HERO Program: Building real-world research experiences
The aim of the HERO project is to understand human-environment interactions by looking at patterns of suburbanization and deforestation as examples of large-scale human transformations of the landscape. HERO, which stands for Human- Environment Research Observatory, was created by Clark University in 1999 as a joint endeavor with Clark's George Perkins Marsh Institute and School of Geography, and funds from the Charles E. Culpeper Foundation. Thanks to its principal investigator, Graduate School of Geography Director B. L. Turner II, and a grant from the National Science Foundation (NSF), Clark's HERO program was part of a four-site HERO Network from 2002-2006. With the expiration of the NSF grant in 2006, Clark's HERO program now has immediate funding needs. Here, Professor Colin Polsky, Massachusetts HERO program director, discusses the program, what it takes to be a HERO Fellow, and the program's funding needs.
Q. What is your most critical funding need now that the NSF grant has expired?
CP: If we could have more funds for summer undergraduate stipends that would be fantastic. HERO is driven by undergraduate research during the summer. What that means, then, is that HERO doesn't work without summer stipends. Each year we select undergraduate students to be HERO Fellows based on a competitive application process. This year we have nine HERO Fellows. Once chosen, each HERO Fellow is paired up with one of three Clark faculty members from the Geography or International Development, Community and Environment Department who oversee the HERO program—myself, John Rogan or Gil Pontiusmdash;to work on one of our faculty research agendas for eight weeks during the summer. In the last three to four years that I have been directing the program, that stipend has been very small. For eight weeks of full time work, HERO Fellows are only getting approximately $2,700 or $2,800, which is on the low-end nationally‹especially given high-level of the work they are expected to do.
Q. What are HERO Fellows expected to do?
CP: To answer that I need to explain a bit about the three research streams for the HERO project. John Rogan uses remote sensing data such as aerial photography and satellite imagery to describe environmental changes over space and time. We call that geographic information science or GISci. My research, which is grounded in social science traditions, uses statistical analysis of socio-economic data gathered from primary and secondary sources, including interviews, to explain the changes observed by the GISci research. The third leg of the stool is Gil Pontius' work with land-change modeling into the future. He uses a computer-based modeling exercise by putting the information from Professor Rogan's descriptions of environmental changes over space and time, and my explanations of those changes, into a computer model that can generate maps of Massachusetts land use into the future.
Each HERO Fellow is aligned with one of these three research areas. They work full time with one of the HERO faculty members. It's an intense eight weeks. They live here in Worcester, and every day are involved in hands-on work. They learn how to use geostatistical modeling, qualitative inquiry and geographic information using information systems and remote sensing techniques. The Fellows who work with me are heavily involved in interviewing subjects around the state and analyzing that interview data.
Working on HERO is a very different experience for undergraduates because they are used to the classroom. This is an opportunity for much more independent learning, which can be painful at times. You come upon an obstacle and there's not always someone there to immediately answer your question. It's like a professional experience and that's how we view it‹as professional development. HERO Fellows are also required to enroll in an academic year-long HERO research seminar following their summer experience, which allows them to extend and refine their summer findings. During the school year we ask the Fellows to present their findings several times, including at professional conferences like the national AAG meeting. This structure often encourages the Fellows to parlay their HERO work into a Senior Honors Thesis.
Q. How can you continue with this work without the NSF grant?
CP: To date the Provost has been generous to support the summer stipends through an endowment, and we have applied for more grants, but it's definitely a challenge. Not only do we need more funds to maintain and increase the summer stipends for HERO Fellows, but we need funds for the operational costs over and above the stipends. We don't have any budget for things like occasional field trips and off-site interviewing. Every time we rent a van for an off-site, for example, we have expenses for gas, camping equipment, hotel and food. In addition, our interview subjects are not in Worcester. They are usually within a 100-mile radius of Worcester--which is like a field trip. In the past we've been able to have the students go out, do two to three interviews and then come back on the same day. Then go out again the next day. But we anticipate that the amount of interviewing in the upcoming summer or two will increase. It's quite tiring to do an 80-mile round trip in one day, and to repeat that process several times in a week. So we anticipate that students will need to stay overnight in some of these towns, which means paying for hotel stays, food and gas.
Beyond that, we have some equipment needs. To get the quality interviews we need, we need to purchase at least two digital audio recorders. We rely now on an audio recorder or a laptop with a mike, but that's not very reliable, especially when you're interviewing multiple people. Having the funds to buy two digital tape recorders--which might only cost about $200--would be instrumental to our research.
Q. What are some of your former HERO Fellows doing now?
CP: Many have used their HERO experience to gain access to excellent educational and professional opportunities. Some have gone on to Ph.D. programs at the very best environmental studies schools, like the Yale School of Forestry or a joint program between the University of California-San Diego and University of California-Santa Barbara. Others are teaching or working in the field of environmental studies and environmental science. We're proud to say that our HERO alumni are using their experience from the program to change the world.
Give to the Clark Fund now and help the University continue its tradition of creating innovative programs and learning opportunities, like the HERO Program, that will change our understanding of the world. Please give today.
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Each year we try to take our HERO Fellows to the national meeting of the Association of American Geographers. It goes a long way for the students and the University, allowing our students and Clark to shine. But this year we only have enough funds to take half of our HERO Fellows, which is very disappointing. 
In my sophomore year at Clark I saw a local environmental group make a presentation about their efforts to revitalize brownfields. I noticed that the map they used, which showed where brownfields were located throughout Worcester, was credited to HERO. Seeing HERO research actually used by a grassroots environmental group really piqued my interest in getting involved with HERO. So I came to the information session in spring semester of my sophomore year. When I heard what the program was all about and how challenging it was, I knew I wanted to be part of it. Today, I can honestly say that HERO played a central role in preparing me for graduate work, both in terms of providing me with the necessary research skills and the motivation to pursue a graduate degree.
