Weekly Update (11/18/2024)

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

  • Grad School Application Conversations | 4-5:30 PM, November 21, 2024 | Erickson 133F

    Michigan chapter of Graduate Women in Science has a graduate application workshop on November 21, 2024. This is an opportunity for undergraduates to have graduate students give feedback on their graduate school application materials, or for undergraduates to chat with graduate students about graduate school.

  • Monthly CIRCLE Write-in | 10 AM - 1 PM, November 22, 2024 | Hybrid

    Each month, CIRCLE (Center for Interdisciplinary Research, Collaboration, Learning and Engagement) hosts an interdisciplinary write-in. It will provide a quiet space for work, snacks, and good company. All write-ins are offered as hybrid events, and you can elect to work in-person (with snacks/coffee) or virtually. When available, we will also provide a second room for collaboration and discussion. Please join us to write, plan, and work on Interdisciplinary projects with your community. This event will take place at Wells Hall Room B342 & B243 or on Zoom with the registration

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  • 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

  • Graduate Assistantship Opportunities in Residence Education & Housing Services

    Residence Education and Housing Services at Michigan State University is excited to announce openings for Graduate Assistantships for the 2025-2026 academic year. These positions offer an incredible chance for students to develop professional skills while making a meaningful impact on the residential student experience during a transformative time in the lives of students.

    To provide more information about available positions during the 2025-26 year and the application process, we are offering two information sessions:

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.

  • Tenure-Track Assistant Professor position in California State University | December 13, 2024

    The department of Interdisciplinary Studies and Liberal Studies (ISLS) at California State University, Northridge (CSUN) is seeking a tenure-track faculty member in Interdisciplinary Studies at the rank of Assistant Professor.

    The successful candidate will teach courses in our BA in Interdisciplinary Studies as well as in our teacher education BA in Liberal Studies. The candidate’s research and teaching interests will lie in one or more richly interdisciplinary areas such as, but not limited to, Science and Technology Studies; Ethics and AI; Digital Humanities; Library and Information Sciences; Geographic Information Science; Behavioral Economics; Cognitive Science; Bioinformatics; Gender, Sexuality, and Intersectionality Studies; Ethnic Studies; Native/Indigenous Studies; Cultural Ecology; Environmental Humanities; and Media and Communication Studies.

Weekly Update