Student Project Work

maintained by

James Kay

Undergraduate work

• Connecting Design with the Environment
  a WWW site by David Croft, fourth year thesis (Systems Design Engineering), 2000
• The Ecosystem Approach To Ecosystem Management
  by Andy Crobe, fourth year thesis (Geography), 1999 (Includes an extensive annotated bilbiography.)
• The Truth About Environmental Labels
  a WWW site by Kelly Gerus and Michelle Lo, fourth year thesis (Environment and Resource Studies), 1999
• Presence and Use of E-mail and the Web in the Department of Environment and Resource Studies at the University of Waterloo
  a WWW site by Christine Roenspiess, fourth year thesis (Environment and Resource Studies), 1997.

Graduate work

•    Understanding and Improving Undergraduate Engineering Education Master of Applied Science, Engineering, University of Waterloo, Waterloo, by Jason Foster, 2001. (P. Roe, supervisor, J. Kay committee member.) (While the thesis deals with engineering education in general, it also has a history of the department of Systems Design (chapter 5).)

• Bunch, Martin An Adaptive Ecosystem Approach to Rehabilitation and Management of the Cooum River Environmental System in Chennai, India Ph.D., Environmental Studies, University of Waterloo, Waterloo, 2000
  (Supervisor: D. Dudycha, Geography; J. Kay was a committee member, includes a review of Checkland's Soft Systems approach, adaptive mangement, complexity and the ecosystem approach.)

• "The Management of Complex Sociobiophysical Systems: Ecosystem-Based Management and the Chesapeake Bay Program , Masters Thesis, Department of Geography, Wilfred Laurier University, By Daniel D. McCarthy, 1999
  (Supervisor: S. Slocombe, Geography; J. Kay was a committee member and currently is Dan's Ph.D. supervisor)

• "The participatory design of an ecosystem approach to monitoring in support of sense-making: What's the Point?, Masters Thesis, Department of Environment and Resource Studies, University of Waterloo, By Richard J. Martell, 1999; (rjmartell@telus.net)

• Boyle, Michelle, "An Adaptive Ecosystem Approach to Monitoring: Developing Policy Performance Indicators for Ontario Ministry Of Natural Resources", Masters Thesis, Department of Environment and Resource Studies, University of Waterloo, 1998.

• A Self-Organizing Systems Perspective on Planning for Sustainability, Masters Thesis, School of Planning, University of Waterloo, by M. Beth L. Dempster, 1998.

• Oxley, Kate, "Education in Support of the Ecosystem Approach at the Huron Natural Area", Masters Thesis, Department of Environment and Resource Studies, University of Waterloo, 1998.
  Synopsis of the thesis (Thesis will appear in April 2002 as ACROBAT PDF)

• Dean Bavington, 2000 From Hunting to Farming: Exploring the Development of Industrial Aquaculture in Newfoundland and Labrador from a Complex Systems Perspective.(Dean is A Ph.D.student of S. Slocombe in Geography at WLU and I have the pleasure of being on his committee. This paper won theCanadian Policy Research Awards Graduate Prize, 2000) PDF File, (684K)

• Jason Foster, 2000, Readings and Reflections on Systems Thinking PDF file (320K)

• S. Hassan, 2000 Campus Landscape Study: The Conversion of Turf Areas to Alternative Forms of Ground Cover. PDF File, (132K)

• Dean Bavington, 1998 THE IATROGENIC EFFECTS OF ENVIRONMENTAL MANAGEMENT: SERVICING A NEEDY NATURE? (Dean is A Ph.D.student of S. Slocombe in Geography at WLU. This paper argues against the notion of environmental or ecological management as a corrupt idea, a position I strongly support!) PDF File, (72K)

• Boyle, M., Kay, J.J., 1996. "State of the Landscape Reporting: A Background Literature Review and Database on Monitoring and Indicators" prepared for the Ontario Ministry of Natural Resources, 101 pages. PDF file (256k)

• Leslie Woo: The IJC and The Ecosystem Approach 1996. Also check out the Toronto Bay Initiative which she spearheaded.

• Richard Martell: Multiscale monitoring: An overview of six Canadian initiatives (Acrobat PDF 202K, 39pp.)

WEB Sites of students with lots of content:

Beth Dempster is one of my Ph.D. students. She maintains an extensive and delightful and intriguing WWW site of her own. The focus is on self-organizing systems, post normal science, and planning. This site has a number of papers (following are some of the titles):

• Sympoietic and autopoietic systems: A new distinction for self-organizing systems
• Post-Normal Science: Considerations from a poietic systems perspective
• Self-Organizing Systems, Post-Normal Science and Adaptive Assessments: Conceptual Links for Practical Application
• A Self-Organizing Systems Perspective on Planning for Sustainability
• Post-Normal Science: Considerations from a poietic systems perspective
• Toward a Post-Normal Science: New (?) Approaches to Research

A complete listing of the content of her site.

Be sure and check out her provocative Snap-Thoughts

Dan McCarthy is one of my Ph.D. students. On his WWW site you will find papers which explore the new and challenging topic: complexity, governance and post normal science. A few example titles:

• Biodiversity, Information and Integrity: A Framework for Conservation and Management in the Chesapeake Bay Ecosystem
• Complexity Theory and Planning Theory: Searching for Common Ground and New Insights
• Normal Science and Post-Normal Inquiry: A Context for Methodology
• Governance, Complexity and Planning
• Governance and Complexity: Steering 'Poietic' Systems

A listing of the papers on his site.