Recently Funded FIRP Projects
Choose one of the projects from the list below to learn more (Note: year of award is listed in parentheses)
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The Unraveling of the American Dream: Foreclosures and Communities of Color in Minneapolis
Almost all of the research related to foreclosures fails to consider the role of household characteristics—a surprising omission because the effects of foreclosures are probably felt most acutely at the household level. Ryan Allen (Humphrey Institute) will examine the relationship between household characteristics and foreclosures. Working with Minneapolis Public Schools, Allen will create a unique dataset that includes neighborhood, household, property, and loan characteristics for a sample of foreclosed and non-foreclosed properties in Minneapolis. Using this dataset, Allen will estimate random effect models that indicate the relationship between household characteristics and foreclosures, while holding neighborhood, property, and loan characteristics constant. In conjunction with the Minnesota Home Ownership Center, Allen will interview heads of households that have experienced foreclosure to determine the causes of foreclosures and what effect the foreclosures have had on the financial opportunities and social capital of the household. Expected outcomes include reports for agencies that work to prevent foreclosures.
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Recycling Tear-Off Asphalt Roofing Shingles in Asphalt Pavements
Almost 20% of construction and demolition waste in the Twin Cities metropolitan area is tear-off roofing material, and 90% of this material is potentially recyclable. Currently, 100% of this material is sent to land fills. In 1996, the Minnesota Department of Transportation (MnDOT) adopted a specification allowing up to 5% manufacturers’ roofing shingle scrap in asphalt pavements. However, the use of tear-off shingles generated from reroofing existing residential buildings is prohibited. Unlike scrap from new shingles, the asphalt in old roofing shingles is highly oxidized, so it is very brittle and cracks easily at low temperatures. Mihai Marasteanu (Civil Engineering) will determine the optimum balance between new asphalt material and recycled tear-off shingles that provides minimum reduction in cracking resistance of asphalt pavements. The research team will work closely with MnDOT Office of Materials and with the Solid Waste Management Coordinating Board (comprised of commissioners from all metro area counties plus representatives from the Minnesota Pollution Control Agency) to develop a draft specification for allowing recycled tear-off shingles in asphalt pavements.
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Hospital Costs of SUVs and Light and Heavy Trucks to Themselves and Others
During the last two decades, the proportion of SUVs and trucks on U.S. roads increased from 22% in 1980 to 39% in 2000. Pinar Karaca-Mandic (School of Public Health) will use confidential micro crash data linked to hospital records to assess the hospital costs of trucks and SUVs in the Twin Cities area. The study will assess both internal costs (costs from injuries these vehicles cause to their own passengers) and external costs (costs from injuries sustained by the passengers of other vehicles, as well as pedestrians, bicyclists, and motorcyclists). Findings from this research have the potential to guide policy in setting optimal registration fees and sales taxes on SUVs and trucks. In addition, findings may have implications for imposing different licensing requirements for these vehicles. The research team will collaborate with the Minnesota Department of Health’s Injury and Violence Prevention Unit, whose mission is to strengthen Minnesota’s communities in injury and violence prevention.
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Manpower Planning for Transit Operations
The single largest line item in metropolitan transit budgets is labor cost. Transit authorities face high labor costs, constrained work rules, and variable workforce availability due to planned and unplanned absences, as well day-to-day variation in work required. Common practice to cope with this variability is to have a certain fraction of the workforce serve as extraboard operators who are not assigned particular duties in advance, but are assigned to open work as it becomes available. Diwakar Gupta (Mechanical Engineering) and Nigel Wilson (Civil Engineering at MIT) will partner with Twin Cities Metro Transit management to develop implementable approaches for improving extraboard sizing decisions. The project goals are consistent with policies of the Metropolitan Council that require transit providers to promote innovation, efficiency, flexibility, and greater diversity of options in operating and managing transit services.
