Name Affiliation Contact Information Research Area/Contribution Amy Seidl

UVM Climate Change Scholarship and Teaching
Name
Affiliation
Contact Information
Research Area/Contribution
Amy Seidl
ENVS
[email protected]
As an ecologist and writer, I teach climate change in several aspects of my role as a Rubenstein/Environmental Program lecturer. In my large
introductory course in Environmental Studies (pop. 260), I spend two weeks on climate science, mitigation/adaptation, and policy. This is a course
that draws students from all majors on campus.
I also teach a 200-level course for juniors, seniors, and graduate students (pop. 25), entitled Adaptation to Climate Change. Here I take an
evolutionary perspective on current climate change and examine the biological and cultural evolutionary realities inherent in an Age of Warming.
This course also contains a service learning component. In the past we have worked with a VT regional planner on adaptation strategies and this
semester will work with a non-profit tasked with developing a state plan for climate resilience. This course has drawn students from the Rubenstein
School, ENVS, English, and Political Science.
In the fall 2012, I co-instructed a seminar entitled Climate Action: Responding to the New Normal. Funded by the Clean Energy Fund, we brought
in national experts on climate adaptation and carbon mitigation. We ended the seminar with a focused set of speakers on carbon offsets and their
role in UVM achieving its carbon neutrality goals.
I propose that UVM develop a major in climate change science, policy, and communication. As more and more UVM faculty study the
effects of climate change in their research (from agriculture to ecosystem health to new policy mechanisms), we will have ample
academic resources to contribute to this emerging environmental field.
Asim Zia
CDAE
[email protected]
Climate change is one of my primary research focus areas. In particular, I'm interested in international climate policy. I'm also working on regional
scale climate change adaptation and mitigation policies through many funded grants. With this email, I'm attaching the flier for my forthcoming
book on "post-kyoto climate governance: confronting the politics of scale, ideology and knowledge." This book takes a trans-disciplinary
perspective to identify the causes of failure in developing an international climate policy regime and lays out a roadmap for developing a post-Kyoto
(post-2012) climate governance regime in the light of lessons learned from the Kyoto phase. Three critical policy analytical lenses are used to
evaluate the inherent complexity of designing post-Kyoto climate policy: the politics of scale; the politics of ideology; and the politics of
knowledge. The politics of scale lens focuses on the theme of temporal and spatial discounting observed in human societies and how it impacts the
allocation of environmental commons and natural resources across space and time. The politics of ideology lens focuses on the themes of risk and
uncertainty perception in complex, pluralistic human societies. The politics of knowledge lens focuses on the themes of knowledge and power
dynamics in terms of governance and policy designs, such as marketization of climate governance observed in the Kyoto institutional regime.
I believe the "envisioning environment" initiative at the UVM could greatly support my climate policy research program. In particular,
my research work is situated in many developing countries, yet there is hardly any institutional and programmatic support to send
undergraduate and/or graduate students in developing countries to do work on the important policy issues pertaining to climate and
international development. I'll also like to bring UVM students with me to experience international gatherings, such as UNFCCC
summit meeting going on in Doha right now. More than 50 other universities send youth delegations to these meetings. Such
experiences could be transformational for the students and can lead to a new generation of climate leaders. This will however require
institutional and programmatic support.
Beverley Wemple
Geog
[email protected] Dr. Wemple's research focuses on the dynamics of hydrologic and geomorphic processes in upland, forested watersheds. Her work examines the
influence of land use practices on geophysical processes with a particular interest in using basic theoretical tools and simulation modeling, in
conjunction with empirical field studies, to understand how management of the mountain landscape alters the processes of runoff generation and
sediment production in steep, headwater catchments. Dr. Wemple's recent work examines the implications of changing snow cover in mountain
settings on flood production and soil moisture availability. She is particularly interested in the interactions between landuse and climate change, and
in the development of forest management strategies to facilitate the sequestration of water on the landscape.
UVM Climate Change Scholarship and Teaching
Name
Affiliation
Contact Information
Research Area/Contribution
Brian Tokar
ENVS
[email protected]
I teach a Special Topics class called Climate Advocacy and Justice once every 2-3 semesters in ENVS. The class examines current literature on
climate activism worldwide, and also engages students in group projects related to climate advocacy at UVM and in the wider community. Most
students are upper level ENVS majors, but the class reliably attracts several others, including Political Science and Global Studies majors. I think
some kind of university-wide collaboration in this area would be highly beneficial to faculty and students alike, and I'd be very
interested in staying informed about these developments.
Carol Adair
RSENR
[email protected]
My research is on how global change (with a more recent focus on climate changes) modifies terrestrial ecosystem properties and processes.
