Category Archives: Students

Journalism and non-journalism students at Michigan State University explore how to better report environmental issues to the public at the Knight Center for Environmental Journalism.

Environmental journalism courses can help students meet the School of Journalism’s elective requirements. They can also be used as part of an environmental theme to complete the school’s concentration requirement by combining them with environment-related courses outside the journalism program. See your academic adviser or contact the Knight Center.

Non-journalism students interested in environmental issues are encouraged to contact instructors to discuss waiver of pre-requisites. Often a journalism environmental course may meet communication course requirements of other departments.

Undergraduates are also encouraged to join the student Environmental Journalism Association and write for Great Lakes Echo to gain resume-building experience and clips.

Undergraduate students are eligible for several awards and scholarships in environmental journalism.

They are encouraged to augment their study with environment classes and programs elsewhere at MSU such as the Residential Initiative on the Study of the Environment.

Knight Center student reports on destructive insective

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Kelly van Frankenhuyzen

The emerald ash borer’s devastation of ash trees in forest and cities is the subject of a website produced by a Knight Center student for her masters project.
The goal of the project by Kelly van Frankenhuyzen is to understand the impact of the insect in Michigan and Ohio. The website is geared toward middle school science students with the idea of engaging future generations in citizen science and in the skills and knowledge needed to protect natural resources.
She worked with two Forest Service scientists in Delaware, Ohio, to learn how some trees survive the insect next to those that do not.
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Knight Center researcher wins top poster award for Flint water crisis reporting project

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Jack Nissen

For the second year in a row, Knight Center researcher Jack Nissen won a top poster award at the University Undergraduate Research and Arts Forum (UURAF) at MSU.
Nissen won first place in the Communication Arts & Sciences-Section 3 for a qualitative study titled: “Crisis reporting and community engagement: The role of local reporters during the Flint water crisis.” The presentation took place on April 7, 2017.
Through conversations conducted over a series of weeks, journalists intimately involved in local coverage of the crisis were interviewed about their experiences reporting. Questions focused on newsroom resource allocation, national media coverage and journalistic responsibility to the community.
A senior majoring in Journalism, this is Nissen’s second year of research under the guidance of Knight Center research director Bruno Takahashi. He’ll conduct more interviews to better understand how journalists operated during the crisis.

Knight Center researchers publish study examining energy behaviors among Hispanics

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Dr. Bruno Takahashi, Tony Van Witsen, Ran Duan

Knight Center research director, Bruno Takahashi, and Ph.D students Ran Duan and Anthony Van Witsen, have published a new study in the journal Social Science Quarterly. The study titled “Hispanics’ behavioral intentions towards energy conservation: The role of socio-demographic, informational, and attitudinal variables” uses survey data from the University of Texas at Austin to examine the factors that influence energy related behaviors among Hispanics in the US.
The results show that Hispanics in the West report higher levels of intention to save energy than those in any other regions of the country. On the other hand, there is no clear pattern indicating that intentions to save energy were linked to Hispanics’ ethnic groups such as Mexicans, Puerto Ricans, or Cubans. Other factors related to energy-related behavioral intentions include information dissemination, environmental concern, and environmental beliefs.
This study was designed as a challenge to the dominant view that Hispanics in the US are a homogeneous group when it comes to environmental beliefs and behaviors. The study is part of a line of research looking at information sources used by minorities – including the news media- that the Knight Center research team is pursuing.

Environmental journalism students honored with scholarships, awards

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By Kate Habrel
Students affiliated with the Knight Center for Environmental Journalism have been honored at the MSU School of Journalism’s annual Student Awards Convocation.

Steven Maier

Thousands of dollars were awarded to these students who are studying environmental journalism in a changing world and have worked for the Knight Center or taken environmental journalism courses.
Undergraduate Steven Maier was a co-recipient of the Len Barnes AAA Michigan Fund Scholarship. It honors the late Len Barnes, a J-School graduate and editor of Michigan Living, and his career in travel and recreational journalism. It was established by the Auto Club Insurance Association. Master’s student Shruti Saripalli was another co-recipient of the award.
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