Current research projects

Current research projects

Research Project: Risk Analysis for Introduced Species and Genotypes,
Interdisciplinary Graduate Education and Research Training Grant (IGERT)

Research team members: J. Kuzma, Newman, Galatowitsch, Kapuscinski, Andow, Tilman (co-PIs)

2007 to 2012, Funded by NSF

The team has developed a set of case studies on risk analysis for introduced species and genotypes that will be used for teaching the core course of the IGERT as well as for publication so others can benefit and use them. The specific case that Dr. Kuzma completed with George Heimpel (entomology) is on biological control of soybean aphids using a parasitic wasp and risk comparison of that approach to the use of chemical insecticides. Biological, social, and economic issues associated with risk were explored in the case study.  Dr. Kuzma will co-teach the core course ISG 5010 "Risk Analysis for Introduced Species and Genotypes” in Fall 2008.

Research Project: Diffusion of Emerging Energy Technologies within a State Context

CSTPP researchers:

• Elizabeth Wilson, Assistant Professor, CSTPP, Humphrey Institute
  
• Miriam Fischlein, Ph.D. Candidate in Natural Resources
• Paige Evans, Masters Candidates in Science, Technology and Environmental Policy
• Dane McFarlane, Masters Candidates in Science, Technology and Environmental Policy

Other researchers:

• Jennie Stephens, Clark University
• Tarla Rai Peterson, Texas A&M

Funded by the NSF, awarded September 2007

The cross-disciplinary research examines the interconnected, state-level, socio-political influences on diffusion and deployment of emerging energy technologies with potential to contribute to an energy system transformation for climate change mitigation and energy security. Using a case study approach the research focuses on two very different emerging energy technologies, wind power and carbon capture and storage (CCS); both have large potential to change the energy technology landscape and to dramatically reduce CO2 emissions. The project uses a retrospective analysis of the diffusion history of wind power technology to ground identification and analysis of the interplay of factors that will influence future diffusion of wind and CCS. By examining these two technologies in six geographically and politically diverse states, the project will identify and evaluate relationships between the socio-political dimension of state energy technology systems and stakeholder perceptions of risks and benefits of the technologies. The integrated analysis will characterize the interplay of socio-political factors influencing technology diffusion to provide diverse and valuable insights about potential state level barriers and opportunities for these and other emerging energy technologies.

Research Project: Intuitive Toxicology and Public Engagement

Research team members: J. Kuzma, Berube, NCSU (PI) Scheufele, U of WI, Elliott,USC, Gehrke USC (coPIs)

2007 to 2011, Funded by NSF

This project began in January 2008. The first research workshop will be held in Raleigh, NC at NCSU in August 2008. At this workshop, scholars from around the world will present their work and findings on risk communication for emerging technologies. Dr. Kuzma will be presenting on risk policy challenges with emerging technologies and how those relate to public communication. This workshop will kick off the work of the grant. In 2009, they will begin to plan for focus group research in three locations across the country, including the Twin Cities. In 2010 they will host these public focus group meetings to probe public attitudes about risk communication for agriculture and food nanotechnology.

Research project: Energy Savings in Minnesota Governmental Operations (report)

Research team members:
Steve Kelley, J.D., Director, CSTPP, Humphrey Institute
Alex Mallett, Ph.D. candidate, London School of Economics
Dane McFarlane, B.S.EE, MS Student, Humphrey Institute

This study was conducted for the Minnesota Department of Commerce to identify barriers, costs and benefits to an annualized 1.5% reduction in energy consumption by state entities including: state agencies, the University of Minnesota, and Minnesota State Colleges and Universities. A survey of key energy operatives at state entities was conducted to identify recent efforts and perceived barriers for energy efficiency. Important policy initiatives and priorities were also identified.

Research project: Evaluating Oversight Models for Active Nanostructures and Nanosystems: Learning from Past Technologies in a Societal Context

Research team members:

CSTPP researchers:

Jennifer Kuzma, Assistant Professor and Interim Director, CSTPP, Humphrey Institute
Adam Kokotovich, MS Student, Humphrey Institute

Other researchers:

Susan Wolf, Consortium for Law and Values in the Health, Environment and Life Sciences, Law School
Efrosini Kokkoli, Chemical Engineering & Materials Science
Gurumurthy Ramachandran, School of Public Health
Jordan Paradise, Consortium for Law and Values

September 2006 to August 2010, Funded by NSF

This project aims to identify oversight models for nanotechnology by assessing 6 historical oversight models: for drugs, devices, gene transfer, genetically engineered organisms in the food supply, chemicals in the workplace, and chemicals in the environment. The project brings together a multidisciplinary group of Investigators and senior personnel from the University of Minnesota, with strengths in nanotechnology research and development, public policy, law, health, environment, economics, and bioethics and involves outside collaborators representing a range of economics and bioethics and involves outside collaborators representing a range of perspectives. The project team will evaluate oversight models using a historical and comparative approach and will integrate findings to glean lessons for emerging applications of nanotechnology.

