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Welcome to the 2020 Winter Newsletter! It has been an eventful first part of the year, testing our adaptability and resilience. We are excited to share some bright news from our E-IPER community, who are as productive and engaging as ever.
In this issue:
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News Features 
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Dear E-IPER community,
I started this message at least 14 times because, really, how does one begin to capture the range of experiences and emotions over the past few months? What I know for certain is that-in the midst of a global pandemic, physical distancing, and a whiplash transition in our ways of life-community is more essential than ever. The bonds that we have built-through years of classes, coffee, and collaborating-and that we will continue to build not only feed our ongoing need for connection, but form the basis for doing what we intended in the first place: solving today's most pressing environmental, sustainability, and resource management challenges. This shared work toward a meaningful, consequential goal is the cornerstone of purpose, as psychologist William Damon, my colleague and co-instructor, describes it in his work on civic life.
As we grapple with this new normal, I invite you to lean into our already-strong E-IPER community for support: share successes and challenges, build new skills, deepen friendships, enhance partnerships, explore context. Our team, including student reps, has been hard at work developing ways for all to become and remain connected over the next quarter, and we are eager to learn with and from you as we try out new ideas. My most-used mantra recently draws on a stretching of the strict
research interpretation
of Carol Dweck's growth mindset work,
applied to the current situation
: I'm not great at online instruction yet; I don't know all of Zoom's tips and tricks yet; I haven't made the perfect sourdough loaf yet.
I look forward to growing and learning alongside you during this extraordinary time. And although we might not yet have figured out how to balance research, home life, classes, exercise, and avoiding extreme amounts of screen time, I am confident that we will find a rhythm that is productive and compassionate, and that contributes to the world in a way that makes a difference. When we do, I am also confident that the successful strategy, and our common, purposeful work, will be grounded in personal connections with one another.
Best wishes for health and wellbeing-I look forward to "seeing" you at our spring event(s)!
Warmly,
Nicole
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Creativity in Research Workshop
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Left to Right: Allie Sherris, Cesar Lopez, Bianca Santos, Will Scott, Lin Shi, Shannon Switzer, Caroline Ferguson, Josheena Naggea, Gemma Smith,
Dr. Anja Svetina Nabergoj
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In February, E-IPER students attended the Creativity in Design workshop, where they will explore how early and low-resolution prototyping can help test their research ideas early, seek out feedback on unfinished work and progress their projects faster. PhD students often suffer from inner critic, fear of appearing unoriginal. So, they end up spending way too much time on making things perfect before showing it to their advisor or anyone else. They were taught how to see their work as a series of mini experiments with rough prototypes in order to test their ideas and assumptions early. They worked on quieting down their inner critic, unleashing their creativity and progressing projects they are currently stuck on.
An experiential workshop, where they worked individually and in pairs on a real challenge they are facing.
Shannon Switzer (PhD 5th) shares her experience:
I had never thought of approaching my research like a bug, until I participated in the Creativity in Research Workshop last winter quarter. There Dr. Anja Svetina Nabergoj, from the Institute of Design at Stanford, encouraged us to envision and prototype how we want to approach perceived road blocks in our research. As we discussed how we want to approach problem-solving, I envisioned a little bug, who senses the world around it with its antennae and feet, taking in bits of information here and bits of new evidence there to learn as it moves through its environment. Before I knew it, I'd created a pipe-cleaner bug to manifest this approach in a physical form. Once each participant had created their learning model, we then honed in on a particular challenge we were facing in our research and then paired up with other students to help each other brainstorm and prototype solutions to these challenges. The challenge I focused on was how to tactfully share my findings about fishermen who use cyanide to catch aquarium fish with the broader conservation community, so that they would be taken seriously despite questioning the current conventional knowledge in the field. My partners came up with creative ways of seeking
feedback before formally submitting to a journal, including harnessing the power of Twitter to get initial responses, which I would never have thought to do. The entire exercise was a wonderful way to reset my often-stagnated thought process about my own work, to remember that my research is in fact interesting to others, and to see how other people would approach a problem that had become stale in my mind with fresh eyes and a different well of creativity.
