LIGHT COVERAGE ON COLBY COLLEGE CAMPUS

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WIND TURBINE VISIBILITY ON THE COLBY CAMPUS

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Gravity: a new play by Greg Belanger

Gravity was first performed at Strider Theatre, Colby College in Waterville, Maine. It was directed by the author with the following cast: STEVEN: Harold Withee PAMELA: Sue Larsen JEREMY: Jason Reifler IXXTOR: Amanda Starr MOTHER: Catherine C. Coyne BREIT: Scott W. Cole TONI: Laura Smishkiss

Dancing with Mr. Penrose and other stories

Stories: Fallen Angel The Inheritance Schlog's Dance The New World Dancing With Mr. Penrose

The Old Road

The plot consists of the progression which the characters undergo. For the old man, the plot is his movement away from the earthly existence of the farm and into the physical process of the seasons. For the older grandson, it is the movement away from the past, symbolized by the farm, and into the present symbolized by his marriage and coupling with society. For the younger grandson, the movement is from childhood to the maturity which being alone demands in order for him to survive.

Affordable Housing in Kennebec County

The U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development defines affordable housing as a household paying no more than 30 percent of its annual income on housing. That is, families who pay more than 30 percent of their income on housing are considered cost burdened and may have difficulty affording necessities such as food, clothing, healthcare, and transportation. This project focused on Kennebec County, Maine. Between 1990 and 2000, market demand for housing increased at a faster rate than did the supply of housing. Despite the addition of 6,719 homes, the average home price increased faster than average household income. This raises the question of just how many households in Kennebec County are facing unaffordable housing. Using shapefiles and data provided by the US Census Bureau, a map was created with ArcGIS to illustrate the percentage of households, down to the Census Block level of detail, that are paying more than 30 percent of their income to housing. By looking at this information I was able to get a better picture of the housing situation and where in the county households are having the hardest time meeting their needs. The results indicate that households in the more urbanized sections of the county are more likely than rurally located households to be facing unaffordable housing. Namely, Waterville and Augusta held the highest percentage of households paying more than 30 percent of their income for housing.

Exploring The Spatial Relationships Between Human-Tiger Conflicts In Peninsular Malaysia and Sumatra

Large-carnivores and humans are increasingly in conflict as humans encroach on their natural territory. As a result, many large-carnivore species have become endangered due to habitat destruction, prey reduction and retaliatory killings from conflicts. No global internet database, however, exists to document, monitor and evaluate these conflicts, particularly to take advantage of the growing spatial resources available. Using human-tiger conflicts in Malaysia and Sumatra as a case study, this project explores how such a database could be created. GIS was used to conduct multiple analyses on the data obtained about these conflicts. We conclude that a database would require data to be compiled according to a protocol based on these spatial scales: Point, Sub-State Polygon and Provincial.

Wind Turbine Visibility on the Colby Campus

This project was designed to demonstrate the visibility of potential future wind turbines built on the Colby campus. We conducted viewshed analyses in ArcGIS on three different potential turbine sites to determine the visibility of the turbines within a 10km radius. We found that the Runnals hill turbine would be visible to the largest area and the largest number of residents.

Light Coverage on Colby College Campus

Outdoor lighting is an essential component for nighttime safety on college campuses. Outdoor lighting on Colby College campus is not uniform, leaving some areas with minimal light. The purpose of this project is to analytically evaluate if and where major walkways on Colby College have inadequate lighting. While we were unable to define inadequate lighting, we found that most paths on campus do appear to be well lit, while in general open spaces on campus have the lowest light levels.

Using GIS Network Analyst to Identify Suppliers for a Produce Co-op in Waterville, ME

The idea for organizing a cooperative market on Waterville Main Street was proposed by Aime Schwartz in the fall of 2008. The Co-op would entail an open market located on Main Street to provide fresh, local produce and crafts to town locals. Through shorter delivery distances and agreements with local farmers, the co-op theoretically will offer consumers lower prices on produce than can be found in conventional grocery stores, as well as an opportunity to support local agriculture. One of the tasks involved with organizing the Co-op is to source all of the produce from among the hundreds of farmers located in Maine. The purpose of this project is to show how Geographic Information System (GIS) tools can be used to help the Co-op and other businesses a) site nearby farms that carry desired produce and products, and b) determine which farms are closest to the business site. Using GIS for this purpose will make it easier and more efficient to source produce suppliers, and reduce the workload on business planners. GIS Network Analyst is a tool that provides network-based spatial analysis, and can be used in conjunction with traditional GIS technologies to determine not only the geometric distance between points, but also distance over existing networks (like roads). We used Network Analyst to find the closest produce suppliers to the Co-op for specific produce items, and compute how far they are over existing roads. This will enable business planners to source potential suppliers by distance before contacting individual farmers, allowing for more efficient use of their time and a faster planning process.

Modeling Potential Tiger Habitat in Hupingshan-Houhe and Mangshan-Nanling National Nature Reserves, China

After declining steadily for several decades, the South China tiger (Panthera tigris amoyensis) is now thought to be extinct in the wild. However, there is some hope of reintroduction, with Hupingshan-Houhe and Mangshan-Nanling National Nature Reserves in southern China seeming to hold the most promise. Our study used slope, elevation, vegetation, and landcover variables to construct a rough habitat suitability index for tigers in these two parks. According to our model, there are areas of suitable habitat within both parks. However, there are some important variables that we were unable to include in our model, such as human population density and prey availability. Considerable in-depth research will be necessary to evaluate the suitability of these locations before reintroduction is considered.

A Visibility Analysis of the Cape Wind Project

Cape Wind has proposed a wind farm of 130 turbines on Horseshoe Shoal in the center of Nantucket Sound. A prominent concern about the project is the impact the visibility of the turbines will have on the region's tourism industry and property values. It is feared that their presence will diminish the value of the pristine coastline that has attracted vacationers to Cape Cod for generations. In this project, we assess the extent to which Cape Cod, Martha's Vineyard, and Nantucket will be visually affected by the wind farm. It was completed using a Viewshed Analysis in the GIS program, ArcMap, from the surface, mean, and maximum height of the towers. These Viewsheds were combined to give a comprehensive perspective of which areas are able to see the highest percent of the wind farm. Finally, a weighted land use value was applied to the Viewshed to account for the impact of land use on the ability to see the project. The objective of this analysis is to provide a visual representation of how great an influence the wind farm will in fact have on Cape Cod.

The Carbon Emissions of the Boston Red Sox

The Boston Red Sox emit a great deal of carbon throughout the regular baseball season because of flights to the home fields of their opponents. Knowing that air travel is one of the biggest transportation-based contributors to global climate change, the Boston Red Sox (and all major league teams) should be encouraged to offset their carbon emissions from regular season travel. Using ArcGIS to map the flight paths along great circle routes, the distance of flights to opponents’ cities was calculated to total the number of miles traveled in the 2008 season. The price of offsetting this carbon was estimated using the calculators of carbon offset retailers, such as Native Energy, a Vermont-based retailer. This project provides the potential costs of offsetting the carbon emitted from Red Sox air travel. To take the lead in the future of the Northeast, the Red Sox should begin to consider their contribution to climate change.