What's happening at MSU on climate change? This web page provides an overview. If you would like to send information, please contact us using the contact information at the bottom of this page.

Michigan's Echo
Daily environmental news links delivered by MSU's Knight Center for Environmental Journalism

Areas

Faculty members
Projects, programs, and centers (multiple faculty members)
Campus operations and other initiatives
Courses
Events
Other resources

 

FACULTY MEMBERS

faculty work on all aspects of climate including understanding climatic processes, policy design, and effects on plant life.  Here we’ve listed faculty members’ climate-change-related interests. Contact information is available on their web pages.

 

Charles W. (Andy) Anderson, Department of Teacher Education

Student environmental literacy, related to carbon cycles.

http://edr1.educ.msu.edu/EnvironmentalLit/index.htm

http://ed-web2.educ.msu.edu/researchprofiles/search/profileview.asp?email=andya@msu.edu

 

Jeff Andresen, Geography and State Climatologist
Agricultural meteorology, applied climatology, Michigan
http://www.pileus.msu.edu/about/people/bio_andresen.htm
http://www.geo.msu.edu/faculty/andresen.html

 

Joe Arvai, Department of Community, Agriculture, Recreation, and Resource Studies

Application of risk analysis and decision science to climate change. Helping varied stakeholders, experts, planners, and policy makers to make climate management decisions.  Helping indigenous people, especially in the Arctic, to blend traditional ecological knowledge and scientific research to plan adaptation to climate change.
http://www.msu.edu/~sknkwrks/people/people/arvai.html

 

David Campbell, Department of Geography
Nature and magnitude of the interactions of climate and land use/cover change across East Africa; social and economic aspects of drought and desertification.

http://www.geo.msu.edu/faculty/campbell.html

 

Jeff Conner, Department of Plant Biology

Rapid evolution in response to environmental change; insect-plant interactions, especially pollination; invasive species; evolutionary and ecological genetics.
http://www.kbs.msu.edu/faculty/conner/

 

Thomas Dietz, Environmental Science and Policy Program
Environmental values, environmental decision making, drivers of global change.

http://ecoculturalgroup.msu.edu/people/dietz.html
http://www.environment.msu.edu/people/staff.html

www.stirpat.org

 

Stuart Gage, Department of Entomology

Member of the USDA North Central Research Committee on Crop and Climate Systems. Has developed regional databases, crop simulation models, carbon sequestration models, drought stress indices and digital atlases of crop and climate patterns.

www.cevl.msu.edu

 

Kimberly R. Hall, Department of Forestry, and Center for Systems Integration and Sustainability, Department of Fisheries and Wildlife

Climate change effects on vertebrates in California and the Great Lakes region; statistical tools for communicating climate change to resource managers.

http://www.csis.msu.edu/personnel/hall_kim.htm

 

Steve Hamilton, Department of Zoology

Climate change in the Great Lakes region and particularly its impacts on water quantity and quality, and reciprocal interactions between climate and aquatic biogeochemical processes.

http://www.kbs.msu.edu/faculty/hamilton/index.php

 

Marianne Huebner, Department of Statistics and Probability

Climate-land interactions.

http://www.stt.msu.edu/~huebner/

 

David W. Hyndman, Department of Geological Sciences

Measuring and modeling the influences of climate changes on water resources.  Process based simulations linking climate to hydrology. Linking trends in surface water flows to climate and land use changes.

http://www.geology.msu.edu/hyndman_d.html

http://www.egr.msu.edu/cee/research/environmental/PROJ_WCDGL.shtml

 

Michael Jones, Department of Fisheries and Wildlife

Effects of global warming on fisheries in the Great Lakes.

http://glpd.fw.msu.edu/Mike

 

John Kerr, Department of Community, Agriculture, Recreation, and Resource Studies

Functioning of and compensation for ecosystem services.  Linking farmers in India to voluntary international carbon markets.

https://www.carrs.msu.edu/Main/People/faculty%20bios%5Cjkerr.asp

 

Terry Link, Office of Campus Sustainability

Equity, campus operations, participatory processes, consumer actions, citizen action, climate change, environmental protection, social and economic justice, responsible investing and consuming.

http://www.ecofoot.msu.edu

MSU Office of Campus Sustainability climate change posters (poster1 | poster2)

 

Scott Loveridge, Department of Agricultural Economics and MSU Extension (State Leader for Community Development Programs)

Collaborator, NSF-funded project entitled, "Agents of Change: A Multidisciplinary Protocol for Assessing Climate Impacts, Vulnerability, and Adaptation for Regional and International Markets." Co-PI on projects investigating the feasibility of wind power in various Michigan locations.

http://www.aec.msu.edu/faculty/loveridge.htm

 

Sabrina McCormick, Department of Sociology and the Environmental Science and Policy Program

