Monthly Archive for March, 2010

Sustainability Across the Curriculum Symposium, March 25

Jeff Howard. Published on March 24, 2010 in Curriculum & Research. 0 Comments

Thursday, March 25, 9 a.m. – noon

The Sustainability Across the Curriculum Symposium, which will be held on March 25 in the University Center’s Bluebonnet Ballroom, will feature faculty and graduate students discussing what sustainability means for their discipline and their own research. The symposium will foster discussions of sustainability research across different disciplines and highlight the research of UTA faculty and doctoral students. All undergraduate students, graduate students, faculty, and staff are invited. This symposium extends this year’s One Book discussions on the theme of sustainability by providing a wide range of topics, perspectives, and research projects that help us, in Bill McKibben’s words, develop “a new mental model of the possible.”

SCHEDULE

9:00-9:05    Welcome:   Dr. Stacy Alaimo, Professor of English, Co-Chair of the University Sustainability Committee

9:05-9:20    Presentation #1:   Jeff Howard, Asst. Professor, School of Urban & Public Affairs “Sustainability as a Theme in the Interdisciplinary Fields of Science and Technology Studies and Urban Planning”

9:20-9:35    Presentation #2:   Kent L. Hurst, doctoral student, School of Urban and Public Affairs “Sustainability and Climate Protection: Can you have the one without talking about the other?”

9:35-9:50    Presentation #3:   David Hopman, ASLA, Assistant Professor, Landscape Architect UT-Arlington Program in Landscape Architecture “Towards an ethic of future viability in landscape architecture”

9:50-10am    Break

10:00-10:15    Presentation #4:   James P. Grover, Professor of Biology and Chair of Graduate Studies Committee, Program in Environmental and Earth Sciences “Scientific Research in Ecology and its Engagement with Sustainability Issues”

10:15-10:30    Presentation #5:   Coleman Sheehy, PhD Student in Biology

10:30-10:45    Presentation #6:   Melanie Sattler, Ph.D., P.E., Assistant Professor, Civil Engineering  “Integrating Sustainability into the Engineering Curriculum”

10:45-11:00    Presentation #7:   Arpita Ghandi, doctoral student, Environmental Engineering Richa Karanjekar, doctoral student , Environmental Engineering, “Developing an improved model to predict gas generation from bioreactor landfills”

11:00-11:15    Break

11:15-11:30    Presentation #8:   Justin Lerberg, doctoral student in English “Examining Climate Change Through Nature, Culture, Science, and Technology: An Embodied Approach”?

11:30-11:45   Presentation #9:   Christy Tidwell, doctoral student, English  “Science Fictions of Sustainability.”

11:45-Noon   Presentation #10:   Christopher Morris, Associate Professor of History “The Implications of Environmental and Sustainability Studies for the Discipline of History”

Shorthorn story, 3/24/10

Fundamentals of Sustainable Energy, April 7

Jeff Howard. Published on March 19, 2010 in Curriculum & Research and Energy. 0 Comments

April 7 from 7-8:00 a.m.
To Register: www.arlingtontech.org
Presenter: Fuqiang Liu, Ph.D. Assistant Professor, UT Arlington

Finding an economical and environmentally-friendly source of energy isn’t easy. However, thanks to technological advances, several approaches are becoming more feasible – thermal, tidal, solar, biomass, wind and electrochemical. Is there a “one size fits all” solution and will existing sources – nuclear, coal, natural gas – remain in use?

In this presentation, Dr. Fuqiang Liu of the Materials Science and Engineering Department will provide an overview of several sustainable energy sources and examine the positive and negative aspects of each. He will also examine methods for storing excess energy for later use.

Fuqiang Liu received his Ph.D. in 2006 from Pennsylvania State University, and then became a senior research scientist at the United Technologies Research Center in East Hartford, CT., where he studied a variety of fuel cell technologies. Dr. Liu has more than 10 years of experience in fuel cells and energy-related developments. He is currently conducting fundamental studies and material developments for electrochemical generation and storage.

“Bodily natures: The environmental activism of the posthuman,” March 29

Jeff Howard. Published on March 12, 2010 in Uncategorized. 0 Comments

Lecture by University Sustainability Committee Co-Chair and English Professor Stacy Alaimo

Central Library, 6th floor, 12:00-1:00

The University of Texas at Arlington OneBook Program is proud to present “Bodily Natures: The Environmental Activism of the Posthuman”, a Brown Bag lecture by Dr. Stacy Alaimo of the Department of English at UTA. Dr. Alaimo is a preeminent theorist of feminism and eco-criticism and one of the most dynamic and popular professors on campus. Dr. Alaimo’s presentation explores how new forms of environmental activism emphasize how we humans are literally part of the world that we destroy. Analyzing film, photography, and activist web sites, Dr. Alaimo’s provocative talk will discuss how new forms of environmentalism challenge our assumptions about what it is to be human in today’s world. Dr. Alaimo’s presentation is a part of a yearlong conversation about “sustainability” and Bill McKibben’s “Deep Economy” that is being hosted by the UT Arlington OneBook Program.

Alaimo’s research profile

McKibben’s OneBook lecture on Deep Economy, March 10

Jeff Howard. Published on March 4, 2010 in Curriculum & Research. 0 Comments

Bill McKibben, the author of this year’s OneBook selection, will discuss his book at 7 p.m. Wednesday, March 10, in the Rosebud Theatre at the E.H. Hereford University Center.

Deep Economy: The Wealth of Communities and Our Durable Future asserts that what we eat, what we drive, where we live, and what we feel are all related to how we use or misuse the earth’s resources. He shows how our globalized economy has become addicted to the ideas of limitless economic growth and endless consumption of goods.

The lecture is sponsored by the UT Arlington OneBook program, a common reading experience for incoming freshmen.

McKibben, an environmental activist, led two of the largest protests against global warming in 2006 and 2007. He also founded www.Stepitup07.org, a website designed to pressure the U.S. government toward more sustainable policies on carbon emissions.

Shorthorn story, 3/10/10