I am new to UVM (since December 2011), and so only have a few climate change related projects starting up:
• Characterizing climate-induced qualitative changes in plant polyphenol composition and their influence on soil processes. NSF-Ecosystems.
$26,800
• Adapting to Climate Change with Low Impact Development Stormwater Management in the Lake Champlain Basin. Lake Champlain Sea Grant
Program (NOAA). $116,085 (plus local match)
• Synergies and Trade-Offs Between Climate Adaptation and Mitigation Policy, Governance and Agricultural Practice in the Lake Champlain Basin
(LCB) of Vermont. UVM Food Systems Spire Research Grant. $400,000
• Carbon and nutrient fluxes in a warming world: a forest mesocosm study. McIntire-Stennis (USDA). $24,000
I also have several grants pending. I am currently co-advising two students, and will be looking for two new MS students in the next 6 months.
I have on-gong collaborations with faculty at the University of California, Santa Barbara, Clemson University, the University of Minnesota, and with
working groups stemming from my postdoctoral research at the National Center for Ecological Analysis and Synthesis. Within UVM, I have active
collaborations with faculty in Plant and Soil Sciences and RACC EPSCoR faculty.
d) Internal and external constraints that limit your effectiveness
Lack of connection between departments/schools – it’s tough to find everyone who works on climate change or terrestrial global change ecology
(for example) for collaboration on research and proposals.
Finding support, time and resources for writing large and/or collaborative proposals can also be somewhat difficult.
A centralized “location” or way to connect those working on climate change or ecology abd improved support or time for writing
large/collaborative grants would increase effectiveness.I currently do global change (including climate change) research, as described above. I also
teach an upper level course in climate change science (seniors/graduate students). This course was taught for the first time in Fall 2012.
I would like to see a climate change and/or environment focused program bring together faculty from across campus for collaboration.
A cohesive program focusing on climate change would be a draw for graduate and undergraduate students, as well as an excellent
resource for both students and faculty.
UVM Climate Change Scholarship and Teaching
Name
Affiliation
Contact Information
Research Area/Contribution
Cecilia Danks
Rachael Beddoe
RSENR
[email protected]
[email protected]
Description of current work: In 2008 I initiated a research community called Forest Carbon and Communities Research Group, which is most
analogous to a graduate "lab" although we have included alumni, as well as the occasional undergraduate or faculty associate. Our website is:
http://www.uvm.edu/forestcarbon/. We focus our research and outreach on the intersection of forests, human communities and climate change.
Our program of research to date has addressed two broad areas: 1) forest carbon markets, specifically the social, market and institutional conditions
under which community-based forestry, urban forestry and family forests can participate in effective and equitable carbon offset projects), and 2)
woody biomass energy, specifically the social, market and institutional issues affecting the sustainability of wood biomass energy at the community
scale. Our work includes a range of projects from collaborations with local communities to hosting the 2011 Northern Forest Wood Biomass
Energy Research Symposium. Most of our work has focused on Vermont and the Northeast, however, we are expanding our study of these issues
abroad through collaborations with faculty colleagues from the Carbon Dynamics Lab (Keeton) and the Gund (Farley, Wollenberg).
Since its inception in 2008, six masters' students have graduate from the group, and three are currently in the program. I also serve on PhD and MS
committees for a number of students working on related topics. In addition to graduate students, we have also funded of part time research staff
for several projects over the years.
Grants and collaborations that have contributed to this work include: USDA Forest Service, Pacific Northwest Research Station. 2010-2013. State
Carbon Management Assistance Programs for Private Forest Owners: A Review and Analysis of Program Structure and Performance. PI: C. Danks.
$80,000.
Northeastern States Research Cooperative. 2010-2012. Pacific Northwest Research Station. 2010-2013. Emerging research on wood biomass
energy for the Northern Forest: connecting researchers, policy-makers and communities. PI: C. Danks. $38,869.
Northeastern States Research Cooperative. 2010-2013. Evaluating Supply and Demand of Northern Forest Branded Carbon Credits. PI: W.
Keeton; Co-PIs: C. Danks, C. Kerchner. $109,500.
Northeastern States Research Cooperative. 2009-2010. Management implications of the expanding role of conservation easements in carbon
markets and sustainable forestry. PI: C. Danks. $25,000.
USDA Natural Resources Conservation Service, Conservation Innovation Grant. 2009-2011. Optimizing the greenhouse gas storage capacity and
productivity of degraded forest lands: using rehabilitation forestry and carbon market participation to benefit overharvested forests in Vermont.