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PhD Dissertation Defense:
Samantha Sekar
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Celebrating Staci's thesis are (from left) Allie Sherris, Andrea Lund, Sudatta Ray, Samy Sekar, Nina Brooks, Rachel Engstrand, Shannon Switzer and KC McKanna.
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In February, Samy Sekar successfully defended her dissertation, "Misrepresented: Understanding the gap between US public opinion and policy on climate change".
Samy researches how to estimate public opinion at state and local levels, so that public opinion data is more relevant for policymakers. She also studies how people form their attitudes toward climate change and how those attitudes shape behavior.
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PhD and Joint MS Collaboration:
Paying Ranchers for Ecosystem Services
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Photo credit: Nic Buckley Biggs |
Payments for Ecosystem Services (PES) are financial incentives offered to land managers in exchange for protecting, conserving, or improving a natural resource. In California, ranchers have a menu of PES options from which to choose, including government cost-share programs that offer payments for soil and water conservation practices, certifications such as USDA Organic, and soil and carbon markets.
In 2019, Nic Buckley Biggs (PhD 2nd) and Jayce Hafner (MBA-MS 2020) teamed up with the support of an E-IPER Collaboration Grant to research public and private governance mechanisms supporting ecosystem services on rangelands and the motivations and challenges behind California rancher participation. The team interviewed ranchers in two top beef producing counties of California to document their conservation goals and their experiences with USDA Farm Bill programs and sustainability certifications. They also interviewed multinational food and agriculture corporations and conservation groups currently building a new working lands PES market focused on soil carbon and water to be launched in the coming years. Buckley Biggs and Hafner discussed the new PES market framework with ranchers and assessed how rancher perspectives and needs matched up to the design and goals of the emerging carbon market.
Preliminary results of their study indicate that corporations offering payments for ecosystem services are motivated by goals of carbon insetting, or the reduction of carbon emissions in corporate supply chains. Ranchers, in turn, are motivated to engage in PES policies by conservation goals such as soil health and preserving the ranch over generations, more than greenhouse gas emissions reduction. While there is some alignment in motivations and goals across landowners and the new PES market, the team's final research paper will identify areas of risk and potential solutions for addressing those concerns.
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Joint MS Autumn Capstone Symposium
The Autumn 2019 Capstone Symposium featured an exciting, eleven presentations from a combination of MS-JD, MS-MBA, and MS-PhD students. Project presentations spanned a variety of sectors and global locations. Project topics
ranged from energy, energy access, investment, and engineering, agriculture and agricultural food waste and engineering, and socially responsible investments. This quarter's Capstone Symposium also featured four Collaboration Grant projects that are at term or still continuing into Winter quarter.
The Joint MS Capstone Symposium is held twice a year at the end of Autumn and Winter quarters. We look forward to sharing Winter quarter's capstone presentations in our next newsletter!
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| Autumn 2019 Capstone Students (from left to right): Back row: Cody Evans (MS-MBA), Ida Hempel (MS-MBA), Johannes Oljenik (MS-MBA), Abhay Jain (MS-MBA), Nate Nunta (MS-MBA), Jayce Hafner (MS-MBA), Valerie Shen (MS-MBA), Ezgi Sonmez (MS-MBA), Luis Lascurain (MS-MBA), and Nico Guillen-Barril (MS-MBA) ); Front row: George Amirdzhanyan (MS-MBA), Jim Yu (MS-MBA), Annie Baldwin (MS-MBA), Caroline Jo (MS-JD), and Adhokshaj Bellurkar (MS-MBA); Not pictured: Rachel Reed (MS-PhD) |
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MS/JD Student - Alumni Discussion Dinner Series
E-IPER and Law's fifth annual Student-Alumni dinner tradition experienced growth and transition this academic year. To build stronger community and to provide a space for E-IPER and Law students, alumni, and faculty to connect on a more regular basis, Professor Buzz Thompson created a quarterly discussion dinner series, whereby a substantive issue of relevance to environmental law and science is discussed. The series kicked off in Autumn 2019.
