On April 21st and 22nd, Kalamazoo College hosted the 2021 Sustainability SIP Symposium on Zoom. This event was sponsored by the Center for Environmental Stewardship, Environmental Studies and the Arcus Center for Social Justice Leadership.
Keynote speaker Jonathan C. Hall, Assistant Professor of Geography at West Virginia University, shared his experience researching a deeper understanding of the relationships between human communities and non-human wildlife species with the ultimate goal of contributing a diversity of solutions to problems of the Anthropocene that are grounded in a praxis of coexistence and codependence with non-human relatives. Listen to his address here.
The next night, Kalamazoo College seniors presented their Senior Integrated Projects (SIPs) related to the environment or sustainability. The SIPs came from various academic departments: Psychology, Biology, Critical Ethnic Studies, English, Political Science, Chemistry and Computer Science.
Check out the SIP presentations and posters on GatherTown here, and learn about these talented and driven students below.
- Alejandro Aguirre (Biology Major & History Minor): Tree Survey of Former Coal-Ash Dump Site along the Kalamazoo River and Identification of Potential Bioindicator Species
- Nicki Bailey (Biology Major & Environmental Studies Concentration): Variation in Bumble Bee Foraging Preferences by Flower Characteristics in Southwest Michigan
- Owen Bersot (Biology Major with Anthropology & Sociology Minor): Implementation of Psycholytic Therapy (Psychedelic-Assisted Psychotherapy) for Treatment of Climate Activist Burnout
- Alexa Duma (Biology Major & Environmental Studies Concentration): An analysis of bee diversity and sampling techniques in southwestern Michigan
- Riley Gabriel (English Major & History Minor): My Composting Body (poetry compilation)
- Sophia Goebel (Critical Ethnic Studies & Political Science Major): On the Importance of Indigenous Language Revitalization in Sustaining Sacred Relationship with Nature in Oaxaca, Mexico
- Kelly Nickleson (Biology Major with Concentrations in ENVS & CGHL): Susceptibility of Highbush Blueberry Cultivars to Infestation by Drosophila suzukii (Matsumura, 1931) (Diptera: Drosophilidae)
- Niko Nickson (Biology Major with Concentrations in ENVS & CGHL): The efficacy of the Southwest Michigan Bee Watch citizen science program and the assessment of landscape in determining bumble bee diversity
- Ian Nostrant (Computer Science Major): Applications of Internet of Things Devices in Greenhouse Management and Agriculture: Increasing Productivity and Control in Enclosed Growing Environments
- Kelson Perez (Biology Major): Vegetation Survey of a Brownfield Site Inhabited by Unhoused People in East Kalamazoo
- Hannah Pittman (Political Science Major & Environmental Studies Concentration): The Crude Truth: How U.S. fossil fuel corporations rewrote the narrative on Climate Change
- Hannah Shiner (Biology Major, ANSO Minor, with Concentrations in ENVS & CGHL): Kalamazoo College Proposed Tree Enhancement Project
- Kali Stanger (Chemistry Major & Environmental Studies Concentration): Propagation of native freshwater mussels for the continuation of provided ecosystem services
- Cassandra Vogel (Biology Major): An Identification Booklet and Plant Survey of Species around Batts Pond of Lillian Anderson Arboretum
