Recent Accomplishments
December 2007
- Stephanie Fincher (BS 2005, MS 2007) gave the graduate address at the UNLV Winter Commencement Ceremony.
- William J. Smith, Jr. (Assistant Professor) is the Policy Component Lead and David M. Hassenzahl (Chair) is Education Component Lead on a 5 year, $15 million Nevada System of Higher Education NSF-EPSCoR proposal submitted in late December. Helen Neill (Associate Professor) is also part of the Policy Component.
- Megan Hopper successfully defended her professional paper: Assessing Systems Thinking
- Helen Neill (Associate Professor) and David M. Hassenzahl (Chair) attended the annual meeting of the Society for Risk Analysis in San Antonio Texas. Both presented papers; Hassenzahl also ran a workshop, presented a poster coauthored by doctoral candidate Ilene Ruhoy, and was installed on the SRA Council. Papers:
- Neill HR, Assane D “Valuing the impact of environmental contamination with an hedonic property model: a comparison of distance estimates.” (Paper)
- Hassenzahl DM, Goble R, Létourneau C “Experts, Opponents and Myths in High Level Nuclear Waste Disposal Siting.” (Paper)
- Ruhoy, I. and Hassenzahl, D.M. (2007). The disposal of unused and unwanted pharmaceuticals: A risk perspective. (Poster)
November 2007
- Helen Neill (Associate Professor) presented the paper: Tandon, S., Neill, H., Assane, D. and Hassenzahl, D.M. "Estimating the Impact of Air Quality with a Spatial Hedonic: Geostatistical versus Weight-Matrix Approaches" at the 54th Annual North American Meetings of the Regional Science Association International, Nov 7 - 11, Savannah, GA.
- Ilene Ruhoy (PhD Candidate) gave the keynote address at the Safe Medicine Disposal Symposium in Sonoma County, CA
- William J. Smith, Jr. presented a poster "Integrating Demand-Side and Coupled-Systems Models into Water and Drought Research and Management" at the 2007 Nevada Water Resources Association Climate Change Symposium.
- David M. Hassenzahl (Chair) presented a seminar on "Nuclear Power versus Climate Change: Simple or Simplistic?" as part of the UNLV Environment and Biology Lecture Series
- William J. Smith, Jr. was interviewed on the subject of water and sustainability in Las Vegas by the Irish television station RTE.
- David M. Hassenzahl (Chair) was named Chair of the UNLV Sustainability Task Force.
- Shawn Goodchild successfully defended his masters thesis: Piscivory by non-native Blue Tilapia in Clark County Nevada.
- Gowa Bozigin successfully defended her professional paper entitled "Valuing the Impact of Brownfield Cleanup on Surrounding Property Values: Evidence from the Former National Guard Armory Site in East Downtown Las Vegas, NV."
- The Department co-sponsored an on-campus "The Heat is On" event in conjunction with the Democratic Presidential Candidate debate that was held on the UNLV campus.
October 2007
- Undergraduates Melissa Mezger and Christopher Bland, along with Life
Sciences Major Christy Meza, submitted a letter to the 2007 TEAMS competition,
sponsored by Johnson Controls.
- UNLV held its first campus-wide sustainability conference. ENV participants
included all the faculty and numerous students. Dr. Krystyna Stave served
as a panelist on Environment and Sustainability; Dr. David M. Hassenzahl
helped plan the event as a member of the UNLV Urban Sustainability Initiative.
- David M. Hassenzahl (Chair) was elected to the Council of the Society
for Risk Analysis.
- Patrick Sawyer (MS 2007) presented a paper based on his masters thesis at the American Chemical Society conference in San Diego, CA.
September 2007
- William J. Smith Jr. had his focus section on "Linkages Between Water
Conservation and Human Rights" accepted for publication in The
Manual on the Right to Water.
American Association for the Advancement of Science, Centre on Housing
Rights and Evictions, and World Health Organization.
- William J. Smith Jr. had his paper "Filling a Gap in International Water Development Discourse: Addressing Tropical Small Island Scale Conditions in the Western Pacific" accepted for publication in The Geographical Journal.
