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News and Developments in Environmental Studies

SUMMER STORIES – ES STUDENTS GO FULL TIME IN CREATION CARE

Allison Engel and Lindsay Thomsen Continue Research on Amphibian Biodiversity

Allison Engel	Lindsay Thomsen

Allison Engel (Wheaton, Illinois) and Lindsay Thomsen (Omaha, Nebraska) will be working this summer, in cooperation with scientists of the DuPage County (Illinois) Forest Preserve, in the second year of an ongoing study of the composition of amphibian communities in forest vernal pools and marshes. Vernal pools are small, sometimes seasonal spring pools within forest environments that are critical breeding areas for many amphibian species. The study tests the effects of spatial and temporal habitat variation on amphibian communities by comparing the diversity of such communities in clustered vernal pools to isolated pools, as well as the differences between pools and marshes in different years. Keep up the good work, Allison and Lindsay!  

Abby Hart Returns for Second Summer on USDA Agricultural Research

Abby Hart (Millersburg, Ohio) will continue her emphasis and interest in agricultural conservation this summer by serving, for the second consecutive year as a research assistant of Ohio Agricultural Research and Development Center (OARDC) in Wooster, Ohio, specifically within the USDA’s Horticultural Insects Research Lab. This year, Abby will be coordinating an independent research project collaborating with nursery owners in Northeast Ohio tracking maintenance and weather patterns that make trees susceptible to insect attacks, particularly the recently invasive ambrosia beetle. Her research will explore not only nursery patterns but life history patterns in the beetles as well that might result in the recent invasion and damage caused by the beetles. Abby also anticipates working with the migrant workers at the nurseries to monitor nursery practices and to encourage them to participate in the research process. Congratulations, Abby. We know the USDA is glad to have you back!

Karen Rice Selected for Work with SeedLeaf

 Karen Rice (Winthrop Harbor, Ilinois) has been selected for a very unique work and ministry in the environmental field this summer. Karen will serve in a program called SeedLeaf in Nashville, Tennessee, a program dedicated to the development of urban gardens in major metropolitan areas as part of a larger program of racial reconciliation through Environmental Stewardship. The Environmental Studies Program congratulates and commends Karen for her part in this important work of reconciling people with God’s creation and one another.

Christopher Tulimiero Chosen for Beach Conservation Study

Chris Tulimiero (South Hamilton, Massachusetts) will be serving this summer in his home state at Massachusett’s Crane Beach Reserve, where he will be working in the Beach Conservation Program. Crane Beach is managed by The Trustees of Reservations, an agency which manages over 25,000 acres of property in Massachusetts with the dual purposes of protecting resources and providing public access.  In addition to preserving a variety of historically significant buildings, the Trustees also protect forested woodlands, working farms, river valleys, salt marshes, barrier beaches and islands. The Crane Beach Reserve is home to over 98 rare species and is considered one of the most important nesting sites in the world for the protection of a federally designated ‘threatened’ species, the piping plover.  Chris’s work will include monitoring and management activities for many different shore birds, including the piping plover. The Environmental Studies Program congratulates Chris on his selection for this important work.

ES Student Kari Amick Joins Nature Conservancy Effort in Oklahoma

ES student Kari Amick will spend this summer working with a team of researchers from The Nature Conservancy in surveys of local populations of the rare American Burying Beetle at the Nature Conservancy's Tallgrass Prairie Preserve in Oklahoma. Kari's effort will also involve her in Geographic Information Systems (GIS) analysis to identify locations of Burying Beetles and their habitat, and data analysis on population status. The Wheaton College Environmental Studies Program congratulates Kari on her selection for this important conservation effort.

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Abby Hart and Klaus Mandl Win 2009 John Muir Awards

John Muir

Each year the Wheaton Environmental Studies Program presents the John Muir Award for Outstanding Achievement in the Stewardship of Creation to two individuals of the Wheaton College Community, one student and one member of the faculty or staff. The award if named after John Muir, a prominent conservation activist of the late 19th and early 20th centuries who was instrumental in developing America’s system of national parks and its National Park Service. We have chosen to name the award after Muir because he was an individual who always expressed his desire to advance conservation not simply as good science or enlightened self interest, but in biblical terms and as a moral effort to do what was ultimately right for God’s creation.

This year’s student winner, Environmental Studies senior Abby Hart, has distinguished herself in environmental conservation throughout her four years at Wheaton College. Among other efforts, Abby served in Honduras with the Mennonite Social Action Commission, where she helped Honduran coffee farmers find better ways to market their products in the nearest local city, and at the same time reduce local water pollution from the coffee plantations. Abby was recognized for her efforts by the Morris Udall Foundation as an Honorable Mention Morris Udall Scholar, the first Wheaton student ever so recognized by the Foundation. Abby is now beginning the second summer of her efforts in agricultural research with the U.S. Department of Agriculture in their Horticultural Insects Research Lab in Wooster, Ohio.

