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June 2009
CTS Faculty Scholars receive environmental grants
Congressional Testimony
In other CTS Faculty Scholar news, Professor Jerry Fruin of the Department of Applied Economics presented an invited statement to the Transportation, Housing and Urban Development Subcommittee of the U.S. House of Representatives Committee on Appropriations. The March 12 hearing focused on transportation challenges of rural America. A link to the statement is at www.apec.umn.edu/faculty/jfruin.
Two CTS Faculty Scholars—Julian Marshall of the Department of Civil Engineering and Elizabeth Wilson of the Humphrey Institute of Public Affairs—have received grants to conduct environmental-related research.
Marshall received one of seven grants from the University of Minnesota’s Initiative for Renewable Energy and the Environment (IREE) 2009 large grants program. The seven projects in the program, totaling $4.85 million, were chosen in a highly competitive review and selection process. The program is designed to help launch early-stage, high-potential projects in emerging fields of renewable energy and the environment.
Marshall’s project, “Air Pollution Impacts of Conventional and Alternative Fuels: A Spatial and Temporal Life Cycle Analysis Decision Support Tool,” will involve a life-cycle assessment for several biofuels and the fossil fuels they displace. This research will provide new knowledge about the costs, benefits, and tradeoffs in greenhouse gas emissions and air quality related to biofuel production systems.
Elizabeth Wilson
Julian Marshall
Wilson was one of 12 researchers to receive a seed grant from IREE. The 12 projects will receive more than $745,000 in seed grant funding under the program, which will help launch high-potential projects in the initial phase of development. The goal of this program is to promote early-stage research in renewable energy and the environment and to position the work for future extramural funding opportunities.
Wilson’s project, “State Climate Action Planning: Geography of Regional and National Climate and Renewable Energy Policy,” will investigate Minnesota’s greenhouse gas reduction policy and renewable technology choices by analyzing results from 14 state climate action plans.
Marshall and Wilson were two of the principal investigators in the “Reducing Greenhouse Gas Emissions From Transportation Sources in Minnesota” study led last year by CTS (www.cts.umn .edu/Research/GreenhouseGas).