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Arsenic Vulnerability Maps for Domestic Wells in West-Central Minnesota
In Minnesota, the frequency of arsenic contamination in domestic wells poses a serious and widespread public health threat. The Minnesota well code now requires testing of new wells for arsenic. Although testing provides families with essential information, it comes only after the well has been drilled. The best practice is to place new wells where the probability of clean water is highest. Brandy M. Toner (Soil, Water, and Climate) will integrate new and existing databases to generate science-based policy evaluations for placment and construction of new domestic wells. The project will include consultation with the Minnesota Pollution Control Agency, Minnesota Department of Health, Minnedota Geological Survey, U.S. Geological Survey, and Minnesota Department of Natural Resources to identify knowledge gaps and research opportunities. The major outcome of the research will be a new statewide map of the vulnerability of new wells to arsenic contamination.
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African-Immigrant Organizations in Minneapolis and Saint Paul: Development, Practices, and Financing
Successful ethnic enterprises offer an important path to economic security for migrants, and community-based organizations can help immigrants plan, build, and finance their businesses. Elizabeth Heger Boyle (Department of Sociology) will study East African entrepreneurs to learn how they achieve business success and the extent to which they use the services of community-based organizations. The Community Affairs Division of the Federal Reserve Bank of Minneapolis is assisting with this study, which builds on two previous studies conducted in Chicago (of Latinos) and the Twin Cities (of Hmong).
The researchers will consider how the Twin Cities environment and the cultural heritage of African immigrants interact to influence migrants’ businesses, and how and why African immigrants differ from other migrant groups in their business choices. To answer the latter question, the study will highlight four factors unique to recent African immigrants: religion, race, levels of remittances, and the strength and nature of community organizations. The study will entail in-person surveys with 125 African immigrant business owners and a control group of 50 other business owners. The project will provide information to create policy interventions well-tailored to the needs of immigrant entrepreneurs.
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Tilling and Composting Compacted Soils to Decrease Stormwater Runoff
Standard construction practices compact soils and decrease the infiltration potential of the soil. Compacted soil covered with sod can have the same effect as impermeable pavement, resulting in excess water simply running off into the street and storm sewers. Runoff resulting from construction compaction, rooftops, and pavement contributes to the degradation of rivers through sedimentation and erosion, the pollution of lakes and other water bodies, and the risk of flash flooding. It has often been asserted that tilling the compacted soil will increase infiltration and reduce runoff. However, this hypothesis has not been proven and the effect of these practices has not been quantified, leading many developers to resist implementing such practices.
John Gulliver (Department of Civil Engineering) will work with the Three Rivers Park District and the City of Maple Grove to test the hypothesis and quantify the impact of tilling compacted soil, and tilling and adding compost to the compacted soil. The goal of the project partners is to reduce stormwater runoff in developed and developing watersheds, reducing the impact of runoff on downstream rivers and lakes. The results of the project will suggest best practices for mitigating compaction on construction sites in newly developing areas of the Twin Cities that can be disseminated through the University of Minnesota Continuing Education’s Erosion and Sediment Control Certification Program. The project can also help to inform local municipalities considering regulatory approaches to reduce soil compaction and stormwater runoff.
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Using Historical Yield Data to Determine the Effect of Climate Change on Productivity of Spring Wheat, Barley, and Oats in Minnesota
Changes in the climate’s averages and variability that have been observed in Minnesota include higher average night time temperatures, higher summer dew points, and nearly a decade of above-normal precipitation. Understanding the effect of such long-term climate change on yields of three cool-season cereals (spring wheat, barley, and oats) is important for the producers of Minnesota. If these climate trends continue, cropping systems may be altered permanently and thereby erode crop diversity.
Katherine Klink (Department of Geography) will determine whether the observed pattern of climate variability and change in Minnesota has had an impact on the productivity and ultimately the acreage of spring wheat, barley, and oats. The availability of long-term yield data that includes historical checks from the respective University of Minnesota breeding programs will enable the research group to determine whether climate change has had such an impact.
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The Minnesota Juvenile Justice Transitions Project
This study analyzes the transition of young offenders from Minnesota juvenile justice institutions into their communities. We are investigating the following question: What factors impede or facilitate the “reentry” process for juvenile offenders? Whereas existing research on juvenile reentry concentrates on offenders’ post-incarceration experiences, this longitudinal study examines juveniles’ pre-incarceration, incarceration, and post-incarceration experiences.
