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Environmental Professionals Network

School of Environment and Natural Resources

CFAES

Connecting, Inspiring, and Growing through Change

Networks create pathways for solutions to arise. Consistent, open, and diverse relationships designed to build and facilitate trust, deepen knowledge, and build a shared understanding of complex issues are necessary for Ohio, our region, nation, and planet to rise above our individual and collective challenges. 

 


In the environmental field we know the challenges – biodiversity decline and ecosystem destabilization, the unpredictable and unstable perturbations of a changing climate coupled with persistent public health crises that are surrounded by political and cultural conflict. Environmental professionals and natural resource enthusiasts envision, design, and deliver the projects, programs, partnerships, and policies that effectively work through these challenges for the people and planet of today and tomorrow.

EPN has continued to enhance and spotlight those engaged and advancing this work. As a network situated within a public, land grant university, we emphasize the importance of science and facts to influence and inspire efforts that enhance environmental quality in Ohio and beyond. The 18 months since the arrival of the Covid-19 pandemic have restructured how we interact and work on issues related to the use and management of water, air, land, wildlife, energy and soil resources through environmental policy and education.  

EPN seeks to share advanced knowledge about environmental management to all who are interested. Shane Scaggs and Jordan Inskeep, current Ohio State students, utilized social network analysis {1} tools to evaluate and visually portray how individuals and organizations link together through EPN participation.

Their analyses provide an opportunity to illustrate the EPN network over a unique strand of time.  What we learned is that there is a highly interconnected community of environmental professionals linked together through the EPN, which has evolved and grown over the past two years. This page presents the highlights of this research and offers a visual overview of how the EPN connected, inspired, and grew our community of environmental professionals during this time of significant change to our traditional forms of networking and interaction. Public health and safety guidelines starting in March 2020 led to a necessary movement into remote, socially distanced EPN programming.  

From August 2019 to July 2021 the EPN hosted 6 in-person Breakfast Events and 17 Virtual Events. During this period 2,725 people attended EPN events, including 642 (23%) students and 2,083 (77%) professionals. The data presented here illustrate aspects of event participation from these 23 programs to highlight how we’ve continued our mission during these changing times.  

The monthly attendance rates by environmental professionals and students in physical and virtual formats for these programs are listed below. These data feature only those who participated (attended) an event. The statistics presented here do not report event registration rates, which are significantly greater than participation rates for virtual events.   A graph showing monthly attendance rates by environmental professionals and students in physical and virtual formats for EPN events. EPN Event Attendance from August 2019 to July 2021  

The dashed line shows when the stay-at-home order was issued by The Ohio State University and all EPN programs were transitioned into remote delivery. This graph shows that virtual events are attended by more people on average, but that total attendance at virtual events varies more than it does at physical events. Median attendance by students and professionals differs (students = 36, professionals = 94) although there is considerable variation from event to event. The average attendance for an in-person event was 145 participants during this period and 191 once events became remote. These data reflect attendance rates rather than registration rates, which is a considerably higher figure.


Select the sections below to view the 
NETWORK VISUALS AND DESCRIPTIONS

connecting

Graph representation of the entire EPN attendance network from the period of August 2019 to July 2021. Blue triangles represent virtual programs and red triangles are in-person programs. The black dots around the edge represent each individual EPN event attendee (both students and professionals). The EPN seeks to connect our statewide and regional community of environmental professionals around compelling topics. This graph is one representation of the entire EPN attendance network from the period of August 2019 to July 2021.

Blue triangles represent virtual programs and red triangles are in-person programs. The black dots around the edge represent each individual EPN event attendee (both students and professionals).  Each line connects an individual to the events that they attended. This graph illustrates how events can connect individuals with one another through both remote and in-person programming. The most well attended event was the Take Flight! Earth Day event on April 22, 2021, which is located in the center of the graph.
Graph presentation of the network of students who are connected to other students if they attend at least one event together. The red dots are the students, and the black lines are the connections between students. The lines that connect the dots are weighted to represent the number of events both students attended. In addition, the EPN serves as a location for young professionals and students to explore career pathways and expand their knowledge in various environmental fields. EPN in-person events are an arena for emerging leaders to connect with peers and professionals.  During the movement to virtual programming, EPN designed a series of career conversations between professionals and students, which were open to all students regardless of their university or degree affiliation.

This figure is a presentation of the network of students who are connected to other students if they attend at least one event together. The red nodes (dots)represent the students, and the black lines are the connections between students. The lines that connect the nodes are weighted to represent the number of events both students attended. Larger nodes represent students who lie on the shortest paths between other students in the network. These connections place them in a greater likelihood of serving as a pathway for connecting other, perhaps like-minded and interested, students. Although most students only attend 1 or 2 events, students who attend multiple events have the potential to serve as hubs. These students are important because they bridge between events that focus on very popular topics such as sustainability, Earth Day and land topics and more niche topics such as Environmental Career Ambassadors; education, health, and policy; and soils.

By attending an EPN Event you open yourself up to meeting and connecting with like-minded individuals from different occupations, organizations, and positions. In the figure below EPN events are represented as triangles. Events are connected if they had at least 15 attendees in common (i.e., 15 or more people attended both events). The events are colored based on their topic. One takeaway from this network is that EPN events focusing on the same topic tend to attract the same individuals, although there are also some pairs of topics that attract the same individuals. For instance, EPN Events that focus on energy, materials, and sustainability and land use tend to attract many of the same individuals.  The EPN network exists to help spur interaction and consistency in the environmental fields, which the data shows are occurring for students and professionals across a series of topics.  A graph showing list of EPN topics
The graph here shows event attendance by students and professionals based upon the topic areas listed in the table above. Some topics have had more events dedicated to them than others. In general, most events tend to draw more interest from community professionals than students. However, some topics are attended more evenly by students and professionals alike (e.g., Environmental Career Ambassador; Education, Health, and Policy; and Land Use). EPN event attendees are linked to thousands of professionals in Ohio and beyond.The graph here shows event attendance by students and professionals based upon the topic areas.

inspiring

The EPN wants to inspire you in your career. We seek to design programs, engage speakers and participants in a way that leaves attendees better equipped in a specific field or skillset area, and motivated to grow professionally. From August 2019 to July 2021 event attendees shared a series of comments about programs. Below are some captions provided by professionals about fellow professional presenters. 

