1. Madagascar Mangroves (Cooperated with Stephanie Ly)
These vulnerable ecosystems are areas of high biodiversity found along tropical intertidal coastline — oftentimes where land and sea meet — and serve a number of vital services such as protecting coastline erosion, naturally filtering water, and providing habitat for unique species, aquaculture, and building materials. However, mangrove forests are experiencing tremendous stress and loss due to a rapidly changing climate and drastic human degradation to the environment. It is important, therefore, to utilize remote sensing techniques to investigate the growth and loss of mangrove forests in remote regions of the world, as well as to detect changes and map its evolution across time and space in order to best monitor/manage this threatened ecosystem. By mapping such changes, we hope to provide spatial information and research on the health and decline of mangroves so that conservation of mangroves may be put into place. The region of interest for this particular project will be Madagascar, since the geographical extent of mangrove forests is not well known due to the remoteness and general inaccessibility of this country. As a result, it is a prime location to investigate and examine mangroves using satellite images from remote sensing as a tool to identify trends and changes, and provide some resources for future protection efforts.
Read more: <https://madagascarmangroves.wordpress.com>
2. The Most Convenient Neighborhoods in Los Angeles County
In traditional thought of China, the basic necessities of life could break down to 4 parts: Clothing, Food, Housing and Transport. In a busy metropolitan area like Los Angeles, time is money. According to Los Angeles Times, drivers in Los Angeles spent 81 hours idling on freeways last year, which is the worst traffic in the U.S. (Los Angeles Times, 2016). Everyone Angelenos would all agree that they spend way too much time on commuting. Among the 4 aspects, transport is considered to be the most influential element especially in Los Angeles, where traffic was in a horrible situation. It is really frustrating to stuck in car for an hour when you just want to buy some vegetables for dinner or a small gift for your friend, where from the buying of daily groceries to clothing is de facto a big part of our daily life. Furthermore, the more time we spend on road, the more fossil fuel will be used, the more harm to our environment. Therefore, it is important to shorten the time we spend on traffic as much as possible. Live close to the shopping centers and areas with a lot of access to public transportation systems could provide convenience for ourselves through not only saving time on one hand but also saving our environment on the other hand. The objective of this project is to find out the most convenient neighborhoods in Los Angeles, as well as suggest the ways to improve the transportation systems and community facilities to make the whole county more convenient.
Read More: <https://convenientneighborhoodla.wordpress.com>
Cecilia Tsit Ue Lam 