Joshua Page (Department of Sociology) will conduct interviews with 50 young offenders—once shortly before they leave juvenile justice facilities and three times after their release. In addition to advancing knowledge about the struggles former offenders face as they leave correctional institutions, this study will pinpoint opportunities and community services that help them achieve their post-incarceration aspirations. In collaboration with governmental agencies and community organizations committed to reducing crime and assisting young lawbreakers, Page will employ the study’s findings to formulate policies that help former juvenile offenders transition to adulthood as productive members of their communities.
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How Intermediary Organizations Influence Human Services: A Comparison of Two Minnesota Networks
Nationally, an incredible transformation has occurred in how government works: a trend toward devolution and privatization, accompanied by promises of increased efficiency. Yet, the patchwork systems resulting from these efforts are filled with competing imperatives, contradictory goals, and siloed funding streams. The implications of these changes are significant in many fields, but none more important than human services because of its focus on our community’s most disadvantaged citizens. In practice, nonprofit human services organizations and government agencies are intertwined financially, programmatically, and operationally. Although such collaboration is often lauded as a better way to implement new policies, there is little research about how to build effective networks or reform existing institutions.
Jodi Sandfort (Humphrey Institute of Public Affairs) will compare two networks of human service organizations that provide safety-net programs to low-income Minnesotans. Using a comparative case-study design, the study will explore the consequences of devolved and privatized service delivery for public policy implementation, organizational effectiveness, and citizen treatment. Because of limitations in current theories, this study is designed to push understandings and develop propositions about the nature of government–nonprofit relationships that more closely match field conditions. The study will challenge existing policy implementation assumptions and provide insights as to the types of institutions required to meet today’s human service delivery challenges.
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Utilizing Local Mineral Resources in Energy Storage of Wind Energy with
Hydrogen
The purpose of this project is to analyze a new way to use local
Minnesota mineral resources to improve the efficiency of hydrogen
generation from wind-generated electrical energy. The proposed
process, if successful, will directly contribute to the state's goal of developing precommercial technologies to lay the basis for a sustainable energy infrastructure and a hydrogen economy.
J. Woods Halley (School of Physics and Astronomy) will seek to
electrochemically produce hydrogen from wind generated electricity,
splitting water atoms and generating hydrogen using local mineral
resources in the electrodes of the generator. This process is
expected to substantially lower the electrical cost of generating
hydrogen. The hydrogen generated may be used to replace
hydrocarbons both in transportation and in industrial production,
reducing their carbon imprint. The project is a collaboration with the
Minnesota Department of Commerce's Office of Energy Security.
Further development of the technology would involve industry (Xcel), state (Department of Commerce), and/or federal (Department of Energy) support.
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The Treatment of Estrogens and Estrogen Mimics in Wastewater
Exposure of organisms to
estrogenic compounds in the environment
has been shown to cause reproductive
and developmental abnormalities,
including intersex features. Effluents
from both the Western Lake Superior
Sanitary District Wastewater Treatment
Plant in Duluth and the Metropolitan Treatment Plant in St. Paul have been shown to be estrogenic.
Paige Novak (Department of Civil
Engineering) will
attempt to determine the fate of estrogens
and estrogen mimics in wastewater
when treated with a variety of
processes. The Western Lake Superior
Sanitary District and the Metropolitan
Council Environmental Services will
provide assistance. The project goal is
to determine how best to treat wastewater
to remove estrogenic compounds.
Once this goal is met, decisions can
be made as to how to optimize treatment for the protection of ecological, and potentially human, health.
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Bidding for MnDOT
Highway Repair Contracts: An
Empirical Analysis
Minnesota spends 9% of its annual budget on highway repair and maintenance. Patrick Bajari (Department of
Economics), in
collaboration with Greg Lewis (Department
of Economics, Harvard University)
and Diwakar Gupta (Department
of Mechanical Engineering, University
of Minnesota), will empirically
study bids that highway contractors
submit for contracts that the Minnesota
Department of Transportation
(MnDOT) awards. Working with
MnDOT and leading general contractors
in Minnesota, they will develop
econometric methods to study unit
prices (an important aspect of the
bidding data that has largely been
ignored by earlier researchers), quantify
potential inefficiencies in the
industry, and propose improvements
in the current bidding systems. This
project is a continuation of earlier empirical research by Bajari on bidding by highway contractors in Minnesota.
