News | Rubenstein School of Environment and Natural Resources | The University of Vermont(title)

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Allan

Taking Flight

Rebecca

Setting the Table: Alumna Dr. Rebecca Stanfield McCown Encourages Graduates to Build Diverse Support Networks
Ellen

Gone Fishin’: Ellen Marsden Retires after 26 Years with the Rubenstein School
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Clare Ginger Retires After 30 Years of Leadership and Teaching in the Rubenstein School
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Adrian Ivakhiv Retires, Leaving a Legacy of Interdisciplinary Scholarship

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05/24/2024

UVM Researchers Help Shape First National Nature Assessment

Taylor Ricketts, Director of UVM’s Gund Institute for Environment, and Rachelle Gould, a professor in UVM’s Rubenstein School of Environment and Natural Resources, have been selected to serve as chapter author and chapter lead, respectively, for the first-ever U.S....

A flyer for the First National Nature Assessment, with the text "The Writing Begins"

05/20/2024

UVM Student Creates Roadmap For a Bee-Friendly Campus

Erin Camire ’24 picked up their diploma last week as a newly minted forestry graduate from the Rubenstein School of Environment and Natural Resources. They will leave behind a legacy that positions UVM to have more pollinator-friendly landscaping, a specific goal laid out in the university’s...

Erin Camire in front of UVM gardens.

05/19/2024

The F.T. Kidder Medal: Soham Mehta

The F.T. Kidder Medal is presented to the senior student who best exemplifies the qualities of character, leadership, and scholarship. It is named in honor of Fred T. Kidder, a graduate of the class of 1880 and the College of Medicine in 1883, who later served on the University of...

Portrait of Soham Mehta

05/16/2024

Saying Yes to Opportunities, at Home and Abroad

Cole ZuWallack ’24, a Parks, Recreation and Tourism (PRT) major, was travelling to Auckland, New Zealand for his semester abroad when the unthinkable happened: the pilot came over the loudspeaker and told the passengers that...

Cole on the side of a boat with water and mountains behind him.

05/15/2024

Senior Spotlights: Class of 2024

The entire Rubenstein School community is so proud of the Class of 2024. Over 150 seniors will earn their diplomas on Sunday May 19th, and while the journey hasn't been easy (this class started their first year in the fall of 2020, after all), these students have made the most of their...

A collage of the five students featured in this article. From left to right: Emma Wetsel, Parker Kimberly, Soham Mehta, Sara Sexton, and Val Kostelnik.

05/10/2024

Trusting the Process: How Gus Lunde '24 Leaned into his Passions for Biking and Birding to Design an Honors College Thesis

On April 30, a group of students, faculty, staff, and community members gathered in the Aiken Center to watch Gus Lunde ’24 present his Honors College thesis seminar. Gus has been working toward this culminating event for nearly two years, and his thesis is the result of many early mornings of...

Gus performing a mountain bike jump in the forest.

04/25/2024

Introducing the Planetary Health Initiative

Consider your breath. In that inrush of air you bring oxygen to your lungs, keeping you alive. It’s the same air that covers the whole planet—oxygen produced by green life. The intricate interplay that we call the environment is not scenery; it’s the fundamental health care system. ...

aerial view of UVM campus, Lake Champlain, and the Adirondack Mountains beyond

04/24/2024

Community Building In and Out of the Classroom

Juliana Ward ’24, an Environmental Studies (ENVS) major and economics minor, is a member of the second to last cohort of students to earn their B.S. degrees in Environmental Studies from the Rubenstein School. The program migrated to the College of Arts and Sciences (CAS) in the fall of 2022....

Juliana posing on the roof of a building overlooking the city and mountains.

04/19/2024

Mieder, Rubenstein to Receive Honorary Degrees at UVM’s 2024 Commencement

At the 2024 University of Vermont Commencement Ceremony on Sunday, May 19, philanthropist Beverly Rubenstein and Wolfgang Mieder, UVM distinguished professor emeritus of German and Folklore, will receive honorary degrees. Mieder and Rubenstein embody the values of UVM’s Our Common...

Portraits of Wolgang Mieder and Beverly Rubenstein

04/17/2024

UVM PhD Students Lead International Team in Carbon Flux Research

Amelia (Mia) McReynolds is a third-year PhD student in the Rubenstein School of Environment and Natural Resources at the University of Vermont (UVM). As an ecologist studying fish population dynamics in the Great Lakes, McReynolds didn’t imagine research abroad would be a part of her graduate...

Researchers taking zooplankton samples at the LakeLab

04/17/2024

Scientists Discover Forests That May Resist Climate Change

While it’s common knowledge that mountaintops are colder than the valleys below, a new University of Vermont (UVM) study is flipping the script on what we know about forests and climate. The study, published in Ecology...

An image of forested mountains with a white cloud through the valley between them

04/11/2024

Americans More Willing to Pay for Climate Action After Extreme Weather

People who personally experience extreme climate events, especially wildfires and hurricanes, are willing to pay significantly more for climate action, even if they report skepticism about human-caused climate change, finds new research from the University of Vermont. Trump voters who...

