and spatial statistics …

Geoscientists-In-The-Park Summer Internship Mapping Shoreline Change With The National Park Service, Michael P. Endicott

International Development, Community and Environment (IDCE)

This project paper details the activities carried out as a Geologist/GIS Specialist in the Gateway National Recreation Area as a part of the Geoscientists-In-The-Park internship program. The focus of this position was on supporting the geomorphological monitoring efforts of the National Park Service. This was accomplished through a combination of field data collection, GIS analysis, report writing, and project work. By the end of the internship, substantial progress was made to the formation of Gateway’s Annual 1D and 2D report for 2015-2016, field data were collected for the 2016 summer season, changes in geomorphology were explored and summarized for the …

Gis Internship At Tighe And Bond, Yuanting Qu M.S.

International Development, Community and Environment (IDCE)

I started working as GIS Intern at Tighe and Bond Worcester Office on May 11, 2016. I was given a multitude of civil engineering related projects to edit, verify, do analysis and process data. I was able to apply my computer programming skills to help the GIS team develop a useful script tool set that will improve efficiency work. This internship provided me insight into how GIS operate as a part of engineering project on a day-to-day basis. Working background, my responsibilities and what I have learned from this internship is discussed in this report.

Public Health Applications Of Gis: A Spatial Analysis Of Tobacco Sales And Violations For The Worcester Division Of Public Health, Thomas M. Caywood

International Development, Community and Environment (IDCE)

Performed as part of an internship with the Worcester Division of Public Health in the summer of 2016, this spatial analysis examines the proximity of tobacco retailers to the city’s public schools and finds that those in low-income neighborhoods tend to have greater numbers of tobacco sales outlets in the immediate area than do schools in more-affluent neighborhoods. The analysis also finds that the racial composition of student bodies at individual schools is moderately correlated with the number of tobacco points of purchase located near those schools. Because proximity to tobacco sales outlets is known to be a factor in …

Geospatial Solutions For Insurance, Erica Moody

International Development, Community and Environment (IDCE)

My Internship with the Travelers Indemnity Company (Travelers) took place fromJune 7^th to August 12^th, 2016, where I worked as a Geospatial Intern in the Business Intelligence and Geospatial (BIG) internship program.

Gis Internship At Umass Medical School Information Technology Department, Qiming Shi M.S.

International Development, Community and Environment (IDCE)

Abstract

GIS INTERNSHIP AT UMASS MEDICAL SCHOOL IFORMATION TECHNOLOGY

Qiming Shi

This paper summarizes my internship at the University of Massachusetts Medical School Information Technology Department in Worcester, MA, which lasted for 1 year. I worked on several projects correlating health and disease outcomes to spatial and temporal factors where I not only brought my technical skills in GIS but also turned my solution into a useful web application, using R Shiny.

It was a great learning and professional experience, and I learned a great deal about R programming and public health GIS.

I would highly recommend Internship at Umass …

An Analysis Of Structural And Psychological Barriers To The Adoption Of Demand Response Smart Grid Technologies: Lessons Learned, John M. Richards

International Development, Community and Environment (IDCE)

Over the past decade, America’s utility grid has undergone fundamental changes on a scale not seen during the past 100 years (Energetics Incorporated, 2014). These changes have largely been driven by the need to replace aging infrastructure, modernize the grid, incorporate new sources of energy, and better balance the supply and demand of energy. In order to address some of these changes, utilities have increasingly implemented smart grid programs that provide customers with consumer-focused demand response technologies that aim to reduce peak demand. This report examined the success these technologies have in reducing peak demand for smart grid programs by …

Gis Specialist 2016 Internship With Cdm Smith In Boston, Massachusetts, Suzanne L. Meek

International Development, Community and Environment (IDCE)

This report provides a detailed experience of my internship with CDM Smith during the summer of 2016. This was a formal 12-week internship that was extended an additional two weeks due to my success in the first few weeks. My title was listed as a GIS Specialist Intern. My responsibilities included applying GIS technologies to construction, water, and energy projects, digitizing various locations for cities and private clients, FEMA projects, and street light audits in two different towns in New England.