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Utilizing
Models of Data-Driven Decision
Making to Secure the Success of All
Minnesota Students in K–12 and
Beyond
Schools lack the capacity and
tools to utilize the volumes of information
available to them regarding the
progress of students and to translate
information into action—particularly to
ensure the success of students of color, English-language learners, and students from high-poverty neighborhoods.
Michael Rodriguez (Department of
Educational Psychology) will partner with the Minnesota
Minority Education Partnership to
develop a set of tools for schools to use
information on multiple student indicators
for school change and improved
decision making. The districts of St. Paul
and Long Prairie will be involved in
pilot testing. The project also will bridge
the identification of student outcome
indicators in K–12 to outcomes in higher
education. The project will involve
interviews with key stakeholders and
will result in two reports of best practices,
stakeholder position statements,
and user’s guides or tools for translating information regarding multiple student indicators into action steps.
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Assessment of the
Pilot Projects of the Emerging
Markets Homeownership Initiative
The Emerging Markets Homeownership
Initiative (EMHI) was launched
as a collaborative effort to increase
the number of homeowners among
households of color. Currently EMHI
is working with the mortgage and real
estate industries, cities, and nonprofit organizations to close the homeownership
gap between white households and households of color.
To complement
EMHI’s numerical tracking of changes in rates of homeownership,
Becky Yust and Marilyn Bruin (Department of Design, Housing,
and Apparel) will conduct a qualitative
evaluation of the EMHI pilot projects
selected to achieve the goal of 40,000
new homeowners by 2012. The pair
will conduct focused interviews with
pilot project staff members and with
heads of household who they serve to
identify strategies employed, barriers
experienced, impacts on the lives and
economic well-being of the households,
and the development of social capital
of the organizations. The outcomes of the research will assist in the development
of future EMHI projects and public policies to facilitate homeownership.
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Job-Housing Mismatch: An Affinity Model of Worker-Job Matching
Traditionally, travel surveys based on 1% of the population are used to understand travel behavior. Recently, much more complete data has become available to researchers and policy makers, allowing them to better understand jobhousing mismatch in a region. The Longitudinal Employer–Household Dynamics dataset, available from the Minnesota Department of Labor, includes residence and employment location information for each employed individual in the Twin Cities metropolitan area (excluding self-employed and selected sales personnel).
Using these data, as well as data from other sources, David M. Levinson (Department of Civil Engineering) will analyze the relationship between people’s choices of residence relative to their employment locations in the Twin Cities region. This project will extend travel behavior research to help understand the characteristics of people’s choices of residence relative to their employment locations. The central research hypothesis is that although travel time and income are important factors in where people live and work, other factors may help shape the commuting patterns observed in metropolitan areas. Certain residential neighborhoods produce more workers for a given employment district and in a given industrial classification than can be explained by travel time and income alone. By better identifying the causal factors in travel location, travel demand modelers, transportation planners, and engineers will be better able to address job-housing mismatches and imbalances between demand skills and worker skill sets.
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Land-Use Policy to Conserve Resources in Southeastern Minnesota
Local, state, federal, and international organizations have made significant progress in recent decades to preserve open space and protect undeveloped land in Minnesota. However, conservation organizations, often working with limited resources, do not always have a plan for managing these properties. One environmentally sensitive area without a comprehensive management plan is the Zumbro River and Weaver Dunes area in the Upper Mississippi River Valley in southeastern Minnesota. Wetlands, tributaries to the Mississippi River, terraces, and upland sand dunes in the area contribute to a complex landscape that provides critical habitat for rare, threatened, and endangered species.
