Environmental Programs at BU

In the College of Arts and Sciences, the Center for Energy and Environmental Studies (CEES), the Center for Transportation Studies, and the Department of Geography and Environment share faculty with wide ranging and multidisciplinary interests. These three units offer bachelor’s degrees in the environment (Environmental Analysis and Policy, Environmental Science) and three Masters degrees (Energy and Environmental Analysis, Environmental Remote Sensing and GIS, and International Environmental Policy, the latter with the Department of International Relations). They also administer for the University the environmental study abroad programs offered by the School for Field Studies.

Cutler Cleveland has research interests in ecological economics, energy policy, and sustainable development. He is Editor-in-Chief of the Encyclopedia of Energy and Ecological Economics, and co-Director of The Project on Human Development. Robert Kaufmann’s research focuses on world oil markets, the development and analysis of policies to slow the emission of gases that contribute to global climate change, and ecological economics. Ian Sue Wing’s research focuses on global warming, technological change, computational economic modeling, and market-based environmental policy. Tony Patt’s work examines decision-making and policy for environmental problems, with an emphasis on behavioral economics models of choice. Binna Davidsdottir’s work focuses on ecological economics and industrial ecology. Richard Reibstein is interested in issues relating to the improvement of environmental governance. He is currently developing the Regulated Community Compliance Project, which is now focusing on ensuring that real estate professionals understand the federal requirements pertaining to lead paint in residences. T.R. Lakshmanan’s work focuses on economic geography and sustainable development. He is particularly interested in the relations among patterns of energy use, transportation networks, and changes in production technologies.

The Department of Geography and Environment has several physical scientists with interests in the monitoring and assessment of environmental change. Professor Ranga Myneni uses remote sensing to investigate global environmental change, including the relation between vegetation and climate, global carbon cycle modeling, and the mapping of global vegetation. Professor Curtis Woodcock uses remote sensing to monitor change in temperate conifer forests, and to investigate the driving forces behind land use change in China. Professor Nathan Phillips has interests in global change biology, particularly from the perspective of forest biology and ecology.

The Center for Transportation Studies supports research and teaching on transportation and the environment. Professor T. R. Lakshmanan, Director of the Center, has wide-ranging interests in environmental and energy modeling and policy, and the relationship between transportation and environmental policy. Professor William Anderson studies the relations among economic geography, environmental quality and the geography of transportation systems. Professor Joan Walker examines the relation between transportation systems and land use change using behavioral modeling and GIS.

In International Relations, Professor Kevin Gallagher's research and teaching examines the extent to which economic globalization fosters development in industrializing nations, particularly in Mexico and Latin America, as well as the connections among trade policy, development, and the environment. He is the author of Free Trade and the Environment: Mexico, NAFTA, and Beyond. Professor Henrik Selin's research and teaching focuses broadly on international policy making and implementation on environmental and sustainability issues.

The Department of Biology is home to a number of faculty with interests at the nexus of ecology, conservation biology, and environmental change. Professor Thomas Kunz is interested in the ecology and conservation biology of bats, and in the evaluation of the ecosystem services that bats provide to society. Professor Kunz is Director of the Center for Ecology and Conservation Biology, which runs a number of academic and research programs at its tropical ecology research station in Ecuador. Professor Richard Primack uses the methods of plant population biology and community ecology to understand the natural history of plants and to help conserve rare species. Professor Adrien Finzi’s research focuses on how human activity such as the release of greenhouse gases and shifts in land-use practices (e.g. the conversion of forest land to agricultural land) affect the planet’s carbon and nitrogen cycles. Professor Les Kaufmann, also a member of the Boston University Marine Program, works in the Great lakes of East Africa to develop the science necessary for the conservation of aquatic biological diversity and fishery resources in tropical lakes and coral reefs. Professor Chris Schneider uses molecular genetic markers to understand the evolutionary processes that generate and shape patterns of species diversity in tropical regions, and how such information can be used for the conservation of biodiversity. Professor Phil Lobel of the Boston University Marine Program studies the behavioral ecology of fish in a variety of habitats worldwide where they are a significant component of the fauna, and applies this knowledge to societal concerns of fisheries management and conservation.

In Earth Sciences, Professor Guido Salvucci's research is on vadose zone hydrology, with special emphasis on how soil moisture interacts with both the near surface atmospheric water and energy balance, and with larger scale groundwater flows. Professor Andrew Kurtz's research involves applying trace element and isotope geochemistry to Earth surface processes, Earth history, and biogeochemical cycles. This work helps scientists understand long run variations in the global carbon cycle.

In economics, Professor Dilip Mookherjee is co-editor of the Journal of Development Economics, and his research explores the connections among environment, development and poverty in developing nations.

