Environmental and Energy Policy Research | Social Sciences

Environmental and energy policy is an emerging discipline within the social sciences. In response to our social responsibilities and impacts on the natural environment, environmental and energy policy seeks to better understand human decision-making that directly or indirectly affects our natural world. Environmental and Energy policy—MS and Environmental and Energy Policy—PhD research in the social sciences department investigates this issue from a number of interrelated perspectives, including energy production and consumption, environmental governance, and human relations with the natural environment, emphasizing sustainability. Water management and policy is one of our areas of specialization.

Researchers

"Good things come in small packages—you can get a GREAT liberal arts education from us. Our graduates get jobs and enroll in fine graduate programs at universities like Yale, Michigan, and Johns Hopkins."
—Mary Durfee

Mary H. Durfee

Professor Emerita

mhdurfee@mtu.edu

Links of Interest

Areas of Expertise

Great Lakes of North America
International Law
Malta
Scholarship of Pedagogy
Arctic Affairs

Hugh S. Gorman

Professor Emeritus of Environmental History and Policy

hsgorman@mtu.edu

Fields

Environmental Policy and History
History of Technology
History of Science
Economic History

Research Interests

The historical interaction between technological change, uses of the environment, and systems of governance
Adaptive governance
Sustainable energy and environmental policy

Kathy Halvorsen

Associate Vice President for Research Development
University Professor of Natural Resource Policy
Joint Appointment in Social Sciences and CFRES

kehalvor@mtu.edu
906-487-3098
Lakeshore Center 304

Areas of Expertise

Climate change mitigation policy
Arctic climate change impacts
Energy conservation policy
Renewable energy policy
Indigeneity and climate policy

Nancy Langston

Distinguished Professor of Environmental History, Social Sciences
Affiliate Professor, CFRES

nelangs3@mtu.edu

Links of Interest

Areas of Interest

Toxics, forested watersheds, and northern lakes
Environmental history
Watershed change and water quality
Mining history

Mark D. Rouleau

Interim Chair, Social Sciences
Associate Professor, Social Sciences

Research Interests

Interdisciplinary studies
Social simulation (agent-based modeling)
Policy analysis
International relations
Sustainability assessment
Complex adaptive systems
Norm evolution and social influence
STEM education evaluation
Research design and methods

"Economics is too important to leave to economists."

Barry D. Solomon

Professor Emeritus of Geography and Environmental Policy

bdsolomo@mtu.edu

Links of Interest

Area of Expertise

Energy Policy
Renewable Energy Development
Ecological Economics
Emissions Trading
Geography of Energy

"All this information, this material, must be taken up and reconsidered in the light of man himself, and one must try if possible, to rediscover, beyond all the details, life itself... Everything must be recaptured and relocated in the general framework of history, so that...we may respect the unity of history which is also the unity of life."
—Fernand Braudel, On History, 1980.

Sam R. Sweitz

Associate Professor of Anthropology & Archaeology

Research Interests

Historical and Industrial Archaeology
Social, Economic, and Political Dimensions of Haciendas, Plantations, and Industrial Communities in the American West, Latin America, and the Caribbean
Issues Related to Colonialism, World-Systems Analysis, post-Colonialism, and Globalization
Relevance of Archaeology and Heritage to Identity Formation and Contemporary Social Systems

"Academics are the only people I can think of for whom this sentence makes sense: 'I'm hoping to get some time off so that I can get some work done.'"
—Sidney Verba