July 2007
- Associate Professor Krystyna Stave and M.S. students Stephanie Fincher,
Megan Hopper, Emerald Laija, and Dan Andersen attended the 25th International
Conference of the System Dynamics Society in Boston, MA. Dr. Stave participated
in the Society's Policy Council meeting, presented a poster with Megan
Hopper, and chaired a parallel session. Stephanie Fincher presented a paper
in a parallel session, co-authored with Dr. Stave.
- Ilene Ruhoy, PhD Candidate,
had her paper "Types and Quantities
of Leftover Drugs Entering the Environment via Disposal to Sewage — Revealed
by Coroner Records" accepted for publication in Science
of the Total Environment.
- William J. Smith, Jr. Assistant Professor, had his paper "Conservation
Rates: The Best New Source of Urban Water During Drought" accepted for
publication in Water and Environment Journal.
June 2007
- Helen Neill (Associate Professor) was appointed to the UNLV Research Council.
- Krystyna Stave (Associate Professor), Helen Neill (Associate Professor),
and David M. Hassenzahl (Chair) participated in the 2nd Environmental
Studies Summit at Syracuse University / SUNY ESF. Hassenzahl also participated
in the annual summer meeting of the Council of Environmental Deans
and Directors.
- Ilene Ruhoy (Doctoral Candidate) and David M. Hassenzahl (Chair) ran the 2007 International Symposium on Technology and Society at the UNLV Stan Fulton Building. Presentations were made by several Environmental Studies Department members, including Professors William J. Smith, Jr. and Timothy Farnham, PhD students Carmel Létourneau, Dennis Bechtel, MS student Ted Greenhalgh, as well as Ruhoy and Hassenzahl. Presentations by other members of the UNLV community included Dr. Mary Palevsky (Nevada Test Site Oral History Project, Professor Julian Kilker (JMS), Daniel Lebas (PhD student, Department of Anthropology) and Leisl Carr (PhD student, Department of History). UNLV Libraries were also involved: Susie Skarl (Urban Affairs Librarian) joined Hassenzahl and Ruhoy as editors of the Proceedings; the proceedings were produced by Michael Yunkin and Michelle Hawkins. Patty Ianuzzi, Dean of Libraries, and Chris Sugnet (Interim Director, Research & Information) presented a luncheon talk. UNLV President David Ashley and Greenspun College of Urban Affairs Martha Watson welcomed the symposium attendees.
May 2007
- Tim Farnham (Assistant Professor) had his book Saving Nature's Legacy: Origins of the Idea of Biological Diversity published by Yale University Press.
- Krystyna Stave (Associate Professor) traveled to Washington DC to review grants on behalf of the National Science Foundation.
- Departmental seniors presented their posters at the annual departmental reception. James Deacon received the Aldo Leopold Award; Melissa Mezger received the James Deacon Award; and Zane Marshall received the Outstanding Alumnus Award.
April 2007
- Dottie Shank (Office Manager) was awarded the UNLV Classified Staff Rookie
of the Year Award.
- Melissa Mezger (Undergraduate) was awarded a UNLV Library Undergraduate
Research Award.
- Elizabeth Thomson (Masters Student) was hired by UNLV
to draft the university s Sustainability Plan.
- Amy Miller (Masters
Student) was awarded the UNLV Student Leadership Award.
- Helen Neill (Associate Professor) David M. Hassenzahl (Department Chair) and Djeto Assane (Dept of Economics) published Estimating the Effect of Air Quality: Spatial versus Traditional Hedonic Price Models in the Southern Economics Journal.
- Ted Greenhalgh (MS 2007) was inducted into the UNLV chapter of the Phi Kappa Phi honor society.
- Bill Smith (Assistant Professor) attended the annual meeting of the American Association of Geographers, at which he organized several sessions and delivered several papers. He also supported participation by Masters Student Jason Barangan and Doctoral Candidate Carole Rollins, both of who presented papers and chaired sessions.
- April Gil (PhD 2006) was awarded the 2006-2007 UNLV Outstanding Dissertation.
