SFU grad students secure climate change fellowships
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Deborah Herbert, SFU PICS rep, 778.782.8834, deborah_herbert@sfu.ca
Carol Thorbes, PAMR, 778.782.3035, cthorbes@sfu.ca
Tree planting, storm-pattern analysis and land-management policy development—they are key weapons in the research arsenal of three Simon Fraser University recipients of the latest round of provincial university graduate fellowships from the Pacific Institute for Climate Solutions (PICS).
Doctoral candidates Rose Murphy and Rupananda Widanage and master’s candidate Elizabeth Sutton—all in SFU’s School of Resource and Environmental Management (REM)—are among 15 new recipients of 2009/10 PICS graduate fellowships.
SFU doctoral candidate Tanja Hoffmann, also in REM, is one of seven previous provincial recipients whose fellowships are being extended.
All 22 recipients are from PICS’ collaborating universities—SFU, University of British Columbia, University of Victoria and the University of Northern British Columbia. The collective worth of this round of new and extended awards is $250,000. The portion going to SFU recipients is $44,104.
“These fellowships are engaging B.C.’s students in research that can have a real impact,” says Mario Pinto, SFU vice-president, research, and a PICS executive committee member. “The recipients’ research will not only increase knowledge about the effects of climate change in B.C. but also inform decision-makers about mitigation and adaptation strategies and policies.”
“PICS’ focus is on supporting outstanding research to develop solutions to our climate challenges,” emphasizes Nancy Olewiler. The SFU economist is one of Murphy’s supervisors and a PICS program committee member.
PICS graduate fellowships are worth up to $12,000 annually for master’s students and $18,000 annually for doctoral students.
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Backgrounder: PICS graduate fellowship recipients at SFU
Rose Murphy, who analyzes policies for reducing greenhouse gas emissions (GHG), is researching how land use choices can be used to fight climate change. Given that trees and forest soils remove the GHG carbon dioxide from the atmosphere, Murphy is testing how farming and tree planting policies can help mitigate the environmental effects of climate change.
Contact: 604.314.3819, 604.288.4250, remurphy@sfu.ca, Vancouver resident
Rupananda Widanage, an agriculture/natural resource economist with extensive teaching and research experience in Asia, is examining how climate change encourages invasive plants that compete with grass species needed to rear livestock on B.C. rangelands. Widanage is measuring economic loss related to biological invasion and examining how policies, such as taxes, subsidies and community-based management, can help mitigate the problem.
Contact: 604.589.7884, rwa11@sfu.ca, fluent in Sinhala language, Surrey resident
Elizabeth Sutton is studying the extent to which an expected increase in climate-change-related storm activity around Chilliwack could worsen the area’s proneness to landslides. The geographer and biologist will apply this knowledge to helping land use policy makers mitigate the effects of increased storm activity on infrastructure, development sites and safety in Chilliwack’s landslide prone areas. Sutton will also research ways of adapting the area’s current infrastructure and activities to cope with increased severe weather events.
Contact: 778.835.4528, eliz.sutton@gmail.com, Burnaby resident
Tanja Hoffmann is using her PICS fellowship extension to advance her research on how climate change-related-challenges are hampering the Katzie First Nation’s efforts to socially and economically revitalize its territory. It falls within the Lower Fraser River Valley’s increasingly urbanized and industrialized landscape. Hoffmann, a consulting archaeologist and anthropologist primarily for First Nations governments and organizations, will provide the Katzie, the wider resource-management community, and the federal and provincial governments with culturally appropriate and meaningful climate-change mitigation strategies.
Contact: 604.738.0986, thoffmann@telus.net, Vancouver resident
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