PI: L. Saligman (Conservation Collaboratives); Co-PIs: C. Danks, J. Gunn (Manomet Center), W. Keeton, B. Machin (Redstart Forestry), E. RussellRoy (Pacific Forest Trust). $43,973.
UVM Office of International Education. 2009. Climate Change, Forests and Local Communities Network with University of East Anglia &
CIFOR. (Website: http://2cfc.editme.com/) PI: E. Wollenberg; Co-PI: C. Danks. $1500.
USDA Forest Service, National Urban and Community Forestry Advisory Committee. 2008-2011. Understanding and accessing carbon offset
markets: a new source of funding for community forestry. PI: C.Danks; Co-PI: E. Wollenberg. $83,000.
USDA McIntire-Stennis Forest Research Program. 2008-2011. Evaluation of options for forestland owner participation in carbon markets: forest
management alternatives and institutional and economic constraints. PIs: C. Danks and W. S. Keeton. $112,000.
Northeastern States Research Cooperative. 2008-2011. Enhancing the sustainability of community-based biomass production and conservation for
local energy through university-community partnerships. (Website: http://www.uvm.edu/~susagctr/?Page=biomass.html=) PI: Eva Wollenberg; CoPIs: C. Danks, S. McCandless. $150,000.
UVM Climate Change Scholarship and Teaching
Name
Affiliation
Contact Information
Research Area/Contribution
USDA McIntire-Stennis Forest Research Program. 2005-2009. Institutional innovations in community-based forestry: sustaining forests,
livelihoods and lifestyles in the working landscape. PI: C. Danks. $48,750.
In addition, I have taught or co-taught a number of graduate and undergraduate courses related to the work of the Forest Carbon and
Communities Research Group: NR 385 Carbon Markets, Climate Change and Communities; NR 378 Integrating Analyses in Natural Resource
Issues: Forest Carbon and Communities, co-taught by C. Danks and D. Wang; ENVS 295/FOR 285/NR 285 Community Forestry at Home and
Abroad; ENVS 295/ NR 285 Community-Based Natural Resource Management; ENVS 195 Climate Action Seminar, led by R. Beddoe with A.
Seidl and C Danks faculty sponsors
Recommendations / Plans/ Desires for the Future:
New Course: I would like to be able to teach, or preferably co-teach, a graduate or advanced undergraduate course on Forests,
Communities and Climate Change that tackles the complex scientific, social and policy issues of the role of forests in climate change.
Ideally it would be an interdisciplinary course that explores and assesses effective and equitable approaches to managing forests that
consider mitigation, alternative energy and adaptation with respect to climate change. This is a big suite of issues to cover in one
course. The exact emphasis could shift from semester to semester depending on recent science or policy developments and the course
instructors. It would strengthen our graduate offerings and identify an area of strength at UVM.
New Collaborations: I would like to broaden the research focus of the Forest Carbon and Communities Research Group to include
more international collaborations, projects, perspectives and participants. I would also like to support and advise more PhD students
working on these topics. To create a supportive and intellectually nourishing environment for more PhD students on this topic, I would
like to link the Forest Carbon & Communities Research Group more closely with work at the Gund Institute, the Carbon Dynamics
Lab, and/or perhaps a new entity or graduate initiative at UVM that integrates the social and ecological issues of climate change locally
and globally.
Christopher
Danforth
CEMS
Ernesto Mendez, CALS
Kate Westdijk,
Rachel Erin
Schattman, Martha
Caswell, Stephanie
Cesario
[email protected]
Associate Professor, Department of Mathematics & Statistics College of Engineering & Mathematical Science. I co-direct the Computational Story
Lab, a research group in Farrell Hall. I have a handful of PhD students working on weather and climate prediction, funded mainly by an NSF grant.
My team works as part of the Mathematics and Climate Research Network (http://mathclimate.org), a group of roughly 15 schools in the US
charged with developing the mathematical techniques that will be required to improve projections made by global climate models.
[email protected]
[email protected]
[email protected]
[email protected]
[email protected]
The Agroecology and Rural Livelihoods Group (ARLG) in the Plant and Soil Science Department recently started the Vermont Agricultural
Resilience in a Changing Climate Initiative. Currently, we have 4 interrelated projects totaling over $450 K, which works with farmers, agricultural
service providers, researchers and community organizations to better understand and address climate change adaptation and mitigation in Vermont
agriculture. Funders include the UVM Food Systems Spire, USDA Hatch, the Vermont Community Foundation and the High Meadows Fund.
Lead by V. Ernesto Mendez, affiliated with the PSS department and the Environmental Program, the initiative includes 7 additional co-principal
investigators from the Rubenstein School, Community Development and Applied Economics and UVM extension. Funding is available for 5
graduate students, 4 of which have already started. We are also supervising an environmental studies capstone internship.