- David M. Hassenzahl (Chair), Dottie Shank (Office Manager), Launa Wilson (Urban Affairs Foundation Officer) and Graduate Students Jeff Joyce and Elizabeth Thomson helped run the annual UNLV Earth Day Event for Clark County School District Elementary School students. The event was organized by Marianne Carpenter, a friend of the UNLV Department. Las Vegas TV and Radio personality Nathan Tannenbaum served as the Master of Ceremonies.
- John Kanlund (Ugrad), and Elizabeth Thompson (Masters Student) helped organize an Alternative Energy Fair on the UNLV Campus. Thompson was interviewed on Channel 13 News.
- Krystyna Stave (Associate Professor) was awarded the Greenspun College of Urban Affairs Outstanding Teaching Award. David M. Hassenzahl (Chair) was awarded the Service Award.
- On April 6 7, the Department of Environmental Studies hosted more
than 100 students, faculty, and others from around the country in
a training session for Focus
the Nation campus leaders. Amy Miller
(Graduate Student), Melissa Mezger (Ugrad) and John Kanlund (Ugrad)
were key organizers, along with David Hassenzahl (Chair), Jeff Joyce
and Elizabeth Thomson (Graduate students). Presenters included Eban
Goodstein (Focus the Nation), Alfredo Fernandez-Gonzales (UNLV School
of Architecture), Billy Parish (Energy Action Coalition), Wahleah
Johns (Campus Climate Challenge), Jim Deacon (UNLV - ENV Distinguished
Professor Emeritus), David Orr (Oberlin College). A closing performance
was presented by Eth-Noh-Tec, a Moving Story Theater. The event was
covered by Channel 8 News.
- Melissa Mezger (Undergraduate) joined
Eban Goodstein (Professor of Economics at Lewis and Clark College
and Director of Focus the Nation) on KNPR s State of Nevada, discussing
solutions to Global Climate Change. Podcast available at www.knpr.org.
Goodstein also presented a UNLV Forum Lecture, cosponsored by the
Department of Environmental Studies and the School of Architecture.
- Melissa Mezger (Undergraduate) is this year s recipient of the James
Deacon Award.
- Helen Neill (Associate Professor) attended the annual meeting
of the American Real Estate Society, where she delivered a paper
entitled Stigmatized Property Values: A Tale of two Neighborhoods.
The paper was coauthored by Djeto Assane (Dept of Economics) and
David M. Hassenzahl (ENV Department Chair).
- Patrick Sawyer (Atmospheric Dispersion Model Validation for Low Wind Speed Conditions) and Ted Greenhalgh (Assessing the Homeland Security Advisory System) successfully defended their Masters Theses.
March 2007
-
Stephanie Fincher (04, Graduate Student) was awarded 2nd place in the Graduate College and the Graduate & Professional Student Association Social Sciences poster session for her poster Proactive Management of Particulate Matter Air Pollution in a Rapidly Growing Urban Area: the Case of the Las Vegas Valley.
- William J. Smith Jr. (Assistant Professor), along with Tom Piechota (Civil and Environmental Engineering), Cathy Snelson (Geosciences), and Craig Palmer (Public Lands Institute), received a $73,355 RIAP grant to support the creation on a UNLV Geographic Information Systems and Remote Sensing Core Laboratory.
February 2007
- David M. Hassenzahl (Chair) delivered an invited presentation at
the International Symposium on Risk Management Education, held Feb.
14 at the University of Osaka, Japan.
- David M. Hassenzahl (Chair) and Ilene Ruhoy (PhD candidate) attended the National Council on Science, Policy and the Environment, at which they ran a half-day breakout session on Human Health and Ecological Risk Assessment. Hassenzahl also attended the annual winter meeting of the Council of Environmental Deans and Directors.
January 2007
- David M. Hassenzahl (Chair) gave two invited presentations, one to the
Air Waste Management Association, Las Vegas Chapter, and one to the Nevada
Technology Council.
- David M. Hassenzahl (Chair), Stan Smith (Professor, Life Sciences) and Peter Starkweather (Professor, Life Sciences) gave a panel presentation following an on-campus viewing of the movie An Inconvenient Truth.