Policy around climate change adaptation measures, with particular focus on health effects; Dr. McCormick examines these topics in U.S. urban areas. Dr. McCormick specializes in environmental sociology, medical sociology, social movements and science studies.

http://sociology.msu.edu/smccormick.html

 

Aaron M. McCright – Lyman Briggs School of Science and Department of Sociology
American conservative movement response to climate change, climate change as a social problem, climate change in the mass media.
http://www.lymanbriggs.msu.edu/personnel/fac_bios/mccright.html

 

Gary Mittelbach, Department of Zoology

Community ecology, biodiversity, aquatics.

http://www.hannahchair.msu.edu/Faculty/Mittelbach/Index.htm

 

Sarah Nicholls, Departments of Geography and Community, Agriculture, Recreation, and Resource Studies (CARRS)

Impacts of climate change on recreation and tourism businesses and activities; stakeholder engagement; tourist perceptions.

http://www.carrs.msu.edu/Main/People/faculty%20bios/nicho210.asp

 

Jennifer Olson, International Livestock Research Institute, Department of Telecommunications

Land use change patterns and drivers, and the impact of climate change on farmers and pastoralists. Currently conducting research in the Climate-Land Interaction Project (CLIP) on the linkages between land use and climate change in East Africa- if and how land use change affects the local and regional climate, and how climate change may affect people's decisions on using land use.

http://clip.msu.edu  

 

Nathaniel Ostrom, Department of Zoology
Understanding the role of microbial nitrification and denitrification in soils to nitrous oxide fluxes to the atmosphere; Understanding the affect of climate change on carbon cycling in aquatic environments including the Great Lakes.  

Project Groups: NEON, GLACEO and GLEON
http://myprofile.cos.com/ostromn 

 

Jiaguo Qi, Department of Geography and Center for Global Change and Earth Observations
Investigate land use/land cover dynamics and their interactions with regional climate, using remotely sensed information and regional climate models.
http://www.globalchange.msu.edu/qi.html

 

Robert Richardson, Department of Community, Agriculture, Recreation and Resource Studies (CARRS)
Modeling to measure the economic impacts of climate change for various sectors, including agriculture, natural resources, and tourism. Estimates of the costs of inaction for developing countries. Vulnerability assessments for specific economic sectors. Measuring the effect of climate change on human behavior, particularly in recreation, travel, and tourism.
http://www.aec.msu.edu/fs2/contact/profiles/richardson.html

 

Phil Robertson, Department of Crop and Soil Sciences and W.K. Kellogg Biological Station
Greenhouse gas fluxes and carbon sequestration in agricultural landscapes; full-cost accounting of mitigation potentials in managed and natural ecosystems; methane, nitrous oxide, CO2.

http://www.kbs.msu.edu/faculty/robertson/

 

Gene Safir, Department of Plant Pathology

Agricultural effects.

http://www.plantpathology.msu.edu/Default.aspx?tabid=617

 

David Skole, Department of Forestry
The role of forests in the global carbon cycle, global biogeochemistry, global land use and land cover change, global climate change.

http://www.for.msu.edu/pages/faculty/skole_d.html

 

Merrit Turetsky, Departments of Plant Biology and Fisheries and Wildlife

Effects of changing climate and wildfire regimes on biogeochemical cycling,including carbon and mercury cycling, in high latitude and wetlandecosystems.

http://www.plantbiology.msu.edu/turetsky/index.cfm#projects

http://apex.msu.edu/introduction/

 

Julie Winkler, Department of Geography

Regional climate change, climate scenario development, impacts of climate variability and change in the Great Lakes region and North America, synoptic climatology, applied climatology.

http://www.msu.edu/~winkler/
http://pileus.msu.edu/about/people/teamprofiles.htm

 

Catherine Yansa, Department of Geography

Research involves reconstructing past environments of the Upper Midwest over the last 18,000 years by studying plant fossils (pollen, seeds, etc.) preserved in lake sediments. The objective of such paleoecological work is to document past responses of plants to climate changes, providing information useful for understanding potential responses of plants to predicted global warming.

http://www.geo.msu.edu/faculty/yansa.html

 

Sharon Zhong, Department of Geography

Regional climate change; mesoscale and boundary layer meteorology; air pollution meteorology; mountain meteorology.

http://www.geo.msu.edu/faculty/zhong.html

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PROJECTS, PROGRAMS, AND CENTERS

These are concentrations of multiple faculty members people working on specific climate-change-related topics.  Some of these initiatives address other topics as well; descriptions below emphasize climate-change-related aspects.

