TBI Grants Awarded 2009-10

Applicant Funded	School, Dept., or Major	Project Title	Type of Project	Amount Awarded
Ilze Dzenovska	Joan B. Kroc School of Peace Studies	Conference "Greening Borders: Cooperation, Security and Diplomacy;" Workshop at Tijuana Estuarine	Border Activity	$7,000
Nathalie Reyns	Marine and Environmental Studies	Blue Crab in Bahia Magdalena, BCS, Mexico: An Initial Assessment of the Fishery	Faculty Research	$6,500
Elaine Elliott	Community Service Learning	Global Dialogue with Via Scholars Project	Border Activity	$5,500
Lesley McAllister	School of Law	Mexican Environmental Enforcement in the Post-NAFTA Era	Faculty Research	$5,500
Karla Alvarez	Joan B. Kroc Institute for Peace & Justice	WorldLink Program	Border Activity	$2,500

Ilze Dzenovska
idzenovska-08@sandiego.edu
University of San Diego, Joan B. Kroc School of Peace Studies
"Conference 'Greening Borders: Cooperation, Security and Diplomacy;' Workshop at Tijuana Estuarine"
Border Activity
$7,000

Description of Project:
Workshop at Tijuana Estuarine is one of the central activities of the working conference "Greening Borders: Cooperation, Security and Diplomacy," which will take place in November 2009. This conference will address shared environmental risks in the San Diego - Tijuana border region with a particular focus on trans-border water management. The facilitated workshop will create a neutral, inclusive platform for information sharing and open dialogue among key stakeholders on both sides of the border. The anticipated outcome of the workshop and conference is to establish a roadmap for moving forward and a collaborative process for continued work. Bridging local and regional environmental, human health, a economic concerns and priorities with national priorities for human and border security on both sides of the border will be the primary focus of this initiative.

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Nathalie Reyns
nreyns@SanDiego.edu
University of San Diego, Marine and Environmental Sciences
"Blue Crab in Bahia Magdalena, BCS, Mexico: An Initial Assessment of the Fishery"
Faculty Research
$6,500

Description of Project:
The overall objective of this study is to obtain data that will contribute to a preliminary assessment of the blue crab (C. bellicosus) stock in Bahía Magdalena. Our primary approach will involve quantifying the number of blue crab megalopae settling in estuarine habitats near Puerto San Carlos, Bahía Magdalena, BCS, Mexico. More specifically, we will determine (1) how blue crab settlement varies temporally and with respect to adult blue crab abundance; and (2) if blue crabs utilize seagrass beds as nursery habitats. The proposed study is a collaborative research project between USD and the School for Field Studies Bahía Magdalena Center for Coastal Ecology facility, and we plan to use a novel sampling approach that will involve local fishers to improve scientific communications with local stakeholders. Further, the data collected during this proposed research project will provide key data on blue crab population parameters that are currently unknown and hampering efforts to effectively evaluate the status of the blue crab fishery. We plan to make the results of this study available to federal and state scientists, and we hope that this information will help fisheries scientists to develop a management strategy to ensure a sustainable blue crab fishery (thereby providing economic stability to the region). We anticipate that this project will improve communications between Mexican and American scientists, and the local scientific and fishing communities.

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Elaine Elliott
elliott@SanDiego.edu
University of San Diego, Community Service Learning
"Global Dialogue with Via Scholars Project"
Border Activity
$5,500

Description of Project:
In tandem with the 20th Anniversary of the annual Social Issues Conference, the University of San Diego Center for Community Service Learning will partner with Los Niños International to host a Global Dialogue for Response-ability on October 5 - 9, 2009. The international, inter-generational, and inter-departmental collaboration will also include the new Via Scholars program.

The Via Scholars program will launch with six students of exemplary character, talent, and relevant academic study selected from the University of San Diego. These Via Scholars will assist with the production of the Global Dialogue, participate in roundtable discussions with the visiting leaders, and accompany them to both classroom presentations and public events. Via Scholars will also conduct preliminary research and interviews with the participating leaders and prepare visual presentations to be displayed on campus in the IPJ Rotunda during the week of the Global Dialogue. Via Scholars will receive scholarships and stipends for participation, and will be invited to attend an introductory workshop with Los Niños facilitators, participate in a trans-border Via VolunTour service learning immersion trip, meet directly with Los Niños' "Promotora" outreach workers from Baja California, and join a growing cohort of students and experts interested in international and trans-border community development and service learning work.

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Lesley McAllister
mcallister@sandiego.edu
University of San Diego, School of Law
"Mexican Environmental Enforcement in the Post-NAFTA Era"
Faculty Research
$5,500

Description of Project:
Over a decade after the ratification of NAFTA, many questions about its effects on environmental protection in Mexico remain unanswered. The present research seeks to contribute to the empirical study of the trade-environment relationship by characterizing how national environmental laws and policies enacted since NAFTA have reshaped Mexican regulatory institutions and environmental enforcement. In the context of other changes to Mexican environmental enforcement in the 1990s and 2000s, the research will particularly examine Mexico's National Environmental Audit program that was established in 1994 and has grown to include a significant proportion of Mexio's large regulated entities. The research will also seek to understand whether these changes made environmental enforcement in Mexico more or less effective. In these ways, the research will help fill the critical need for empirical evidence to substantiate the various positions in the trade and environment debates.

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Karla Alvarez
kalvarez-07@sandiego.edu
University of San Diego, Joan B. Kroc Institute for Peace & Justice
"WorldLink Program"
Border Activity
$2,500

Description of Project:
The WorldLink Program at the University of San Diego's Joan B. Kroc Institute for Peace & Justice provides year-round educational activities that connect youth to global affairs. The goal of this innovative, binational program is to promote international awareness by facilitating dialogues between experts and students. Funding from TBI will support the participation of Mexican students in WorldLink's events and publication of bilingual classroom tools such as the WorldLink Reader and newspaper.