IPER News
Winter 2008

We hope you’ve entered the New Year in good form and thank you for your support of IPER, which is thriving.  We offer our latest news below, with best wishes for 2008!

The Big Move

Breaking news from IPER is our move, along with many other faculty, students and program staff, to the new Yang and Yamazaki Environment and Energy Building (Y2E2).  For the first time ever we have space for staff and all IPER PhD students, plus spots for alumni and Joint Masters students to visit and work when they’re in the building.  Stop by Suite 226 to check us out.

Fellowships and Awards

Amy Pickering (1st) received a Community-Based Field Research Grant from the

International Health Section of the American Public Health Association to support her research on "A Novel Approach to Hand Hygiene in Dar es Salaam, Tanzania" during the upcoming summer.

Presentations, Posters, and Publications

Xuehua Zhang (6th) presented a talk titled “Effects of Court Review on Local Environmental Enforcement in China: Evidence From Hubei Province” at the Forum on Sustainable Development in China, an annual conference of Professional Association for China’s Environment (PACE) at George Washington University, Washington DC, in October.

Kate Brauman (4th) published a review of in the Annual Review of Environment and Resources with several IPER Affiliated faculty: Brauman, KA, GC Daily, TK Duarte, and HR Mooney. 2007 "The Nature and Value of Ecosystem Services: A focus on hydrology." 32:67-98.  She also presented a poster titled "The Value of Forest and Pasture to Water Supply in Kona, HI" at the American Geophysical Union (AGU) conference in San Francisco in December.

Also at AGU, Carolyn Snyder (3rd) presented a poster titled "An Assessment of the Biophysical Consequences of Land Use Change and the Implications for Climate Policy Analysis" in the Including Land Use and Land Cover Change in Earth System Models session.

Adam Millard-Ball (2nd) presented a paper and poster at the Transportation Research Board in January titled “The Municipal Mobility Manager: A New Transportation Funding Stream from Carbon Trading?” on regulatory design options for including transportation in carbon trading programs.

Hilary Schaffer (4th) presented a poster titled,  "Contentious Politics in Liquefied Natural Gas Facility Siting: A Case Study of Vallejo, California," at the Behavior, Energy and Climate Change Conference in Sacramento in November.

Kim Nicholas Cahill (5th) gave a presentation on “Climate Change and the Future of the Wine Industry” at Great Wine Capitals Network annual conference in November in Porto, Portugal.

Rebeca Hwang (5th) and Len Ortolano (CEE) received funds from the Center for Latin American Studies to host a conference at Stanford on Increasing Access to Water by the Poor in Latin America: Institutional Innovations, Networks and Small Scale Providers, January 18-19, 2008.  Jenna Davis (CEE) and Pam Matson (Dean, SES) co-sponsored the event.  Among others, Amy Pickering (1st) presented a talk titled "Household Water Disinfection in Rural Mexico: Evaluating the UV Tube."

Congratulations to IPER’s newest grad!

Rebecca Goldman (5th) successfully defended her thesis entitled “Working Landscape Conservation: Analyzing and Designing Institutional Approaches to Promote Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services.”   Her committee comprised Bill Barnett (GSB), Gretchen Daily (Bio), Paul Ehrlich (Bio), Peter Kareiva (The Nature Conservancy), and Buzz Thompson (Law); Scott Fendorf (GES) chaired her defense.

Alumni Updates

News from afar…Holmes Hummel is thriving as a AAAS Congressional Science Fellow focused on energy and climate policy development.  In December, Holmes joined the Congressional delegation to the international climate negotiations in Bali, Indonesia, which sets the course for the next two years of negotiations.  On Capitol Hill, Holmes has been working with other staff on the formulation of federal climate policy, drawing on interdisciplinary analysis and communication skills to engage national energy scenarios that would meet tough targets and help vet cap-and-trade proposals that could drive the transition.

…and not so far…Mike Mastrandrea shared the 2007 Nobel Peace Prize with other scientists on the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) and former Vice President Al Gore (IPER Affiliated faculty and IPCC members Chris Field, Tom Heller, Terry Root, and Steve Schneider shared the honor).  Mike also reports the upcoming publication of a paper with members of the Food Security and Environment program led by Roz Naylor: “Prioritizing climate change adaptation needs for food security in 2030” Science (in press), with co-authors Lobell, D.B., Burke, M.B., Tebaldi, C., Mastrandrea, M.D., Falcon, W.P., Naylor, R.L.

Joint Degree Progam

We’re actively recruiting for our joint MS in Environment and Resources degree with the Graduate School of Business and Schools of Law and Medicine.  Application deadline for students currently in these schools is Friday, April 4th. So far the program is going well, thanks to the flexibility and perseverance of the current eight students:  Emma Wendt, Dave Mount, John Joseph, and Jason Kaminsky from the GSB and Rachel Zwillinger, Ed Deitrich, Travis Brandon, and Brian Shillinglaw from the School of Law. Many thanks also to their faculty advisors: Meg Caldwell (Law), Gretchen Daily (Bio), Rob Dunbar (GES), David Freyberg (CEE), Mark Jacobson (CEE), Ray Levitt (CEE), Erica Plambeck (GSB,) Buzz Thompson (Law), and John Weyant (MS&E).

Students from the School of Medicine are welcome to apply for the MS in Environment and Resources.  Our proposal for a joint MD-MS in Environment and Resources was reviewed favorably by the Committee on Graduate Studies, but it does not formally require Senate approval because, it turns out, course units would not actually be counted towards both degrees.

Admissions

Thanks to all the faculty members who reviewed applications to IPER’s PhD program over the winter break!  Out of 93 applicants, the Admissions Committee selected 11 highly competitive finalists to be interviewed Feb. 7-8.  Thanks also to the Admissions Committee: Bill Barnett (GSB), Paul Ehrlich (chair, Bio), David Freyberg (CEE), Larry Goulder (Econ), Debra Satz (Philosophy), and Helen Doyle (IPER); and to the Student Liaisons to the Committee, Marilyn Cornelius (1st) and Adam Millard-Ball (2nd).

Program Management

Don Kennedy (CESP) has joined the Executive Committee, while Jim Sweeney (MS&E, Precourt Institute for Energy Efficiency) has rotated off after several years of service. Thanks to both of them! 

Carolyn Snyder (3rd) is this year’s student rep on ExCom, while Rebecca Goldman (5th, grad), Joanne Gaskell (3rd), Mehana Blaich Vaughan (2nd), and Rachelle Gould (1st) have volunteered for the Student Liaison Committee.  Adam Leising (3rd) has been organizing the weekly student Brown Bag Lunch presentations.

Upcoming Events

The inaugural Young Environmental Scholars (YES) workshop, sponsored by the Woods Institute for the Environment, will take place March 4-5, 2008 in Tressider Memorial Union.  Organized for Stanford graduate students and postdocs by Stanford graduate students and postdocs, YES aims to build a vibrant, collaborative campus community of young environmental scholars. Hilary Schaffer (4th) is co-chairing the Workshop Organizing Committee.  More information is available at http://woods.stanford.edu/students/yes.html.

The Yang and Yamazaki Environment and Energy Building Dedication is scheduled for March 4th – details to be announced.

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