 

Biogeochemistry Environmental Research Initiative (BERI)
Biogeochemistry, which lies at the nexus of biology, geology, and chemistry, is an integrative science that has emerged from the growing need to understand how living organisms interact with physical and chemical aspects of their environment. Such interactions play fundamental roles in limiting the abundance and distribution of plants and animals, and in sustaining ecosystems that we manage for production of food and fiber.

http://www.environment.msu.edu/research/beri/

 

Center for Global Change & Earth Observations
Our purpose is to foster interdisciplinary approaches for understanding global change at all scales using the tools of both the social and bio-physical sciences.  The Center is also committed to applying its research and expertise to inform both public and private decision making on critical global environmental change issues.

http://www.globalchange.msu.edu/index.html

 

Climate Land Interaction Project
The overall objective of this research project is to understand the nature and magnitude of the interactions of climate and land use/cover change across East Africa. Researchers are employing a variety of tools to understand these important linkages.

http://www.clip.msu.edu/

 

Computational Ecology and Visualization Laboratory

www.cevl.msu.edu

 

East Africa Climate Land Interaction Project (CLIP)
The overall objective of this research project is to understand the nature and magnitude of the interactions of climate and land use/cover change across East Africa.

http://clip.msu.edu/index.htm

 

Global Observatory for Ecosystem Services (GOES)

Ecosystem services are important to a range of life-support systems on the earth, from regulating global climate to protecting water quality….  Our focus is on the use of earth observing systems to monitor and quantify ecosystem services, primarily from forests, globally to support sustainable agriculture and natural resource management.  We emphasize understanding forests’ role in climate [and] the global carbon cycle.

http://www.goes.msu.edu/

 

Great Lakes Regional Assessment
What can individuals, communities, and industries do to take advantage of opportunities resulting from climate change and variability? Explore our site and find out what our report can tell you about our changing climate.

http://www.geo.msu.edu/glra/index.html

 

Kellogg Biological Station
KBS is Michigan State University's largest off-campus education complex and one of North America's premier inland field stations. The 4,000-acre station includes Kellogg Bird Sanctuary, Kellogg Farm, the Kellogg Biological Laboratories, the KBS Conference Center, Extension and Outreach offices and the Lux Arbor Reserve. KBS' mission is to develop programs in research, education and extension directed toward a comprehensive understanding of natural and managed ecosystems and the conservation of natural resources. World renowned for its contributions to ecological science and evolutionary biology, the Station is home to one of the National Science Foundation's Long-Term Ecological Research sites, and is committed to science and ecology education, conservation of natural resources and sustainable agriculture research and demonstration.

http://www.kbs.msu.edu/

 

Knight Center for Environmental Journalism
The Knight Center trains students and professional journalists to cover the environment. The program offers numerous classes and professional workshops for the study and practice of environmental journalism. Faculty conduct research and attract environmental experts and journalists from around the world as guest lecturers. The program maintains the Meeman Archives, a collection of more than 1,500 outstanding environmental journalism articles from the past 20 years.

http://www.ej.msu.edu/

 

Pileus Project: Climate Science for Decision Makers

The overarching purpose of the Pileus Project is to provide useful climate information to assist decision-makers. The current focus is on two leading industries in the Great Lakes region: Agriculture and Tourism.
http://pileus.msu.edu

 

Agents of Change: A Multidisciplinary Protocol for Assessing Climate Impacts, Vulnerability, and Adaptation for Regional and International Markets

This project will focus on a protocol for assessing climate impacts, vulnerability, and adaptation, as one of many potential influences on economic activities. This research may have significance for any commodity market that is vulnerable to climate variations and change and will allow stakeholders and decision makers to better anticipate the complex consequences of change. This project is collaborative effort with scientists from Poland, Ukraine and Germany.

Abstract (doc)

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CAMPUS OPERATIONS AND OTHER INITIATIVES

Michigan State University is working to reduce its impact on climate change.  This involves reaching members of the university community and affecting the technical infrastructure.  These are some of the groups making that happen.

 

ECO – MSU Student Group

http://www.msu.edu/~eco/

 

Office of Campus Sustainability

www.ecofoot.msu.edu

 

Chicago Climate Exchange membership

http://newsroom.msu.edu/site/indexer/2910/content.htm

 

Vice President for Finance and Operations Boldness by Design Initiative: Strengthen Environmental Stewardship

http://vpfo.msu.edu/documents/Boldness%20By%20Design%20VPFO.htm

 

Global Environmental Services Group
Graduate students raising awareness of environmental services including carbon sequestration.
www.msucarbon.wikispaces.com

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COURSES

These courses have content addressing climate change:

Fall Semester 2008

Spring Semester 2009

Fall Semester 2009

Additional environmental courses can be found at: http://www.environment.msu.edu/other_edu/gradcourses.html

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EVENTS

These are generally open to those off-campus as well, and provide a forum for discussing climate change.

More climate change related events can be found at http://espp.msu.edu/news/calendar.html.

 

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OTHER RESOURCES

Material on climate change, its likely impacts, and opportunities for mitigation and adaptation.

 

Great Lakes Specific

 

 

Educational Content for Younger Learners

Others

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