HERO: Human-Environment Regional Observatory

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HERO Summer 2012 Brochure [pdf] read more

Clark University HERO SUMMER 2012 application information

August 2011: Clark receives $200,000 portion of new NSF $2.7M grant.

New $2.7M NSF grant "Collaborative Research:  Ecological Homogenization of Urban America," is expected to transform scientific understanding of the nation’s growing urban landscape – on ecological and sociological levels. Project Principal Investigator is from the Cary Institute of Ecosystem Studies in Millbrook NY. The Clark University portion of this grant is $200,000 and the project leader is co-PI, Colin Polsky.  The grant is partly built from research done through other active HERO grants over the past few years.
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USA Today features article on housing crunch with data from HERO and related work.

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June-July 2011: HERO REU Summer Program

HERO REU Summer program brought in 7 students from around the US and 5 students from Clark University to work in 3 research areas. Click on the PEOPLE drop down on the right of this screen and click on "FELLOWS" for details of these summer projects.

September 2010: "Ripped from the Headlines" of Clark Home page

HERO research program at Clark thriving; student fellows honored. HERO offers high level research opportunities for undergraduates.
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August 2010: HERO students in COMPASS program

The science of communication - Clark students learn how to bridge the gap between science and the media as part of the COMPASS, Communication Partnership for Science and the Sea, program.
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January 2009: New NSF REU research grant awarded to HERO

Professor Colin Polsky was recently awarded a three-year, $360,000 "REU Site" grant from the US National Science Foundation, with Professors John Rogan and R. Gil Pontius, Jr. as co-principal investigators. This award will take the Clark HERO program to the national level.

HERO Object-oriented Lawn Mapping

See the how-to guide for producing <1m lawn maps by the HERO Object-oriented Lawn Mapping for Exploring Suburbia (HOLMES) team.

This follows a $1.4 million research grant awarded to HERO in September 2007 that was intended to catalyze research by HERO Professors Polsky and Pontius.

HERO-Massachusetts: Two Main Areas of Research

Hero engages in two main areas of research concerning the causes and consequences of the Asian longhorn beetle (ALB) infestation in central Massachusetts on urban and ex-urban forests:

Beetle Impact Assessment

This stream will

  • Produce validated measures of spatial and temporal changes in tree cover composition on the ALB-infestation area
  • Evaluate impacts of ALB on forest diversity and cover at present and in the future

Methodologies used include landscape metrics, GIS, remote sensing and geospatial modeling.

Place-Making Assessment

This stream will

  • assess management and policymaking responses to community concerns in response to the ALB impacts, involving stakeholders throughout the analysis.
  • Evaluate ALB impacts by socio-economic status, race/ethnicity and management/governance regime to explore how a more engaged stakeholder group would respond to policy as a result of the ALB experience.

Methodologies used include qualitative methods, such as interviews and focus groups.

Sponsors

This material is based upon work supported by the US National Science Foundation (NSF) Grant Nos. BCS-0948984, BCS-0709685, OCE-1058747, EF-1065741, SES-0951366 and through the PIE, ULTRA-EX, CNH, MACRO-BIO, DCDC II and FCE groups of the LTER. This material is also based upon work supported by US Dept of Commerce (NOAA SARP) Grant No. NA09OAR4310141. Any opinions, findings and conclusions or recommendations expressed in this material do not necessarily reflect the views of the NSF.



The Asian longhorn beetle infestation in Central Massachusetts will be studied by the HERO REU Summer 2012 program.