Highlights of initiative: Transdisciplinary approach crossing the social and natural sciences and integrating farmer knowledge; Use of a participatory
action research approach; strong farmer and service provider outreach component.
UVM Climate Change Scholarship and Teaching
Name
Affiliation
Contact Information
Research Area/Contribution
Gillian Galford
Gund
[email protected]
Primary thematic areas of the teaching, research, or outreach aspects of your unit:
Environmental sustainability, global change, climate change, land-use and land-cover change, modeling earth systems processes, modeling policy
impacts on ecosystems and agroecosystems
Quantitative indicators that best show the scope and scale of your contribution (such as # of faculty, # of majors, # of courses, # of grants and
grant dollars, # of degrees awarded over past 5-10 years – please use the indicators appropriate to your unit):
I currently have 3 funded grants by NASA-- impacts of climate on food security in India; environmental and socio-economic outcomes of the new
African Green Revolutions; greenhouse gas emissions from land-cover and land-use change in Brazil.
List and nature of cross-unit collaborations at UVM or beyond:
Collaborating with Chris Callahan (Extension) and Leslie-Ann (Geography) on a graduate student course assessing economic impacts of climate
change in Vermont. I am adjunct to the Earth Institute at Columbia University, a project consultant with Brown University, and Co-I with
researchers at the Woods Hole Research Center and the Marine Biological Lab.
Internal and external constraints that limit your effectiveness:
Transparency and networking of environmentally related faculty and research. Support for undergraduate and graduate research,
including more financial support for graduate teaching assistants in classes over 12 students to fund them as well as make my teaching
more effective.
Resources, policies, or procedures that would increase your effectiveness:
Internal fellowships, funding for graduate students
Note: I find the Gund Institute to be extremely effective in bringing together students and faculty working on environmental issues. I
have benefited from internal collaborative grants. I am working with students on environmentally-related independent study projects. I
may bring on a graduate student next year if funding allows. I believe the Gund is a small-scale example of the coordination,
collaboration and support that environmental research and teaching deserves across the university. Facility Fellows in Gund have
discussed the potential of developing larger academic programs, e.g., IGERT-like programs that would bring together a cohort of
students to work on disciplinary issues in a multi-disciplinary, placed-based framework or having interdisciplinary students working on
the same issues. The University should be thinking outside the box on new ways to be the leading environmental university, including
radical changes to paradigms in teaching, learning and research in traditional disciplines.
Joshua C. Farley
CDAE
[email protected]
Josh Farley is an ecological economist and Associate Professor in Community Development & Applied Economics and Public Administration. Josh
holds degrees in biology, international affairs and economics. His work on climate change involves research on the institutional arrangements that
affect pressure for conversion and restoration of forests in the Atlantic Forest of Brazil, and the potential for agriculture to sequester carbon in
these regions. At the local level, he is initiating a multi-year research project on the challenge of achieving an economy for Burlington, VT that is
compatible with 350 ppm of atmospheric CO2 stocks, which will require reductions in CO2 emissions greater than 80%. The research will focus
on the food, transportation and housing sectors, and will include policies for achieving emissions reductions as well as assessments of their impact
on quality of life.
Jurij Homziak
RSENR
[email protected]
Jurij Homziak is the Executive Director and Coastal and Watersheds Specialist of the Lake Champlain Sea Grant program and Extension Assistant
Professor in the University of Vermont School of Natural Resources. He is responsible for the developing the newest national Sea Grant program
of extension, outreach and research activities to enhance awareness and understanding of coastal development, water quality, aquatic resources,
nuisance aquatic species, land use and watershed management issues for the NY-VT-Quebéc Lake Champlain Basin. Jruij conducts applied research
in participatory, community based watershed management and water quality protection, lay water quality monitoring and urban stream restoration.
UVM Climate Change Scholarship and Teaching
Name
Affiliation
Contact Information
Research Area/Contribution
Lesley-Ann
Dupigny-Giroux
Geog
[email protected]
Dr. Lesley-Ann Dupigny-Giroux is an Applied Climatologist by training. In the Department of Geography, she is responsible for the following
courses: GEOG 040 (Weather, Climate and Landscapes), GEOG 143 (Climatology), GEOG 246 (Climatology and Natural Hazards), GEOG 281
(Satellite Climatology and Land-surface processes). Many of her classes involve a service-learning component as well as the use of remote sensing,
which allows students to gain an entre into working with Vermont State and Federal Agencies. She also offers GEOG 185 (Remote Sensing).
