Bard Center For Environmental Policy Logo

Sample Master's Thesis Topics

Recent Master's Thesis topics include the following:

Air Quality

  • Projections of NOx and PM Emissions in the United States Construction Sector under EPA Off-road Diesel Regulations
  • Destined for Delay: EPA's Questionable Proposal for Regulating Mercury Emissions from Power Plants
  • The Effect of Retail Market Restructuring on CO2 Emmision Intensity
  • The Role of Emissions Trading in reducing SO2 emissions in China
  • The Implementation of Hybrid Buses into Chicago's Public Transit System: Implications for Air Quality & Public Health


Aquatic Ecosystems

  • Estimating the Non-Use Benefits of Establishing Marine Reserves in the Stellwagen Bank National Marine Sanctuary
  • Assessing Community Support for Marine Reserves in The Biminis, Bahamas
  • Evaluation of Habitat Restoration on the Bronx River
  • Genetic Interaction Between Farmed and Wild Atlantic Salmon (Salmo Salar) on Dennys River, Maine: An Impact Assessment
  • A New Global Governance Regime for the Protection of Marine Biodiversity in the High Seas
  • A Policy Analysis of Marine Protected Areas (MPAs) in the Caribbean


Clean Energy

  • Process Evaluation of the Governor’s Energy Smart Community Challenge Program
  • Energy Efficiency Theory Meets the Real World: A Case Study
  • Waste to Energy: Opportunities for Clean Energy in Brazil
  • Impacts of Windmill Visibility on Property Values in Madison County, New York
  • An Assessment of Community Responses to Wind Energy Development Proposals
  • Our Energy Future: Renewable Energy Technologies for the Reuse of the Columbia Boxboard Mill: A Financial and Technical Viability Analysis
  • New York State's Bright Energy Future? Advances and Barriers to Widespread Commercial Photovoltaic Projects
  • The Viability of Waste Vegetable Oil- Delivered Biodiesel as an Alternative Fuel
  • Understanding the Effectiveness of the Renewable Energy Act of China
  • Attributes of Success: An Analysis of State Photovoltaic Buy-Down Programs for the Residential Sector
  • The Influence of Interests in the Policy Process Leading to the Renewable Fuels Standard: A Case Study of Corn Ethanol
  • Examining the Role of Municipal Utilities in the Realization of Local Wind Energy Projects
  • Policy Options to Stimulate New Capacity in Concentrating Solar Power (CSP) in the United States
  • Emerging Job Markets: A Comparative Analysis of Renewable Energy and Energy Efficiency Programs
  • Can Utility-Owned Photovoltaic Installations Replace Diesel Generators In Nairobi?
    •  

Climate Change: Adaptation and Mitigation

  • Managing Climate Change Adaptation in Nepal: An Institutional Analysis
  • Towards a Reduced Carbon Footprint in Russia: the Role of Energy Policy and the Kyoto Protocol.
  • Climate Change Mitigation at the Local Level: A Study of the Effectiveness of Public- Private Partnerships
  • Mainstreaming Gender into Climate Change Adaptation
  • Greenhouse Gas Emissions Accounting: What’s Wrong with It and What to Do about It
  • Forest Carbon Offset Policy: Native Forests or Plantations
  • Interspecific Variation in the Movement of North American Bird Populations in Response to Climate Change: Assessment of Underlying Factor
  • An Analysis of How REDD Can Address the Causes of Deforestation in Burma


Economic Growth and Sustainable Development

  • Does Water Scarcity Pose A Threat to Economic Growth? An Empirical Analysis
  • Garden in the Sky: Therapeutic and Environmental Value of Green Roofs
  • Brownfields Redevelopment on Mine Scarred Lands: Proposals for SuccessfulCommunity Redevelopment From Visioning to Landscape Design
  • Constructed Wetlands as a Wastewater Treatment Solution: Feasibility in the Central Valleys of Oaxaca, Mexico
  • Improving Storm Water Recharge in Lahore City, Pakistan
  • How Impervious Surfaces Effect a Rural Town: A Case Study of Newtown, Connecticut