As part of a larger project to help inform planning decisions for long-term restoration and maintenance of this area, Susy S. Ziegler (Department of Geography) will use geographic information systems (GIS) to define, delineate, and catalog the functions of landscape elements in Wabasha County; analyze current land-use policies of selected towns on the Mississippi, Zumbro, and Whitewater Rivers; and propose land-use policy changes that incorporate an understanding of the dynamic nature of the various functions of the landscape. The long-term goal of this research is to help The Nature Conservancy, the Minnesota Department of Natural Resources, the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, and other stakeholders make planning decisions to conserve the environmentally sensitive blufflands in the Upper Mississippi River watershed.
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Assessing the Impact of Microbially Influenced Corrosion on the Accelerated Loss of Port Transportation Infrastructure
Shipping through the Duluth-Superior Harbor, the largest port in the Great Lakes, has a $200 million annual impact on Minnesota’s economy. Steel sheet piling used for docks, bridges, and bulkheads in the port is corroding at an accelerated rate not seen at other ports within the Great Lakes. Replacing a 20-kilometer stretch of these structures may cost more than $100 million if the cause and possible remedies for the corrosion cannot be identified. An expert panel convened in fall of 2004 to examine the corrosion issue recommended further analysis to check for microbially influenced corrosion in the harbor.
Working with the Duluth Seaway Port Authority and the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, Randall E. Hicks (Department of Biology, University of Minnesota at Duluth) will attempt to confirm or eliminate the involvement of microbial consortia in the accelerated corrosion process taking place in the Duluth-Superior Harbor. The hypothesis that will guide the research is that species of ironoxidizing and sulfate-reducing bacteria are present in greater abundance at accelerated corrosion sites in the harbor than at nearby sites in the St. Louis River and Lake Superior that show little or no corrosion. Information about the structure, composition, and activity of microbial communities in the Duluth- Superior Harbor will not only help identify the cause of accelerated corrosion, but also will be useful for designing, testing, and implementing mitigation efforts to reduce the loss of the harbor’s transportation infrastructure.
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Preparing Minnesota Teachers for Diverse Contexts
Minnesota demographics are changing rapidly, as urban, suburban, and rural areas alike become increasingly diverse. During the past decade, more than half the total population growth in the state has occurred among Asian, African American, Latino, and American Indian populations. As a result, Minnesota schools are more ethnically and culturally diverse than ever. At the same time, the teaching force in Minnesota remains predominantly White, creating a potential mismatch between teachers’ expectations and experiences and students’ cultural backgrounds and learning styles. Minnesota’s teacher preparation programs are becoming more sensitive to the changing needs of diverse school populations and seek to better prepare teachers by heightening awareness of cultural issues and providing for culturally-responsive pedagogy.
As part of a collaborative effort among the University of Minnesota, Minnesota State University at Mankato, and the College of St. Catherine (representatives of the three institutional systems that provide teacher preparation in Minnesota), Patricia Avery, Benjamin Jacobs, and Mistilina Sato (Department of Curriculum and Instruction) will examine the critical teacher preparations experiences that contribute to the standards-based instructional practices of first-year teachers who are graduates of the three institutions. Using surveys, interviews, classroom observations, and document analysis, the project will seek to determine the relationships among teacher preparation program elements, new teacher learning, teacher support structures, and classroom performance in ethnically and culturally diverse school and classroom contexts. Findings of this study will influence teacher preparation program design throughout Minnesota and nationally, suggest recommendations for policy related to new teacher support and retention, and improve learning opportunities for students in Minnesota schools.
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Academic Risk and Resilience among Homeless and Highly Mobile Children
The achievement of homeless and highly mobile children in urban schools has profound significance for regional and national policies and programs aimed at closing achievement gaps among school children and fostering positive development and success for all children. Many of the children at risk for academic and related problems in urban districts are highly mobile. Data recently reported by the Minneapolis Public Schools indicates large gaps between homeless and high-mobility students and other students in the district on attendance and achievement scores. And in the Twin Cities, as elsewhere, homeless and highly mobile children are disproportionately from minority cultural and ethnic groups. Addressing the large achievement gap between low-income and other children in the Minneapolis school district is unlikely until the issue of school success among homeless and high-mobility children is addressed.
