I study the ecological information contained in natural accumulations of bones (death assemblages). Through a multidisciplinary approach that brings together ecology, wildlife management, conservation biology, paleobiology, and GIS, my research explores the ecological data contained in bone accumulations from the modern, sub-fossil, and fossil realms. Using fieldwork, quantitative analyses, and statistical modeling, I am refining our understanding of the biological data that is contained in bone accumulations and providing new tools for recovering those data from recent, historical, and fossil accumulations.
Faculty & Staff
SEaS Faculty
Julia S. Carlson
Associate Professor, School of Environment and Sustainability
240 ARTSCI
Bob Newton Hyland
Associate Professor Educator, School of Environment and Sustainability
350E ARTSCI
Teri A. Jacobs
Asst Professor/ Adj Ann/ Director of EVST Undergraduate Studies/ A&S Geography & Environmental Studies, School of Environment and Sustainability
401G Braunstein Hall
Conservation biogeography; physical geography; ecology; environmental science; remote sensing and geographic information sciences
Stephen F. Matter
Associate Professor, School of Environment and Sustainability
731I Rieveschl Hall
School for the Environment and Susatinability
Department of Biological Sciences, ECBR, SBBE
Ecology; Population Ecology; Metapopulation Dynamics; Dispersal Behavior; Community Patterns and Dynamics; Insect Plant Interactions; Modelling
Department of Biological Sciences, ECBR, SBBE
Ecology; Population Ecology; Metapopulation Dynamics; Dispersal Behavior; Community Patterns and Dynamics; Insect Plant Interactions; Modelling
Daniel Murphy
Associate Professor, School of Environment and Sustainability
4th Braunstein Hall
Dr. Murphy is a cultural anthropologist whose research explores the interwoven relationships between humans and their environments, focusing, in particular, on the cultural, political, and economic dimensions of human response to environmental change. Both in his research and as an educator, Dr. Murphy is deeply committed to the application of anthropological perspectives in the development of theoretically sound yet practical solutions to a range of human problems including rural poverty, environmental degradation, and adaptation to climate change. His current research is embedded in two, long-term programmatic interests: 1) ethnographic research on disaster and rural social change among mobile pastoralists in Mongolia and 2) applied research on climate change adaptation in the United States.
Kenneth Petren
Professor, School of Environment and Sustainability
800C Rieveschl Hall
Evolutionary ecology: Landscape genomics, migration, speciaiton, adaptation, invasive species, behavior, island systems, "ancient" DNA, vertebrates, Darwin's finches and lizards.
Robert A Skipper
History and Philosophy of Biology, Philosophy of Science, School of Environment and Sustainability
261C ARTSCI
Robert Skipper is Professor of Philosophy and Fellow of the Graduate School in the Department of Philosophy and School of Environment and Sustainability (SEAS). He received the PhD from the Committee on the History and Philosophy of Science in the Department of Philosophy at the University of Maryland, College Park. Prior to that, he received the BA and MA from the Department of Philosophy at Texas Tech University.
Skipper's main research focuses on the origins and development of evolutionary genetics. In particular, he works on problems about the structure of biological controversies, theory change, theory/model assessment, theory/model structure/interpretation, evolutionary dynamics, biological explanation, and epistemology of biological experiments.
In addition, Skipper has interests in environmental philosophy, philosophy of food, and obesity science.
Skipper's main research focuses on the origins and development of evolutionary genetics. In particular, he works on problems about the structure of biological controversies, theory change, theory/model assessment, theory/model structure/interpretation, evolutionary dynamics, biological explanation, and epistemology of biological experiments.
In addition, Skipper has interests in environmental philosophy, philosophy of food, and obesity science.
David S Stradling
Zane L. Miller Professor of Urban History; Interim Head, Department of History , School of Environment and Sustainability
360 ARTSCI
David Stradling is the Zane L. Miller Professor of Urban History and the Interim Director of the School of Environment and Sustainability. In his twenty-plus years at the University of Cincinnati, he has taught a variety of courses on urban and environmental history.
David is the author of several books, including The Nature of New York: An Environmental History of the Empire State (Cornell University Press, 2010), Making Mountains: New York City and the Catskills (University of Washington Press, 2007), Smokestacks and Progressives: Environmentalists, Engineers and Air Quality in America, 1881-1951 (Johns Hopkins University Press, 1999), and, with Richard Stradling, Where the River Burned: Carl Stokes and the Struggle to Save Cleveland (Cornell University Press, 2015). He is currently writing a global history of dredging.
David earned his PhD from the University of Wisconsin-Madison in 1996, after having earned a BA and MAT from Colgate University. Living in Clifton, he raised two daughters with his partner Jodie, and he commutes to campus on foot through Burnet Woods.
David is the author of several books, including The Nature of New York: An Environmental History of the Empire State (Cornell University Press, 2010), Making Mountains: New York City and the Catskills (University of Washington Press, 2007), Smokestacks and Progressives: Environmentalists, Engineers and Air Quality in America, 1881-1951 (Johns Hopkins University Press, 1999), and, with Richard Stradling, Where the River Burned: Carl Stokes and the Struggle to Save Cleveland (Cornell University Press, 2015). He is currently writing a global history of dredging.
David earned his PhD from the University of Wisconsin-Madison in 1996, after having earned a BA and MAT from Colgate University. Living in Clifton, he raised two daughters with his partner Jodie, and he commutes to campus on foot through Burnet Woods.