Picture showing four panelist images from left to right: Darren Whitmer, Dave Apsley, Cotton Randall, and Jamie Dahl)
Picture showing EPN speaker Dr. Katharine Hayhoe juxtaposed with a quote from EPN October 10, 2020 event.
Picture showing EPN speakers from left to right, Jamie Dahl, Dani Gill, and Jessica Miller juxtaposed with a quote from EPN June 16, 2020 event. Jamie has a tree background, Dani's background is a green field, and Jessica is standing in front of a house.
Picture showing EPN speakers Ziigwanikwe Katy Bresette wearing a black t-shirt and a polka dot long skirt (first from the left), Sara Smith wearing a multicolored blouse and black pants (third from the left), Gidigaa Bizhiw Jerry Jondreau wearing a black sweater with red and yellow stripes with blue jeans  (fifth from the left, holding Josephine, his and Kety's daughter), and Rob Croll wearing a blue shirt and a khaki (sixth from the left).
Picture showing EPN speakers from left to right, Matthew Stanfield wearing a shirt, and Walt Bonhan wearing a sweatshirt and standing in front of sprouting leaves juxtaposed with a quote from EPN November 10, 2020 event.

Growing

The EPN was designed to help participants grow professionally, which includes building your network of people who share a passion for our world and its environment, natural resources, people, and communities. By attending EPN events and connecting with this community of environmental professionals you not only grow in what you know, but also who you know. It’s important professionally to have a diverse network of connections in the field that you are passionate about during times of change and transition. The EPN, moving into its ninth year, has hosted over 3,000 individuals at in-person events. The addition of virtual programs in 2020 allowed for a greater reach and participation from across state and regional areas. Natural resource and environmental organizations can expand their network considerably by attending EPN events. The bar chart below shows the average number of possible connections that attending individuals can make based on the number of events they attended over the past two years. Each red bar shows that average number of possible connections and is labeled with the number of individuals who attended that many events in white. The error bars show the standard error around the estimate of the mean.A bar chart representing the average number of possible connections that attending individuals can make based on the number of events they attend

For example, the 2,009 people who attended a single EPN event, on average, had the opportunity to meet about 500 other individuals who attended the same event. Furthermore, the 24 environmental professionals who attended 5 events during this period had the opportunity to double their number of connections. These data are clear— individuals that consistently engage with the EPN experience an exponential increase in the number of people with whom they can interact through event attendance.

It is important to draw upon community to maintain and take positive, forward-moving steps to address our ecological and climatic challenges and to participate in the opportunities to address them. Resources, like the network offered through the EPN, exist to help inspire you and promote your career growth. By joining the EPN participants are connected in a myriad of ways. This "community" of people, who share a passion for our world and its environment, natural resources, people, and communities -- local to global-- will be accessible in Autumn 2021 through in-person, virtual and hybrid opportunities.

If you are not already, join and get started with the EPN today!


Special thanks to Shane Scaggs and Jordan Inskeep for their work to develop the social network graphics and statistical analysis utilized in this feature. They developed the visualizations utilized here in August 2021 and are part of a larger summary of EPN attendance data. A draft version of this report is available for viewing here.  

Image of Shane A Scaggs Shane Scaggs is a doctoral candidate in Ohio State’s Department of Anthropology where he works as a Graduate Research Fellow in the Human Complexity Lab. His research combines ethnographic and ecological field methods with statistical modeling and network analysis to study the social and ecological dimensions of human subsistence. Shane has received funding support from the National Science Foundation to study the influence of forest habitat modification on subsistence hunting and wildlife abundance in southern Belize. He also co-directs the Social Ecological Networks Group, a graduate student-led learning and research collective that uses network science to understand complex socioecological systems. 
Image of Jordan Inskeep Jordan Inskeep is a fourth year Environment, Economics, Development and Sustainability major with a specialization in Community Development in Ohio State’s School of Environment and Natural Resources. His academic interests are focused on network analysis, social-ecological systems, and the effects of climate change on local governance. He is a firm believer in the importance of grassroots organization and in the future, he hopes to help communities develop a deeper understanding of the complex systems they inhabit. He also enjoys adventuring to new places with his wife, Maggie, to explore diverse communities and ecosystems. 

Reference  

{1) Salpeteur, M., L. Calvet-Mir, I. Diaz-Reviriego, and V. Reyes-García. 2017. Networking the environment: social network analysis in environmental management and local ecological knowledge studies. Ecology and Society 22(1):41. https://www.ecologyandsociety.org/vol22/iss1/art41/ 


Each EPN Event topic area received differing levels of attendance and participation during the August 2019 to July 2021 period. The table below shows total and average event attendance based upon environmental topic area.  

Topic 

Number of events 

Total Attendance 

Average Attendance 

Air Quality 

58 

58 

Education, Health, & Policy 

642 

128 

Energy, Materials, & Sustainability 

738 

246 

Environmental Career Ambassador 

109 

55 

Land Use 

689 

138 

Soil 

180 

180 

Water 

585 

195 

Wildlife 

1067 

356 

For more information about the two Academic Years documented in this feature then review the EPN’s 2020-2021 and 2019-2020 Academic Year Annual Reports.