Specialization Student Spotlight Archive
Jessica Fry
Department: Criminal Justice
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My research interests lie in the areas of conservation criminology and environmental crime. I am specifically interested in the application of forensic techniques in conservation and environmental law enforcement, and how the availability and level of advancement of these techniques affect the judicial process in these areas.
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Matt Grisko
Department: Philosophy
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Every environmental issue has philosophical underpinnings, and understanding them can lead to better decisions. “The world would be a better place if we all sat and thought things through,” says Matt Grisko, who began at MSU this year as a graduate student in the Department of Philosophy and ESPP.
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Jennifer Kelly
Department: Sociology
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For Jennifer Kelly, a single class on the environment was all it took.
In her final year as an undergraduate majoring in communications at the University of Wisconsin, Oshkosh, Jennifer took a class that covered major environmental issues like climate change, biodiversity loss, and overpopulation.
“And it changed my life,” she said. “I thought it was the most astonishing thing, and I felt like I’d been in the dark.”
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Department: Fisheries & Wildlife
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As concerns grow that climate change could undermine fishery protection efforts, Abigail Lynch says she wants to help resource managers make sound decisions about where and how to spend conservation dollars, “so they’re not throwing money into areas that won’t be suitable habitat in 50 years.”...
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Max Melstrom
Department: Economics and Agricultural Economics
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Max Melstrom is a first year graduate student in ESPP and the Department of Agricultural, Food and Resource Economics (formerly the Department of Agricultural Economics). He is one of this year’s fellowship recipients at ESPP. His focus is on how environmental regulations interact with economic activity and why problems occur in making the two work together. Contrary to what some believe, “what is good for the environment is also good for the economy” he says.
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Norbismi Nordin
Department: Packaging
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In Norbismi Nordin’s native Malaysia, food packaging is not as developed as it is here, and people pay it little attention.
“We always go for fresh food with a short shelf life,” Nordin said. “The lay people don’t have any idea that packaging is important.”
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Emily Norton
Department: Fisheries & Wildlife
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People love living near the water, especially here in the Great Lakes, but shoreline development can incur environmental costs. First year graduate student Emily Norton is interested in how human activity affects lake ecosystems, shorelines and the wildlife that inhabit them. She is a student in the Department of Fisheries and Wildlife and ESPP.
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Perdinan
Department: Geography
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Perdinan, a new Ph.D. student in Geography, has a taste for just about everything related to the environment: agriculture, forestry, economics, meteorology, geography – you name it.
“If you want to make a bridge between science and policy,” he said, “you have to understand a lot of things.”
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Allison Rober
Departments: Zoology; Ecology, Evolutionary Biology, & Behavior Program; Environmental Science and Policy Program
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When Allison Rober was an undergraduate at MSU, she took two classes taught by zoology professor Jan Stevenson. The two have stuck together since.
“I was so inspired that I asked if I could come work in his lab,” she said.
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Sara Tanis
Department: Horticulture
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Sara Tanis came to Michigan State to protect what she loves.
“The main reason I came back to school is because I love working in my yard,” she said. “I love trees.”
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Wu Yang
Department: Fisheries & Wildlife
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Wu Yang earned his bachelor’s degree from Zhejiang University, the top-ranked university for environmental sciences in China. His research experience there ranged from ecological economics and urban ecology to environmental modeling and conservation biology. He has been primary author of two papers, one of which was accepted by “Ecological Economics.”
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Barbara Zawedde
Department: Horticulture
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As her country, Uganda, moves closer to taking genetically modified (GM) crops from research labs to farm fields, Barbara Zawedde is interested in developing a resource that African regulators can use to assess the associated risks.
“Right now we have a lot of work going on to introduce transgenic crops in Africa, but we have limited capacity for risk assessment,” she said...
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