Conditional Cash Transfers For Education: A Comparative Analysis Between Funder And Country, Wesley Marcum-Mullins

International Development, Community and Environment (IDCE)

Educational Conditional Cash Transfers (CCT) are market driven poverty alleviation interventions, which have been growing in popularity throughout Latin America and the Caribbean in the last 25 years. These are multilateral interventions with many different participants such as funders, national governments, municipal governments, school, teachers, students, and parents. This paper addresses the question: How are educational Conditional Cash Transfer (CCT) programs discussed and rationalized by various state and funder participants? This paper compares funders, The World Bank and Inter-Americas Development Bank, and country CCT programs, Jamaica’s Program of Advancement through Health and Education and Brazils Bolsa Familia. The paper concludes …

Learning From A Mid-Term Evaluation Of Fonhdad In Haiti, Kelsey E. Hopkins

International Development, Community and Environment (IDCE)

This is a mid-term evaluation for FONHDAD’s REFERANS project in the communes of Ganthier and Croix-des-Bouquets, Haiti. The process of this collaboration with FONHDAD is outlined in a reflection which begins this report. The evaluation is based on a review of project documents including performance indicator reference sheets, indicator performance tracking tables, attendance records, work plans, activity reports, and numerous other project documents. Recommendations for better data management practices and the thoughtful inclusion of women in all project activities are included.

Capturing The Resilience Dividend: Post Hurricane Sandy Insights From Brooklyn's Sea Gate Community, Alexander M. Rezk

International Development, Community and Environment (IDCE)

This research project presents a resilience, governance, and vulnerability analysis of populations traditionally considered as non-vulnerable to natural disasters and climate related events. The paper examines how homeowners in Sea Gate, a neighborhood located on Coney Island, in Brooklyn, New York, experienced systemic disruption following Hurricane Sandy. This research sets out to answer the following questions: How does the lived experience of homeowners in a coastal community reflect the creation of newly vulnerable populations in regard to natural disasters in New York City? How is the current municipal resilience strategy being perceived as managing these shifts? And finally, what avenues …

Trafficking Of Women In Nepal And Their Vulnerabilities, Sushmita Diyali

International Development, Community and Environment (IDCE)

ABSTRACT

TRAFFICKING OF WOMEN IN NEPAL AND THEIR VULNERABILITIES

Sushmita Diyali

Around the world, women are marginalized and their liberty has been violated despite women rights and movement. The women and girls are still treated as subhuman. They are subject to sexual exploitation, sexual slavery, and a forced labor. The problems of women based discrimination are widespread all over the world and trafficking of women issues is taken as the most intolerant criminal activity in the earth. Though the world is advancing but Nepal is still dragging behind and its one of the problem is sex exploitation. Human rights of …

The Latina Women & The Informal Microenterprise, Ivette Olmeda

International Development, Community and Environment (IDCE)

ABSTRACT

THE LATINA WOMEN & THE INFORMAL MICROENTERPRISE

Ivette Olmeda

The informal economy refers to economic transactions that are not generally recorded through formal business compliance systems such as licensing, taxes, permitting and others. Informal economic activities are primarily completed through cash transactions.

This research explores the perceptions, intentions, and motivations of Latina women to operate informal microenterprises in an open market. The research consisted of interviews with five Latina women from Worcester, Massachusetts to gather information and ultimately understand why they are not entering formal entrepreneurship systems. The interviews supported existing research in which women state that they operate …

Water-Based Strategies For Making The Small Beverage Industry In New England More Sustainable And Climate-Change Resilient, Michelle Kozminski

International Development, Community and Environment (IDCE)

Water is a vital resource to the ecosystem, human life, and the economy. However, it is a limited resource that is threatened by a changing climate. The small beverage industry relies on large amounts of high quality water and is therefore at risk due to the uncertainties of climate change. This paper explores how the small beverage industry in New England approaches water to ensure that the industry is sustainable in the long term. A water threatened brewery in California, Sierra Nevada Brewing Company, is used to determine “best practices.” Three small beverage companies in New England are examined to …

Defending Home: How Resistance Movements Are Framed Against Mineral Extraction In Cajamarca And Tambogrande, Peru, Anne B. Read

International Development, Community and Environment (IDCE)

This paper examines community resistance in the Peruvian communities of Tambogrande and Cajamarca to mineral extraction by the corporations Minera Yanacocha (MYSA) and Manhattan Minerals. It considers the fluid nature of the frames, strategies, and tactics that allow social movements to shape and reflect each other. This paper documents how ideas and symbols travel through space and time, in the form of community referenda, collective acts of resistance, and symbols of cultural patrimony, to resist mining projects in two emblematic conflicts. Social movement theory informs this study, in particular it explores the ways in which movements frame mining conflicts, build …