Energy, Environment and Resources Center

Jack Barkenbus, Executive Director

Center For Clean Products and Clean Technologies

Gary A. Davis, Director

Office of Communications and Publications

David Brill, Director

Center for Geography and Environmental Education

Rosalyn McKeown-Ice, Director

Oak Ridge Technology Research and Development Program

Sheila Webster, Director

Systems Development Institute

Donald Alvic, Director

Pro-Dialogue

Mary R. English and David L. Feldman, Directors

Water Resources Research Center

Tim Gangaware, Associate Director

For more information call Gail Farris at 865-974-4251 or write to EERC, 311 Conference Center Building, Knoxville, TN 37996-4134.

Visit our Web site at: http://eerc.ra.utk.edu/

Campus News.  Carol Carmichael, director of the Institute for Sustainable Technology and Development at the Georgia Institute of Technology (Georgia Tech) visited the UT campus in January. Georgia Tech has incorporated sustainability within its 15-year master plan. Carmichael, whose one-day visit to UT was sponsored by EERC, integrates concepts of sustainable technology and development into Georgia Tech's core curriculum, research programs, and campus management. While at UT, Carmichael met with various campus groups, including the Environment and Natural Resources Interdisciplinary Council and the Committee on the Campus Environment. In a University Club presentation to a group of 45 students and faculty, Carmichael also defined characteristics that mark a sustainable campus.

Projects.  Senior Research Scientist Wolf Naegeli and a team of geographic information systems specialists and software engineers from EERC affiliate Systems Development Institute has been chosen to design and implement the Southern Appalachian Regional Information System (SARIS) for the Southern Appalachian Man and the Biosphere program (SAMAB), which is housed at UT. SARIS will build on SAMAB's extensive Southern Appalachian Assessment database and become part of the National Spatial Data Infrastructure. The use of a Web‑based mapping interface and regional data sets will make geographically referenced information about our region's resources more readily available, thus allowing public and private decision makers at all levels to consider sustainability issues.

Training.  The Greening the Supply Chain project, developed by EERC's Center for Clean Products and Clean Technologies (CCPCT), promotes pollution prevention and cleaner production in the automotive supply chain. CCPCT Associate Director Lori Kincaid, who is project leader, recently served as facilitator for a workshop with General Motors employees and Saturn suppliers. Director Gary Davis and Research Scientist Mary Swanson provided background on Life-Cycle Assessment and gave an overview of CCPCT's Life-Cycle Design Toolkit. Research Associate Jonathan Overly led the group in an interactive training session designed to familiarize users with the Life-Cycle Design Toolkit, which analyzes and compares processes used in product manufacture. The Greening the Supply Chain project is a first effort toward getting companies along a supply chain to work cooperatively to reduce their products' overall environmental burdens.

Conferences.  Senior Research Scientist Jack Ranney co-organized SAMAB's 10th anniversary conference, Community Solutions, held in Gatlinburg in November. Research Leader Mary English presented Building Communities by Building Smart Growth at the conference in a session titled Processes for Partnering with Communities. Ranney chaired a session on Multiple Objectives for Greenways and Trails. In addition, Laura Duncan, a School of Planning graduate research assistant with EERC's Water Resources Research Center (WRRC), chaired a session on Community Partnering for Watershed Solutions, for which WRRC Senior Research Assistant Ruth Anne Hanahan provided the wrap-up. Research Associate Karen Lorino organized a poster session. SAMAB Director Robb Turner presented Ranney an award for his outstanding sustained contributions to the conference project.