Miller Awarded Green Fellowship for Collaborative Research on the Environment

Department of Mechanical Engineering (ME) Ph.D. student Colin Miller was recently named a recipient of the Green Fellowship for Collaborative Research on the Environment, awarded by the University of Maryland's Council on the Environment.

Miller, along with Department of Fire Protection Engineering (FPE) Professor Michael Gollner and Department of Geographical Sciences (GEOG) Ph.D. student Kristofer Lasko, was recognized for his team's proposal, "A bottom-up approach to characterize crop residue burning practices and the associated air pollution emissions variation." Miller, Gollner, and Lasko's project will address uncertainties related to crop residue burning emissions variation. The trio will also work to map crop residue burning areas and quantify the potential to reduce air pollution emissions through altered residue burning practices and diversion into bioenergy for the Hanoi, Vietnam area.

Improved assessment of the imact of crop residue burning practices on emissions may be useful not only for environmental sustainability and pollution concerns, but also for economic and social sustainability. The findings could guide governmental practices or incentives to encourage farmers to follow improved residue management practices. This may lead to a reduction in biomass burning emissions benefiting the environment as well as public health and the economy.

Miller was also recently accepted into the A. James Clark School of Engineering's Future Faculty Program, which prepares doctoral students for career-long success in the academic world as mentors and researchers. Participants build skills in areas such as technical and grant writing, curriculum development, teaching, research, oral presentations, applying for academic positions, and interviewing. Miller is one of five ME students named to the 2016 Future Faculty class.

Miller is advised by FPE's Gollner, and Lasko is advised by GEOG Professor and Chairman Chris Justice. The Green Fellowship project will be co-advised by Gollner and GEOG Assistant Research Professor Evan Ellicott. The project furthers collaboration between the departments, which worked together through an earlier Council of the Environment Seed Grant, "Tracking the Long-Term Cost of Wildfire Emissions," led by FPE Professor Arnaud Trouve.

More information about the Green Fellowship is available online.

Published January 25, 2016