Allison Schnable received the Emerging Scholar Dissertation Award from the International Society for Third Sector Research. The award was presented at the Society’s conference in Stockholm, Sweden. The award is presented biennially for an outstanding dissertation that contributes to the field of comparative study of civil society organizations, nonprofit organizations, philanthropy, voluntarism and related issues. Schnable’s 2015 dissertation, “Do-it-Yourself Aid: The Emergence of American Grassroots Development Organizations,” was selected from 40 submissions from 23 countries.

Sanya Carley and David Konisky were awarded an Alfred P. Sloan Foundation grant and an IU Collaborative Research Grant (IUCRG). Their Sloan Foundation grant ($260,000), with co-principal investigator Steve Ansolabehere of Harvard University, will support a research effort on individuals’ perceptions of energy infrastructure. Their IUCRG grant ($63,000), with co-principal investigator Tom Evans of the IU Department of Geography, will support a project on tracking dimensions of household vulnerability that may result from energy and climate change policies. Both studies fit within a new research area for Carley and Konisky, which focuses on the energy and climate transition that the U.S. is experiencing, and imminent challenges that will need to be addressed as part of this transition.

Kirsten Grønbjerg, Kellie McGiverin-Bohan, Lauren Dula, and Rachel Miller published an article in Public Administration Review. “Local Officials’ Support for PILOTs/SILOTs: Nonprofit Engagement, Economic Stress, and Politics” used data from the 2010 Indiana Advisory Commission on Intergovernmental Relations survey of local government officials in Indiana administered by the Public Policy Institute. Many would consider collecting payments in lieu of taxes from churches, private schools, hospitals, and other local charities. The authors examine whether support for PILOT policies is related to officials’ personal involvement with nonprofits, their views on government nonprofit relationships, the type of position they hold, the level of economic distress in the county, local political conditions, and local nonprofit wealth. The findings support most of these hypotheses but also show that attitudes toward PILOTs appear to be shaped by somewhat different concerns than attitudes toward services in lieu of taxes (SILOTs). The article is in conjunction with a series of briefings by the Indiana Nonprofits: Scope and Community Dimensions project, used to inform local community leaders and policymakers.

Paul Helmke published a chapter in Guns and Contemporary Society: The Past, Present, and Future of Firearms and Firearm Policy. The three-volume set published by ABC-CLIO examines various approaches to firearms, including constitutional and legal issues, public health and criminal justice concerns, and perspectives on personal safety and self-defense. The work concludes with an informed debate on gun policy between Richard Feldman, president of the Independent Firearm Owners, and Helmke, former president of the Brady Campaign to Prevent Gun Violence.

Kim Novick received the 2016 Outstanding Faculty Collaborative Research Award from IU’s Office of the Provost & Executive Vice President and the Office of the Vice Provost for Research. The award recognizes the achievements of a collaborative team of IUB faculty whose research is making an important scholarly contribution. The award includes a $15,000 stipend to be divided among the project collaborators and may be used to support research. Novick will share the award with IU biology professor Richard Phillips. The two have co-authored several papers including, most recently, research on the increasing importance of atmospheric demand in regulating ecosystem functioning.

Noah Schmadel and Adam Ward co-authored articles published in Geophysical Research Letters (GRL) and Water Resources Research (WRR). In the GRL article, “Hyporheic exchange controlled by dynamichydrologic boundary conditions,” Schmadel, Ward and coauthors determined that hyporheic flow path residence times and lengths can be predicted from the timing and magnitude of diel fluctuations and valley slope. In the WRR article, “Stream solute tracer timescales changing with discharge and reach length confound process interpretation,” Schmadel, Ward and co-authors conducted tracer tests along a reach during a storm discharge period. The results stress the importance of characterizing the influence of changing timescales on tracer responses before reach-scale observations can be used to infer solute transport at larger network scales. Both studies address connectivity of landscapes and streams, a key area of active litigation in defining the scope of the Clean Water Act.