On February 2oth, the E-IPER and Law community gathered for Part II of the series at the home of Professor Buzz Thompson for an evening of delicious food and discussion on "The Ninth Circuit's Juliana Decision: Do Courts Have Limited Reach in Solving Environmental Challenges?". The group also conversed about upcoming courses and experiences within the E-IPER and Law network. It was well attended by newly admitted and current MS-JD students, prospective PhD-JD students, Joint MS and PhD alumni, and faculty from Law, Earth System Science, Management Science and Engineering, and SIEPER. E-IPER is grateful to Professor Buzz and Holly Thompson for opening their home each quarter to E-IPER and for creating an opportunity for discussions on the intersection of science and law to occur.
We look forward to seeing (virtually) the E-IPER and Law community in Spring!
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By: CB&I Conference Co-chair Maya Granit (MS-MBA)
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GSB Climate, Business, and Innovation Summit 2020
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"Climate Change has become a defining factor in companies' long-term prospects." - Larry Fink, CEO of BlackRock
"The corporation's purpose is to find profitable solutions to the problems of people and planet." - Satya Nadella, CEO of Microsoft
The above statements from Larry Fink and Satya Nadella capture the urgency and importance of climate change in shaping the future of business - and of course, our planet. Over the last year, more than a dozen GSB students (and a single but mighty undergrad!) came together to organize GSB's Second Annual Business, Climate, and Innovation Summit last February 12, 2020. The goal of the Summit was to elevate the discussion of climate change and to motivate our classmates to consider how climate will define our careers. The Summit featured experienced climate leaders in finance, technology, food and agriculture, energy, and policy. The event closed with an inspiring presentation from young Stanford alums who've pursued impactful careers in the climate space. The Summit attracted nearly 300 students, alumni, professionals, and community members. The majority of attendees stayed for a networking event, and many E-IPER students followed with a dinner.
The event left the organizer group ready to boldly harness the energy and potential expressed throughout the day, and inspired by our rallying cry: you don't get points for holding back.
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| GSB Climate, Business, and Innovation Summit leadership committee. Pictured left to right:Victoria Wills (MS-MBA '21), Julia Osterman (MS-MBA '20), Joanna Klitzke (MS-MBA '21), Ellery Berk (MBA '20), Maya Granit (MS-MBA '20), and Sophie Janaskie (MBA '21) |
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MS-MBA Student/Alumni Reception
Following the second annual GSB Climate, Business, and Innovation Summit on February 12, 2020, E-IPER, in collaboration with the leadership committee of the Climate Summit, hosted an MS-MBA Student/Alumni Reception at a local restaurant, Vina Enoteca. It was a festive evening to celebrate the Summit's success and to gather our local alumni and current student community delicious food and drinks. A total of 30 guest gathered, split relatively evenly between alumni and students. MS-MBA students, Julia Osterman '20 and Ian Field '20, organized alumni and students into interest areas to further spawn conversations and connections. Thank you to those who joined us that evening to connect, catch-up, and celebrate!
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Student News
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Caroline Ferguson (PhD 3rd) and Autumn Bordner (MS-JD '19) are in the process of founding an NGO, the Allies for Micronesia Project (AMP). AMP is a community of allies that will address issues of injustice in the U.S.-affiliated islands and advocate for the rights of Micronesians within the United States. AMP will engage in education and outreach initiatives to raise public awareness of the unique challenges facing the peoples of Micronesia, provide a platform to amplify the efforts of Micronesian activists, and advocate for law and policy reform to correct the structural injustices Micronesian people currently face. Follow on Twitter @amp_micronesia and on Facebook at @AlliesforMicronesiaProject.
