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Environmental Town Hall Meeting at 12pm
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IESP External Advisory Board Meeting
September 16, 6:00pm: Reception and Dinner
September 27, 9:30am-2:00pm: Meeting at IESP, 2121 W. Taylor Street, Room 524

Celebrate the United Nations Environment Programme’s
World Environment Day at the Chicago Botanic Garden

Hear experts on global warming at the International Climate Change Forum, learn dozens of fun ways to reduce your carbon footprint at the Knowledge & Action marketplace, and enjoy the International Children’s Painting Competition.

Go Green! Use public transportation to visit the Garden on June 5, or anytime throughout the year. Click here to learn more.

Announcing a ONE-WEEK GRADUATE COURSE
Interdisciplinary Perspectives on Global Environmental Changes

Course Description:
Planet earth has been experiencing increasing environmental assault from adverse human activities. This course provides an overview of current components of global environmental change including their causes and consequences. The course focuses on the sources and impacts of deteriorating air quality, water resources and quality, soil quality, greenhouse gasses, and global warming in native and urban ecosystems. The need for interdisciplinary knowledge to assess, manage and restore environmental quality is emphasized. Emerging strategies to prevent pollution through the development of recycling, green materials, emission reduction and clean manufacturing methods based on life cycle approaches are also presented and discussed. In addition to regular lectures, presentations also will be given by experts from industry, government agencies and other institutions involved in global environmental change.

Presentations from this course are available here.

Town Hall Meeting:
Environmental Research and Education at the University of Illinois at Chicago

Tuesday, April 22, 2008 at 12pm Student Center East room 713

The Institute for Environmental Science and Policy is sponsoring a town hall meeting to explore opportunities for environmental research and education within the UIC community, including prospects that support the new campus sustainability initiative. All interested faculty, administrators, and students are invited to brainstorm new ideas for research and education as the next step in expanding environmental scholarship over the next decade.

 The meeting will include a panel of faculty members and administrators from across the university, followed by questions and comments from those in attendance.

 Panel members:
           Eric Gislason, Interim Chancellor, University of Illinois at Chicago
           Russell Betts, Vice Provost for Planning and Programs, Academic Affairs
           Peter Nelson, Interim Dean, College of Engineering
           Eric Welch, Associate Professor, Public Administration
           David Wise, Professor, Biological Sciences and IESP 

Moderator:
        Thomas Theis, Director, Institute for Environmental Science and Policy

Earth Hour at UIC

Turn off your lights from 8-9 p.m. local time on Saturday March 29, 2008. During that hour replace your old light bulbs with energy-efficient compact fluorescent bulbs. Commit to reducing your energy consumption in the year ahead. Visit earthhour.org to find out how to make a difference in the fight against climate change.

Faculty Search, Landscape Ecology Presentations

Audrey Mayer, University of Helsinki
Tuesday, January 29  4:00 p.m.
Room 4289 SEL
Title:  "Biodiversity conservation in heterogeneous landscapes"

Caroline Taylor, Center for Wildlife Ecology
Simon Fraser University
Tuesday, February 5  4:00 p.m.
Room 4289 SEL
Title:  “Plant invasion and shorebird migration: Spatial ecology of the Pacific coast “

Douglas Bruggeman, Department of Fisheries and Wildlife
Michigan State University
Arrives Wednesday, February 6th
Thursday, February 7  4:00 p.m.
Title:  “Incorporating landscape dynamics into tradable credit systems for biodiversity”

Maria Miriti, Ohio State University
Department of Evolution, Ecology and Organismal Biology
Tuesday, Februrary 12  4:00 p.m.
Title: TBD

Bethany Bradley, Princeton University
Woodrow Wilson School
Tuesday, February 19    4:00 p.m.
Room 4289 SEL
Title: “Impacts of land use and climate change on regional plant invasion: Cheatgrass in the western U.S”.

Emily Minor, Appalachian Laboratory
University of Maryland
Tuesday, February 26, 4:00 p.m.
Title:  “Landscape connectivity:  for better or for worse?"

SUSTAINABLE ENGINEERING: A model for engineering education in the twenty-first century?

How do we design a sustainable built environment for ten billion people?
What technologies and policies will move us in this direction? These are questions that will challenge engineers, who will create the built environment of the twenty-first century. An engineering education in the 21st century must prepare students to address these challenges.

