The annual Steinmetz Symposium at Union College showcases student research. The list below gives you a sense of the depth and breadth of research on the Environment at Union. Not all of these students are ESP majors, and this highlights the fact that studies of the Enviroment at Union occur across many disciplines

ENVIRONMENTAL POLICY AND DECISIONS

JESSICA CARDINALE - Environmental Progress: A Comparative Study of the United States and Spain

SARAH CONNER - The carbon emissions from the City of Schenectady

KELLY OWINGS - The Gilboa Dam and its Possible Failure: What it means for NYC and Upstate New York

TIM SCHWARZ - Understanding Hydrogen’s Role in A Changing Energy Future

HANNAH WEITZMAN - The Fragility of Coral Reefs: Biology, Human Impact and Marine Policy

WENDY BEATTY, JEFFREY HUTCHISON, and IAN SOLON - Including Sustainability Issues in a Heating, Ventilating, and Air Conditioning Course

ALEX HANDIN - Southern Louisiana Hurricane Recovery: A Photo Documentary

ERICA ERLANGER - Seeing Natural Disaster in the French Antilles through Science, Education, and Literature

ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCE

EMILY FOLLANSBEE - Test of a specific technique to reduce the impact of Alliaria petiolata on growth of a native tree seedling

AMANDA KERN - Study of 20th century trends in stream flow for West Canada and Schoharie Creeks of the Mohawk-Hudson Rivers watershed

CATHERINE KIELB - Stream Gradient and Knickpoint Evolution in the Plotterkill Nature Preserve, New York

ALLISON PHELAN - Flood severity and changes in floodplain area along urban sections of the Mohawk River through the 20th century

STEPHEN PO-CHEDLEY - Investigating Heavy Metals in the Environment from Anthropogenic Sources

LEIGH MASTIN - Physical and Geochemical Analysis of Tephra Deposits Surrounding Volcán Tepetiltic

ROSALBA QUEIROLO - Exhumation History of the Lepontine Dome in the Southern Swiss Alps

DANIELLE WINEBERG - Risk assessment and the distribution of tephra deposits of the eruption of Volcán Tepetiltic

CALEB WATTLEY - Oil Spills and Aerogels

SAMUEL BASTA - Calibrating recent sedimentary sequences from the proximal basin of a large glacially fed lake with hydroclimate data, Kenai Peninsula, Alaska

ERICA ERLANGER - Reconstructing the Sitka, Alaska temperature record using tree-ring widths from eight chronologies in the Gulf of Alaska

KARA GILLIVAN - Changes on the Harding Icefield and three mountain glaciers through the 20th century

SADIE GORMAN - Bioaccumulation of ultraviolet filter chemicals in Lumbriculus variegatus

MONICA TSE - Photochemical degradation of UV filter chemicals in surface waters

ENGINEERING and TECHNOLOGY

ANDREW HEISER - The “Greenest” Option – Environmentally Friendly Pervious Rubberized Concrete

TIMOTHY PULASKI - Hydrocarbon Tracer Experimentation in a Hydrogen Fueled Internal Combustion Engine

REBECCA DAMBERG-MAUSER - Design of a Solar Rice Drying System for Farmers in Southeast Asia

GUO HONG HO - Solar Powered Thermoelectric Ice Maker

DAVID NOYES - Rainwater Powered Micro Hydro System for a Building

FUYU XU - Design of a Hybrid PV/T Solar Air Heater System

KARL OKESON - Fossil Fuel Addiction - How can we take steps towards the future?

MATTHEW FULGHUM - Steam Power: Its Past, Present, and Future Uses