YIBS 1999-2000 Annual Report

II.  STUDENT PROGRAMS

A. - Studies in the Environment Program - Supported by the Donnelley Studies in the Environment Endowment Fund

Professor Mary Helen Goldsmith, Chair
Assistant Professor Steven Stoll, Director of Undergraduate Studies (on leave during 1999/2000 Academic Year)
Gordon T. Geballe, F&ES Lecturer, DUS for 1999/2000 Academic Year

The Studies in the Environment Double-Major Program provides undergraduate students with the skills and depth of knowledge required to pursue an environmental career in government or in the private sector.  The program also prepares students 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.  Studies in the Environment 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.  In the social sciences, courses in economics, political science and policy analysis, and in the humanities, history and literature, are essential components of the Studies in the Environment core curriculum.  Regardless of their primary major, students in the program acquire basic scientific knowledge and practical skills to become aware, inquiring, and observant, capable of formulating hypotheses and designing experiments, capable of analyzing data and determining its statistical significance, analyzing risk to reach decisions on the basis of present knowledge, and to be able to monitor and adjust course in response to unanticipated outcomes.  Students in the program who are majoring in one of the humanities or social sciences receive a better education in natural sciences than do most of their peers.

Since the establishment of the environmental summer internship program in 1992 which is associated with the Studies in the Environment Program but not limited to just Studies in the Environment majors, approximately 104 undergraduates from various Yale undergraduate disciplines have taken advantage of the funds available to work on a variety of environmentally-focused projects during the summer months.  These experiences have enhanced their understanding and commitment to the many environmental issues that they face in our world today .

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B. - Support for Undergraduate Summer Internships – Summer 2000 - Funded by the Bingham Foundation Studies in the Environment Endowment Fund, the Montgomery Family Studies in the Environment Endowment Fund, and the Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology

Double Major Students:

Susan Brown	Majors:  Studies in the Environment and American Studies Project:  To gain first hand experience with the European approach to organic farming on an Italian organic farm.
Viviann Chui	Majors:  Studies in the Environment and Political Science Project:  Internship with Winrock International Kathmandu, Nepal to work on the campaign to transform Nepal into a “clean energy country.”
Rebecca Kolsky	Majors:  Studies in the Environment and Anthropology Project:  Internship at the National Environmental Education and Training Foundation (NEETF) in Washington, DC.
Josh Mukhopadhyay	Majors:  Studies in the Environment and Biology Project:  Environmental factors favoring the development of bamboo-dominated forests in the Tambopata-Candamo reserved zone in southeastern Peru.
Abigail Ryder	Majors:  Studies in the Environment and Anthropology Project:   Social dynamics associated with economic change of women in the Sangha River region.
Joanne Sum-Ping	Majors:  Ethics, Politics and Economics, and Ecology and Evolutionary Biology Project:  Internship with the US Department of State, Bureau of Oceans and International Environmental and Scientific Affairs, Office of Policy Coordinating and Initiatives, Washington, DC.
Nicholas Stucky	Majors:  Studies in the Environment and Biomedical Engineering Project:  Assessment of remote sensing of ecosystem change affecting salmon and steelhead habitat in the Puget Sound region.

Single Major Students:

Matthew Nicotra	Major:  Ecology and Evolutionary Biology Project:  Transmission genetics of polyp fusibility in Hydractinia symbiologngicarpus.
Anahid Powell	Major:  Ecology and Evolutionary Biology Project:  Constructing a genetic map of Hydractinia symbiolongicarpus using microsatellites and AFLP markers.
Elizabeth Saunders	Major:  Ecology and Evolutionary Biology Project:  Study of complexation of heavy metals by sulfur compounds.
Rajni Sethi	Major:  Ecology and Evolutionary Biology Project:  Project at the Hubbard Brook Experimental Forest in New Hampshire’s White Mountains.
Margaret Sherriffs	Major:  Ecology and Evolutionary Biology Project:  Investigation of how the exotic parasitoid wasp Allorhogas pyralophagus assess the size of its host when the host is concealed within plant tissue.
Lauge Sokol-Hessner	Major:  Ecology and Evolutionary Biology Project:  Effects of intraguild predation among three spider species on grasshopper populations in an old-field interaction web.
Megann Young	Major:  Ecology and Evolutionary Biology Project:  Effects of food-web complexity on the appearance of tropic cascades.
Fleming Terrell	Major:  Ecology and Evolutionary Biology Project:  Internship with Dr. Dan Brunbaugh in the Center for Biodiversity and Conservation at the American Museum of Natural History to work on the project “Molecular Studies of Dispersal and Speciation in Bryozoans.”

Gaylord Donnelley Prize

Susan Brown, American Studies and Studies in the Environment
Senior Essay: The Silent Leader: Rachel Carson’s Role in the Emergence of the Modern Environmental Movement.

