SSI Partner Institutions

Colby College is one of 11 institutions of higher learning in Maine collaborating on the SSI project. This unprecedented partnership helps support sustainability science research at undergraduate colleges and universities around the state. It also gives students opportunities to work with interdisciplinary research teams led by faculty from a wide range of fields.

Students are key collaborators on all research teams. As part of the Colby team, environmental policy and economics major Sophie Sarkar wrote her senior thesis on the conservation behavior of residents in the Belgrade Lakes Watershed, with the guidance of Philip Nyhus, Colby associate professor of environmental studies.

Sarkar told the Colby Echo that her thesis focused on “the knowledge and economic variables to determine how and why people value the lakes on which they live, including their willingness to pay for improved lake water quality.”

Such research, which will contribute to the understanding of social and economic issues surrounding water quality, is just one example of integrated educational activities led by partner institutions.