Environmental Studies

For the third consecutive year, the Sierra Club has ranked Elon University one of the nation’s top 100 “greenest universities.” The ranking, published in Sierra’s September/October 2011 magazine recognizes schools in 10 categories that include academics, waste management, energy efficiency, food, purchasing, transportation, financial and other factors.

David Vandermast, associate professor of biology and environmental studies, chaired the meeting of the Southeastern Chapter of the Ecological Society of America in Austin, Texas, on August 10.

Professor Michael Kingston, of the departments of Biology and Environmental Studies, and Mona DeVries, an assistant professor of biology, co-taught a graduate-level Marine Ecology course at the Duke University Marine Laboratory in Beaufort, N.C., from July 11 to Aug. 12.

Janet MacFall, in the Department of Environmental Studies, presented a research paper at the recent annual meeting of the Ecological Society of America. The paper, "Enzyme activity in hyporheic soils of Piedmont streams," was based on research done over the past two years and was co-authored with student Danielle Whitman.

Brant Touchette served on a research proposal review panel for Texas Sea Grant located on the campus of Texas A & M University.

The Haw River has been key to the region’s growth and development over the centuries, and as associate professor emerita Anne Cassebaum writes in her new book, Down Along the Haw: The History of a North Carolina River, its importance can’t be ignored as efforts continue to preserve one of the region’s vital waterways.

Students in the Ecological Art course present 'Maps of the Unseen: Narratives on Elon,' an exhibit of interpretive maps currently on display in the hallways of Center for the Arts.

Elon's Center for Environmental Studies is hosting a Wildlife Tracking and Vertebrate Field Survey workshop that will be co-taught by Jim Halfpenny, a nationally-renowned wildlife tracker and carnivore ecologist from Montana, and Josh Kapfer of the departments of environmental studies and biology. The workshop starts Saturday, April 30 and ends Sunday, May 1.

Brant Touchette, professor of biology and environmental studies, served as a National Panelist for the College Board in Newtown, Pa.

Many people don’t think twice about water, or how new roads, parking lots and buildings to accommodate a growing population can harm water quality. As Elon University senior Samuel Shoge discovered in Alamance County, more asphalt and concrete means more pollution in local streams and lakes, and his work is the latest to be featured in a series of E-net profiles on undergraduate research to be presented during CELEBRATE! 2011.