Project outcomes will include:

• publication of individually authored papers analyzing the 6 historical oversight models
• publication of comparative work examining oversight models across the 6 models
• publication of a group-authored consensus paper on lessons for nanotechnology oversight
• wide dissemination of policy analysis and normative oversight recommendations through hard-copy and web-based resources
• a public conference hosted at the University of Minnesota to present papers and seek public feedback
• presentation of project work by Investigators at outside conferences

Research project: Institutional Considerations for Greenhouse Gas Reductions: Survey and Assessment of Conservation Improvement Programs in Minnesota

Research team members:

CSTPP researchers:

Elizabeth Wilson, Assistant Professor, CSTPP, Humphrey Institute
Joseph Plummer, MS Student, Humphrey Institute
Miriam Fischlein, Ph.D. candidate, Natural Resources Science and Management

Other researchers:

Tim Smith, Associate Professor, Director of the Forest Products Management Development Institute

Given its cost-effectiveness, energy efficiency will play a key role in efforts to reduce greenhouse gas emissions in coming years. In the highly-regulated electric sector, which accounts for roughly 40 percent of total greenhouse gas emissions, utility-administered demand side management (DSM) programs are important tools for reducing energy demand. DSM programs provide services such as home energy audits, rebates on efficient appliances, and partnerships with manufacturers that encourage customers to adopt energy efficient technologies. However, the effectiveness of these programs is hotly debated and questions of efficacy and project outcomes are often scrutinized, with most research to date focused upon investor–owned utilities. How municipal and co-operative utilities implement and evaluate these programs and what their special challenges are is less well understood.

The Conservation Improvement Program (CIP) in Minnesota requires utilities to implement DSM programs and spend a portion of their annual revenues on DSM projects. Municipal and co-operative utilities produce roughly a third of electricity used in the state, yet are exempt from the official DSM approval process that investor-owned utilities undergo for evaluation of their DSM programs. A report from the state Office of the Legislative Auditor found that the cost-effectiveness of Minnesota municipal and cooperative utility DSM programs varies by orders of magnitude, suggesting a lack of accounting consistency. The purpose of this research project is to investigate the factors that lead to these discrepancies; examining the consistency of the technical assumptions underlying the calculated energy savings and exploring how institutional and structural factors (both within and outside the utility) facilitate and constrain effective energy efficiency efforts. A survey of municipal and co-operative utility programs and interviews with managers and stakeholders will serve to inform this effort.

Research project: Full Cost Accounting of Renewable and Conventional Energy

Research team members:

CSTPP researchers:

Jennifer Kuzma, Assistant Professor and Interim Director, CSTPP
Mahri Monson, MS Student, Humphrey Institute

Other researchers:

Stephen Polasky, Applied Economics
David Tilman, Regents Professor, Ecology, Evolution and Behavior
Vernon Eidman, Applied Economics
Frank Kulacki, Mechanical Engineering
Doug Tiffany, Applied Economics

Funded by the Initiative on Renewable Energy and the Environment

Many alternative sources of energy are technologically feasible, but whether they are economically and environmentally desirable requires consideration of the full cost of their production and use. Energy users pay market prices that reflect the direct costs of production, transportation and storage of the energy they use. However, energy prices typically do not account for environmental costs and therefore do not reflect the full cost of energy production and consumption. The purpose of this project is to:

• Set out a clear methodology for full cost accounting of energy use that includes environmental costs along with direct costs of energy use;
• Apply full cost accounting to a range of alternative renewable and conventional energy sources to make an objective comparison of the full costs of alternative energy sources.

Past research projects

Research project: Inventory of Agrifood Nanotechnology

Paper: Nanotechnology in Agriculture and Food Production

Jennifer Kuzma, Assistant Professor and Interim Director, CSTPP, Humphrey Institute

Funded by the Project on Emerging Nanotechnologies, Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars

It is important to investigate the risk and benefit issues and governance systems for agrifood nanotechnology before numerous applications enter the marketplace, especially given past and present controversies over technology in agriculture and food, such as the use of genetically engineered organisms. It is also important to do so in an open and transparent way and in an independent setting (e.g. outside federal agencies and industry). Agricultural and food applications of new technologies pose a unique set of challenges. Individual benefits are often not as clear as those related to the use of technology in human medicine, and risks are often posed to sectors of society that do not directly benefit from the technology. We have developed a draft database of publicly available information on R&D projects in agrifood nanotechnology. Projects were categorized with respect to types of research (basic, applied, or development); projected time to commercialization; techniques, topics, and research areas, as specified in a USDA report on agrifood nanotechnology ; sectors in the food supply chain; and their fit to well-accepted definitions of nanotechnology. Four databases (USDA-CRIS, PTO, EPA-Science Inventory, NSF Awards) and five government websites (NIH, DOD, DOE, DHS, FDA) were searched for projects active during the years 2000 through 2005. Projects were also evaluated for exposure endpoints of potential products and possible toxicity levels of the nanomaterials used. A relative risk and benefit ranking was performed. However, it should be emphasized that project evaluations are preliminary, and we are open to other interpretations of health and environmental safety issues associated with them. This inventory is important for many reasons, including future work on in-depth analyses of governance issues in agrifood nanotechnology. The inventory and the paper outlining the results of the inventory will be released in February 2006. The paper resulting from this research is shown above.

Research project: Oversight for Agrifood Nanotechnology: Case studies from Agrifood Nanotech database

Research team members:

CSTPP researchers:

Jennifer Kuzma, Assistant Professor and Interim Director, CSTPP, Humphrey Institute
James Romanchek, MS Student, Humphrey Institute

A set of case studies from the Inventory of Agrifood Nanotechnology Database was selected for risk-benefit and governance analyses. Information on the case studies is being gathered to better identify and categorize the potential human health and environmental risks and benefits. Case studies will be used to consider the following questions:

• Are there current regulatory or non-regulatory governance systems that cover the proposed applications or products? If so, what are they?
• Do these systems address the risk and benefit issues? If so, how? If not, what are the gaps?
• What are other strengths and weaknesses of existing systems?
• If there are no current systems in place for the products or the issues, what are the possibilities under existing legal or organizational frameworks?