An image of a forest fire. There are green trees and orange flames.

04/11/2024

Scientists Use Wearable Technology to Detect Stress Levels During Sleep

What if changes in a person’s stress levels could be detected while they sleep using wearable devices? A new study by University of Vermont researchers published today in PLOS Digital Health is...

04/02/2024

Navigating Transportation Issues Through Environmental and Resource Planning

Cities and towns of every size are grappling with challenges facing their transportation plans and infrastructure—fortunately, Rubenstein School students have the passion and expertise to face those challenges head-on. The...

Chris Lamm standing in front of a Department of Transportation sign

03/28/2024

New England Study Calls for Dramatic Increase in Sustainable Forestry

A new report released today highlights the opportunity for New England to dramatically expand forest protections and sustainably meet the region’s wood product needs by reducing consumption and reorienting production. The report calls on...

A thinned forest with some felled trees on the forest floor.

03/26/2024

Exploring How Creativity Can Heal and Change Human-Environment Systems

The first floor of the George D. Aiken Center—home of the Rubenstein School of Environment and Natural Resources on UVM’s campus—contains an always-active student lounge, multiple classrooms, a large lecture hall, a computer lab, secure indoor bike parking, and...

The RSENR Inclusive Arts Initiative Gallery on the first floor of the Aiken Center - nine pieces of art hung on a well-lit wall

03/20/2024

Bugs, Birds, and Benthic Invertebrates: Making the Most of Undergraduate Research Opportunities

Most students wouldn’t consider eleven straight hours of birding to be their comfort zone, but Pierre Beaurang isn’t most students. Pierre, a wildlife and fisheries biology major from Northern California, has loved birds for his entire life, and knew from a young age that he wanted to study them...

Pierre smiling and holding a small brown bird on a field of green grass with a hill in the background

02/26/2024

Deforestation Exacerbates Risk of Malaria for Most-vulnerable Children

Malaria kills more than 600,000 people each year worldwide, and two thirds are children under age five in sub-Saharan Africa. Scientists have found a treatment that could prevent thousands of these deaths: trees. New research conducted at the University of Vermont (UVM) and...

a mosquito feeding on a human blood meal

02/23/2024

From UVM Forestry Program to the US Forest Service

Emma Conti ’24 knew from a young age that she loved the outdoors. “My family has been going camping since I was one year old,” says Emma. “I always knew I wanted to work in the woods.” Emma found her academic home in the Forestry program at University of Vermont’s (UVM) Rubenstein...

Emma Conti is smiling and kneeling inside a large tree

02/22/2024

Birding to Change the World

In her new book “Birding to Change the World,” Trish O’Kane, Senior Lecturer in the Rubenstein School of Environment and Natural Resources at University of Vermont (UVM), delves into her journey from accidental ornithologist to community organizer and professor. With birds at the center, it...

Trish O'Kane standing outside in front of a river smiling

02/08/2024

Question Everything

Sam Bliss’s forehead twitched in the bright April sun. Until a late afternoon interruption, he was writing his dissertation, tapping away behind a computer screen at the Gund Institute for the Environment. His weekend plans: read more papers about people’s motivations for growing food....

Sam Bliss stands in a community garden holding a leek. The word "food" is tattooed across his fingers

02/06/2024

Gund Institute Names 2024 Catalyst Award Winners

The Gund Institute for Environment at the University of Vermont today announced a $200,000 Catalyst Award for a research project examining whether engaging in pro-environmental behavior can lead to more pro-environmental attitudes and values. “We often think about pro-environmental...

A composite image of Rachelle Gould (left) and Trisha Shrum (right), with a forest shown on the middle panel

01/24/2024

Using AI, Other Tech to Monitor Companies’ Impacts on Biodiversity

As environmental challenges make daily headlines across the world, tools including AI, Earth observation and other data sources are underpinning new efforts to measure and evaluate private sector companies’ effects on the natural world. The work started with voluntary tracking efforts...

An image of a brownish-yellow insect on a purple flower, with greenery in the background

01/23/2024

Facing Challenges Together and Welcoming New Faculty

Happy New Year from the Rubenstein School! Welcome back to our students, faculty, and staff – I hope you have recharged over the winter break and enjoyed time with family and friends.   The fall semester was one of the busiest and most exciting in recent years for the...

The front of the Aiken Center with snow on the ground and signs spelling out "Net Zero" in the windows

01/22/2024

A Moving Memorial Service for Jarlath O’Neil-Dunne

Upward of 900 people gathered in the Ira Allen Chapel on Saturday, Jan. 20, to mourn the loss and celebrate the life of Jarlath O’Neil-Dunne, a beloved and longtime member of the University of Vermont community. It was a day Jarlath would have loved, with a high temperature of 10 degrees...

Two marines unfurling a large American flag at the memorial service for Jarlath O'Neil-Dunne