The Environmental Science and Policy Program at Michigan State University is soliciting abstracts from undergraduate and graduate students for the program’s 2014 Research Symposium, Environmental Risk and Decision Making.
The symposium is slated for October 10th at the Kellogg Hotel & Conference Center. Knight Center Research Director Bruno Takahashi is on the symposium’s faculty advisory board and doctoral student Shannon Cruz is on the organizing committee.
This year’s theme connects environmental risk and decision making. Organizers propose to connect ideas and researchers from across campus in awareness and action toward identifying hazards and the most appropriate response to these hazards. A holistic approach toward sustainability requires multiple perspectives, and this program foster this interdisciplinary sharing. This symposium will explore research alongside policy makers, among public stakeholders, and across disciplines to better unite future leaders in addressing the state of the environment.
Strengthened environmental decision making requires researchers who can critically integrate diverse perspectives and methodologies when conceptualizing, investigating, and addressing environmental risks. Students from all departments are invited to present work at any stage in its development through oral presentations, poster presentations, and discussion groups. Symposium participants will engage researchers with experience working alongside policy makers and public stakeholders and develop the skills to deliberate with researchers outside one’s own discipline. Proposals may consider risk and decision making in any environmental context, including but not limited to:
- Climate mitigation, adaptation, and geoengineering
- Water policy and management
- Resource use and extraction
- Agricultural cultivation, distribution, and consumption
- Human and physical dimensions of wildlife policy and management
- Social, political, psychological and economic factors in risk perception and assessment
- Challenges in the conceptualization and communication of environmental problems
Accepted proposals will be organized by shared themes but will strive to bring together unique perspectives on each phase in the development of a comprehensive research project. Abstracts can be submitted for consideration here.
Please direct questions to espp@msu.edu.