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Photo by: Andrew Hume
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Andrew Hume (PhD 3rd) won the 2019 Stanford King Center on Global Development student photo contest with a photograph he took in Vietnam in July 2018 while he was in Da Nang, Vietnam for the Sixth Global Environment Facility (GEF) Assembly, a quadrennial meeting of the global community to conclude the replenishment of largest public trust fund for the environment. Together with other delegates, they took a day trip to nearby Hoi An, an amazingly beautiful UNESCO World Heritage Site known for its architecture, textile shops, and cuisine. The photo is of women selling vegetables in a sprawling and very busy street market. This scene really stood out to Andrew because of how calm and organized they seemed amongst the daily market bustle. Andrew notes that, "With overtourism threatening local cultures, especially in southeast Asia, these women were an important reminder that even busy centers of tourism like Hoi An are also critical hubs of commerce that support local communities and livelihoods too."
David Gonzalez (PhD 4th) continues for the 3rd year to be co- instructor of record for Urban Studies 125: Shades of Green: Redesigning the Environmental Justice Movements, with winter quarter being the largest class yet. With a broad range discussion of environmental justice topics and students working on projects with community partners around the Bay Area to problem-solve around issues of access and diversity.
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Alumni News
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Victoria Beasley (MS-MBA
'
16
)
was recently promoted to Partner at
Prelude Ventures
.
In January, Autumn Bordner (MS-JD
'
19)
served on a panel at the L.A. Natural History Museum,
Nuclear Contamination and Climate Change
, which focused on--you guessed it--injustices caused by the U.S. nuclear legacy in the Marshall Islands and current threats posed by climate change, as well as the resiliency of the Marshallese people in light of these challenges.
Autumn has also been appointed as a Lecturer in the Program of International Relations at Stanford, where she will be co-teaching "American Empire in the Pacific" this spring, along with Caroline Ferguson (PhD 3rd), where they will explore American imperialism in Oceania through the lenses of law, history, human rights, and environmental justice.
Marilyn Cornelius (PhD
'
13
)
started a second company in Fiji (a sister company to her California LLC,
Alchemus Prime
, with the same name) in January 2020, offering similar services: wellness and trauma coaching, climate change and wellness workshops, leadership and wellness retreats, corporate and community wellness programs, and climate change consulting services.
Danny Cullenward (JD-PhD '13)
testified
in February before a California Senate Budget Committee hearing on Governor Newsom's $12.5 billion climate budget proposal. His testimony drew on a
research article
recently published with Michael Mastrandrea (PhD '04) and Mason Inman in Environmental Research Letters that was featured in ProPublica's
investigative report
about the oil industry's influence on California's climate policies. Mike, Mason, and Danny also published the
first retrospective study
of California's progress in reducing its emissions below 1990 levels by 2020 in Energy Policy.
Miyuki Hino (PhD '19) has been appointed as an Assistant Professor at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, appointed in both the Department of City and Regional Planning and the Environment, Ecology and Energy Program.
Brenden Millstein (
MS-MBA
'
11
)
Carbon Lighthouse, the clean energy company Brenden Millstein co-founded in 2010 while finishing E-IPER, continues to thrive. The firm is now 135 people strong and hiring
-- and has eliminated the emissions of 11 power plants. 49,989 left to go to stop climate change, but we'll get there!
In February, Fran Moore (PhD '15) participated on a panel on "Climate Change Economics" at the AAAS meeting in Seattle.
Caroline Scruggs (PhD '12) has been appointed as Associate Dean for Research in the School of Architecture and Planning at University of New Mexico.
Timothy Singer (MS-MD
'
17) is part of ongoing community work to raise awareness about the health effects of climate change and local environmental justice work as well as a committee exploring ways to green the Texas Medical Center. If interested in learning more about the community work Tim is doing, please reach him at
Timothy.Singer@bcm.edu
, Twitter @TimothyGSinger.
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Awards & Honors
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Rebecca Miller (PhD 3rd), and Julia Osterman (MS-MBA 3rd) were accepted into the
2020 cohort
of the
Rising Environmental Leaders Program
(RELP) of the Stanford Woods Institute for the Environment. Each year a group of graduate students and postdoctoral scholars learn to develop the leadership and communication skills they need to optimize the impact of their research.
