Weekly Update (11/25/2024)

Course Announcements

• GEO/ESP 869 Agent-Based Modeling

  Dr. Arika Ligmann-Zielinska will offer this graduate course in Spring 2025. This course is cross-listed with the ESPP and Geography, and is one of three electives for ESPP Graduate Certificate in Environmental and Social Systems Modeling. Join the engaging interdisciplinary course to master agent-based models that analyze complex social and environmental systems. You’ll participate in hands-on projects, allowing you to design and implement these models effectively. We focus on a systematic approach to model development and provide advanced tools for uncertainty and sensitivity analysis and highperformance computing, enhancing your skills. No coding experience is needed, as we use the user-friendly Python programming language. This course is ideal for social and natural scientists, environmental engineers, and motivated individuals eager to create impactful solutions.

• CSUS 848: Community-Based Natural Resource Management in International Development

  Millions of people around the world depend on natural resources for their livelihoods; therefore, it is vital to manage those resources in a sustainable way. This course studies governance of natural resources in developing countries, focusing on the factors that lead to positive outcomes, e.g., conservation, cooperation through the creation of institutions, and improved income distribution. The course begins with a look at how human and natural systems interact, and possible ways to study that interaction. The course then addresses a variety of issues that influence natural resource management, including people’s perceptions and values of natural resources, poverty, gender, livelihoods, and property rights regimes. It also examines policy approaches for promoting conservation where benefits are off-site, and payments for environmental services.

  Dr. Maria Claudia Lopez will offer this course in Spring 2025. The course is appropriate for graduate students across campus who are interested in learning about community-based natural resource management in developing countries and developed countries. This course is useful for students who have an interest in international development, natural resource management, conservation, governance of natural resources and institutions. It is also of interest to students who want either to do research on these topics or are considering working in these areas after graduation.

Seminars, Workshops, and Other Events

• MSU Climate Cafe | 4 PM November 21, 2024 and December 2, 2024

  Do you feel overwhelmed by the environmental crises? Worry about biodiversity loss? Feel anger towards the slow pace of climate action? Or maybe you are awe-inspired by technological advances and local action that make a difference?

  The Graduate School’s Office of Wellbeing is hosting a series of Climate Cafés - safe spaces to express and process emotions around climate change and environmental crises more broadly. Trained facilitators will guide a small group conversation, allowing all reactions that come up to be expressed in a safe space. The primary purpose of these spaces is emotional expression and processing, not solutions/ actions to take because sometimes, in order to know how best to move forward, we need to process how we feel.For those interested in learning about actions that can be taken, we will also be offering a follow-up session on climate action in February. Details will be shared at a later date with participants of the Climate Cafés. Space is limited, so please register if you want to attend. There will be two in-person and two virtual sessions, one of each this semester, and one of each early in the new year. There will be hot cocoa and tea at the in-person sessions. RSVP for the November and December sessions here.

Scholarships, Fellowships, and Funding Opportunities

• 2025 Catalyst Leadership Circle Fellowship | Application Deadline Jan 29, 2025

  Selected through a competitive application process, Catalyst Leadership Circle Fellows come from academic institutions across the state. During the program, they help local governments take tangible steps toward their sustainability goals while creating shareable deliverables. The program, located in Ann Arbor, will run from May 19-July 25, 2025. Register here to attend the information webinar on Jan 15, 2025 at 12 pm.

Jobs and Training Opportunities

• Cornell InterDisciplinary Education Research (CIDER) Postdoc Positions | Deadline Jan 13, 2025

  The CIDER postdocs will have at least two research mentors who span disciplines, allowing them to approach questions about student learning and experiences across disciplinary boundaries and use techniques and approaches from multiple fields. The CIDER postdocs will also engage in a comprehensive professional development program that includes research mentoring and development, network building, leadership, teaching opportunities, and career planning. The annual stipend for this position is at $70K.

• Water-Energy-Food Nexus Collaborative Learning School | May 5-16, 2025 | Nigeria

  The Collaborative Learning School (CLS) is a field-based workshop led by U.S. and African scientists and practitioners. The CLS connects participants with farmers, policymakers, and other stakeholders at the community level to assess food security challenges and identify innovative solutions using the water-energy-food (WEF) nexus framework. Applications are invited from early career researchers (at minimum PhD in process with Masters completed, or early career researchers up to 5 years after PhD was granted) from the US, African, or EU countries with research or activities directly related to WEF Nexus themes. We encourage applicants from a broad set of disciplines to apply (biophysical, social sciences, engineering, and others). Application deadline January 12, 2025