Projects and Resources

Resources: These resources are of general interest for Earth Science and Geography.

GapMinder statistical database and visualization

Projects: Want to make a difference? Help out by taking on a project, or suggest one.

If you want to do a thesis project or independent study that makes a difference, then start by finding out what is needed on campus. It’s always nice to have an eager audience for your work, and your products are better when that audience holds you accountable for doing it well.

Check this document for project questions and ideas that are waiting to be worked on. You can add to this list (add your name if you want to help students develop it). Or you can peruse the list for projects that need doing. Questions? see Alistair Hall or Mary Ann Cunningham.

This list is just a start. Any idea may be useful. Any idea can have a theoretical angle that makes it suitable for a thesis topic. Ideas can also be found in other locations, such as Princeton’s sustainability ideas list.

Below are some of the ongoing projects I'm working on with colleagues and students--

Greenhouse Gas Inventories and Climate Planning

Accounting for GHG emissions is a first step toward planning for emissions reductions. I have worked with a number of students and colleagues on planning, inventories, and related projects. Some of these are noted below:

Town of Kent, NY Municipal (local government operations) GHG Inventory (2023)

Town of Kent, NY, Community GHG Inventory (2023)

We subsequently used these inventories to calculate costs of energy consumption and alternative transportation and heating costs. For this project, we used the three heat pumps below for assessing coefficients of performance:

Mitsubishi MSZ_FS18NA (original source https://www.ecomfort.com/manuals/mitsubishi-6e4b70d0413a4f7bd1dbe671eb576180.pdf )

Mitsubish MSZ FS09 NA (original source https://www.ecomfort.com/manuals/1c33acfa42470260f9d24102a73a96d6.pdf )

Mitsubishi MSZ_F06NA (original source https://www.ecomfort.com/manuals/307eb0dc850a80b3c60f9471087d2bf8.pdf )

Energy and Climate Mapping

The growing importance of energy systems in discussions of climate and social justice make it increasingly critical that we all understand what we are talking about. Where do we produce oil, gas, and coal? How are energy systems changing? How are sea level and other changes likely to affect communities?

ArcGIS online presents opportunities to communicate these issues to a wide audience. Particularly good projects were done recently by Elise Chessman's map of Pipelines and Racism in the US, or Penelope Duus on Energy extraction on native lands and Zoe Kurtz’ project on campus building energy Below are are more examples. Note that these are work in progress, and in some cases not all links may be up to date for a public audience: please be patient as we work on this.

Oil and gas and hurricanes

Energy finance by sector

Gerrymandering

NYSERDA solar sites

Vassar's energy sources

Fonteynkill Project

This multidisciplinary environmental science project focuses on the environmental health of one of two streams on the Vassar campus. The Fonteynkill, once originating in a spring near Fountain Brook Avenue in Poughkeepsie, now begins as a storm sewer drain just north of campus. Impoundments, impervious surfaces, road salt, and other impairments make the stream biologically impoverished, yet the riparian corridor remains a haven for wildlife, bird life, and plant life. Faculty and students from Earth Science, Geography, Biology, Chemistry, and other disciplines are collaborating to collect baseline data, to monitor the stream for biological diversity, and to evaluate the impacts of planned riparian restoration in the stream corridor.

A preliminary study of the stream was generously funded in 2012-2013 by the DEC Hudson River Estuary Program

Student project, with Sasha Brown (2012), Does an urban riparian corridor support mainly urban birds?

Casperkill Project

An Environmental Research Institute-sponsored team of faculty and students from the departments of Chemistry, Biology, Earth Science and Geography, and Urban Studies has established a long-term research study on the health of the Casperkill Creek and its watershed. The Casperkill is the stream that runs through the Vassar campus and is dammed to form Sunset Lake. It begins in a small wetland north of campus and joins the Hudson River near the Poughkeepsie Galleria mall. On its journey, the Casperkill flows past landfills, shopping centers, and a Department of Transportation salt storage shed before traversing the Vassar campus, Vassar farm/ecological preserve, and residential neighborhoods. (Click on the map to expand it.)

Since the spring of 2006, student and faculty have conducted water quality monitoring on the stream, assessing road salt nutrients, bacteria, streamside vegetation, and other factors. The goal of the project has been to understand which aspects of urbanization cause which types of impairments. Funding has come from the URSI program, ERI funds, a New York Water Resources Institute grant, and a Major Research Instrumentation grant from the National Science Foundation.

Publications: (see CV for details):

Influence of open space on water quality in an urban stream. Physical Geography 2010.The Suburban stream syndrome: Evaluating land use and stream impairment in the suburbs. Physical Geography 2009.

Accumulation of deicing salts in soils in an urban environment. Urban Ecosystems 2008.

Landcover analysis, working paper: How sensitive is analysis to error in ISC data?

Science Works report (student publication, 2009)

six views of impervious cover in the watershed

Six views of impervious cover near the Vassar campus, and the Casperkill group at work

Birds of the Sheyenne National Grassland

Along with USGS biostatistician Doug Johnson, I am continuing to analyze bird count data from this remarkable landscape. For papers on this area, see CV.

View of the Sheyenne National Grassland, ND; Grasshopper sparrow (photos: Tom Finkle)

Dutchess County Bird Studies

Dutchess county has a deep and rich history of birding. An ongoing project involves assessment of variations in the county's bird populations as land use and other factors have changed over time.

Student project posters:

Laurel Walker (2009): Landscape-scale habitat associations of Dutchess County Birds

Sasha Brown (2012): Does an urban riparian corridor support mainly urban birds?

The Dutchess County landscape has changed dramatically over time. This is the Sunset Lake bridge, ca. 1900.

Mellon Sustainability Travel Seminar

In 2011 several colleagues and I were funded by the Mellon Foundation to do an 18-day traveling Sustainability Seminar of Copenhagen, Aarhus Dk, and Freiburg, De. We focused on a variety of themes in sustainbility, including energy, transportation, urban planning, education, food, and creativity.

Reports from this seminar can be found here (->new window).

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