The three pillars of sustainability - environmental protection, economic well-being, 和社会正义——这与科瑞娜·麦肯德里的三种身份相吻合:她是落基山脉项目的负责人, associate professor of political science, and core faculty in the Environmental Studies program.

落基山脉国家项目的目标是通过师生合作研究，增加对落基山脉西部社会环境问题的理解和研究, education, and community engagement.

麦肯德里于2011年加入CC，去年成为落基山脉项目的副主任，今年秋天成为主任. 她对城市以社会公正的方式进一步保护环境的能力特别感兴趣. Fittingly then, the 2018-19 State of the Rockies Project will examine equity, urbanization, and climate adaption in the Colorado Front Range.

麦肯德里是今年启动的新模式下的落基山州项目的首位负责人, in which rotating faculty members serve as director for two to three years. The director of the State of the Rockies Project determines the areas of research, with summer research fellows working closely with the director on elements of a larger project. 这使董事们能够进一步开展自己的研究，同时支持学生学者和落基山脉州的总体目标.

"Our current research explores the relationship between urbanization, nature, and climate change across the Front Range of Colorado, with a particular focus on the politics of social equity in climate adaptation," McKendry says.

The topic is important because Colorado's population is one of the fastest growing in the country. 尽管许多人被它的自然美景和户外娱乐机会所吸引, rapid growth is putting pressure on these same resources. Climate change is further straining the state's environment, and drought, floods, and forest fires threaten many of Colorado's communities. 落基山脉研究将努力了解科罗拉多州城市面临的气候脆弱性, what is being done to address these vulnerabilities, and how barriers to a more equitable and resilient future can be overcome.

McKendry has several goals for the program, 其中之一是增加全校对该地区面临的社会环境挑战的理解和参与，以及正在采取哪些措施来应对这些挑战. In order to help achieve this goal, an annual State of the Rockies course has been created. This course, which is taught by the director, focuses on the research area of the current project.

今年支持学生参与的其他努力包括为学生新闻提供资金支持, a photo contest, and support for the Office of Sustainability's Sense of Place trips, 与实地研究办公室的合作，旨在培养更深层次的地理意识，并建立更紧密的联系, conscious, and resilient community.

McKendry also wants to increase community engagement, and one way to give back to communities is to share the project's research findings. 她不仅希望学生研究人员将他们的发现作为学术论文提交给学术期刊, much in the same manner that graduate students do, but also to share them with city leaders. “今年夏天，学生研究员进行的研究将作为政策备忘录提交给立法者，并提交给学术会议," McKendry says.

她还打算带这些研究员参加今年夏天在奥兰多举行的环境研究与科学协会会议, Florida, with the goal of having some of them present their Rockies research the following year.

她在明尼苏达州麦卡莱斯特学院(Macalester College)获得国际研究学士学位，并获得硕士和博士学位.D. in politics from the University of California, Santa Cruz. She has published several articles on cities and climate justice, and her book, "Greening Post-Industrial Cities: Growth, Equity, and Environmental Governance," was published by Routledge Press in 2018.