In the past 11 years, doctoral students working with John Byrne, professor of urban affairs and public policy and director of CHEP's Center for Energy and Environmental Policy, have achieved a distinctive record--five of them have won the University's George Herbert Ryden Prize for the best dissertation in the social sciences.

Their research has included such topics as bringing electricity to homes in rural China and enabling communities in the Philippines to maintain their local identities in the face of technological change.

"He's an inspiring teacher and research mentor and a key faculty member of our School of Urban Affairs and Public Policy," says CHEP Acting Dean Timothy Barnekov of Byrne. "I believe his students' record of success in Ryden Prize competition is unprecedented."

The Center for Energy and Environmental Policy (CEEP) was created in 1984 to explore the relationships among technology, the environment and society and to evaluate how choices in one area affect the others, Byrne says. CEEP supports both master's and doctoral degrees in environmental and energy policy and in urban affairs and public policy.

"We typically have about 65 students from about 20 countries who are working as research assistants in CEEP while they complete their graduate studies in the School of Urban Affairs and Public Policy," Byrne says. "From the outset, CEEP's focus was international, and we've remained true to that. We really have been blessed with outstanding doctoral students, and the Ryden Prize winners are the cream of the crop."

Those prize winners are: Cecilia Martinez (who earned her doctoral degree in 1990), now a professor of ethnic studies at Metropolitan State University in Minnesota and research director for the American Indian Policy Center; Shih-Jung Hsu (1995), a professor of land economics at National Chengchi University in Taiwan; Subodh M. Wagle (1996), president of an organization focused on health, energy, environmental, learning and parenthood issues in India; Bo Shen (1998), senior utilities analyst for the Delaware Public Advocate's Office; and Jessie Manuta (2001), an engineering professor at Ateneo de Davao University in the Philippines.

In addition to their professional positions, all these UD graduates continue to be involved in numerous projects involving environmental policy and to maintain their contacts with CEEP, Byrne says.

"We remain very active with our alumni," says Byrne, who, for example, is working with Martinez on a book titled Ecological Justice. "That continuing contact provides new students with a wide range of areas to work in, and it enables graduates to maintain their ties with an interdisciplinary group and cutting-edge ideas."

"The graduate programs are committed to inventing new ideas for a new era," says Shen, who, while a student in the School of Urban Affairs and Public Policy, worked with other CEEP researchers on efficient and environmentally sustainable ways to bring electrical power to rural parts of China. "CEEP provides students with an amazing number of research opportunities that allow them to link projects closely with their course work and research interests."

Faculty and students affiliated with CEEP have diverse academic backgrounds and fields of interest, from marine studies to social sciences, engineering to economics. Byrne says that mix of disciplines is a key to the center's programs and the students' success.

"In general, our Ph.D. students come to the School of Urban Affairs and Public Policy because they want to address problems that don't fit into a single discipline," he says. "That's also a CEEP hallmark, and it fits very well into CHEP's tradition of taking an interdisciplinary approach to solving problems."

Hsu, who continues to do work on issues involving land polluted by industrial production (known as "brown fields" in the United States) in Taiwan, says he stays in frequent touch with CEEP and especially values the range of expertise available there.

Manuta, the most recent Ryden Prize winner, has returned to his native Philippines, where he also is continuing to pursue the research he began in graduate school, involving the rehabilitation and conservation of the Davao River.

"CEEP facilitates an empowering dialogue among students and faculty, who are coming from diverse backgrounds and nationalities, on pressing concerns confronting our world," Manuta says.

--Ann Manser