One of the strengths of the Sustainable Development and Conservation Biology (CONS) program is the diversity of resources offered by a major university. A large number of faculty from a variety of campus units, as well as staff from government and non-government conservation and development organizations work closely with the CONS program. These units of the University and off-campus organizations include:

I. University of Maryland, College Park Campus

A. Sustainable Development and Conservation Biology Program
The CONS program is campus-wide in scope but was originated and is directed by faculty from the Department of Biology. As a non-thesis Master's of Science degree program, the CONS program does not require original research and therefore, does not assign individual thesis advisors. Students are required to write a scholarly paper and are expected to develop a particular area of expertise within the program. The Director, Associate Director, and other faculty participating in the program are available for advising. The program also has some adjunct faculty members.

B. Department of Biology
Most CONS students take their core ecology course and som elective courses in the Department of Biology, which includes faculty members with primary interests in ecology,
evolution, and behavioral biology (many of these are participants in the BEES graduate program in Behavior, Ecology, Evolution, and Systematics). Research is conducted in marine, freshwater and terrestrial environments, and in tropical as well as temperate locales (the University is a member of the Organization for Tropical Studies). Adjunct Faculty members from the Smithsonian Institution's National Zoological Park contribute to the diversity of the faculty and its expertise in conservation biology. Faculty who teach courses CONS students take include Doug Gill, Gerry Borgia, Matt Hare, Kerry Shaw, Margaret Palmer, and Jerry Wilkinson.

C. Department of Agricultural and Resource Economics
The core course in natural resource economics is taught in AREC.The department provides two areas of specialization: agricultural economics and resource economics. Areas of study and research include agricultural development, international trade, farm management and production economics, agricultural policy, econometrics, land use, marine resources, water resources, and environmental quality.

D. The School of Public Affairs
The policy core courses are taught in the School of Public Affairs. The School offers masters degrees in Public Management and Public Policy. Students may specialize in environmental policy, social policy, international security and economic policy, or public sector financial management. CONS students with an interest in environmental policy may take courses in a variety a subjects, including U.S. environmental politics, global environmental problems, human health and the environment, ecological economics, and environmental ethics. Faculty teaching courses that CONS students take include Herman Daly, Steve Fetter, Robert Nelson, and Matthias Ruth.

E. Department of Entomology
The Department of Entomology has particular expertise in the areas of crop protection and pest management, biosystematics, ecology and behavior, medical entomology, economic entomology, and toxicology. The insect ecology course taught by Bob Denno is used by some CONS students to satisfy their core ecology requirement.

F. The Department of Geography
Faculty in the Department of Geography are at the forefront of the discipline's future with projects that literally encompass the whole Earth. By dissolving the boundary between social and physical science they are exploring the human dimensions of global change. Their goal is to better understand the Earth's land surface and the way humans
interact with it.

G. Institute for Philosophy and Public Policy
The Institute conducts an interdisciplinary program of research and curriculum development, investigating the structure of arguments and the nature of values relevant to the formation, justification, and criticism of public policy. Most research efforts, chosen from topics expected to be a focus of public policy debate during the next decade, are coordinated by Institute research staff and conducted cooperatively by working groups composed of philosophers, policy makers, analysts, and other experts from within and without the government. Current research areas include: regulatory policy, environmental ethics, the nature of ecology, and the ethics of legal negotiation.

H. Natural Resources Management Program
The undergraduate Natural Resources Management Program is one of the oldest non-departmental programs at College Park. It trains undergraduates in specialties such as Plant and Wildlife Resource Management, Land and Water Resource Management, and Environmental Education and park Management.

II. The Smithsonian Institution

A. National Zoological Park
The National Zoological Park represents a unique and diverse resource for the CONS program. The Park occupies 163 acres in Washington's Rock Creek Park and maintains a collection of more than two thousand five hundred specimens of over four hundred and twenty five species of mammals, birds, amphibians, reptiles, and invertebrates. The National Zoo's research programs are in fields of conservation biology, comparative pathology, animal behavior, ecology, evolutionary biology, nutrition, reproductive physiology, and comparative medicine. The Park is divided into five divisions: Department of Animal Health; Departments of Mammalogy, Herpetology, and Ornithology; Department of Conservation; Department of Pathology; and Department of Zoological Research. Facilities are available for guest scientists, including those whose projects are grant-supported. Zoo staff offers several conservation courses to foreign biologists and two currently hold adjunct status in the Department of Zoology.


B. The Conservation and Research Center
The Conservation and Research Center (CRC) is a site operated by the National Zoological Park on 3,150 acres near Front Royal, Virginia. This setting provides the space needed for programs of behavioral and reproductive research on rare mammals and birds as well as on the native fauna and flora. CRC differs from the traditional zoo in that it has a semi-natural setting for captive animals, with spacious paddocks ranging in size from ten to fifty acres and is closed to the public. CRC is used as a training site to teach wildlife field research methods to foreign students.