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ES Senior Nicole Llorens Wins 2009 Willowbrook Wildlife Foundation Education Fellowship

Environmental Studies Senior Nicole Llorens (San Juan, Puerto Rico), is the recipient of the 2009 Willowbrook Wildlife Foundation Education Fellowship. The Willowbrook Wildlife Foundation (WWF) is a not-for-profit volunteer organization supporting the work of the Willowbrook Wildlife Center (WWC) of Glen Ellyn, Illinois in west suburban Chicago. WWC is a wildlife rehabilitation and education center, providing care and medical treatment for injured and orphaned wildlife in an urban/suburban environment. WWC also provides a comprehensive interpretive and educational program in nature studies to help local residents live in harmony with indigenous wildlife and better understand the natural world. As the recipient of the 2009 Education Fellowship, Nicole will assist senior staff members and volunteers of the Willowbrook Wildlife Center in planning and leading all facets of the center’s educational program, including youth nature clubs, construction and maintenance of exhibits, contact with visitors, and presentation of nature programs. The Wheaton Environmental Studies Program congratulates Nicole on her recognition by Willowbrook as the winner of this prestigious award.

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ES Student Andrew Kinzer to Study Birds in Kenya

Environmental Studies student Andrew Kinzer (Pawcatuk, Connecticut) will be spending the upcoming summer at Mwamba on the coast of Kenya working with at the A Rocha Kenya field station. A Rocha Kenya is the Kenyan national chapter of A Rocha International, an organization of Christians active in worldwide  conservation efforts. Using skills learned in his courses in Geographic Information Systems (GIS) at Wheaton College, Andrew will work with A Rocha Kenya Director Colin Jackson to design a GIS system that can map and record results of long-term bird sampling transects that have been used in Kenyan bird surveys for many years. Andrew will also assist Jackson in a number of other GIS –related projects, including mapping the area around the mouth of Kenya’s Sabaki River, an area being considered for a possible community-managed nature preserve coordinated by A Rocha Kenya, as well as developing maps of the Dakatcha Woodlands, an important reserve area for native and endemic Kenya birds. The Wheaton Environmental Studies Programs congratulates Andrew on obtaining this important opportunity to make this contribution to bird conservation.

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Wheaton Breaks Ground For New Science Center

As part of its ongoing Capital Campaign, The Promise of Wheaton, Wheaton College officially broke ground on Friday, October 3, to dedicate and commence construction of the campaign’s largest single building project, the new Science Center (see artist’s rendering).

The new Science Center also will have the distinction of being Wheaton’s first Leeds Certified Building, meeting an impressive array of environmental certification requirements in construction materials, waste disposal practices, and energy conservation. With provision for 128,000 square feet of space (including more space for Environmental Studies), the Center’s interior will feature

• A unique, interactive atrium museum featuring the Perry Mastodon, a geology exhibit, a natural history exhibit, and space for additional exhibits
• Eight teaching labs
• Research space for every faculty member
• A zoned design that sets faculty offices close to research and instrumentation areas, and research labs opening onto teaching labs
• Innovations that enable energy recovery and energy efficiency, such as a roof made of self-sustaining ground cover and special shades to control or reflect light
• A functioning designed wetland system adjoining the building

Dr. Fred Van Dyke (second group of shovelers, third from right), Director of the Wheaton Environmental Studies Program, turns a ceremonial spade at the Ground Breaking Ceremony for the new Science Center.	Dr. Duane Litfin, President of Wheaton College, addresses the Wheaton College community and guests at the historic groundbreaking of the new Science Center.

Funding for the science center includes $69 million for construction and $11 million for building endowment. With the support of many of the current Environmental Studies students who were on hand, and wearing more green than a family reunion of Irish Americans on St. Patrick’s Day, Dr. Van Dyke, Director of the Wheaton Environmental Studies Program, participated in the ceremonial groundbreaking ceremony.

Out in force and dressed in their best green for the occasion, Environmental Studies students celebrate the Science Center’s Ground Breaking Ceremony together.

The construction of Wheaton’s new Science center will open a new chapter in Environmental Studies at Wheaton College with this major commitment of physical and financial resources to all the sciences. The Environmental Studies Program at Wheaton College celebrates this important event, and the future completion of this great facility!

To see a video of the Ground Breaking Ceremony, click here, then follow the directions provided at this link’s destination!