Dr. Dupigny-Giroux' work lies at the nexus between climate variations, severe weather, spatial climate and the ways in which atmospheric processes
interact with the terrestrial environment. She is a specialist in the drought and flooding as well as climate interactions with agriculture and forestry.
Her publications can be found at the Vermont State Climate Office
site:<http://www.uvm.edu/~vtstclim/?Page=publications.html&SM=outreachsub.html>. She is the co-editor of the Springer book "Historical
climate variability and impacts in North America," the first monograph of its kind for North America complementing other such work in Europe
and Australia.
The primary barrier to my work is having access to graduate students and a dedicated graduate program in Geography. Please refer to
my written response as the Vermont State Climatologist for further details.
Lini Wollenberg
Gund/
RSENR
[email protected]
Lini Wollenberg manages a ten-year research program on climate change mitigation in agriculture and forestry based at the Gund Institute and
RSENR,!and in partnership with the Consultative Group for International Agricultural Research (CGIAR). (See www.ccafs.cgiar.org). The purpose
of the $12 million research program is to identify ways in which climate change mitigation can improve the well-being of poor rural populations
and enhance food security in the developing world. This involves about 40 research projects that range from policy analysis to participatory action
research and experimental field trials.! Lini's own research is on the institutional and governance dimensions.! She also advises graduate students in
RSENR. Climate change is likely to become a subject as pervasive as environment across the university. Studying climate change in
relation to natural systems (forestry, agriculture, aquatic) would seem to be a comparative advantage for UVM and offer a double
environmental edge. Rather than create a department, spire or other singe entity, we need a way to link climate change teaching and
scholarship across campus, for example, through a center and cross-campus laboratory.
Paul Hines
CENS
[email protected]
I am an Assistant Professor in the School of Engineering at the University of Vermont. I am also a member of the Adjunct Research Faculty at the
Carnegie Mellon Electricity Industry Center. I like to hang out with the folks in the Complex Systems Center, the Vermont Avanced Computing
Core, and the Transportation Research Center.
Research: Complex Systems Modeling for Environmental Problem Solving
Shelly Rayback
Geog
[email protected]
Professor Rayback is interested in the response of trees and shrubs to climate and other environmental changes across varying temporal and spatial
scales. She uses dendrochronological (the study of tree rings) and stable isotope analysis techniques on long time series derived from arctic and
alpine dwarf shrubs and from eastern North American tree species to understand the influence of climate on plant growth and reproduction, and
to reconstruct climate. Her research takes place in the Canadian High Arctic, the Cascades of Washington and the Green Mountains of Vermont.
Her current research focuses on reconstructing climate from stable carbon isotope ratio time series constructed from both live trees and logs
salvaged from the bottom of lakes and bogs in New England. This work is being undertaken in partnership with the Environmental Stable Isotope
Laboratory at UVM and with College of Arts and Sciences undergraduate students.
Professor Rayback teaches the introductory courses, Weather, Climate and Landscapes 040 and Geotechniques 081. At the intermediate level, she
offers courses in Biogeography 140 and Arctic Canada 153, and at the advanced level, she teaches field-based seminars in Advanced Topics on
Global Change 244 including Dendrochronology and Paleoclimatology. Recently, Professor Rayback and her Dendrochronology 244 class
partnered with The Nature Conservancy of Vermont and the University of Vermont’s Community and University Partnership Office to reconstruct
the environmental history of the LaPlatte River Marsh Natural Area.
UVM Climate Change Scholarship and Teaching
Name
Affiliation
TBA
UVM Center
for
Sustainable
Agriculture
William Scott
Keeton
RSENR
Contact Information
Research Area/Contribution
Climate change position has been created at UVM Center for Sustainable Agriculture. Job description: the Coordinator will provide leadership for
the Center’s new Climate Change program by developing, implementing and evaluating programmatic efforts. This will require engaging in
outreach and applied research with Vermont farmers to support their efforts to implement relevant practices (both adaptation and mitigation)
related to climate change, with a particular emphasis on farming in the floodplains; and working in collaboration with other agencies, organizations,
and UVM departments.
[email protected]
As a forest ecosystem scientist I am interested in developing and applying the best available science to questions of local, regional, and global
environmental and forest ecosystem sustainability. My specific research foci include forest carbon management, climate change impacts on forest
ecosystems, ecologically-based silvicultural systems, structure and function of old-growth and riparian forests, natural disturbance ecology,
restoration ecology, forest biodiversity, and sustainable forest management policy and practice in the U.S. and internationally. I teach courses in
advanced silviculture, forest ecosystem dynamics, restoration ecology, ecosystem management, and sustainable forest management.