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C. - D. G. Evelyn Hutchinson – YIBS Graduate Student Support

Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology

Homayoun Bagheri	Evolution of Variation in Biochemical Systems.  Advisor, Günter Wagner
Luis Cadavid	Genetic and Molecular Characterization of Hydractinia Symbiolongicarpus Allorecognition Locus.  Advisor, Leo Buss
Kyle Cole	In Vitro Selection of E. Coli Rnase P.  Advisor, Robert Dorit.
Jeff Huckaby	In Vivo Evolution of RNase PRNA.   Advisor, Robert Dorit
Julia Kreychman	Structure of Protein Energy Landscapes, Symmetries of 3 Dimensional Structures and Functional Diversification as Key Factors Governing the Patterns of Protein Diversification.  Advisor, Junhyong Kim
Jason Mezey	Pattern and Evolution of Pleiotropic Effects:  Analysis of QTL Data and an Epistatic Model.  Advisor, Günter Wagner
Kristin Saltonstall	Genetic Variation in Phragites Australis.  Advisor, Jeffrey Powell
Maxim Shopak	Aggregation of Variables and Decomposability of Mutation-Selection on Fitness Landscapes.  Advisor, Günter Wagner

Michel Slotman	The Genetics of Postmating Reproductive Isolation and the Nature of Introgression Between Anopheles Gambiae and Anopheles Grabiensis.  Advisor, Jeffrey Powell
Elizabeth Suatoni	Patterns of Hybrid Breakdown in an Alternative System, the Rotifer Species Complex, Brachionus Plicatilis.  Advisor, Sean Rice

 

Environmental Engineering

Jeffrey Chen	Colloidal Transport Phenomena in Aquatic Systems.
Eric Vrijenhoek	Improving the Understanding of Optimal Use of Membrane Processes for Water Quality Control.

 

Yale School of Forestry and Environmental Studies

Michael Booth	Material Flows Across Ectomycorrhizal Networks and Plant Competition in Temperate Forests.
Robert Klee	Measuring Sustainability Through Material Flow Analysis of Industrial Systems in Antarctica: A Case Study of the British Antarctic Survey.
Laly Lichtenfeld	The Meta-Physical King of Beasts: Exploring Biological and Socio-Cultural Relationships to the Lion in Northern Tanzania.
David Pinney	Farming on the Urban Fringe: Public Interests, Private Decisions.
Anne Rademacher	“Culturing" Urban Ecology: Strategic Linkages of Environment and Cultural Identity in Discourses of Urban River Restoration, the Upper Bagmati Basin, Kathmandu, Nepal.
Shane Rosenthal	Pro-poor Policies for the Provision of Urban Water and Sanitation Services.
Leigh Shemitz	Understanding the Health of Cities: An Analysis of the Changing Patterns of Poverty, Health, Land and People in an Urban Ecosystem.
Terry Terhaar	Values of the Heart and Soul and How They Influence Forest Policy and Management Decisions: Where Do People Think They Fit In Nature?
John Tuxill	Examining the Effects of Agrarian Change on Mayan Agrodiversity in Yucatan State, Mexico: Implications for In Situ Conservation.
David Neidel	Insiders and Outsiders: Village Conservation Agreements and the Politics of Property in Kerinci, Indonesia.

 

Department of Geology and Geophysics

Cynthia Marshall	Comparative Analysis of Developmental Anatomy and Growth Patterns in Embryonic Paleognathes; with Comparisons to Embryonic Neognathes, Archosaurs and Non-avian Theorpods.
Jessica Maisano	Patterns and Postnatal Ossification in Squamates:  Their Phylogenetic Informativeness and Relationship to Life History Characters and Climate Change.
Alan Gishlick	Theropod Predatory Behavior and the Origin of Flight.
Daniel Brinkman	Taxonomic Implications of Osteological Variability in the Ornithopod Dinosaur Tenontosaurus.
Rebecca Masters	Metamorphic Fluid Flow and the Development of Barrow’s Index Mineral Zones, Stonehaven, Scotland.

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D. - Yale Student Environmental Coalition (YSEC) 1999-2000 YIBS Support

YSEC Speaker Series – Spring 2000
Spring Fling and EarthDay Participation – Spring 2000
Campus Green Vote Training – Spring 2000

With funding support from the Yale Institute for Biospheric Studies, the Yale Student Environmental Coalition (YSEC):

• Hosted Robert Massie, Executive Director of the Center for Environmentally Responsible Economies (CERES) as their guest speaker on March 23, 2000.  His talk focused on:  “Corporations exert an influence over human decisions and behaviors that is often more profound than that of schools, governments or religious communities.  What are you gonna do about it?”

• Contributed money to the Spring Fling Organizing Committee to use for general expenses for this event.  During the Spring Fling, YSEC members staffed a table and served ice cream to students who signed a global warming petition.  This petition was part of YSEC’s Kyoto Now Campaign, which educates students about climate change and urges the Yale administration to set an environmental example by reducing campus carbon dioxide emissions. 

• Held a Campus Green Vote training that taught attendees general organizing and media skills.  After the training, the Campus Green Vote representatives helped with YSEC’s Kyoto Now Campaign.

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E. - Yale Chapter - Society for Conservation Biology (SCB) 1999-2000 YIBS Support

SCB Environmental Seminar Series at Yale

September 20, 1999	Laurie Marker, Cheetah Conservation Fund, Namibia presented cheetah conservation.
February 29, 2000	Mark Ritchie, Department of Fisheries and Wildlife, Utah State University presented Spatial Scaling Laws Yield a Synthetic Theory of Biodiversity.
March 2, 2000	Peter Seligmann, Chairman and CEO of Conservation International presented issues in international conservation.
March 22, 2000	David Olson, Senior Scientist and Director of the Conservation Science Program at World Wildlife Fund presented Ecoregion-Based Conservation Approaches.
April 13, 2000	George Woodwell, Founder and Director of Woods Hole Research Center presented his past work on important environmental issues.

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