Recent News

Congratulations to Amy Villamagna, associate professor of environmental science and policy, on her selection for Plymouth State’s 2020 Distinguished Scholarship Award. She joins past CFE award winners Jason Cordeira (2019) and Mark Green (2014).

This award is designed to recognize and honor a member of the Plymouth State University faculty who demonstrates exceptional research, creativity or scholarly work. Important factors include quality, originality, the impact on one’s field, reputation of the scholar and his/her scholarly works, and the ability to generate and successfully disseminate the scholarly or creative works.

Amy Villamagna joined the PSU faculty in 2014. She uses a combination of field and GIS methods to explore how changes in land use and climate affect ecosystems. She teaches in the undergraduate and graduate environmental science and policy programs, geography, and the sustainability minor, and was named the Helen Abbott Professor of Environmental Studies (2016–2019) in recognition of her exemplary integration of environmental studies into coursework and research.

Our graduate students have been in the news sharing their research and work with our partners. We celebrate the success of all our students and our graduates in 2020.

Ryan Heisler talks with Trout Unlimited about his research on fisheries.

Amanda May shares how her Plymouth State education and Pathways internship have led to a career position with USGS.

Watch the video of this meeting

Tuesday, April 28, 2020 6:30 – 8:30 pm

Plymouth State University (PSU) invites you to attend an online public meeting via Zoom regarding recent research on Squam Lake contaminants. This meeting is a follow-up to the November 2017 public meeting at PSU, intended to provide updates and results of research done since. The meeting will begin with presentations on relevant research, and after presentations, there will be a panel discussion to answer any questions.

Joining us to provide information on their research and answer questions are:

• Amanda May, Plymouth State University (PSU) – DDT in soils, sediments, and crayfish
• Tiffany Grade, Loon Preservation Committee (LPC) – Contaminants in loon eggs and PCBs, dioxins, and furans in sediments
• Tyson Morrill, Squam Lakes Association (SLA) – Sediment sampling results and steps to mitigation
• NH Department of Environmental Services (NHDES) – Human health risk assessment of fish consumption based on results of Squam Lake fish tissue contaminant analysis

Please join us for the Spring 2020 Environmental Science Colloquium. All talks are in Boyd Science Center and open to all.

Unless otherwise noted, the talks are in Boyd Science Center, Room 001 from 4-5 pm. Please enter Boyd Science Center at the entrance closest to Highland Street. Boyd 001 is the lecture hall by the foyer.

Tuesday, February 4,  2020 | 3:30 - 4:30 p.m. | Boyd 144 | PFAS in New Hampshire: Panel Discussion

Sources and Occurrence of PFAS in NH – Brandon Kernen, PG, NHDES; Mechanisms of action, biochemical properties and animal/human correspondence in health outcomes – Jonathon Ali, PhD, NHDES – Toxicology/Risk Communication; Community Exposure Assessments in NH/Communicating Data to the Public – Kathleen Bush, PhD, NHDHHS

Facilitated by Nichole Morin Jaskiewicz, Ph.D., Chemistry & Biochemistry Program, Plymouth State University.

Wednesday, February 26, 2020 | Are Birds Really Dinosaurs?

Larry Spencer, Professor Emeritus of Biological Sciences, Plymouth State University

Wednesday, March 25, 2020 | Radon: Origins, Prevalence and Health Effects

Eugene Benoit, BS, MS, MA, Environmental Engineer, US EPA Indoor Environments Program

Wednesday, April 8, 2020 | Tackling a Big Snow Hydrology Problem with Small Low-Cost Sensors

Eric Kelsey, Research Associate Professor, Plymouth State University & Director of Research, Mount Washington Observatory

Wednesday, April 22, 2020 | The Surry Mountain Project: A Case Study in Conservation

Patrick Hackley, Assistant Director of Land Protection, The Nature Conservancy, NH

The Center for the Environment announces the Fall 2019 Environmental Science Colloquium series. The talks cover a wide range of topics related to environmental science. The Colloquium is open to everyone from PSU and the community.

Unless otherwise noted, the talks are in Boyd Science Center, Room 001 from 4 - 5 p.m. Please enter Boyd Science Center at the entrance closest to Highland Street. Boyd 001 is the lecture hall by the foyer.

September 25, 2019 | Assessing New Hampshire’s Liquid Gold: Approaches to Valuing Freshwater Resources for Decision Making 

Shannon Rogers, PhD, Nature Based Economic Development Specialist, UNH Cooperative Extension

October 9, 2019 | Constraining the Timing & Rate of Laurentide Ice Sheet Thinning During the Last Deglaciation

P. Thompson (Thom) Davis, PhD, Bentley University

October 23, 2019 | Scaling Up Green Infrastructure Initiatives 

Steve Whitman, EdD, AICP, Plymouth State University & Resilience Planning & Design, LLC

October 30, 2019 | The Emerging LiDAR Landscape: Clearcutting with Lasers

Rick Chormann, State Geologist & Director, New Hampshire Geological Survey

November 20, 2019 | 7 - 9 p.m. | Boyd 144 | Why Do We Hike?

