Some suggested research topics*

Environmental Heros
Rachel Carson
The Storm King Mountain story
Aldo Leopold
Lois Gibbs
David Brower
Rosalie Edge
Teddy Roosevelt

Environmental Pollution and Cleanup
A Superfund site near your hometown
Legacy of U.S. Radium Corp., Orange, NJ
Cleanup of PCBs in the Hudson River
Mercury in the oceans
Bleaching of coral reefs
Radon in your basement
CAFOs: problems and solutions
Anoxia in Long Island Sound, Chesapeake Bay, or the Gulf of Mexico
Combined Sewer Overflows
Recovery (or lack of?) of shad in the Delaware River
Landfills: inert tombs or bioreactors?
MTBE as a gasoline additive and groundwater contaminant
Use of wetlands in wastewater or stormwater treatment

Energy and Sustainability
Appalachian wind power development
Solar or Wind energy for the homeowner
Geothermal energy for the homeowner
The future of nuclear energy in the US
Carbon capture and sequestration
Strategies for energy independence
Lafayette campus greening projects
Sustainable water use
Urban sprawl

New and Emerging Challenges
Impacts of climate change on x
Endocrine disrupting compounds in the environment
Green buildings on college campuses
Human health dangers of plastics


Environmentally noteworthy happenings in your hometown or in the current news - something that you have a particular interest in through your own experience


IMPORTANT NOTES!

1. You must strive to present unbiased, objective research and problem solutions. Many environmental issues are controversial - your job is to present facts, not advocate a particular point of view. Check your sources of information - are they reputable? does the source have some agenda (almost certainly yes! - don't throw it out, find additional sources)? If you rely primarily on any one source, you will undoubtedly be presenting a biased viewpoint.

2. If you want to do a "hands-on" project, it must either be 1) an extension of something we do in 321 Lab (for example, one year a group did macroinvertebrate assessment of several local streams), or 2) an existing campus project (talk with students in EWB, LEAP, or SEES for ideas)

*all topics must be cleared with me!