Research Publications

What is urban resilience and how can we make cities resilient in the face of environmental and socioeconomic threats in a way that is sustainable and just? Despite the rapid growth of publications and...

Life cycle assessment (LCA) measures the environmental impacts of a product in its whole life cycle from resource extraction through disposal. A good LCA study relies on the availability and qualit...

Research has demonstrated that traditional lecture-based instruction in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics leads to inferior student performance and increased failure rates when comp...

Automated vehicles (AVs) are becoming commercial reality, expected to revolutionize transportation sector and the way vehicles interact with their environment. Similar to other emerging technologie...

Generation of and demand for electricity must match in real time for the electricity grid to operate reliably. To correct for mismatches, system operators deploy a suite of ancillary services, incl...

Extended producer responsibility (EPR) is important to achieve a sustainable recycling-oriented circular economy system because EPR can guarantee that recycling companies obtain average profit margins...

One method to reduce wind variability is to diversify the wind power resource by interconnecting wind resources across a larger geography. This study uses a modified version of mean-variance portfo...

Residential energy conservation and efficiency programs are strategic interventions to reduce consumption and increase affordability. However, the inability to identify and distinguish between high...

This paper introduces a mixed method approach for analyzing the determinants of natural latex yields and the associated spatial variations and identifying the most suitable regions for producing latex...

Dietary choices affect both health and the environment. Few studies, and none in the USA, have examined these links at the individual level, limiting our ability to describe the variation in respon...

This study assesses the environmental impacts of different plastic film waste recyclingsystems using life-cycle assessment. Three collection scenarios, urban area curbside collection, rural area curbs...

This practicum was conducted for Northport Energy Action Taskforce (NEAT) and Levin Energy Partners as an opus requirement for the Master of Science degree in the School of Natural Resources and Envir...

Our growing population and increasingly variable climate conditions challenge our ability to meet pressing demands for food, water and energy.  With approximately 70% of U.S. freshwater resources...

Zero waste and sustainable materials management (SMM) are two ways of reframing the process of waste management, by envisioning waste as potentially useful material. Detroit has taken a step towards S...

Transportation electrification is playing an important role in reducing Greenhouse Gas (GHG) emissions. However, the GHG mitigations from electric vehicles is largely determined by the carbon intensit...

This paper provides a technical and economic feasibility assessment of a small scale Concentrated Solar Power (CSP) desalination plant for coastal communities in regions with high direct solar radiati...

The purpose of this study was to perform a comparative lifecycle analysis of low sulfur diesel, compressed natural gas, and electric baggage tractors for United Airlines’ seven domestic hubs (SFO, LAX...

An integrated life cycle assessment and life cycle cost (LCC) model was developed to compare the life cycle performance of plug-in charging versus wireless charging for an electric bus system. The ...

Petroleum from unconventional reserves is making an increasingly important contribution to the transportation fuel supply, but is generally more expensive and has greater environmental burdens than pe...

This paper explores the future of solar microgrids, as well as potential supporting government policies and structures, by analyzing rural consumers’ willingness to pay for electricity in the state of...

Plastic packaging is at the center of our lives as it is found in numerous products used every day. Increasing the sustainability of plastic packaging will have a major impact on the world. As one of ...

The Renewable Fuels Standard (RFS2) under the Energy Independence and Security Act (EISA 2007) mandates the production of 36 billion gallons of biofuel by 2022 for use in the transportation sector. Al...

Bell's Brewery, Inc. is a craft beer brewer based out of Kalamazoo, Michigan. Bell’s gives high priority to sustainability and has undertaken numerous initiatives within the company to reduce energy u...

The problem of accessibility to public transit is well-documented in transportation theory and network literature, and is known as the last mile problem. A lack of first and last mile transit services...