Students from ESD.110/12.846 are putting together a blog about the science and politics of climate change, while virtually participating in COP-19 in Warsaw (11-22 November 2013). Head over to their blog http://esd110.mit.edu to check it out! Also, you can follow us on twitter using hashtag #MITESD110 as we tweet real-time about climate policy and what's going on in negotiations.
My new paper on implementing the Minamata Convention and measuring its effectiveness is now published online in Environmental Toxicology and Chemistry. See press coverage at: MIT Joint Program on the Science and Policy of Global Change.
Read about our group's adventures as part of the NOMADSS aircraft campaign here:
MIT team flies high to measure mercury emissions - MIT News Office.
Noelle Selin was named the MIT Esther and Harold E. Edgerton Career Development Assistant Professor starting July 1, 2013, for a three-year term. This chair appointment is intended to support young faculty members in pursuing new ideas and opportunities in their research.
For more info, see the ESD Digest.
Noelle Selin, Amanda Giang and Shaojie Song are providing information from the GEOS-Chem mercury simulation to the NOMADSS campaign, from 1 June - 15 July 2013 in Smyrna, TN. NOMADSS stands for "Nitrogen, Oxidants, Mercury and Aerosol Distributions, Sources and Sinks." For more information about this summer's Southeast Atmosphere Study, see the home page or our blog http://mit.edu/mercurypolicy.
Congratulations to Shaojie Song and Colin Pike-Thackray, who recently passed their general exams in the Program on Atmospheres, Oceans and Climate (PAOC) in the Department of Earth and Planetary Sciences. Now for the thesis!
Also congrats to Amanda Giang, who graduated with her Master of Science degree in Technology and Policy. Her thesis on mercury impacts in the U.S. can be found here. Amanda will be entering the PhD program in MIT's Engineering Systems Division in the fall, and we look forward to her continued work!
Here's a picture from our group celebration at Meadhall.
(l-r: Shaojie Song, Jareth Holt, Amanda Giang, Carey Friedman, Rebecca Saari, Leah Stokes, Colin Pike-Thackray, Ellen Czaika, Noelle Selin)
This spring, at the Technology and Policy Program thesis signing ceremony, the Selin group was doubly honored. Amanda Giang was a runner-up/nominee for the TPP Best Thesis award (nominated by Noelle), and Noelle Selin was named TPP's best advisor for 2013 (nominated by Amanda!) See a picture of Noelle receiving the advisor award from Amanda, below. You can also read Amanda's thesis here.
Selin group postdoc Tammy Thompson has finished her work at MIT and has taken up a new position as Research Scientist at the Cooperative Institute for Research in the Atmosphere at Colorado State University. Tammy will be working on regional modeling and air quality in U.S. National Parks. Congrats to Tammy on the new position -- she will be missed! Here are a few pictures from Tammy's goodbye gathering at the MIT Global Change Joint Program.
a partial group picture: l-r: Shaojie Song, Colin Pike-Thackray, Amanda Giang, Tammy Thompson, Rebecca Saari, Noelle Selin
Carrot cake!
On February 25th, Noelle Selin spoke as part of a panel on the new Minamata Convention on mercury at the Pardee Center for the Study of the Longer-Range Future at Boston University. See more information and an article on the panel at the link below.
Today, the European Environment Agency (EEA) released its report Late Lessons from Early Warnings: Science, Precaution, Innovation. The report is the second of its type produced by the EEA, and includes a number of case studies of applying the precautionary principle to a diverse range of chemical and technological innovations. It includes a thorough discussion of issues of mercury in the environment, including a contribution by Noelle (see pages 157-161).
Noelle and ten MIT graduate students just returned from observing the final session of global negotiations for the Minimata Convention on mercury. Here is some news coverage of the event featuring our comments and observations:
Our blog: http://mit.edu/mercurypolicy
PBS NewsHour's Lunch in the Lab blog on the student blog: http://www.pbs.org/newshour/rundown/2013/01/post-23.html
Scientific American: http://www.scientificamerican.com/article.cfm?id=mercury-emissions-threaten-aquatic-environments
Chemistry World: http://www.rsc.org/chemistryworld/2013/01/mercury-limits-global-treaty-minamata-convention
Reuters AlertNet: Nations agree first global treaty to ban mercury emissions
From 12-18 January, Noelle will be in Geneva along with ten MIT graduate students as part of the class ESD.S50, attending the fifth negotiating session for a global treaty on mercury. Funded as part of Noelle's NSF CAREER grant (More info here), the goal of the trip is to help inform negotiators, scientists, and the general public with the latest scientific findings on mercury of relevance to the treaty process. Read the MIT news article on the trip here.
Follow along as the students blog and tweet (@MITMercury and #MITMercury) live from the negotiations!
Elsie Sunderland (Harvard) and Noelle Selin have a new commentary in Environmental Health entitled "Future trends in environmental mercury concentrations: implications for prevention strategies."
Read a summary of the paper on MIT News here.
