Category: Research

Payments to Upstream Landowners to Protect Water Downstream: How Well is that Working

Two researchers from Michigan Technological University have joined with natural and social scientists from three other universities and the US Forest Service to study the impact of Mexico’s water payment program.

“Our findings will help governments, non-governmental organizations, the World Bank and others who might promote programs like these to design their programs to be as effective as possible,” said Alex Mayer, professor of civil and environmental engineering at Michigan Tech and co-principal investigator (PI) on Tech’s part of the research.

The project is highly interdisciplinary, Mayer added. That’s why his co-PI is Kathleen Halvorsen, a professor of natural resource policy at Michigan Tech.

“We want to know what the landowners and the communities downstream from them know about watersheds and pollution,” Halvorsen explained.

Read more at Michigan Tech News, by Jennifer Donovan.

Solar energy for Greek houses

Dr. Chelsea Schelly is launching a new project in the next month that will give college students in the Houghton-Hancock area the opportunity to test out a small solar generator paired up with a large solar panel mounted directly to their house.

As a sociologist, Schelly is studying the way students think about solar energy once they have exposure to this solar technology.

Read more at the Michigan Tech Lode, by Lucas Wilder.

‘Urban explorers’ indulge a fascination for abandoned buildings

Even those who break in to derelict buildings “for generally benign purposes” can hurt efforts to preserve the properties if communities fear vandalism and dropping property values, said Timothy James Scarlett, associate professor and director of graduate studies in Industrial Heritage and Archaeology at Michigan Technological University.

“The local cops don’t know if the people breaking into a building are planning to ‘discover’ it or undertake illicit or dangerous activities there,” Scarlett said. “That practice of breaking in and visiting places exacerbates the fear in local communities.”

Read more at CNN Travel, by Jareen Imam.