YIBS 1998-1999 Annual Report

I. PERSONNEL APPOINTMENTS

Karl K. Turekian, Silliman Professor of Geology & Geophysics was appointed Director of the Yale Institute for Biospheric Studies - January 1, 1999 through July 31, 2001.

II. STUDENT PROGRAMS - Supported by the Donnelley Studies in the Environment Endowment Fund

A. Studies in the Environment Program

Chair, Professor Mary Helen Goldsmith
Director of Undergraduate Studies, Assistant Professor Steven Stoll

Studies in the Environment (SE) in Yale College offers a program for students interested in acquiring a more comprehensive understanding of complex environmental processes and issues than afforded by any single major in the natural or social sciences or the humanities. SE, offered only as a second major, provides students with the skills and depth of knowledge required to pursue an environmental career in government or the private sector, to continue their education in graduate and professional programs in business, law, or management of natural resources, and to become effective, informed citizens and stewards of the environment in their communities. SE emphasizes an interdisciplinary approach built on a strong foundation in the natural sciences, especially geology and ecology, subjects that also require a basic background in chemistry, physics, and biology. Essential components of the SE core curriculum are courses in economics, political science and policy analysis in the social sciences, and history and literature in the humanities. Regardless of their primary major, students in the program acquire basic scientific knowledge and practical skills. They become aware, inquiring, and observant, capable of formulating hypotheses, designing experiments, analyzing data, determining its statistical significance, analyzing risk, coming to decisions on the basis of present knowledge, and monitoring and adjusting course in response to unanticipated outcomes. Students in the program who are majoring in one of the humanities or social sciences clearly get a better education in natural sciences than do most of their peers

An Advisory Committee composed of faculty drawn from various participating departments discusses the development of the program and its curriculum. The faculty also provide a resource of information about the program for students with primary majors in their respective departments. The faculty for SE consists of a Director of Undergraduate Studies who is currently a member of the History Department, and a Chair who is currently a member of the Department of Molecular, Cellular and Developmental Biology. To satisfy all requirements of SE, except the new junior seminar and the senior colloquium, SE relies on courses taught by the participating departments which have been designed to satisfy their curricular goals, not the curriculum of SE. In designing their majors and courses, these departments do not consult the SE about the needs of SE students.

---

 

B. Support for Undergraduate Summer Internships - Funded by the Bingham Foundation Endowment Fund

Julie Bracken	Studies in the Environment and American Studies Earth System Field School Columbia University Biosphere 2 Center
Isaac Cheng	Studies in the Environment and Economics Agricultural Technology in China
Elizabeth Cushingham	Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology Earth System Field School Session II Columbia University Biosphere 2 Center
Rachel Gruzen	Studies in the Environment and Architecture Consulting and studying with architects in Scandinavia, working on developing environmentally responsible designs.
Henry Kessler	Studies in the Environment and History Internship at Environmental Law Institute
Daniel MacPhee	Studies in the Environment and Department of Geology and Geophysics Yellowstone Big Horn Research Association -summer course in geological field methods.
Sarah McCullough	Studies in the Environment and Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology The role of an amphibian, eleutherodactylus copui, in ecosystem functioning in Puerto Rico.
Monique Mendez	Studies in the Environment and Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology Research and course participation at the primate behavior and ecology program in Panama.
Shari Rogal	Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology Earth System Field School Columbia University Biosphere 2 Center
Katherine Scharf	Studies in the Environment and History Internship with Mountain State Justice
Lauge Sokol-Hessner	Studies in the Environment and Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology Effects of intraguild predation among three spider species on grasshopper populations in an old-field interaction web.
Geoffrey Suttle	Studies in the Environment and Political Science Response of coyotes to the reintroduction of wolves in Yellowstone National Park.

---

 

C. Studies in the Environment Rising Seniors

 

Julie Brackin
Isaac Cheng
Rachel Gruzen
Henry Kessler
Katherine Scharf
Lauge Hessner Sokol
Geoffrey Suttle

---

 

D. G. Evelyn Hutchinson Prize – Graduate Students Support

 

Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology and
Department of Molecular and Cellular Biology

 

Homayoun Bagheri	Regulatory Self-Maintenance in Metabolic Pathways and Evolutionary Strategies for Forming Physiological Adaptations
Luis Cadavid	Genetic and Molecular Characterization of Hydractinia Symbolongicarpus Allorecognition Locus
Martin Hanczyc	Evolving Complexity in and In Vitro Ribozyme System
Maxim Shpak	Algebraic and Probabilistic Properties of a Model of Random Unequal Crossing Over
Michael Slotman	The Introgression of Nuclear DNA that Occurs Between A. Arabiensis and A. gambiae

 

Yale School of Forestry and Environmental Studies

 

Eva Cuadrado	Adoption, Management, and Potential of Community Supported Agriculture
Timothy Farnham	The Concept of Biological Diversity
Carlos Gonzales	An Examination of Food Safety and International Trade: The Case of Beef Residue Limits in Latin America and Their Effects Worldwide
Xinzhang Hu	Numerical Simulation of Canopy Wave and Associated CO2 Flux in Forests
B. Brooke A. Parry	Induced Edges in Forest Ecosystems: Tracking the Causes of Change in Ecosystem Function
Montira J. Pongsiri	Risk in Decision Making: Managing Risk Tradeoffs in the Control of Malaria

 

Department of Geology and Geophysics

 

Jessica Maisano	Patterns and Postnatal Ossification in Squamates: Their Phylogenetic Informativeness and Relationship to Life History Characters and Climate Change
Cynthia Marshall	Comparative Analysis of Developmental Anatomy and Growth Patterns in Embryonic Paleognathes; with Comparisons to Embryonic Neognathes, Archosaurs and Non-avian Theorpods
Steven Petsch	Weathering of Sedimentary Organic Matter and the Geochemical Cycles of Oxygen and Carbon

 

Department of Environmental Engineering

 

Jeffrey Chen
Eric Vrijenhoek

---

 

E. Yale Student Environmental Coalition (YSEC)

 

YIBS supported speaker Dianne Dumonoski – Our Stolen Future
Presented at the Yale School of Forestry and Environmental Studies in celebration of Earth Day 1999 – sponsored by the Yale Student Environmental Coalition (YSEC)

 

YIBS supported the Spring Fling Communiversity Day and eco-cabaret – INTOXICating - sponsored by YSEC and Greencorps