For more information on the AEESP Lecture contact Liz Alva 312.567.3009 alva@iit.edu

January 19: Christophe Darnault, UIC, Assistant Professor, Dept. of Civil and Materials Engineering, Sustainable development and integrated management of shared groundwater resources

January 26: Amid Khodadoust, UIC, Associate Professor, Dept. of Civil and Materials Engineering, Adsorption of PAHs in Aged Harbor Sediments

February 2: Scott Cieniawski, USEPA, Ashtabula river sediment remediation presentation

February 9: Melissa Lenczewski, Northern Illinois University, Assistant Professor, Dept. of Geology and Environmental Geosciences, Use of large undisturbed columns for examination of the fate and transport of organic contaminants

February 16: Peter Doran, UIC, Associate Professor, Dept.of Earth and Environmental Sciences, Climate and hydrology in the McMurdo dry valleys, East Antarctica

February 23: Pratibha Naithani, UIC, Ph.D. Student, Dept.of Civil and Materials Engineering, Arsenic in Alkaline Coal Fly Ash:  Column Leaching vs. Batch Sequential Leaching

March 2: Jean Francois Gaillard, Northwestern University, Professor, Dept. of Civil and Evironmental Engineering, Biogenic manganese oxides: Structure & environmental importance

March 9: Nancy Tuchman, Loyola University, Professor, Dept. of Biology, Invasive cattails in Great lakes coastal wetlands and their mechanisms for dominating

March 16: Krishna Reddy, UIC, Professor, Dept. of Civil and Materials Engineering, Field Monitoring and Performance Evaluation of Bioreactor Landfills

March 23: Karl Rockne, UIC, Associate Professor, Dept. of Civil and Materials Engineering, Kinetic aspects of iron oxidation in a facultative wastewater stabilization pond 

April 6: Christopher G. Peterson, Loyola University, Dept. of Natural Science, Species representation in benthic algal communities and the functional attributes of aquatic ecosystems

April 13: Alessandro Franchi, Carrolo Engineers, Ph.D. Drinking water: perspectives on regulations and the future of the industry

April 20: Aaron Packman, Northwestern University, Professor, Dept. of Civil and Environmental Engineering, Interplay of surface-subsurface hydrodynamic interactions and microbial processes in sedimentary environments

April 27: Paul Anderson, Illinois Institute of Technology, Associate Professor, Dept.of Chemical and Environmental Engineering, Water reuse in Northeast Illinois

May 4: Andy Jazdanian, TODA America, Aquifer remediation with reactive nanoscale zerovalent iron

Seminar: Using Bus Rapid Transit to Reduce Urban Air Pollution
Simon McDonnell
University College Dublin
3:00 pm, CUPPA Hall, Room 110, 412 S. Peoria Street

Sponsored by IESP and the College of Urban Planning and Public Affairs

IESP Holiday Reception
Gioco, 1312 South Wabash, Chicago, IL 60605

Please join us for light refreshments to celebrate the end of the year!

Land Re-Use Symposium: Everything You Wanted To Know About Brownfields and Land Re-use
School of Public Health West, 2121 West Taylor St., Room 121, Chicago, IL 60612

The Society for Risk Analysis (SRA), Chicago Regional Chapter is hosting a ½-day symposium on brownfield and re-use sites from a risk assessment perspective.

To register, contact Dr. Mario Mangino at mangino.mario@epa.gov or 312-886-2589. The registration fee is $15.00 ($7.50 for students), payable by cash or check the day of the event. Checks should be made payable to Mario Mangino, the SRA Treasurer.

For more information, contact Dr. Laurel Berman, SRA Events Councilor, at 312-886-7476 or c/o berman.laurel@epa.gov

DRAFT AGENDA
8:30 - 9:00 Registration
9:00 - 10:00 Presentations: Brownfields, Land Re-Use, and Public Health (Speakers: Jim Van der Kloot - EPA Region 5, Ann Carroll - U.S. EPA, and Laurel Berman - ATSDR)
10:00 - 12:30 Field trip by bus to tour three redeveloped brownfield sites:
10:00 - 10:45 Travel and tour of the Chicago Christian Industrial League
10:45 - 11:30 Travel and tour of the Chicago Center for Green Technology
11:30 - 12:15 Travel and tour of Bethel New Life former brownfield site at the Lake and Pulaski Green Line stop
12:15 - 12:30 Return to UIC SPH-W

Seminar: Integrating Land-use Change and Environmental Modeling
Professor John D. Landis
Department of City and Regional Planning UC Berkeley
10:00 am, UIC Great Cities Institute, CUPPA Hall, 4th Floor, 412 S. Peoria St., Chicago, IL

Sponsored by IESP, LEAP, College of Urban Planning and Public Affairs, Urban Planning and Policy, and the Urban Transportation Center

Location: Department of Civil & Materials Engineering, Room 1047ERF
842 West Taylor Street, Chicago (Directions: www.uic.edu/~kreddy/mapdir.htm)
Time: 12:00 p.m. - 1:00 p.m.

