2005 Recognition of Achievements in ESF Teaching, Research and Outreach Recipients
D. Andrew Saunders
Research Associate, Environmental & Forest Biology
D. Andrew Saunders teaches approximately 200 students a year how to develop informational materials for diverse community audiences. Within the Department of Environmental and Forest Biology all the interpretation courses require numerous service learning and outreach projects directed at science students of all ages. Andy is best known for developing and advocating an interpretive process that engages students in the methods of science through the guided exploration of conservation themes and nature in the local environment. Over the years, students have crafted more than 25 self-guiding trail booklets for regional towns, reserves and agencies, conservation education and science education modules.
James Gibbs
Associate Professor, Environmental & Forest Biology
James Gibbs' major interests include many aspects of conservation biology, including biological monitoring, population biology, conservation genetics, and improving conservation biology education— particularly in tropical, developing countries. He does an exemplary job blending his research in conservation biology into serving the public. One example of how James applies his professional skills to resolving local, national and international conservation problems in his role helping Honeywell make conservation decisions on a significant tract of land just to the west of the city of Syracuse.
Ken Tiss
Instructor, Construction Management and Wood Products Enginerering
Ken Tiss is the liaison between ESF and the SU-ESF Chapter of Habitat for Humanity. Ken has helped his students apply their classroom learning to real-world situations. The students interface between the builders and owners of the projects as project managers. They develop schedules and provide safety training. In this context, the Habitat structure has become an extension of the classroom.
Rene Germain
Associate Professor, Forest & Natural Resource Management
Rene Germain uses his expertise in forest management to help provide New York City residents with clean water. He oversees the Frost Valley Model Forest, a 290-acre tract in Claryville near the Neversink River. The land is a key element in a far-reaching effort to use good forest management practices to provide the New York metropolitan area with clean water. As coordinator of the NYC Watershed Model Forest Program, Rene leads the effort to set up four model forests in the New York City watershed. The primary purposes of these demonstration sites are outreach, continuing education and research. Not only do city residents benefit from Rene's efforts, ESF students conduct research within the model forests.
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iane Kuehn
Assistant Professor, Forest & Natural Resource Management
Diane Kuehn brings real world situations to her students to solve in her recreational tourism classes. Her students work with groups from both the public and private sector to facilitate regional tourism development. The course gives students an understanding of the basic concepts of tourism planning with an emphasis on ecotourism and nature-based tourism and allows them to explore the interrelationships between resource management and tourism planning and development
Susan Senecah
Associate Professor, Environmental Studies
Susan Senecah has incorporated her work with the New York Senate Committee on Water Resources and the Great Lakes Legislative Coalition plus her conflict resolution work into her coursework content at ESF. She works with communities helping them campaign for or against issues, mediating disputes among community/agency/industry, leading regional planning efforts, providing public involvement process training and facilitation. Susan's students have benefited from her dual profession. Currently a graduate student from ESF's program in environmental communication and participatory processes is serving as a senate fellow in the office of the chair of the Senate Environmental Conservation Committee. Other students have served in various legislative and agency arenas as interns, fellows or career professionals. Susan is also associate director of the Program for Analysis and Resolution of Conflicts (PARC) at Syracuse University and this benefits both ESF and SU graduate students who study in this area.
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Professor, Chemistry
Gregory Boyer is working on harmful algal blooms that occur in both freshwater and marine ecosystems. This includes the toxic red tides that occur along the North Atlantic coast, brown tides that occur off Long Island, and toxic blue-green algae that can be found in freshwater ponds and lakes throughout the world. Greg runs an analytical facility for the study of algal toxins at ESF and is actively developing monitoring methods for the toxins in the great lakes. He is interested in developing both new and novel analytical methods to detect these toxins, as well as understanding the biochemical function these compounds play in the algae themselves.
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David Johnson
Professor, Chemistry
David Johnson has a particular interest in the development of analytical techniques for the determination of the chemical and physical forms of heavy metals in soils, and atmospheric and aquatic samples. This has translated into research detecting the amount of heavy metals such as lead in house dust and urban soils. Current activities seek to combine geography with urban geochemistry to study the spatial and temporal resolution needed for addressing pollution abatement and remediation of metals in urban soils, and for the creation of geography-based exposure assessments in environmental health studies. Particular emphasis is being given to the transport of outdoor soils to the indoor environment.
Thomas Amidon
Professor and Chair, Paper Science and Engineering
Thomas Amidon's outreach activities have focused heavily on the pulp and paper industry as a member of the Chief Technology Officers Agenda 2020 Task Force which developed a strategic plan to enhance industry profitability over the next few decades. A key element of this strategic vision is the evolution of this industry to a broader product slate including fuel ethanol, biodegradable plastics and other renewable products in the context of "Advancing the Forest Biorefinery." Tom has been able to integrate this "outreach" effort into new research programs in PSE including wood hemicullulose extraction and utilization, membrane separation of valuable chemical components, and improved pulping processes. In addition, the industry-wide vision of a wood-based "biorefinery" has catalyzed the development of a new undergraduate curriculum in PSE, bioprocess engineering. As a result, outreach "synergy" has been achieved in both research and teaching in PSE.
Theodore Endreny
Assistant Professor, Environmental Resources and Forest Enginerring
Theodore Endreny has been an active member of a group of researchers and community members working to restore Onondaga Creek. His teaching philosophy centers around facilitating student learning through interactive lessons, often based in experiential or service learning, that utilize standard and innovative tools. Ted provides lectures that introduce topics, connect themes, and field questions, as well as facilitate classroom discussions that reinforce application and untangle misconceptions.
Emanuel Carter
Associate Professor, Landscape Architecture
Emanuel Carter has been responsible for a number of prominent public service projects in the Syracuse area that have significantly contributed to the college's public visibility. Of particular note, Emanuel is the lead researcher for the Syracuse Vacant Land Strategy. The study explores the roles of agricultural, horticultural, and forestry cooperatives in the designing, restructuring and revaluing vacant parcels and neighborhoods in Syracuse's Inner City. He is also a principal in the ongoing project to create the Onondaga Botanical Garden and Arboretum. This year he completed additional conceptual design studies, preparation of NEPA review materials and oversight of the restoration of the historic Fire Barn. Emanuel continues to coordinate the consortium between the University of Chile and the Center for Environmental Studies in Vitoria-Gasteiz, Spain. He advised a team of students who won a design competition on community sustainability sponsored by the consortium.
Cheryl Doble
Associate Professor, Landscape Architecture
As the first director of the Center for Community Design Research, Cheryl Doble has been playing a significant leadership role in making the center initiative a reality. Some of her major accomplishments include working with Assistant Director Maren King to increase service-learning activities and broaden ESF's capacity to serve New York communities. She also worked with Maren to prepare a strategic plan to guide activities in a manner that will increase staffing capacity and stability and ensure sustainable practices in the center. Cheryl continues to conduct on-going research into students' experience in service-learning courses. She is also working with faculty from other architecture, landscape architecture and planning programs through the Association for Community Design to coordinate our research methods and share our collective findings. Cheryl is the lead researcher for the City of Binghamton, Northside Vision Planning and Waterfront Project. This work included completion of a neighborhood vision plan, a conceptual study of the northside's riverfront edge to understand the potential of this resource to support the vision plan and preparation of design development drawings for a priority site improvement on the riverfront.