Noa Lincoln (PhD '14) was awarded the NSF CAREER grant in Environmental Biology entitled Soil Pedogenesis, Agroecology, and Their Interactions. The five-year project will examine the long-term influence of farming on soil properties and behaviors in Hawai'i.
Andy Stock (PhD '17) has been awarded a Liber Ero post-doctoral fellowship, and will move to the University of British Columbia in May 2020.
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Publications & Presentations
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Hilary Boudet (PhD
'10
) has a few publications:
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Marilyn Cornelius(PhD '13) Published her 16th popular book in December 2019, called Sculpting Positivity: Daily Inspirations from the show "Mornings with Marilyn".
From the gorgeous beaches of Fiji's coral coast to the monsoons of Hyderabad; from the salsa dancing scene of San Francisco Bay Area to the brisk beauty of Sydney Harbor, Marilyn brings you nuggets of inspiration from her life as a coach, facilitator, author, speaker, and teacher. She weaves in stories from her roles as Heartfulness Meditation Preceptor, and Chief of Staff and Coach at UN Women USA - San Francisco Chapter. These stories are excerpts from daily videos on the social media show, Mornings with Marilyn, which is a free service and has a private audience of over 600 people. Indulge in one reflection a day from this book and experience a deeper sense of who you really are. Become attuned to a relentlessly curious inquiry into gratitude, positivity, self-love, integrity, justice, and the release of trauma for a more authentic life.
Caroline Ferguson (PhD 3rd) and Autumn Bordner (MS-JD '19) published an article "
Colonial dynamics limit climate adaptation in Oceania: Perspectives from the Marshall Islands" in Global Environmental Change, based on their research funded by the E-IPER Collaboration Grant. The paper explores the ways in which community-driven plans for adaptation are undermined by existing aid structures, threatening the islands' very existence and their hard-won sovereignty as a result.
Noa Lincoln (PhD '14) was (one of many) co-authors on the recent cover article for Science for the paper "Global distribution of earthworm diversity." Using data from more than 7000 sites, Phillips et al. developed global maps of the distribution of earthworm diversity, abundance, and biomass (see the Perspective by Fierer). The patterns differ from those typically found in above ground taxa; there are peaks of diversity and abundance in the mid-latitude regions and peaks of biomass in the tropics. Climate variables strongly influence these patterns, and changes are likely to have cascading effects on other soil organisms and wider ecosystem functions.
Noa and colleagues would also like to share the following publications:
Justin Mankin (PhD
'15
)
has three publications to report:
Autumn Border (MS-JD '19) and Caroline Ferguson (PhD 3rd) presented on the GEC paper at AGU in December.
In December, Caroline Ferguson (PhD 3rd) attended the Pew Marine Fellows annual meeting in Hilo, Hawaii, where she presented preliminary results from her work addressing the question: Do markets lead to gender-based displacements in fisheries and what are the consequences for conservation? The presentation was well-received and sparked new collaborations with fellows in Fiji and Spain!
In November, Andrea Lund (PhD 5th) presented her research "The role of irrigated agriculture in schistosome infection in a dammed landscape in West Africa" in a scientific session on schistosomiasis epidemiology at the 2019 Annual meeting of the American Society for Tropical Medicine and Hygiene in National Harbor, Maryland.
Rebecca Miller (PhD 3rd) presented at the Miami Climate Symposium 2020 in January on "Living with Fire: Wildfire Adaptation in California".
Caroline Scruggs (PhD
'12
) presented at the
Association of Collegiate Schools of Planning (ACSP) 59th Annual Conference
, in October 2019 on "Going Beyond Surveys: The Need for Community Engagement on Topics of Water Resources and Reuse", and at the 34th Annual WateReuse Symposium, in September 2019 on "A Tailored Outreach Approach on Water Knowledge, Trust, and Potable Reuse Issues".
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Contributors to this issue include:
Gabriela Magaña,
Maile Yee, Shannon Switzer,
Nic Buckley Biggs, Jayce Hafner, Julia Osterman and Maya Granit
Edited by:
The E-IPER Staff
Thank you for continuing to support E-IPER!
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