January 13 Krishna R. Reddy, Associate Professor Department of Civil & Materials Engineering, UIC
Environmental Pollution Control and Remediation: An Overview

January 20 Tom Theis, Director & Professor Institute for Environmental Science & Policy, UIC
Life Cycle Assessment Research

January 27 Jennifer Dunn, Environmental Engineer U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, Region 5, Chicago
Technological and Operational Strategies to Reduce Diesel Emissions in the Midwest

February 3 Amid Khodadoust, Assistant Professor Department of Civil & Materials Engineering, UIC
Soil Washing of Contaminated Soils from Wood Preserving Sites

February 10 G. Ali Mansoori, Professor Departments of Bioengineering & Chemical Engineering, UIC
Environmental Aspects of Nanotechnology

February 17 Solenne Grellier, Post-Doctoral Fellow & J. Gangathulasi, Ph.D. Student
Department of Civil & Materials Engineering, UIC
Dynamic Water Balance and Geotechnical Stability of Bioreactor Landfills

February 24 Christophe Darnault, Assistant Professor Department of Civil & Materials Engineering, UIC
Transboundary Water Resources Management

March 3 Jean-François Gaillard, Professor Department of Civil & Environmental Engineering, Northwestern University
Metals in the Environment: Why do We Need to Better Understand Speciation?

March 10 Phil Carpenter, Professor Department of Geology and Environmental Geosciences, Northern Illinois University
Geophysical Investigations on Landfills

March 17 Jim Olsta, Technical Manager Lining Technologies Group, CETCO, Arlington Heights, IL
Recent Developments in Research and Application of Geosynthetic Clay Liners

March 24 Spring Break

March 31 Jim Mueller, Director of Remedial Solutions & Strategies Adventus Americas, Inc., Bloomingdale, Illinois
In Situ Chemical Reduction Technologies for Remediation of Soil, Sediments and Groundwater Environments

April 7 An Li, Associate Professor Environmental Occupational Health and Safety, School of Public Health, UIC
Rapid Debromination of Decabromodiphenyl Ether by Nanoscale Zero-Valent Iron

April 14 Moira L. Zellner, Assistant Professer Department of Urban Planning and Policy, UIC
Impact of Land-Use Patterns on Groundwater Dynamics

April 21 Krishna Pagilla, Associate Professor Department of Chemical & Environmental Engineering, IIT
Membrane-assisted Wastewater Treatment Technologies for Nutrient Removal

April 28 Mary Ashley, Professor Department of Biological Sciences, UIC TBA

Why Wait? Start Earth Month early!
"Environmental Challenge of the 21st Century: Building a Sustainable Community"
Speaker Ken Dunn, founder and Director of Chicago's Resource Center, discusses sustainable living to kick off Earth Month. This event includes a catered reception and is free and open to the public. For more information, write to esitri1@uic.edu.

Monday, April 4
UISeedlings Kickoff; 11:00 a.m.-2:00 p.m.; Biological Sciences Greenhouse; SE corner of Halsted and Taylor

Get dirty! Come learn hands-on about native plant propagation and prairie landscaping with Professor Darrel Murray. This is the first of a series of work days in the greenhouse and around UIC, and later you will have an opportunity to help design an ecological study space on campus. Bring gardening gloves if you have them. For more information, write to spriet1@uic.edu.

Tuesday, April 5
Awareness Booth; 11:00 a.m.-2:00 p.m.; West Concourse; UIC Student Center East

Stop by EcoCampus's informational booth to learn about the environmental problems facing us today and what you can do to turn the tide!

Monday, April 11
Awareness Booth; 11:00 a.m.-2:00 p.m.; West Concourse; UIC Student Center East; (See April 5 for details)

Tuesday, April 12
Wellness Jam; 11:00 a.m.-1:00 p.m.; E/W Concourse; UIC Student Center East

Eco-Twister and edible landfill pies! Come out to the Wellness Jam where you can also calculate your own ecological footprint, test your environmental trivia knowledge, and take the jelly bean challenge! Table co-hosted by EcoCampus and the Institute for Environmental Science and Policy. The Wellness Jam is sponsored by the Wellness Center. For more information, contact esitri1@uic.edu.

Monday, April 18
Awareness Booth; 11:00 a.m.-2:00 p.m.; West Concourse; UIC Student Center East; (See April 5 for details)

Thursday, April 21
Earth Day Fair; 11:00 a.m.-4:00 p.m.; Lecture Center Plaza

Why wait for Earth Day? Celebrate a day early! This outside event will feature live entertainment, a raffle, crafts, recycled notebook sale, design submissions for an ecological Oasis, and informational booths. For information, contact esitri1@uic.edu.

Friday, April 22
Campus Clean-up; 1:00-4:00 p.m.; Teams leave every hour from the sculpture between the Daley library and LC-A.

Celebrate International Earth Day by beautifying your campus! Spend an hour outdoors, working with other volunteers to pick up litter around campus. For details, write to lsimon2@uic.edu.

Monday, April 25
Panel discussion: Globalization and the Environment; 2:00-3:30 p.m.

UIC faculty members will present and discuss the relationship between ecology, social justice, and human rights worldwide. There will be time for questions; all are invited to participate. For more information, contact esitri1@uic.edu.

Friday, April 29
Critical Mass Bike Ride; 4:45 p.m.; Lecture Center Plaza

Gather at UIC and ride in a group to the loop to join the Chicago Critical Mass bicycle ride. This monthly ride around the city is a great tribute to healthy, sustainable transportation!