Springfield, Boston Participate in Revising the Urban Site Index Model

Under the direction of Dr. Bryant Scharenbroch of the Morton Arboretum, the Urban Site Index (USI) model – a field-based assessment protocol used to quantify the suitability of street planting sites – is currently being updated and expanded nationally. This “Revised” Urban Site Index (RUSI) will include a series of other important indicators including climate, urban, space, physical, chemical, and biological indicators. The RUSI will build upon the original USI by including more quantitative data related to tree condition (i.e. diameter (dbh), height, crown volume, age and growth rate) and soil characteristics like texture, moisture, organic matter (OM), electrical conductivity and pH.   Upon being asked to cooperate in this research effort, Ext. Asst. Professor Rick Harper invited Dr. Scharenbroch to add the City of Springfield as a research site, to the existing list of 10 cities located across the country. Including data from localities here in Massachusetts (like Springfield and Boston, which was already a participating site) furthers the applicability of...
Read More

Charles Schweik featured in ‘Using Collective Knowledge for the Common Good’

courtesy: http://www.umass.edu/researchnext/open-source Schweik has been recognized as one of the top 50 innovators in education for his cutting-edge use of open-source software in the classroom and as a research tool. You’ve heard about wicked problems. That is, problems like climate change and new drug discovery that are too big for any one person, organization, or country to solve alone. Problems that only have a chance of being chipped away at when creative thinkers team up with tech-savvy doers. Charlie Schweik, UMass Amherst associate professor of Environmental Conservation and Public Policy and associate director of the National Center for Digital Government, is helping to address some of these wicked problems, drawing on his expertise in public sector information technology, environmental management and policy, and the intersection of these domains. These converging research interests coalesced when he arrived at UMass Amherst in 1999 and began working on a project as one of 50 researchers across the Northeast gathering social and ecological data on the Chesapeake Bay region...
Read More

Graduate Student Research Proposal Presentations Part II

The Annual Research Concepts (ECO 601) Graduate Student Research Proposal Presentations will be held Friday, Dec 6th 9-11:45am and 1-2:30pm. Please mark your calendars. This is a wonderful opportunity to meet many of the new graduate students in our department and support these students in their proposal phase. The 18 students are collectively proposing a huge range in exciting, environmental research. A schedule of presentations will be emailed after Thanksgiving. Please join us for these talks. Thanks in advance for your participation and support. Allison...
Read More

Graduate Student Research Proposal Presentations Part I

The Annual Research Concepts (ECO 601) Graduate Student Research Proposal Presentations will be held Friday, Dec 6th 9-11:45am and 1-2:30pm. Please mark your calendars. This is a wonderful opportunity to meet many of the new graduate students in our department and support these students in their proposal phase. The 18 students are collectively proposing a huge range in exciting, environmental research. A schedule of presentations will be emailed after Thanksgiving. Also, two students will be giving their presentations early, on Monday, Nov 25th 10-10:30am in Rm 312A. They are: 10:00am Luke Griffin (Title: Spatial ecology of juvenile green sea turtles (Chelonia mydas) in Culebra, Puerto Rico) 10:15am Sarah Becker (Title: Spatial and trophic ecology of great barracuda (Syphraena barracuda) in the Caribbean) Please join us for these talks. Thanks in advance for your participation and support. Allison...
Read More