The African Studies Center was one of the first graduate programs in the United States to offer a multidisciplinary African Studies curriculum, and over the decades it has achieved international recognition for its commitment to teaching, research, and publications. Professor James McCann, Director of the Center and a Professor of History, has wide-ranging interests in African history, environmental history, agricultural history. He is the author of Green Land, Brown Land, Black Land: An Environmental History of Africa.

In the Department of Anthropology, Professor Robert Weller’s research is concerned with the development of the environmental movement and nature tourism in China and Taiwan in the context of economic growth.

In Political Science, Professor Betty Zisk is the author of a recent book titled The Politics of Transformation: Local Activism in the Peace and Environmental Movements (1992). She has a particular interest—both as a scholar and as a political activist—in the environmental and peace movements.

In the Humanities, John Hart (School of Theology) has teaching interests are in the areas of social ethics, environmental ethics, liberation theology and ethics, and science and Christianity. He is the author of What Are They Saying About...Environmental Theology?

In the Center for Philosophy and History of Science, Wendy Parker has a Postdoctoral Fellowship in Science and Values, and has interests in the epistemology and methodology of computer simulation modeling, focusing on weather and climate modeling in particular. She also teaches a course in Environmental Ethics.

The Center for Remote Sensing at Boston University is sponsored by the Departments of Anthropology, Archaeology, Earth Sciences, and Geography. The Center provides the facilities required for interdisciplinary research and training that uses remotely sensed data and Geographic Information Systems. Dr. Farouk El-Baz, Director of the Center, has used remote sensing to study arid environments, including the environmental impacts of the Gulf War on desert ecosystems, and he is a pioneer in the application of space-borne data to ground-water exploration.

Moving to other schools and colleges at Boston University, the School of Public Health supports wide-ranging teaching and research on the connections between the environment and public health. The Global Health Initiative, directed by Gerald T. Keusch, is a new multi-mission, multi-disciplinary initiative is designed to promote a greater and more coordinated response from the BU community of students, faculty and alumni to the extraordinary disparities in health across the globe. The Initiative is based on the belief that health is the foundation for political stability, environmental and economic sustainability, scientific and human progress, and cultural and social well-being of peoples around the globe.

Research in the Department of Environmental Health within the School of Public Health probes the links between environmental exposures and human health. The environmental health concentration in the Master's of Public Health (MPH) program trains students for positions in such fields as environmental epidemiology and risk assessment, while the Doctor of Science degree program teaches the next generation of researchers in environmental health. Chair Roberta White, a neuropsychologist, studies the effects of exposures to industrial chemicals and chemical pollutants on brain function, using both behavioral measures and neuroimaging techniques. David Ozonoff, whose research centers on community health effects of toxic exposures, is Principal Investigator for the Superfund Basic Research Center at Boston University. Richard Clapp's research interests include the health effects of dioxin, radiation, and environmental exposures to toxic chemicals. Other research in the department ranges from Patricia Hynes's community-based research and intervention in the Boston Healthy Public Housing Initiative to the Sherr Laboratory's investigations into how environmental chemicals suppress the immune system. Nancy Maxwell's research interests centers on social differences in exposure-not only to factors in the ambient environment, but also to consumer products, including cosmetics. She teaches Social Factors in Environmental Health, which focuses on questions of environmental justice.

In the School of Management, Professor Jennifer Howard-Grenville investigates the managerial, cultural, and institutional aspects of corporate environmental activity, and is co-editor of Greening the Industrial Facility: Perspectives, Approaches, and Tools. Professor James Post’s current research is concerned with organizations that are catalysts for change in the private and public sectors, and with the response of business and government to environmental and natural resource issues. He is the senior academic consultant to the Corporate Conservation Council's environmental curriculum program for business education.

In the College of Communication, Professor Ellen Ruppel Shell is co-director of the Science Journalism Program. She is a contributing editor to Atlantic Monthly, where she writes regularly on issues of science and science policy, including environmental science. Professor Douglas Starr is the other co-Director of the Science Journalism Program. Professor Starr is a veteran science, environmental and medical writer whose work has appeared in Smithsonian, Audubon, and the Christian Science Monitor.

In the School of Law, Professors Jay Wexler and Michael Baram teaches and practice law in the area of environmental law. Professor Baram also examines corporate risk management, biotechnology law, and he co-founded the first environmental law firm in Boston.

In Manufacturing Engineering, Professors Uday Pal and Srikanth Gopalan are internationally recognized for their path-breaking work on fuel cell energy technology, including a number of patents for solid oxide fuel cell technology. Professor Robert Lund is a pioneer in the area of remanufacturing, a form of recycling that improves efficiency in the use of material, energy, labor, in the production of durable goods such as automotive components and printer toner cartridges.

In the College of General Studies, Professor Robert Schoch has research interests in evolution, environmental science, ancient Egypt and geoarchaeology.

Download a university-wide contact list for faculty with interests in the environment.