US-Germany Cooperative Research: Regional Sustainability: Bridging Resource Conservation & Economic Development

Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, Troy NY

Investigators

Abstract

0089771 Gowdy This award supports a third year of funding for John Gowdy and students from the Rensselaer Polytech Institute in a collaboration with Bernd Hansjuergens of the Department of Economic and Sociological Research at the Umweltforschungzentrum (UFZ) (Center for Environmental Research) in Leipzig, Germany. The research funded by this award will make it possible for the German and U.S. researchers to share and compare research findings on two projects, one in the Hudson river watershed and one in the Elbe river watershed, each of which examines the connections between economic activity, land use changes, and their impact on the ecology and on sustainable development policies. The end result will be a process that provides a rigorous analytical foundation for the pursuit of regional sustainability. The opportunity this joint, collaborative research effort presents junior researchers is substantial, and the work done on this proposal will institutionalize the relationship between Renssealer and the UFZ Department of Economics and Sociological Research.