News and Updates
July 2024
PhD student Amir Gazar receives Outstanding Poster Presentation Award 🥇 at American Society of Mechanical Engineers 18th International Conference on Energy Sustainability in Los Angeles, CA.
April 2024
PhD student Emily Matthews selected as Rural Environmental Health Fellow and Interfaces of Global Change Fellow. Emily will complete her PhD in Civil and Environmental Engineering with complementary training in these multidisciplinary programs and communities of scholars.
September 2023
Paper by Ryan Calder and Amina Schartup in AGU GeoHealth earns editor's highlight🏅 We describe how Earth and environmental research can produce policy benefits (rather than policy impact) via analysis of tradeoffs and anticipation of social responses to proposed interventions.
May 2023
Ryan Calder, Georgia Mavrommati (UMass Boston) and Richard Howarth (Dartmouth College) awarded $650,000 grant from the U.S. EPA to characterize environmental, economic, and health tradeoffs associated with alternative decarbonization pathways for New England. The project will couple engineering analysis with elicitation of values from community juries to screen alternative pathways in terms of compatibility with local values and priorities. The project will develop capacity for community-based environmental organizations to conduct independent analyses of proposed generation and transmission projects.
May 2023
Ryan Calder writes letter to District of Columbia council, mayor, and agency directors urging action on traffic safety. The letter was co-signed by >650 individuals and nine local organizations urging action on traffic safety and has been covered in the national press.
Census Block Groups in the District of Columbia grouped by fraction of population Black or African American (alone or together with another race) in corresponding Census Tract plotted against number of crashes with fatal/serious injuries since 2016. Five top neighborhoods in ≥75% group are identified with Census Tract number in parentheses. Excluding Tract 98000 (population 18).
April 2023
Paper by Ryan Calder and collaborators at Fisheries and Oceans Canada selected as editor's choice🏅 We argue that Atlantic herring decline is driven by natural predation exacberated by fishing and that the recent fisheries moratorium is justified by the precautionary principle.
December 2022
PhD student Amir Mortazavigazar presents poster at AGU 2022 on the use of causal inference to scope environmental impact assessment.
June 2022
Ryan Calder part of team awarded $2 million grant from the Department of Defense Strategic Environmental Research and Development Program to develop tool to support land-use decision-making on U.S. military bases. Lead PI is Mark Borsuk (Duke University).
November 2022
Ryan Calder publishes article in the Canadian Journal of Fisheries and Aquatic Sciences on the drivers of the ongoing decline in Atlantic herring, supporting recent government action on the closure of the commercial fisheries. Coauthors are Jenni McDermid and Stephanie Boudreau (Fisheries and Oceans Canada).
November 2022
Ryan Calder publishes article in ES&T on total social costs and benefits of long-distance hydropower transmission. Co-authors are Mark Borsuk and Celine Robinson (Duke University).
May 2022
Ryan Calder speaks with the Adirondack Explorer about environmental health impacts of the Champlain-Hudson Power Express transmission line to New York City.
July 2021
Ryan Calder publishes article in ES&T Letters on how viral pandemics disrupt dynamics of food-energy-water systems using the case study of COVID-19. Coauthors: Caitlin Grady (Penn State U.), Marc Jeuland (Duke U.), Christine Kirchhoff (U. Connecticut), Rebecca Hale (Idaho State U.) and Becca Muenich (Arizona State U.)
November 2020
Ryan Calder speaks with the CBC about methylmercury levels at Muskrat Falls
"Researcher raises Muskrat methylmercury alarm, but Nalcor contractor says levels safe"
October 2020
Ryan Calder speaks to The Revelator about the role of Canadian hydropower in U.S. renewable energy transitions
"Promise or Peril? Importing Hydropower to Fuel the Clean Energy Transition"
October 2020
Ryan Calder and colleagues at Duke University release report quantifying net benefits of long-distance transmission of hydropower from Quebec to the U.S.
"Long-distance transmission of Canadian hydropower is a cost-effective complement to U.S. renewable energy transitions"
November 2020
Ryan Calder speaks to The Telegram about methylmercury levels at Muskrat Falls.
"Methylmercury levels downstream from Muskrat Falls concern researcher"