News Archive: 2008 | 2007
(7/14/2008) The University of Minnesota Solar Vehicle Project was one of the first teams to meet all the qualifications for racing in the 2008 North American Solar Challenge, which pits teams against each other in designing and building a solar-powered car and then driving it across the country. On Sunday, the U’s car Centaurus hit the road for the 2,400-mile race from Texas to Canada that ends July 22. more>>
The U of M Solar Vehicle Project team recently unveiled its newest generation car in preparation for the 2008 North American Solar Challenge. The 2,400-mile race from Dallas, Texas, to Calgary, Alberta, happens July 13-22. The U of M is one of only 26 international teams competing to design, build and drive a solar-powered car in this year’s cross-country competition. more>>
Telling River Stories is a collaborative project that populates the urban Mississippi River corridor with stories of how the city and the river have been jointly developed. TRS highlights stories about the people and places that make up today’s urban river landscape. In addition to the Web site, future programs and on-site installations will be part of the overall project.
The Institute on the Environment has awarded more than $20,000 in grants to student organizations across the University of Minnesota. The grants will support projects or activities in spring 2008 that promote sustainability and the environment. The primary criteria for funding included project feasibility, innovation, reach, the quality of the project, and the potential impact in the community and/or on campus.
(2/8/2008) Institute on the Environment founding fellows David Tilman and Stephen Polasky, along with Joe Fargione of the Nature Conservancy and University of Minnesota researchers Jason Hill and Pete Hawthorne, recently published a biofuels study in Science that made news headlines around the world. The study urges that all stages of biofuels production, distribution and use be evaluated for their environmental impacts.
Read the report: Land Clearing and the Biofuel Carbon Debt
The Humphrey Institute’s 2008 Freeman Lecture—featuring Rep. James Oberstar, chairman of the House Committee on Transportation and Infrastructure, and Steve Morse, executive director of the Minnesota Environmental Partnership—focused on the complexities of water resource policy decisions. Deborah Swackhamer, interim director of the Institute on the Environment, served as forum moderator and prepared a summary of the April 8 discussion.
Download the forum summary (pdf)
Freeman Forum lectures (Audio)
Two upcoming campus forums will provide opportunities for faculty, staff and students to learn more about the University of Minnesota Outreach, Research and Education Park and Vermillion Highlands, and to view concept planning scenarios. Your suggestions can help shape the future of the properties. more>>
The Institute on the Environment seeks your input on the Minnesota Statewide Conservation and Preservation Plan. The SCPP will consist of recommendations for addressing critical issues and trends that impact the state's environment and natural resources. The public is invited to attend a series of four forums (May 22 through June 5) to help finalize the recommendations before the plan is delivered to the Legislative-Citizen Commission on Minnesota Resources in July 2008.
Share your ideas for protecting the environment, or simply show why a natural area is meaningful to you. This contest accompanies the Minnesota Minute television campaign. All participants will be entered in a drawing to win a Sanyo Xacti digital video camera, among other prizes. Submission deadline is May 31. Visit the Bell Museum blog for contest guidelines.
U.S. Senator Amy Klobuchar wants to know what you're doing to help save our planet and stop climate change. All undergrad students of a Minnesota college or university are invited to enter the 2008 Carbon Buster Awards competition. Enter by May 9 and you may win the Carbon Buster Award of Excellence
More than 60 LEGO League robotics teams from around the world will compete at the Williams Arena and Sports Pavilion on May 1-3 at the High Tech Kids FIRST Lego League International Open. The Initiative for Renewable Energy and the Environment is the presenting sponsor this year. To learn visit the High Tech Kids Web site.
(2/14/08) “Getting warmer, and little steps aren’t enough,” an op-ed piece by Deborah Swackhamer, was recently published in the St. Paul Pioneer Press. Swackhamer, the interim director of the Institute on the Environment, writes about the urgency of climate change and the need for immediate, unprecedented action.
The Institute on the Environment has received additional support from the Legislative-Citizen Commission on Minnesota Resources to augment the Minnesota Statewide Conservation and Preservation Plan. The Institute received $300,000 in January 2007 to address three critical issues facing the state. Now, an additional $196,000 will be used to focus on several other issues and to expand public engagement efforts.
Directed by the BioTechnology Institute’s Larry Wackett, an Institute on the Environment founding fellow, the University of Minnesota's new biofuels database features a wealth of knowledge for the successful development of fuels from renewable resources. The development is supported by an Institute on the Environment Discovery Grant.
The Institute on the Environment is now accepting applications from all official student organizations at the University of Minnesota for the funding of projects and activities in spring 2008. This funding will support work in sustainability and the environment both on campus and in the community. The Institute will award up to $20,000 total for projects and activities in Minnesota and elsewhere, or for expanding a student organization’s environmental efforts. Individual applicants may seek up to $5,000 in non-recurring funds.
(1/23/2008) The Humphrey Institute’s Elizabeth Wilson, an assistant professor and a founding fellow of the Institute on the Environment, has been named a 2008 McKnight Land-Grant Professor. The goal of the McKnight program is to advance the careers of promising junior faculty at a critical point in their professional lives. The winners were chosen for their potential for important contributions to their field; the degree to which their achievements and ideas demonstrate originality, imagination and innovation; the significance of their research; and the potential for attracting outstanding students.
Wilson was also recently awarded with a three-year grant from the National Science Foundation to research the diffusion of emerging energy technologies within a state context.
(1/23/2008) Deborah Swackhamer, interim director of the Institute on the Environment, presented “A Thirst for Tomorrow: The Future of Minnesota’s Waters” at the The University of Minnesota Alumni Association’s Florida Minne-College on January 26. This unique experience brought some of the U of M’s best professors (and U President Bob Bruininks) to Southwest Florida for an afternoon learning experience. Partners for this event included the College of Education and Human Development; College of Food, Agricultural and Natural Resource Sciences; Minnesota Medical Foundation; School of Public Health; Institute of Technology; and the UMAA’s Southwest Florida Chapter.
(01/23/2008) Howard Gadlin, ombudsman and director of the Center for Cooperative Resolution at the National Institutes of Health, offers two collaborative leadership workshops for faculty, staff and postdoctoral scholars on Tuesday, February 5. These workshops explore issues specific to collaborative and interdisciplinary research and scholarship, including how to resolve conflict, communicate effectively across disciplinary boundaries, and lead successful interdisciplinary teams.
(1/10/2008) Deborah Swackhamer, featured expert for January, discussed some of the disturbing changes Minnesota could expect if greenhouse gas emissions aren’t curbed and global warming continues apace. “We can't afford to wait,” says Swackhamer. “We must make these changes now for our children to see an impact.”
(1/2008) Anne Kapuscinski, professor in the Department of Fisheries, Wildlife and Conservation Biology and a founding fellow of the Institute, is one of five recipients of the Society for Conservation Biology’s Distinguished Service Award for 2008. The award, which will be presented in July, recognizes her “extraordinary contributions to conservation research, teaching and conservation policy, particularly related to effects of biotechnology policy on aquatic species,” the society says.
The U of M's Outdoor StreamLab, a premier research facility located near St. Anthony Falls Outdoor Laboratory, is now under construction. The OSL has been designed to study interactions among a channel, its floodplain and vegetation.