Ann S. Masten (Institute of Child Development) will lead a collaborative team of University of Minnesota and Minneapolis Public School researchers who, working with shelter providers, will analyze predictors and patterns of achievement and attendance among homeless and high-mobility students. Using state-of-the-art longitudinal analyses and three years of data across all grades in the district, the team will examine patterns of academic difficulties and resilience over time. Data will show how key factors are related to changes over time in achievement, including attendance. Additionally, the team will collect more detailed data about a group of 5- and 6-year-olds living in a homeless shelter to examine more closely the risks and protective factors for successful school transitions. Findings will inform district initiatives to address achievement gaps and mobility issues, and also broader community efforts to promote success among homeless and high-mobility children.
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Utility Rates for Reverse-Metered Electricity: A Key Obstacle to Renewable Energy Technology Adoption?
With its substantial wind and agricultural resources, Minnesota is well-positioned to develop renewable sources of energy. Advances in the science and engineering of renewable energy technologies continue to increase efficiency ratings and reduce capital costs. However, the transition to a renewable energy economy ultimately depends on well-designed competitive and regulatory structures that allow renewable and nonrenewable energy sources to compete on a level playing field. The 1978 Public Utility Regulatory Policy Act (PURPA) provided an important step in this direction. The act requires utilities to buy back electric power from certain qualifying utilities (primarily nonutility energy generators using renewable energy technologies), providing direct access to the electric grid. It also requires utilities to pay these facilities for “avoided costs”—that is, all costs that the qualifying facilities’ electricity production enabled the utility to avoid. Unfortunately, avoided costs are easy to obfuscate, and a clear inventive exists for utilities to underreport these costs. To the extent that utilities’ offer-rates to buy back electricity are based on calculations that understate the true avoided costs, the renewable energy industry is placed at a decided disadvantage. The forestalled transition to renewable energy sources, therefore, might be traceable to a poorly designed regulatory structure rather than a failure in the economics of renewable energy per se.
Arne Kildegaard (Economics and Management, University of Minnesota at Morris) will analyze how Minnesota utilities calculate avoided costs in practice and how these costs should be calculated as a matter of fair managerial accounting practice (considering capital costs, peak demand costs, congestion, and distribution costs). Based on these analyses, Kildegaard will assess the potential economic viability of renewable energy technologies, and provide recommendations regarding the level of fair pricing in Minnesota. Sources of information will include interviews with community partners from the renewable energy research and advocacy community, regulatory personnel from the Minnesota Public Utilities Commission, and marketing and engineering personnel from Minnesota utility companies. An article concerning this project appeared in the December 2006 CURA Reporter (download article, PDF file).
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Analysis of the Impact of Class Size on Student Achievement in Minnesota’s Elementary Schools
Parents, educators, and public officials in Minnesota have long been concerned about children’s academic achievement in the state’s elementary schools. The issue has become particularly acute as tight budgets at the federal, state, and local levels have forced Minnesota public schools to reduce spending. One possible consequence of the current budget situation is larger class sizes, because keeping class sizes small requires more teachers for a given student population and is therefore quire expensive. Although it is widely believed that small class sizes enhance learning, isolating the impact of class size alone on educational achievement is extremely difficult, and no credible study on this issue has been conducted in Minnesota.
Using a research method recently introduced by Harvard University economics professor Caroline Hoxby, Paul Glewwe (Applied Economics) will examine the impact of class size on academic performance in elementary schools in Minnesota using data provided by the Minnesota Department of Education. The research approach Glewwe will use is based on natural variations in birth rates in a given school district, which allows for more precise estimates of the impact of class size on student academic performance. The research project may also include various community groups in the state that work on education issues. An article concerning this project appeared in the Spring 2007 CURA Reporter (download article, PDF file)
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Impacts of Bus Rapid Transit on West Broadway Neighborhoods in North Minneapolis
Traffic in the Highway 81 corridor northwest of downtown Minneapolis has grown considerably in recent years, and congestion is only likely to worsen given the population increases expected in this area. To help alleviate congestion, a bus rapid transit (BRT) system is being constructed along Highway 81 that will offer transit service from downtown Minneapolis through the communities of Robbinsdale, Crystal, Brooklyn Park, Osseo, Hassan Township, Dayton, Maple Grove, and Rogers. The BRT system will run through the West Broadway area in North Minneapolis. Juxtaposition Arts— a youth-focused, minority-directed, urban visual arts center in North Minneapolis— is developing ideas for the redevelopment of West Broadway to create a more vibrant and people-focused pedestrian district. However, the organization lacks the expertise and resources to evaluate how BRT’s physical qualities relate to local design visions for redevelopment of the West Broadway area.
