ES&P Final MA Project Topics

The Environmental Science and Policy (ES&P) Graduate Program will hold its second annual ES&P Research Symposium on Wednesday, February 13, 2008 at the Marsh Institute where you can find the topics of each Master's project.

Danielle Adams (ES&P/MA '08): Investigating and Reporting Exposure to Indoor Pollutants in the Worcester Built Environment using Community-Based Participatory Research

George Anim (ES&P/MA '08): Taking the Common for the Common Good? A Case of Akosombo Hydro-Electric Project in Ghana

Sarah Assefa (ES&P/BA/MA '08): Business Plan: Toxic Soil Busters (TSB) Co-op in Worcester, Massachusetts

Jo-Anne Crystoff (ES&P/MA '08): PCB Contamination and Environmental Injustice: Uncovering Flaws in Assessment and Cleanup Policy and Practice in Central Massachusetts Housing Complex

Kate Del Vecchio (ES&P/BA/MA '08): Incorporating Transportation into Clark University’s Greenhouse Gas Inventory

Meghan Gunyuzlu (ES&P/MA '08): Green Investing: An Emerging Strategy for Portfolio Management

Abena Ofori (ES&P/MA '08): Modeling Appropriate Corporate Social Responsibility Behavior in the Gold Mining Sector: Cases from Ghana

Stephanie Oleksyk (ES&P/BA/MA '08): Groundwater Cleanup Practices: Appropriate or Expensively Excessive? An Inquiry Focused on Remediation Options for Contaminated Fractured Bedrock

An Van Quach (ES&P/MA '08): Shared Vulnerabilities: Poverty and Environmental Degradation in the Buffer Zone of the Vo Doi Nature Reserve, U Minh Ha National Park, Vietnam

Rajendra Subedi (ES&P/MA '08): Designing a Vulnerability Index to Explore Neighborhood Health Problems: A Case Study of Main South and Pledmont Neighborhoods of Worcester City

Ainiwaer Alimasi (ES&P/MA '07)
Potential of Charcoal Carbon Sequestration
This paper will conduct an assessment to a new, innovative approach of carbon sequestration in soils, which is to add charcoal to soils to increase soils carbon content and to stimulate plant growth by increasing soil fertility. The application of charcoal (or biochar) to soils is proposed as a novel approach to provide a long term sink of atmospheric carbon dioxide in terrestrial ecosystems. The charcoal added soil can store much more carbon than unimproved soil. Growth of plants, in addition, increases plant biomass and carbon dioxide (CO2) removal through photosynthesis. In addition, charcoal application on soils will deliver immediate benefits through increasing crop yields and improving soil fertility while reducing greenhouse emissions. Conversion biomasss carbon to charcoal carbon leads to sequester large amounts initial carbon and will produce more stable soil carbon. Charcoal soil management system can be seen as a long term sink for carbon due to its recalcitrant character, and carbon sequestered is easily accountable and verifiable.

Aaron Bouchane (ES&P/MA '07)
Rural Electrification through Renewable Energy Technologies in India: A comparative analysis of public and private approaches
Providing electricity to India's rural population is essential to achieving national development goals. While the Government of India has implemented a multitude of electrification programs, 56% of the rural population stills lives without electricity. In the southern state of Karnataka, a private rural energy service company, SELCO, has distributed over 55,000 solar household systems by providing third-party financing options to its customers. If the Government of India hopes to achieve complete electrification by 2012, integrating these two approaches may be the key to their success.

Mukesh Gupta (ES&P/MA '07)
Promoting self sufficiency through carbon credits - an example of Van Panchayats at Uttaranchal, India
This paper explores community based forest management practices and different issues with their integration with existing carbon market.

Laurie Kennison (ES&P/MA '07)
National Environmental Performance Track: Five Years of Environmental Progress
The United States Environmental Protection Agency is in the process of evaluating the results from the fifth reporting season for their National Environmental Performance Track program. Performance Track was established in 2000 to create a voluntary partnership between government and industry to promote environmental innovation. This thesis looks at the progress that the program has made to reduce the environmental impact of industry while also comparing the cost and benefits of membership.

Alex Krofta (ES&P/MA '07)
Estimating Population of a State Endangered Rattlesnake: A Key Component of Successful Habitat Management
Passive open-space preservation is generally insufficient to protect early- or mid- successional species. As vegetation shift to climax communities, cutting and burning regimes are often employed to restore habitat. This approach is under consideration for the eastern massasauga in Cicero Swamp Wildlife Management Area in Cicero, NY. A population estimate for the target species is essential to any management plan in order to (1) assess the urgency for action and (2) serve as a baseline for post-management monitoring. Massasauga abundance at CSWMA was estimated using Program Distance, mark/recapture methods, and life history/demography parameters from the existing literature.

