Environmental Policy and Planning (EPP)

2009 Environmental Planning Certificates Awarded

On June 4th at the 2008 Departmental Commencement Lunch, five
EPP students were awarded Environmental Planning Certificates. This
year's recipients are: Anna Bromberg, Jennifer Edwards, Carolyn Hayek, Rachel Henschel and Nathan Lemphers.

The Environmental Planning Certificate is awarded to MCP or PHD students who complete
(1) 11.601 (the graduate Introduction to Environmental Policy and Planning;
(2) an environmental management practicum such as 11.360 or 11.362; and
(3) six subjects, at least one from each of five listed sub-areas:
Science, Health and Political Decision-making; Land Use,
Growth Management and Restoration; Ecology and Landscape;
Facility Siting, Infrastructure and Sustainable Development; and
Methods of Environmental Planning and Analysis.
The goal is to give graduates of DUSP seeking jobs in the environmental
planning field a competitive edge by acknowledging the specialized competence
and skills they have acquired.

DUSP students prepared a background report for the United Nations Institute for Training and Research (UNITAR) called, Enabling Environmental Justice: Assessment of Participatory Tools. The report is designed to support UNITAR’s efforts to strengthen the capacities of public officials to effectively engage stakeholders in environmental decision-making. The report was prepared by students enrolled in a special session of the environmental justice class that is taught each fall. This year, students studied the link between environmental justice and participatory governance in developing countries. They also conducted research to identify relevant participatory techniques and assessed the potential of each technique for achieving equitable outcomes in environmental policy and planning. The course was taught by Professor JoAnn Carmin in collaboration with Dr. Achim Halpaap, Head of the Environment Unit at UNITAR.The background report the students prepared is available at:

http://www.unitar.org/egp/sites/default/files/Enabling_Environmental_Justice_final.pdf

Harvey Michaels' Energy Efficiency Panel on MIT's Tech TV
This discussion of technologies and approaches to to building energy efficiency took place on January 14th, 2009 as part of Energy Futures Week and features Professor Harvey Michaels of EPP and MITEI.

Click here to watch the video: http://techtv.mit.edu/videos/1835-energy-efficiency-technologies-panel

Larry Susskind Launches Blog
Larry Susskind has launched a blog on the uses of consensus building tools and techniques for more democratic decision-making. Check it out at http://theconsensusbuildingapproach.blogspot.com

Urban Climate Adaptation in South Africa
Students from DUSP participated in a practicum taught by Professor Carmin on urban climate adaptation. After preparing at MIT, they spent three weeks engaged in fieldwork in Durban, South Africa. The goal of the fieldwork was to develop an online tool that would help officials plan for climate change. Rather than focus on known best practices. - 06.20.08 more::

Urban Sustainability@MIT
MIT is world renowned for its trailblazing work in information theory, robotics, linguistics, and genetics; however, a new endeavor, undertaken by EPP Professor Judith Layzer, may soon add ‘urban sustainability’ to that list. - 06.20.08 more::

Dr. Herman Karl is chairing a panel, "Ecosystems Services—Communities and Stakeholders," at the Annual Meeting of the Association of American Geographers held in Boston, April 17, 2008. The panel addresses methods and processes that can be used to facilitate more effective consideration of ecosystem services information in cooperative and collaborative decision frameworks. - 04.02.08

The MIT-USGS Science Impact Collaborative (MUSIC) is hosting a workshop, "Developing a Vision: Incorporating Ecosystem Services Into Decision Making," April 15 at MIT held concurrently with the Association of American Geographers Annual Meeting. This is the first of three national workshops organized by the U.S. Geological Survey on different aspects of ecosystem services. This workshop will focus on developing a vision for a world in which ecosystem service information is used routinely and effectively in conservation, resource management, and development decisions. - 04.02.08

Kristina Katich, a first year EPP MCP student, received an Emerson Travel Grant to support her thesis research on the interactions between poverty and the environment in the Dominican Republic. Madhu Dutta-Koehler, a doctoral student in DUSP and an EPP affiliate, also received an Emerson Travel Grant for her first year doctoral paper research which looks at managing urban growth and energy demand in India. - 04.01.08

As reported in the Pueblo Chieftain, Beaudry Kock, a third year EPP doctoral student, gave a presentation to the Arkansas Basin Roundtable. Beaudry is working on integrated modeling of the Arkansas water system, an approach which emphasizes collaborative work with local and regional stakeholders. - 04.01.08

Isabelle Anguelovski, a second year EPP doctoral student, was selected as a 2008-2009 member of the Martin Family Society of Fellows for Sustainability. The Society supports and connects MIT’s top graduate students in environmental studies and fosters opportunities for multi-disciplinary cooperation. - 03.25.08

Rachel Healy, a third year EPP doctoral student, was awarded a Summer Study Grant from the Center for International Studies at MIT. She will use the grant to work on her dissertation research which looks at the presence of environmental sustainability mandates in international development agencies and the ways these mandates are being integrated into agency programs and practices. - 03.25.08

Dr. Herman Karl (Co-Director of the MUSIC) will give a talk this February at the workshop, "Making Research Matter" sponsored by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. The purpose of the workshop is to understand whether stakeholder involvement can be used to better link knowledge to decision making for coastal and marine resource management. Dr. Karl will talk about his experience with projects that draw on collaborative approaches. - 02.09.08