Students who have completed a minimum of 16 hours credit towards their MS degree and are interested in participating in a Group Capstone Project should read the following information!
Dr. Bethany Cutts, Research Director for NRES 507, is currently assembling a team of students for collaborative work on the following NRES Group Research Project: Local environments and the policy networks of urban gardens.
Course Description: The limited availability of nutritious food and high levels of environmental toxins are two competing challenges facing urban communities. Backyard and community gardens may enhance the provisioning of food but the potential of increasing exposure to soil lead is a critical trade-off. This special project will focus on understanding policy interactions and their impact on the function of the Sacramento, California urban environment and the health of the city’s residents. Students will work on an interdisciplinary team and contribute to collaborative research involving researchers at Northern Kentucky University, the University of California - Davis, the University of Illinois at Urbana - Champaign, and Ubuntu Green, a Sacramento non-profit organization. The focus of NRES student efforts will be to develop methods, collect data, and document results of the research on these key questions:
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How are neighborhood issues represented in metropolitan networks of policy stakeholders (government, non-profit, business at multiple scales)?
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How are stakeholder groups in these networks connected?
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How do factors of race, ethnicity, class and social power shape involvement, representation, and outcomes at the metropolitan network/policy levels?
Academic Credit: Instructor permission is required for registration. Students must enroll in 3 hours of Capstone credit (NRES 507) for both fall 2012 and spring 2013 semesters.
Course Schedule: Class will meet Wednesday evenings between 6:30 – 9:00 pm (central time (CT)), and four additional days for collaborative work from 10:00 am – 2:00 pm (CT): September 29, October 6, October 20, and December 15, 2012. Spring 2013 class meeting days will be determined by Dr. Cutts and the project team.
Student Application Process: Interested students should submit the following via email to Dr. Cutts.
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Updated Resume
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Technical Writing Sample
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Letter of interest including tools/talents you bring to the team (max 350 words)
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Personal Reference - preferably NRES online faculty member. (Please be sure to contact the person to request permission to use them as a reference!)
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Contact information (including postal and email addresses and phone number(s))
Student submissions will be reviewed before personal phone interviews will be conducted.
A maximum of 5 students will be selected for this Group Research Project.
Deadline for submitting your application - August 17, 2012.
Please note: This class does not show up in the current schedule of courses, yet. Students may not enroll without Instructor's permission.
For additional information or to request a course syllabus, please contact Dr. Bethany Cutts at bcutts@illinois.edu
