Dyson College of Arts and Sciences

DCISE Annual Report 2017-2018 17 Assessing Stakeholder Perceptions and Facilitating Collaboration in the Pocantico River Watershed Funding Source: Water Resources Research Grant Program ($10,000) Co-Principal Investigators: Michael Finewood and Michael Rubbo Synopsis: Focusing mainly on sections of the Bronx River Watershed and the Hudson River Watershed in New York, this interview-based research project (conducted in 2017) explores municipal concerns, priorities, and challenges related to regional environmental management. The project focuses broadly on barriers and incentives to defining and collaboratively working to solve problems posed by flooding, climate change, and development, and uses a political ecology framework to further discuss the uneven costs and benefits of environmental challenges that transcend political borders. Pictured below (from left): E. Melanie DuPuis, Carl Wojciechowski '18, Rowan Lanning '18, Ethan Kravitz '18 and Michael Finewood share their research project on environmental perceptions in the Bronx River Watershed at the 2018 AESS Conference. Culvert Management Planning for Amphibian Connectivity (continuation) Funding Source: New York State Department of Environmental Conservation Co-Investigators: Matthew Aiello-Lammens and John Cronin Synopsis: Pace continued to make progress on the goal of understanding the role of culverts in facilitating amphibian and reptile habitat connectivity in our region and to manage drainage during heavy rain events. The principal investigators, along with Pace graduate students Michael Tierney '18, Environmental Science, Michaela Peterson '18, Environmental Science, Nadya Hall '18, Environmental Policy, and Norman Sanchez '19, Environmental Science, have assessed culverts to identify those that most greatly reduce road associated mortality and are most important for facilitating run-off and continue to develop an adaptive management plan for prioritizing culvert maintenance actions. LTER: CAP IV - Investigating Urban Ecology and Sustainability through the Lens of Urban Ecological Infrastructure Funding Source: National Science Foundation ($4,507,998) Investigators: Monica Palta, Senior Personnel, Dan Childers, Principal Investigator Synopsis: Phase IV of the Central Arizona-Phoenix LTER (CAP) continues to focus on the question: How do the ecosystem services provided by urban ecological infrastructure (UEI) affect human outcomes and behavior, and how do human actions affect patterns of urban ecosystem structure and function and, ultimately, urban sustainability and resilience? The overarching goal is to foster social-ecological urban research aimed at understanding these complex systems using a holistic, ecology of cities perspective while contributing to an ecology for cities that enhances urban sustainability and resilience. CAP IV research is organized around ten long-term datasets and experiments, and researchers are organized into eight Interdisciplinary Research Themes to pursue these long- term research questions. Green Makes Green: How Median Household Income Impacts the Services and Disservices of a Green Space in an Urban Setting Funding Source: Pforzheimer Honors College Research Grant ($1,000) Investigators: Chase Ballas '18, Monica Palta, faculty mentor/ supervisor Synopsis: For his Senior Honors thesis, Chase Ballas '18, Environmental Science, evaluated green spaces (public parks) located in neighborhoods that fell along an income gradient (low to high) in all five of New York City's boroughs, to uncover any potential relationships between median household income and green space provision of benefits and harms to urban dwellers. The parks were assessed for their ability to provide park-goers with aesthetic, recreative, and provisional benefits, such as food from community gardens, water from drinking fountains. They were also evaluated for potential environmental harms, such as soil metals and invasive species. Food Waste Networks Funding Source: Pace Student/Faculty Research Grant Investigator: E. Melanie DuPuis Visions and Transitions: From the End of Slavery to the End of Peak Oil Funding Source: Pace Faculty Research Grant Investigator: E. Melanie DuPuis George Washington Carver Project at the California African American Museum Funding Source: Pace Faculty Research Grant Investigator: Eve Laramée Eve Laramée - University of Buffalo Art Gallery Received production support for a large scale photo- installation on the West Valley Nuclear Site (show opens September 2018). INSTITUTE FOR SUSTAINABILITY AND THE ENVIRONMENT

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