Panel discussion in collaboration with the Museum of the White Mountains (Sponsored by The Waterman Fund)

Friday, April 19, 2019, 7 p.m.
Silver Center for the Arts, Smith Recital Hall

Laura Getts, MS in Environmental Science & Policy ’17, is speaking as part of PSU’s Saul O. Sidore Lecture Series on climate change. Laura will talk about how rapid, localized shifts in energy sourcing produce social justice wins for some, and challenges for others. She will discuss how her time at Plymouth State prepared her for a career in climate research and activism and how her work as a Young Leader in Climate Change for the National Park Service, and as Energy Coordinator for Pueblo County, Colorado addresses climate change challenges for both local and federal government entities.

Laura Getts is a NH native who holds a BA in International Relations from the University of Edinburgh, and an MS in Environmental Science and Policy from Plymouth State University, where she also served as the University’s Sustainability Fellow. Over the past decade, Laura has worked as a ranger, a biologist, an environmental consultant, a GIS specialist, and a Young Leader in Climate Change Intern for the National Park Service. Laura currently serves as the Energy Coordinator for Pueblo County, Colorado, where she is supporting the community with its target of running on 100% renewable energy by 2035.

On April 16, 2019 at 7 p.m. at the Common Man Inn, the monthly meeting of the Pemigewasset Chapter of Trout Unlimited will showcase the on-going research being conducted by Center for the Environment faculty and students. Graduate students Jared Lamy (Biology) and Josh Hoekwater (Environmental Science and Policy) will present results of their research on Brook Trout movement in tributaries of the Beebe River. Culverts in these tributaries created barriers causing the Brook Trout’s habitat to be disconnected. Restoration efforts removed the culverts and the talk will explain how Brook Trout have responded.

The project has been a collaborative effort of The Pemigewasset Chapter of Trout Unlimited, NHFG, and Plymouth State University from 2016-2018.

From “Trace metals in Northern New England streams: Evaluating the role of road salt across broad spatial scales with synoptic snapshots” by J.F. Wilhelm D.J. Bain, M.B.Green, K.F.Bush, & W.H. McDowell

Former CFE student Jessica Wilhelm, MS in Environmental Science & Policy ’15, has a new publication about her research while a student at Plymouth State. The paper is titled “Trace metals in Northern New England streams: Evaluating the role of road salt across broad spatial scales with synoptic snapshots” and was published in February 2019 in PLOS ONE. Co-authors include Mark Green and Kathleen Bush from CFE, Daniel Bain from the University of Pittsburgh, and William McDowell from UNH. The article is available online.

The research project involved resampling a water sample archive to explore the spatial pattern of streamwater total concentrations of arsenic, cadmium, copper, lead, and zinc and their associations with biogeochemical controls in northern New England. The results indicate that road deicing has the potential to increase streamwater trace metal concentrations across broad spatial scales and increase risks to human and ecosystem health.

Read David Brooks’ The Granite Geek blog post about this paper

Please join us this spring for our Environmental Science Colloquium series.

Unless otherwise noted, the talks are in Boyd Science Center, Room 001 from 4 - 5 p.m. Please enter Boyd Science Center at the entrance closest to Highland Street. Boyd 001 is the lecture hall by the foyer.

February 20, 2019 | Collaboration as an optimal research approach at PSU: Case studies in avian population ecology

Dr. Len Reitsma, Professor of Biological Sciences, Plymouth State University

February 27, 2019 | Invasive Dandelions on Mt. Washington and Other Updates from the Alpine Zone

Daniel Sperduto, Forest Botanist, White Mountain National Forest, US Forest Service

March 20, 2019 | Management Implications for Brook Trout in a Fragmented Landscape

Dianne Timmins, Cold Water Project Leader, NH Fish and Game Department

April 10, 2019 | 4 - 6 p.m. | Thesis Pieces: Emerging graduate environmental research at Plymouth State University

Dr. Amy Villamagna, Associate Professor, Environmental Science & Policy, Plymouth State University

April 17, 2019 | Reconnecting Rivers: Restoring ecosystems and natural capital

Jonathon Loos, MS ‘15, Doctorate student in Ecology, Evolution, Ecosystems, and Society, Dartmouth College

Thank you to all our speakers!

Photo from Union Leader

The Union Leader recently published a story about a Plymouth State snowpack sensing research project. Eric Kelsey, research assistant professor of atmospheric science at PSU and the director of research at the Mount Washington Observatory, is leading the project. Working with a team of ten undergraduate and graduate students and research technician Dan Evans, Eric has built sensors that measure snow depth and temperature. The sensors are installed in Tuckerman Ravine on Mt. Washington and will provide hydrologic data that can be used to predict avalanches and flooding by analyzing changes in the snowpack. The research group’s data will be used by the National Weather Service’s Northeast River Forecast Center in Norwood, Mass and the U.S. Forest Service’s Mount Washington Avalanche Center.