Environmental Science

News and Events

The 2008 Senior Thesis Poster Session where Barnard and Columbia students in the Senior Research Seminar present their thesis research in posters was a great accomplishment! Click here to see the video of the one-minute presentations each senior gave, brought to us on-line by the Eart Institute!

Students showed their professionalism and gave concise one-minute presentations and stood by their posters presenting their work and fielding questions from friends, mentors, faculty, deans, research scientists, colleagues, family members, and folks who just stopped by. We learned alot about the interesting and diverse research seniors have been doing, and had great fun celebrating their accomplishments.

Participants were seniors at Barnard majoring in Environmental Science, Environmental Biology, Environmental Policy, as well as Columbia Earth and Environmental Science majors and E3B majors. We were also joined by two Engineering students.

Go to the invite to see who presented what topics, and stay tuned for photos of everyone! To the right you'll see a quick collage of Barnard folks, but we have great candid photos of all participants to come!

Brownfield Action spreads to other campuses across the country. With a $450,000 NSF grant and the help of the Center for New Media Teaching and Learning Peter Bower developed and expanded the award-winning environmental simulation Brownfield Action project (an important component of Introduction to Environmental Science, EESC BC1001), to facilitate smooth adoption at other colleges. On April 12, educators from around the country particapted in a Brownfield Action 3.0 Training. (See earlier Barnard web article for more information on the course expansion.)

Get quick answers to course credit questions about AP credit, credit for SEA Semester and SEE-U and the credit they carry for the Science Requirement and Major and Minor Requirements by checking the Credit and Placement Page. Or go directly to the Programs page for updates in Major Requirements in Environmental Science (majors and minors), Environmental Policy or Environmental Biology.

Martin Stute and Brian Mailloux headed back to Bangladesh over winter break joined by Environmental Policy seniors, Elizabeth Trembath Reichert and Margaret Bounds. Martin and Brian were able to integrally involve Barnard students in their collaborative research with scientists at Lamont, the School of Public Health which focuses on the health effects, geochemistry, and remediation of Arsenic and Manganese, primarily in groundwater. Find out more about the the project funded by the National Instute of Health and the EPA Superfund at the project website and keep your ears open for follow-up on their experiences.

Congratulations to Martin Stute who has been appointed the Ann Whitney Olin Professor of Environmental Science. This prestigious college grant-funded appointment has a five year year term.

Congratulations to Stephanie Pfirman, our Departmental Chair for her recent election as President of the Council of Environmental Deans and Directors (CEDD). She will be inaugurated at CEDD’s Winter Business Meeting in Washington, DC on January 18 and 19.

Martin Stute lead author of Water Resources Research article entitled, "Hydrological control of As concentrations in Bangladesh". Full copy is available in the department. In addition, Martin's collaborative work on core sampling in the San Andreas Fault is featured in Chemical & Engineering News on October 22.

Congratulations to Mellon Post Doc Jason Smerdon for his receipt of the Storke-Doherty Lectureship Award, from LDEO and Columbia University, 2007.

Stephanie Pfirman was interviewed along with other distinguished educators in Science as part of a roundtable discussion of STEM (science, technology, engineering and mathematics) success in undergraduate education. Read the transcripts or listen on-line.

E-Mail List
Those of you not on our student e-mail list should send an e-mail to Catherine Cook, the Departmental Assistant, with your name, year, major (if chosen, or if not, your interest) and we'll add you to the e-mail list for updates on job opportuniuties, internships, fellowships, course announcements and events.

EarthGoogle is an interesting site to check out satelite photos the world over! (You'll need to download the software to use it if you want to.)

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