Ecotourism and Wildlife Management

  • Assessing Environmental Impacts of Tourism and Trade-Related Services Liberalism: The Case of Beach Cleanliness in Brazil
  • Potential Impact on Tourism of Wolf Reintroduction in the Adirondacks
  • Economic Viability of a Trail System in Costa Rica
  • An Evaluation Of The Potential For Sunday Hunting Repeals To Generate Increased Funding For State Wildlife Management Agencies


Education and Science Research

  • A New Approach to Environmental Research at the National Science Foundation
  • Barriers to Place-based Environmental Education
  • Reading and Analyzing Environmental Literature in a Secondary Classroom: Implications for Environmental Policy
  • Producers and Users of Environmental Science:  New York’s Environmental Monitoring, Evaluation, and Protection Program as a Model Boundary Organization


Environmental Justice and Public Health

  • Environmental Justice Assessment: The Case of Ferry Point Park, New York
  • Why the Lack of Racial/ Ethnic Representationin the U.S. Conservation- Biology Profession
  • Prioritizing Sites for Integrated Pest Management in New York State Public Schools
  • Contentious Citizens: Analyses of Citizens Movements Against Nuclear Power Plant Siting in Japan
  • How poverty affects sanitation behavior in rural Banglades
  • Towards Environmental Justice: An Analysis of the Brownfields Remediation Act


Food and Agricultural Policy

  • The Assessment of Integrated Pest Management in Orange and Ulster Counties New York
  • Impact of HIV-AIDS on Food and Farming in Malawi
  • Barriers to Marketing for Small-Scale Livestock Producers: The Case of Slaughter Facilities
  • The International Treaty on Plant Genetic Resources for Food and Agriculture: Taking Stock and Moving forward
  • Thought for Food: Can Potato Late Blight be Controlled Without Harming Public Health?
  • Lead Contamination in Urban Agriculture and Policy Implications in Buea, Cameroon
  • Moving Millennials: Engaging Youth with Food and Agriculture Policy
  • An Assessment of the Value of Multifunctional Agriculture in Vermont
  • Agricultural Best Management Practices and Co-Benefit Opportunities in the Central Valleys of Oaxaca, Mexico
  • Overcoming Endemic Hunger: The International Food Aid Regime Response


Greening Business

  • Corporate Social Responsibility: Finding Common Ground
  • The Driving Forces Behind the Use of Compact Fluorescent Lamps In Five Hotel Chains
  • Barriers to Adoption of Energy-Efficiency Measures Among Small Businesses in New York’s Main Street Areas
  • Corporate Purchasing as a Driver for Environmental Change: Challenges and Recommendations
  • Barriers to Mitigating Hospital Waste
  • Home Runs and Global Hectares: Assesing Major League Baseball's Enviornmental Impact Using Ecological Footprint Analysis
  • Greening Hotels: Examining Benefits, Barriers, and Solutions


International Concerns

  • Sharing the Wealth: Public Revenue Management in Peru and the Camisea Natural Gas Project
  • The Energy Community in Eastern Europe: Overcoming Barriers to Implementation
  • Influence of the Opium Ban on Transboundary Illegal Logging on the Forrest of Northern Shan State of Myanmar: A Case of Phartan Village
  • The Role of Enviornmental Security in the Frozen Conflict Areas of the South Caucasus


Land Preservation

  • Making Choices: Strategy and Site Selection by Land Trusts
  • Policies and Practices of Land Trusts in the Hudson River Valley
  • Appraising Conservation Easement Donations: The Need for More Uniform Standards and Greater Oversight
  • Losing Our Ground: Farmland Preservation in New Jersey
  • An Examination of the Conservation Easement Stewardship Policies of the Appalachian Trail Conservancy and How They Relate to National Trends
  • Strategies for Enhancing the Protection of Maryland’s Farmland


