UB’s Ecosystem Restoration through Interdisciplinary Exchange (ERIE) initiative is a collection of existing academic programs and research projects designed to advance the science, engineering, and policy of ecosystem restoration, and contribute to the ecological recovery of the Great Lakes and Western New York. ERIE’s centerpiece is a new doctoral traineeship funded through the National Science Foundation’s Integrative Education and Research Traineeship (IGERT) program. The Undergraduate Research program adds an undergraduate component to the ERIE initiative.

ERIE Top 10 Highlights

1. ERIE Colloquium Seminar for November 20th:Dr. Charlotte Roehm, Assistant Professor of Geography and Planning at Buffalo State University, will be presenting on a topic entitled "When to Where: Coastal Wetlands of the Great Lakes". The colloquium will be held from 1:45 to 3:00 in Room 140 Ketter (please note the different location).

2. ERIE Faculty Highlight: Dr. D. Scott Mackay

3. Congratulations! ERIE PI Dr. Alan Rabideau was named to a National Academies of Science Panel, which will examine future options for management of subsurface remediation.  The project to which he has been assigned is entitled, “Future Options for Management in the Nation's Subsurface Remediation Effort.” The project summary and panel members' backgrounds are available online.

4. Hot off the Press: ERIE faculty Sean Bennett's research and laboratories were featured in a recent UB news release. Bennett is currently studying the erosion and sediment transport processes of gullies and rills using physical and numerical models. By developing an understanding of these processes, his research contributes to a solution for reducing both sediment erosion and its high nutrient loadings. For more ERIE news and events, click here.

5. ERIE trainee Bernadette “Bernie” Clabeaux recently participated in a teaching opportunity called the "Green to Clean" Project involving 4th to 6th grade students at the Futures Academy in Buffalo, NY (Buffalo Public School #37). Click here to read the full story of Clabeaux's educational outreach including the participating organizations.

6. Several ERIE faculty were highlighted in the University at Buffalo's 2008 Annual Report: Impact's focus section on the Lower Great Lakes and Niagara River, which starts on page 16.

7. UB's Summer Ecosystem Restoration Workshop has released its dates for 2010 (click here for press release or check out workshop webpage for details).

8. ERIE's fellow University at Buffalo IGERT, the GIScience IGERT, will be hosting a conference, Representing Reality:Imagery in the Cognitive, Social and Natural Sciences, May 12-15, 2010 to address the theory and application of imagery across academic disciplines. In particular, this conference aims to attract Ph.D. students and faculty from IGERT programs, as well as researchers from a wide range of subjects, who incorporate innovative image resources into their research or address the conceptualization of reality as a digital format. For more information and to register, click here.

9. Second-year ERIE trainees are working a watershed restoration plan as part of their ERIE Ecosystem Restoration Practicum Course. The plan will focus on the protection and restoration of 28 acres of floodplain forest and wetland, including one of the only remaining riparian wetland in 37.2 miles of the Buffalo River/Buffalo Creek watershed. The project is in collaboration with Buffalo-Niagara Riverkeeper. More information about the Oxbow project and other ERIE research are available on our Research Projects and Research Facilities pages.

10. Learn more about the 2009 cohort of ERIE trainees.