Kathleen
Moran
2002 - 2003
CEIRP Fellow
Research Interest:
Urban Ecology and Urban Forestry
Much
of my coursework, research and internship experience has
focused on the interaction between humans and natural resources.
The emerging fields of urban ecology and urban forestry center
on a nature that is more familiar to most people; that of
street trees, dwindled wildlife biodiversity and intense
resource conflict. My most recent internship has been working
with CaseyTrees Endowment Fund, undertaking a massive street
tree inventory in the District of Columbia. This inventory
includes assessing tree health, structural stability and
accounting for all environmental parameters of the planting
space.
I
would like to use this experience to develop a long term
unit on street tree health and management in which students
would be involved in developing an inventory and testing
it. Furthermore, I would be interested in developing a thematic
unit on endangered species. This would require long-term
teacher cooperation among various subjects so students can
overcome the popular perception of science as an isolated
subject. Activities in all subject matters can introduce
students to the important intersection of science, policy,
economics and creativity while engaging them in research,
debate and teamwork. I would also be interested in helping
teachers develop and implement hands on labs to help elucidate
hard to understand scientific concepts, which are covered
in class.
