China, here I come!

It has been way too long before I posted anything to this blog. Life has gotten the best of me. I will be graduating in three days (wahoo!) from Central Washington University with a B.S. in Economics, a B.A. in Russian Language, a minor in Mathematics and a minor in Political Science. In the fall I will be starting a M.S. program in Resource and Environment Management. I hope to eventually go on to get a PHD in Environmental Economics.

This summer I will be participating in NSF's "Great Western Development, Rural Peasants, and Water Policy Across China’s Loess Plateau: A National Science Foundation Research Experience for Undergraduates" (technically I graduate in August, though this is my last quarter as an undergraduate) Information can be found here: http://www.cwu.edu/~studyabroad/documents/NSF%202010%20program%20information%20%28email%20version%29.pdf . We will research to find answers to the following questions:

"First, how has the massive economic development initiated by GWDS, the largest regional
economic development program in world history, affected water resource management in
Northwest China? Second, how have local users, largely rural, marginalized peasants,
reacted to and employed their own creative strategies to reformulate central policy
according to their own needs? Finally, what are the specific environmental impacts of rapid
economic and infrastructure development?"

I am unbelievably lucky... and I am still in disbelief that I am going! I will be keeping my blog updated on this amazing adventure :)