Land Use, Zoning and Smart Growth

  • Projecting Fiscal Impacts of Proposed Land Use Regulations: Methodology and Critical Analysis
  • Do Zoning Codes Implement Goals of Comprehensive Town Plans? Preserving Rural Character in Red Hook
  • "Smart Growth" Policies at the State Level: Designing a Tool to Measure Progress
  • Re-Zoning West of Walkill, New Paltz: A Conservation Oriented Build-Out and Fiscal Impact Analysis
  • Purchase of Development Rights: Is the Tool Right for the Job?
  • A Build-out Analysis of the Town of Clermont
  • Mapping Culturally and Environmentally Sensitive Sites in Clermont, New York for Comprehensive Town Planning
  • Growth Control Regulation Externalities: A Measure of Spatial Spillovers
  • The Role of Community Boards in Conserving Biodiversity through Land Use Decisions in New York City
  • The Implications of New York City’s Decreasing Manufacturing Space


Natural Resource Conservation and Manangement

  • Exploring Educational Approaches to Advancing Landscape Scale Conservation
  • Plant Conservation in the United States: Long-Term Strategies for Policy Makers and the Non-Governmental Community
  • Visual Preferences and Perceptions of Timber Harvesting Among Pre-Professionals
  • Preventing Invasive Species Through A Clean List Approach: Political, Scientific and Economic Considerations
  • Social, Psychological, and Demographic Influences on Phragmites australis Management
  • The Europeanization of Bulgaria’s Biodiversity Policy: Effective Means for Domestic Change?
  • Valuing Select Nonmarketed Forest Products in the Western Balkans: A Meta-Analysis Approach
  • The Collaborative Shift: An Evaluative Study of El Salvador’s Current Biodiversity Conservation Paradigm
  • Qinghai Tibet Plateau Grassland Restoration Policies and Their Impacts on Local Ecology


Pollution Prevention and Regulatory Review

  • Natural Gas Extraction from the Marcellus Formation in Pennsylvania: Environmental Impacts and Possible Policy Responses for State Parks
  • The Marcellus Shale in Pennsylvania: A Technical, Environmental, and Regulatory Examination
  • A Critical Analysis of Colorado’s Environmental Covenant Law


Waste Reducation

  • Kenaf: An Alternative Crop to Clean Up the Mess
  • An Evaluation of Maryland’s Voluntary Cleanup Program (VCP)
  • Computer E-waste in India: A Blueprint for Change
  • Food-and-Yard Wastes: Challenges and Opportunities in Reducing the Waste Stream
  • Household food waste: environmental options from collection to disposal
  • The Viability of Ethanol Production from Urban Waste Biomass for New York State: A Social Cost Analysis


Water Policy

  • Offset Projects: Success and Suitability in Addressing Water Quality Impairment
  • Wetland Indicators & Assessment Approaches: Making Progress Towards Clean Water Act Compliance
  • Gender Mainstreaming, the Integration of Women in Decision-making: The Case of Water Management in Samari, Ghana
  • Contingent Valutation of Improved Water Services in Oaxaca, Mexico
  • Applying a Watershed Approach to Restore and Protect Wetlands in Orange County, New York
  • Where's the Water? Perspectives on Water Conservation in Upland Villiages in the Oaxaca, Mexico
  • The Value of Drinking Water in Oaxaca City: An Averting Behaviors Approach
  • Aligning Water Quality Needs With a Quantity Policy Framework: An Analysis of Namibia and South Africa
  • Saratoga Springs' Drinking Water Supply: Water Quality, Watershed, and Cost-Based Policy Solutions for the Supplemental Water Source Debate
  • Watershed Partnership Initiatives and Stakeholder Engagement in the Lower Hudson River Watershed
  • The Politics of Water Reform in Oaxaca, Mexico