Regreening Education by ECO Faculty in Springfield Featured on Northeast Public Radio

Regreening Education by ECO Faculty in Springfield Featured on Northeast Public Radio

  The Parks and People Initiative which is working to increase resident's awareness of the natural world in Springfield's South End Neighborhood through the efforts of several ECO faculty members.  The effort was recently featured on a Northeast Public Radio segment, and included an interview with ECO faculty member and US Forest Service scientist Dave Bloniarz.  The story can be found at www.wamc.org/post/city-summer-lessons-birds-and-trees  David is working with ECO faculty members and Forest Service scientists Susannah Lerman and Keith Nislow, who received a small grant from the US Forest Service Office of Civil Rights to carry out this outreach effort.  The ECO faculty are working with a team of neighborhood activists, community organizations and the C3 policing initiative to collaborate on this initiative, which bring hands on learning to residents of the South End.  A community educational workshop, held earlier in July, was attended by over 75 neighborhood residents who were introduced to trees and tree canopy cover by Dave Bloniarz and Lauren Bullard, a...
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Eureka Girls Build and Test Bridges with BCT PhD Students

Eureka Girls Build and Test Bridges with BCT PhD Students

BCT Ph.D. Candidates Carl Fiocchi, Nariman Mostafavi, and Soroush Farzinmoghadam sponsored a session for “Eureka” which is on campus for the month of July. Eureka is a fantastic program where young women are exposed to opportunities in science, technology, engineering, and math. In this session, “Why Buildings don’t Fall Down – Building with Macaroni” the girls, Eureka Scholars, viewed a presentation on buildings and bridges - elegant, strong, and safe; worked through a statics lecture solving a simple equilibrium problem, reviewed a vocabulary list of some structural terms and forces, and learned some of building techniques and strategies (with Macaroni). They then built a macaroni bridge and tested its response to greater and greater loads until finally the structures failed or in some cases until they started to fail as some girls wanted to keep their models. Some bridges were pretty darn robust --- check out the photos! You can find more images on our Facebook page. Reposted from: http://bct.eco.umass.edu/news/eureka-girls-build-and-test-bridges-with-bct-phd-students/...
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UMass alumnus Wayne MacCallum (’68, Wildlife Biology) Retired as Director of the Massachusetts Division of Fisheries and Wildlife

UMass alumnus Wayne MacCallum (’68, Wildlife Biology) retired as Director of the Massachusetts Division of Fisheries and Wildlife at the end of end of February 2015. He has been Director for 27 years. MacCallum received his Bachelor’s degree in Wildlife Biology from the University of Massachusetts in 1968 and his Master’s Degree from Penn State University where he studied the nesting ecology of Black Ducks. MacCallum joined the then Massachusetts Division of Fish & Game as a waterfowl technician. Shortly thereafter, he entered the private sector and over a ten year period progressed from Staff Scientist, to Manager of environmental management services for Woodward Clyde Consultants.    MacCallum returned to the Massachusetts Division of Fisheries and Wildlife (DFW) in 1983 as the Assistant Director of Wildlife and became Director in 1988. MacCallum has served as president of the Northeast Fish and Wildlife Directors Association and the International Association of Fish and Wildlife Agencies.  Wayne MacCallum served as chairman of the Atlantic Flyway Council, the...
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Lecturer in Arboriculture and Urban Forestry Announced

  The Department of Environmental Conservation at the University of Massachusetts Amherst (http://eco.umass.edu/) seeks applications for a full-time (9-month academic-year) non-tenure-track appointment as Lecturer in Arboriculture & Urban Forestry. The initial appointment will be for two years but is renewable based on performance and program need. The position will emphasize undergraduate teaching, utilizing active learning strategies. Candidates should care deeply about undergraduate education in Arboriculture & Urban Forestry, and be a teacher, mentor, and scientist whose interests are broad and support the pedagogy that allows students to gain the ability to analyze and solve problems. Teaching responsibilities include four to five courses annually. Of these, some will be classes in the current Arboriculture & Urban Forestry curriculum (http://eco.umass.edu/degree-programs/undergraduate-programs/natural-resources-conservation/urban-forestry-arboriculture-concentration/) as well as a new course(s) in their field of specialization to complement the curriculum. Additional responsibilities include management of the undergraduate program in Arboriculture & Urban Forestry, including advising students in the two- and four-year degree programs; student recruiting on and off campus; maintaining...
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Ezra Markowitz’s Research on Climate Change and Global Awareness Highlighted

Ezra Markowitz’s Research on Climate Change and Global Awareness Highlighted

Courtesy: UMass News and Media - Contact: Janet Lathrop 413/545-0444 Predictors of Climate Change Awareness and Risk Perception Vary Around the Globe UMass Amherst researcher and colleagues identify nation-specific differences AMHERST, Mass. – Using data from the largest cross-sectional survey of climate change perceptions ever conducted, researchers writing in Nature Climate Change today report the first global assessment of factors underlying climate change awareness and risk perception. They say results indicate that to be most effective, climate-related messages must be tailored to public awareness and perceptions specific to each nation. Co-author Anthony Leiserowitz, director of the Yale Project on Climate Change Communication (YPCCC), says, “Overall, we find that about 40 percent of adults worldwide have never heard of climate change. This rises to more than 65 percent in some developing countries, like Egypt, Bangladesh and India. There is still a critical need for basic climate literacy in many countries.” Ezra Markowitz at the University of Massachusetts Amherst, with Tien Ming Lee of Columbia University, Anthony...
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