Dr. Alicia Timme-Laragy, 2019 PEP Fellow, has been appointed by Governor Baker to serve on the Massachusetts Toxic Use Reduction Science Advisory Board

Alicia Timmie-Largay, 2019 PEP Fellow, has been appointed by Governor Baker to serve on the Massachusetts Toxic Use Reduction Science Advisory Board. The Science Advisory Board (SAB)'s primary role is to consider petitions to add or delete chemicals from the TURA chemical list and make recommendations to the Institute accordingly. Alicia Timme-Laragy is a developmental toxicologist with extensive experience in researching how early life exposures to pollutants affect health. Her expertise on the SAB will help inform science-based policy decisions for our state.

Matthew Lackner, 2018 PEP Fellow, publishes a piece in The Conversation explaining a promising clean energy project that aims to create the nation’s first floating offshore wind farms.

Matthew Lackner, 2018 PEP Fellow, publishes a piece in The Conversation explaining a promising clean energy project that aims to create the nation’s first floating offshore wind farms. Lackner writes that the strongest wind resources for clean energy exist farther offshore than where traditional wind turbines are built on the continental shelf. “A solution has emerged that’s being tested in several locations around the world: wind turbines that float”. This innovative project was made possible on Dec. 7th, 2022 when the federal government auctioned off five lease areas off the California coast to companies with plans to develop floating wind farms. Read more at The Conversation.

Paul Collins, 2015 PEP Fellow, comments on faith group's calls for Amy Coney Barrett to recuse herself from LGBTQ+ rights Supreme Court Case

Paul Collins explains that it’s unlikely U.S. Supreme Court Associate Justice Amy Coney Barrett will recuse herself from an upcoming LGBTQ+ rights case because of her former role on the board of Christian private schools that reportedly barred admission to children of same-sex parents. Collins says, “The allegations of a conflict are too broad to be meaningful and could apply to membership in a wide array of religious organizations that would effectively preclude many justices from ever hearing cases about any issues that remotely involve religion.” Read more at Newsweek

Paul Collins, 2015 PEP Fellow, is quoted in a story reporting that the legal battle over President Joe Biden’s plan to cancel student loan debt could be decided by the U.S. Supreme Court

Paul Collins, 2015 PEP Fellow, is quoted in a story reporting that the legal battle over President Joe Biden’s plan to cancel student loan debt could be decided by the U.S. Supreme Court. Collins says, there are “Signals that the court understands the time sensitive nature of what's going on and if they're going to say that ‘we're going to move this case forward,’ they'll probably do so fairly quickly.” Read more at Channel 12 News [N.C.].

Michael Rawlins, 2015 PEP Fellow, explains how lake-effect snow contributed to last week’s massive storm that dropped more than six feet of snow in some areas around Buffalo, N.Y.

Michael Rawlins, 2015 PEP Fellow, explains how lake-effect snow contributed to last week’s massive storm that dropped more than six feet of snow in some areas around Buffalo, N.Y. He writes the phenomenon happens when cold, dry air from Canada sweeps across the relatively warmer Great Lakes where it sucks up more moisture that then falls as snow. Rawlins also says models are predicting warming caused by climate change will lead to more of the precipitation falling as lake-effect rain, than snow. Read more at The Conversation, The Herald Press, WABC-TV, and Lock Haven Express.

Linda Tropp, PEP Steering Committee Member, collaborated with the nonprofits American Immigration Council and Welcoming America to author a new publication – “Cultivating Contact: A Guide to Building Bridges and Meaningful Connections Between Groups

Linda Tropp, PEP Steering Committee Member, collaborated with the nonprofits American Immigration Council and Welcoming America to author a new publication – “Cultivating Contact: A Guide to Building Bridges and Meaningful Connections Between Groups. The free guide distills the lessons from decades of academic research and insights from community partners concerning how people from different groups experience contact with each other and how their social attitudes and behaviors can be transformed through these experiences. The 24-page booklet describes how to foster greater trust and belonging between people from different backgrounds through community-based programs and initiatives. “We developed this guide so that it could be shared widely and freely – at no cost to any organizations that might benefit from the insights offered,” says Tropp. Read more at India Education Diary.

Eve Vogel, 2022 PEP Fellow, guest edits special issue of journal focused on Massachusetts’ use of Quebec hydropower

Eve Vogel, 2022 PEP Fellow, guest edits special issue of journal focused on Massachusetts’ use of Quebec hydropower. “The effort to import Hydro-Quebec power to Massachusetts is a very current effort with ongoing controversy and policy initiatives in Massachusetts, northern New England and Quebec, and with similar efforts in New York,” she says. Read more at The National Geographer and UMass News Release.

Julie Brigham-Grette, 2017 PEP Fellow, is quoted in an article asking if Antarctica will ever be habitable

Julie Brigham-Grette, 2017 PEP Fellow, is quoted in an article asking if Antarctica will ever be habitable. She says building a power grid across the continent would mean building across an ice sheet, which is liable to change due to the effects of global warming. Brigham-Grette is also quoted in another article reporting that the climate crisis has pushed the planet’s stores of ice to a widespread collapse that was unthinkable just a decade ago. “There’s nothing we can do about that now. We’ve just screwed up and let the system warm too much already,” Brigham-Grette says. Read more at at Live Science and The Guardian.

Lisa Chasan-Taber, 2015 PEP Fellow, receives a 5-year, $2 million grant from the National Institutes of Health to continue research that aims to understand how physical and mental health during pregnancy can help predict health in middle age

Lisa Chasan-Taber, 2015 PEP Fellow, receives a 5-year, $2 million grant from the National Institutes of Health to continue research that aims to understand how physical and mental health during pregnancy can help predict cardiovascular and mental health disorders in middle age. The research team, which includes Rebecca Spencer, 2015 PEP Fellow, will examine the association of pregnancy complications and prenatal mental health with cardiometabolic and mental health in middle-aged Hispanics of Puerto Rican heritage living in the continental U.S. Read more at GlobalHealthnewswire.com, News Office release.

Emily West, 2022 PEP Fellow, is quoted in a report about the decline in use of thank-you notes and cards

Emily West, 2022 PEP Fellow, is quoted in a report about the decline in use of thank-you notes and cards. “It's hard work to go and find a card, write it, go and find a stamp,” says West, who has studied greeting cards. “It’s like, who has stamps?” Read more at Axios.

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