Jia Liu (ES&P/MA '07)
Linkages Between Climate Practices and Performance in U.S. Corporations
Based on responses to the "Carbon Disclosure Project," a climate change survey among global corporations, this paper examines the linkages between corporate climate practice and performance in S&P 500 companies. The paper also analyzes different climate responsivenesses across sectors.

Kelly Meiler (ES&P/MA '07)
Invasive Phalaris aquatica (Harding grass) in the Santa Monica Mountains National Recreation Area.
The study reported here investigates the ecological properties of the invasive species Harding grass (Phalaris aquatica) in the Mediterranean-type ecosystem of the Santa Monica Mountains National Recreation Area (SMMNRA) of Southern California. Although Harding grass is prevalent throughout the State of California, the objective of this study is to observe, measure and record its properties in its immediate habitat in a much smaller localized area, California’s SMMNRA Federally protected land. Patches and communities of Harding grass were located for observation each within three separate corridors of increasing distance from but parallel to the Pacific Coast. The goal of this study is to understand populations of Harding Grass in the Coastal, Mixed and Inland habitats of the SMMNRA. Gaining an understanding of the population of the grass will ultimately assist in better planning and management practices for the control of the spread or eradication of the plant.

Meghan Moda (ES&P/MA '07)
Current Environmental Justice Research: Where do we go from here?
This paper reviews a sample of current environmental justice research and recommends ways that current research could be improved upon to better represent the influences and outcomes that are associated with environmental justice neighborhoods. Geographic Information Systems are recommended as a tool for compiling a holistic environmental justice index.

Stephanie Parent (ES&P/MA '07)
Environmental Sustainability in Higher Education: Stakeholder Perceptions and Reported Behavior at Clark University
This research examines perceptions of a culture of environmental sustainability in higher education using a case study of Clark University. It focuses on the areas of dialogue, sense of community and engagement, and reflection and how these elements might be needed to create a culture of environmental sustainability. This study includes interviews with members of the Clark University Environmental Sustainability (CUES) Task Force and a survey of students, faculty, staff and administrators to assess interests, values, and reported behavior. These findings provide insight as to how stakeholders perceive progress toward environmental sustainability in the Clark community. Members of the Clark University community perceive that the institution is doing an average job of reducing our environmental impact and in assisting each other in becoming more environmentally sustainable. Recommendations include increasing opportunities for communication, engagement and reflection regarding sustainability for all community members.

Melanie Sands (ES&P/MA '07)
From Cows to Coal Mines: The Formation of Risk Perceptions in Greene County, Pennsylvania
Risk perceptions and risk attenuation regarding environmental and health related risks are currently understudied. Utilizing the coal mining area of Greene County, Pennsylvania as a case study, this project establishes current day risk perceptions of residents as well as the context out of which risk perceptions emerge. An interdisciplinary approach, combining the fields of risk analysis, political ecology, and feminist geography, is used to look at how coal has shaped the people, places, and networks of Greene County throughout space-time, thereby shaping the risk perceptions of local residents.

Dani Stehlik (ES&P/MA '07)
Transportation costs associated with shipping agricultural products across the United States
This project focuses on the central role of transportation in the distribution system of agriculture products in the United States. Through analysis of data on transportation costs, distances, and fuel prices, this research highlights the energy intensity involved in produce transportation with a particular emphasis on food being transported to New England from the west coast of the U.S.

Amy Stout (ES&P/MA '07)
Collaboration between environmental non-profit organizations in the James River Watershed in Virginia
This research investigates whether nonprofits that share similar organizational characteristics (such as mission, budget, and geographic coverage) are more or less likely to collaborate with each other. It also looks at whether the degree of similarity between two collaborating organizations plays a role in the perceived effectiveness of the collaboration. I am exploring these questions by conducting telephone interviews with the executive directors of 30 environmental nonprofits located within the study area.

Devon Winkler (ES&P/MA '07)
Sea Sprawl - Assessment of shoreline construction on shellfish resource areas in Three Bays, Barnstable, MA
Using GIS analytical techniques, a map will be produced for use by Barnstable Natural Resources that will identify sites for future shellfish relay areas. This map will account for the physical needs of the resource, access for its users, limitations on space based on shoreline development, and historical management decisions. Development of the map will be grounded in community based science and adaptive management.

Past ES&P Final MA project topics

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