Kristine F. Miller (Landscape Architecture) will conduct interviews with decision makers and community members on BRT’s potential benefits to the West Broadway community and BRT’s fit with visions for future development; analyze the potential impacts of BRT on pedestrian systems, traffic speeds, and sidewalk widths; evaluate the proposed location and design of BRT stations relative to existing transit infrastructure and commercial nodes; and develop alternative design scenarios for BRT based on community input. The project will result in a report that includes an analysis of how BRT might impact the West Broadway community, and recommendations for revising BRT in light of community concerns. An article concerning this project appeared in the Fall 2007 CURA Reporter (download article, PDF file)
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Analyzing the Effectiveness of the Alternative Urban Areawide Review (AUAR) as an Environmental Review and Planning Tool
Minnesota’s Alternative Urban Areawide Review (AUAR) is a unique and innovative environmental review tool that provides responsible governmental units (RGU) the opportunity to conduct a comprehensive analysis of potential environmental impacts associated with future development. The AUAR allows for the identification of mitigation requirements for a range of possible development scenarios, and facilitates ecosystem-based environmental planning and regional approaches to addressing development impacts and environmental mitigation. Thus, the AUAR represents not only a useful method for environmental review, but also an effective planning tool. Given the increasing use of the AUAR tool, and growing concerns among state agencies and other organizations that the AUAR is being misapplied and inadequately utilized, an analysis of the tool seems warranted.
Carissa Schively (Humphrey Institute of Public Affairs) will analyze the effectiveness of the AUAR as an environmental review tool, assessing the appropriateness of its application and the quality of environmental analysis and mitigation that it produces. Using four to six recent AUAR processes as case studies, Schively will collect data through interviews with AUAR participants, analysis of AUAR documents, and reviews of documentation related to development and policy changes in AUAR areas. The research will inform policy makers about the value of AUAR as an environmental review and planning tool, will provide guidance to relevant agencies as they undertake or participate in AUAR processes, and may point to recommendations for AUAR policy changes. An article concerning this project appeared in the Spring 2007 CURA Reporter (download article, PDF file).
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Assessing the Barriers and Potential for Wetland Restoration in an Agricultural Watershed
During the last 150 years, more than 50% of the historical wetlands in southern Minnesota have been drained to make way for human settlement and agricultural activities. Minnesota derives great economic benefit from the state’s agricultural sector, which depends on a well-drained landscape, but society also has come to place increasing value on wetlands for the ecological benefits they provide. Although many farmers are interested in restoring wetland areas, overlapping—and sometimes conflicting—state and federal programs designed for this purpose make conservation work difficult and seldom practiced.
Gary R. Sands (Biosystems and Agricultural Engineering) will work with a graduate student in Water Resources Science to investigate the barriers and obstacles to wetland restoration in the Seven Mile Creek Watershed in Brown, Nicollet, and Cottonwood Counties in southern Minnesota. Using historical documents dating back to 1854, physiographic data, and interviews with conservation agency staff and cooperating farmers, the researchers will identify potential locations for restored wetlands in the watershed, assess the ecological benefits of these wetlands, and identify the barriers to and potential solutions for achieving increased wetland restoration in the watershed. An article concerning this project appeared in the Winter 2007 CURA Reporter (download article, PDF file).
