Madagascar

Judi McLean Parks, of Olin Business School at Washington University in St. Louis, was honored with a certificate of appreciation from the government of Madagascar for her contributions to the development of the Mahabo region, where she has worked with students for more than a decade.

The island of Madagascar off the coast of Africa was largely unexplored seismically until recently. The first broadband seismic images of the island help solve a longstanding mystery: why are there volcanoes far from any tectonic boundary?

Lemur population has declined sharply since the 1950s. Through education and conservation, a WUSTL expert hopes the trend will be reversed.Using satellite imagery, GIS and ecological and demographic data from the field, Robert W. Sussman, Ph.D., professor of anthropology in Arts & Sciences at Washington University in St. Louis, has studied the effects of deforestation on the ringtailed lemur population in Madagascar during the last forty years. He has determined that while causes of deforestation vary in different parts of the African island nation, the total lemur population has dropped by more than half since the 1950s.