James Cohen - US grants

This study will examine the interplay of scientific, ethical, and cultural judgments in evaluating the restoration of natural and urban environments. Restoration has become a centerpiece of ecological and urban policy. Yet the concept of restoration is rife with ambiguities and conflicting interpretations. The proposed study, conducted by an interdisciplinary team of two philosophers, an ecologist, a geographer and an urban planner, will examine and compare the issues raised by natural and urban restoration. The investigators will focus on three areas where restoration projects are underway or being planned: the Severn River basin and the Baltimore neighborhoods of Marble Hill and Butcher's Hill. They will examine the diverse and sometimes conflicting visions of restoration that underlie these projects and, more broadly, explore the roles of science, history, and culture in evaluating restoration projects and adjudicating the conflicts they engender. The investigators will write a coordinated series of papers, reporting their analysis of restoration issues and their studies of specific restoration projects. These papers will be submitted to journals of public, environmental, and urban policy, and collected into an anthology.

This award provides travel support for students to attend the annual meeting of the Division of Atomic, Molecular and Optical Physics of the American Physical Society, held on 27- 30 May, 1998, in Santa Fe, New Mexico. This meeting is the principal meeting of AMO scientists working in the US and offers the opportunity for students to present results of their own research as well as meet their peers in other institutions and broaden their knowledge of AMO science. Student attendees are selected on the basis of a proposal submitted along with the travel request which outlines how they will be actively involved in the conference.