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The Proliferation of Antibiotic-Resistant Bacteria
Although antibiotics are unquestionably one of the most important scientific discoveries of the twentieth century, the proliferation of antibiotic-resistant bacteria now represents one of the great public health issues of the twenty-first century. Many scientists fear the antibiotic era is nearing its end and that currently treatable diseases will once again become lethal. A major contributing factor to the problem is the release of medicinal antibiotics into the environment through human waste. Because municipal wastewater treatment facilities are not specifically designed or operated to eradicate antibiotic resistant bacteria, both effluent discharge from these plants and agricultural applications of insufficiently treated wastewater sludge can release antibiotic-resistant bacteria into the environment. Timothy LaPara, a professor in the Department of Civil Engineering, will work with the Metropolitan Council Environmental Services and the West Lake Superior Sanitary District to determine the extent to which wastewater treatment plants can prevent the spread of antibiotic resistant organisms. The proposed research will build upon previous work by characterizing antibiotic resistant bacteria previously isolated from a wastewater treatment effluent and by enumerating antibiotic resistant bacteria from two different sludge treatment systems. This research will identify how wastewater treatment operations can be modified to prevent the proliferation of antibiotic resistant bacteria and suggest regulations for the use of antibiotics in human medical practice and agriculture. An article concerning this project appeared in the September 2006 CURA Reporter (download article, PDF file). (2004–2005 Faculty Interactive Research Program award)
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Partners in Action for Teen Health
Partners in Action for Teen Health (PATH) is a multicomponent, school-based intervention project involving the University of Minnesota’s Prevention Research Center (PRC) and two North Minneapolis organizations, Village Social Services and Nellie Stone Johnson Community School. The goal of PATH is to reduce sexual risk-taking, violence involvement, substance use, and school failure among middle school students from the economically disadvantaged Hawthorne neighborhood. Significantly, the project employs a youth development framework that repudiates the traditional focus on social “problems” among marginalized and underserved groups and instead emphasizes a solution-oriented approach grounded in the identification of resources and protective factors in the community. Renee Sieving from the School of Nursing will work with other PRC investigators to (1) fully engage the PATH community partners in tailoring PATH interventions to a multiethnic group of students from a resource-poor neighborhood; (2) develop the first PATH School Report from student survey data, and engage professionals and parents representing each study school in dialogues around report findings; and (3) develop a PATH Implementation Manual that codifies strategies used to tailor this intervention to a particular context and describes processes that promote intervention adoption within a complex, real-world system. In addition to showing how students from an urban school can benefit from extending classroom learning to families and the community, PATH will provide a model for collaboration between teachers, school administrators, social service providers, University faculty, and college students in a program of youth development. Findings from this research project will also form a scientific basis for advocating long-term changes in school-based practices and policies that promote healthy youth development among young people from communities characterized by health and economic disparities. (2004–2005 Faculty Interactive Research Program award)
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Assessing and Forecasting Land-Use and Land-Cover Change in the Twin Cities Metropolitan Area
Land-use and land-cover change resulting from human activity have a profound effect on environmental and socioeconomic sustainability along the rural-urban continuum in Minnesota. Land change is responsible for up to one-quarter of all human-generated carbon dioxide, a greenhouse gas. In addition, land-use and land-cover change in urban areas and at the urban-rural interface influences atmospheric chemistry, water resources and hydrology, regional climate, heat island effects, habitat fragmentation, and biotic diversity and productivity. Leapfrog development of suburbs and exurbs can also lead to socioeconomic fragmentation, spatial mismatch between housing and employment, infrastructure inefficiencies, urban poverty concentration, and adverse effects on public health. Marvin Bauer from the Department of Forest Resources and Steven Manson from the Department of Geography will investigate two key challenges in addressing land-use and land-cover change in Minnesota: (1) the use of remote-sensing imagery to determine land cover in the Twin Cities metropolitan area and (2) development of a model to combine this land-cover data with socioeconomic and biogeophysical data to understand relationships between land use and land cover and to project future land use and land cover for the metropolitan area. Working with staff at the Metropolitan Council, the researchers will identify growth scenarios for the Twin Cities region of interest to stakeholders represented by the Met Council and create land-use and land-cover products useful for understanding the socioeconomic and environmental effects of growth in the region. An article concerning this project appeared in the September 2006 CURA Reporter (download article, PDF file). (2004–2005 Faculty Interactive Research Program award)
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