Faculty Research Papers & Student Research Opportunities

Shi-Jie (Gary) Chen

• Student Opportunities: Dr. Chen may have research opportunities for students interested in health systems engineering or concurrent engineering.

David Goldblum

• Student Opportunities: Students interested in volunteering for seed germination experiments or doing field work at the Nachusa Grasslands.
• Research Publications
  • Tree Growth Response to Climate Change at the Deciduous-Boreal Forest Ecotone, Ontario, Canada
  • Age Structure and Regeneration Dynamics of Sugar Maple at the Deciduous/Boreal Forest Ecotone, Ontario, Canada
  • Sensitivity of Corn and Soybean Yield in Illinois to Air Temperature and Precipitation: The Potential Impact of Future Climate Change

Jason Hanna

• Student Opportunities: Students interested in research on the moral status of animals or environmental ethics, especially ethical dimensions of global climate change.

Beth Henning

• Student Opportunities: Students interested in researching and tracking the management of oil spills; also the intersection of environmental law and animal law (CAFOs, for example).

Richard King

• Student Opportunities: He foresees continuing opportunities for students to get involved with biodiversity monitoring and inventory work at area forest preserves.
• Research Publications
  
  • Population Size and Recovery Criteria of the Threatened Lake Erie Watersnake: Integrating Multiple Methods of Population Estimation
  • Reproductive Consequences of a Changing Prey Base in Island Watersnakes (Reptilia: Colubridae)

Melissa Lenczewski

• Student Opportunities: There are always opportunities for students interested in lab work, and in field work in Illinois and Mexico. Dr. Lenczewski is also working on grants to increase the number of Latino students in Environmental Studies.
• Research Publications
  
  • Pure-Phase Transport and Dissolution of TCE in Sedimentary Rock Saprolite
  • Microbial Communities of Ultramafic Soils in Maquis and Rainforest at Mont Do, New Caledonia

Cliff Mirman

• Student Opportunities: There are opportunities for students who are interested in working on the project to reduce fossil fuel dependence in the railroad industry, working on the super high mileage vehicle, and other energy-related projects.

David Murphy

• Student Opportunities: Students interested in using GIS to map natural gas production in the Pennsylvania Marcellus shale. Students interested in creating a historic energy return on investment from California oil and gas fields.
• Research Publications
  
  • Adjusting the Economy to the New Energy Realities of the Second Half of the Age of Oil

Eric Mogren

• Student Opportunities: Students interested in interdisciplinary projects involving regional environmental research. He hopes to engage students outside of the history “box.”
• Research Publications
  
  • Warm Sands: Uranium Mill Tailings Policy in the Atomic West

Nick Pohlman

• Student Opportunities: Students may be able to explore the heat transfer capabilities of biomass or work with pneumatic conveyance systems to explore reasons for particle drop-out.

Lesley Rigg

• Student Opportunities: Students interested in investigating bush encroachment into degraded grasslands of Botswana. There is also potential for research work at the Nachusa Grasslands (Oak Savannas) and in Mexico.

Reed Scherer

• Student Opportunities: There are opportunities for students who are interested in researching microscopic fossils, mostly from Antarctica, which provide a long-term climate template with which to compare the current climate change being seen on short time scales.
• Research Publications
  
  • Sedimentary Processes at the Base of a West Antarctic Ice Stream: Constraints from Textural and Compositional Properties of Subglacial Debris
  • Assessing Subglacial Processes from Diatom Fragmentation Patterns

Tomoyuki Shibata

• Student Opportunities: Dr. Shibata has several research sites around the world (e.g. US, Japan, Indonesia, and Mexico) where he and his students conduct environmental and exposure assessments in order to protect and promote human health, especially children. Dr. Shibata will direct a study abroad program in Indonesia in the summer 2012.
• Research Publications
  
  • Evaluation of Conventional Alternative Monitoring Methods for a Recreational Marine Beach with Nonpoint Source of Fecal Contamination

Diana Swanson

• Student Opportunities: There are several opportunities to do self-directed literature research and feminist research projects. Dr. Swanson hopes to help create study abroad programs connected with Environmental Studies that would focus on gender, the environment, and education.

Brendon Swedlow

• Student Opportunities: Students interested in studying the politics of environmental, health, and safety regulation can participate in Dr. Swedlow's research on these topics by taking POLS 324 Politics of Environmental, Health, and Safety Regulation or POLS 611 US Regulatory Politics in Comparative Perspective.
• Research Publications
  
  • Precautionary Regulation in Europe and the United States: A Quantitative Comparison
  • Using the Boundaries of Science to do Boundary-Work Among Scientists: Pollution and Purity Claims
  • Scientists, Judges, and Spotted Owls: Policymakers in the Pacific Northwest

Kendall Thu

• Student Opportunities: Students interested in becoming partners and engaged in the community as researchers by working with citizen groups to do field research, outreach, collecting and analyzing field data, web-based work, publicity work, helping rural communities to do news releases and op-ed pieces.
• Research Publications
  
  • The Centralization of Food Systems and Political Power
  • Integrating Epidemiology, Education, and Organizing for Environmental Justice: Community Health Effects of Industrial Hog Operations
  • Community Health and Socioeconomic Issues Surrounding Concentrated Animal Feeding Operations

Carl von Ende

• Student Opportunities: There are opportunities for students who want to help track populations of dragonfly adults and larvae, investigate habitat and prey preference, or develop models of these systems. There also are opportunities for students who may be interested in developing integrated ecological-economic models addressing questions related to conservation/restoration ecology and ecosystem services.
• Research Publications
  
  • Integrating Bacteria into Food Webs: Studies with Sarracenia purpurea Inquilines
  • Regulation of Lake Primary Productivity by Food Web Structure