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AJ Schneller is a Visiting Assistant Professor in ES. AJ teaches Sustainable

Development; US Public Lands and Oceans: Policy, Management, and Current Events; Environmental Learning; Society and the Environment in Mexico and Central America; and ES 100. Before arriving at Skidmore this past fall, AJ taught for the School for Field Studies in Baja California Sur, Mexico. His social science research on the Baja Peninsula has provided opportunities for publication with a focus on experiential environmental learning, sustainable fisheries, environmental muralism, and the extent to which the sea turtle conservation movement is enhancing associational life in Baja, Mexico. AJ has previously worked for the Center for Biological Diversity, The University of Arizona's Hydrology Department, The City of Tucson's Recycling Program, and the Deschutes National Forest in Bend, Oregon. He has a M.P.A from Indiana University, Bloomington and a B.A. and Ph. D from University of Arizona, Tucson.

Nurcan Atalan-Helicke is an Assistant Professor in ES. She was born in Turkey and spent time there after earning an M.S. in International Relations from Bilkent University, working for both government and nonprofit organizations in the

environmental and development sectors Nurcan worked to implement projects funded by international organizations such as UNESCO, the UNDP, and the European Union. At Skidmore, Professor Atalan-Helicke teaches ES 100 and The Politics of Food in the fall, and Political Ecology, Environment and Development in the Middle East, and Global Environmental Governance in the spring. Nurcan’s research interests include conservation of agricultural biodiversity, the politics of development, biotechnology and agriculture, and social movements. Nurcan has a degree in International Relations from Middle East Technical University and a Ph. D from Ohio State University.

Anne Gallagher Ernst is the new coordinator of the Environmental Studies Program. She comes here from the US Geological Survey, where she spent the past 9 years working on water quality issues in New York State. She has also worked doing research at a marine lab and as a technical writer for a pharmaceutical company. She is not completely new to Skidmore; she has taught Ecology, Environmental Biology, and Intro Biology labs over the past few years, filling in while various faculty members were on leave. Anne is currently teaching ES 100 and is a lab instructor for ES 105, as well as helping to organize speakers, coordinate internship and research opportunities, and advise students. Anne has a B.S. from Duke University and an M.S. from Cornell University.

Program Chair Michael Marx attended the 2012 AESS (Association for Environmental Studies and Sciences) Annual Meeting and Conference last June at Santa Clara University in California. He served as chair and discussant during a panel entitled “Bringing diversity to Environmental Studies programs” and was co-coordinator for a lunch round table discussing “Cultural diversity in the teaching of environmental studies”.

Associate Professor Josh Ness , ES(S) alumni Erin Kenison ’09, Dan Von Allmen ’09, and Peter Leipzig-Scott -09, and Emily Rollinson (Biology ‘09) published a description of their research on "invasional meltdown" in the Upper Hudson watershed in Oikos , an international journal focused on ecology. The research, focused on the distribution and consequence of invasions of riparian zones by non-native European

fire ants, Japanese knotweed, and Japanese beetles, was funded by a grant from the NYS Biodiversity Research Institute to Josh and Professor Manuel Morales of Williams College, and was also a focus of Erin, Dan, and Peter’s capstone project. The article, “Reciprocally beneficial interactions between introduced plants and ants are induced by the presence of a third introduced species,” was published in 2012. Last year, Josh also team-taught the senior capstone research seminar with Associate Professor Karen Kellogg (see WRI news, page 8), and he is teaching the 2012-13 capstone with Associate Professor Bob Turner

(Government).

Assistant Professor Cathy Gibson published an article in the journal Freshwater Science last year, entitled “Organic matter stoichiometry influences nitrogen and phosphorus uptake in headwater streams.”