Sarah Janette Sturmer
Instructor - Adjunct Ann, School of Environment and Sustainability
Amy Townsend-Small
Professor of Environmental Science, School of Environment and Sustainability
605 Geology-Physics Building
Dr. Amy Townsend-Small is a Professor in the School of Environment and Sustainability at University of Cincinnati. She has a Ph.D. in Marine Science from The University of Texas at Austin and a B.A. in English and Biology from Skidmore College. She is a service-driven researcher, teacher, and mentor in environmental science and policy, with a research focus on environmental impacts of the oil and gas industry. Together with her collaborators and students, she has published dozens of peer-reviewed articles and raised millions of dollars in research funding. She also works with local, national, and international governments on greenhouse gas emissions reductions policies based in science. She recently served in the Biden-Harris Administration as the Senior Climate Advisor in the Bureau of Near Eastern Affairs, United States Department of State. She is the recipient of the Science and Community Award from the Ohio Environmental Council and the President’s Volunteer Service Award from the President of the United States.
Laura C Zanotti
Professor, School of Environment and Sustainability
464 Braunstein Hall
Professor and Director, School of Environment and Sustainability
Affiliate Faculty, Department of Anthropology
Collaborator + mentor + researcher. Zanotti is the Professor and Director of the School of Environment and Sustainability (SEaS). Zanotti has more than two decades of experience as an interdisciplinary social scientist who partners with Indigenous Peoples, Traditional Peoples, and Local Communities to cultivate sustainable livelihoods and well-being. Specializations include: collaborative, transdisciplinary projects and creating mixed methods ethnographic teams. Dedicated to opening and transforming the academy and providing undergraduate and graduate students generative experiences to thrive in the multicultural and interconnected world in which they live, play, and work. Pronouns: she/her/hers. We would love for you to join our community, earn a degree in SEaS, or simply stop by. Find out more here.
Google Scholar Profile
ORCID iD: 0000-0003-2712-4284
Affiliate Faculty
Susan E Allen
Associate Professor, Department Head, NAGPRA Director, School of Environment and Sustainability
458 Braunstein Hall
Affiliate Faculty, Department of Classics
Affiliate Faculty, School of Environment and Sustainability
Affiliate Faculty, European Studies
Dr. Allen's current research collaborations investigate the role of agriculture and climate change in the emergence of social inequality in the Aegean (Greece) and Balkans (Albania, Croatia), the transition to agriculture in southern Europe, and the historical and political ecology of Mediterranean wetlands. As part of her research projects on these themes, she also works with archaeobotanical materials to interrogate formation processes that affect assemblage composition and interpretive potential.
As Co-Director (with Ilir Gjipali, Institute of Archaeology, Tirana) of the Southern Albania Neolithic Archaeological Project (SANAP), she is working toward publication of an edited monograph on their results from surface survey, coring, and excavation at the Early Neolithic site of Vashtëmi and survey and / or coring at several other Early Neolithic sites in the region.
In cooperation with China Shelton (ACOR), she conducts archeobotanical recovery and analysis for the Iklaina Archaeological Project, directed by Michael Cosmopoulos (UMSL), focused on excavation of the Mycenaean site of Iklaina in southwestern Greece.
In the lab, she has been collaborating with graduate student Martha Wendel (MA 2019) to complete analysis and publication of seed and charcoal remains from two sites in northern Albania excavated as part of the Projekti Arkeologjik i Shkodrës (PASH), directed by Michael Galaty (U. Michigan).
She was recently awarded funding from the University Research Council to facilitate her collaboration with the Cetina Valley Survey (CeVaS), directed by Helena Tomas (U. Zagreb). Her sub-project within CeVaS focuses on documentation of human-environment landscape dynamics in the valley.
Dr. Allen encourages potential graduate students, particularly those with interest in palaeoethnobotany, archaeobotany, ethnobotany, or environmental archaeology, to reach out to her directly.
Affiliate Faculty, School of Environment and Sustainability
Affiliate Faculty, European Studies
Dr. Allen's current research collaborations investigate the role of agriculture and climate change in the emergence of social inequality in the Aegean (Greece) and Balkans (Albania, Croatia), the transition to agriculture in southern Europe, and the historical and political ecology of Mediterranean wetlands. As part of her research projects on these themes, she also works with archaeobotanical materials to interrogate formation processes that affect assemblage composition and interpretive potential.
As Co-Director (with Ilir Gjipali, Institute of Archaeology, Tirana) of the Southern Albania Neolithic Archaeological Project (SANAP), she is working toward publication of an edited monograph on their results from surface survey, coring, and excavation at the Early Neolithic site of Vashtëmi and survey and / or coring at several other Early Neolithic sites in the region.
In cooperation with China Shelton (ACOR), she conducts archeobotanical recovery and analysis for the Iklaina Archaeological Project, directed by Michael Cosmopoulos (UMSL), focused on excavation of the Mycenaean site of Iklaina in southwestern Greece.
In the lab, she has been collaborating with graduate student Martha Wendel (MA 2019) to complete analysis and publication of seed and charcoal remains from two sites in northern Albania excavated as part of the Projekti Arkeologjik i Shkodrës (PASH), directed by Michael Galaty (U. Michigan).
She was recently awarded funding from the University Research Council to facilitate her collaboration with the Cetina Valley Survey (CeVaS), directed by Helena Tomas (U. Zagreb). Her sub-project within CeVaS focuses on documentation of human-environment landscape dynamics in the valley.
Dr. Allen encourages potential graduate students, particularly those with interest in palaeoethnobotany, archaeobotany, ethnobotany, or environmental archaeology, to reach out to her directly.
Richard Allan Beck
Professor, School of Environment and Sustainability
207 Braunstein Hall
Geographical information networks, GIS, Remote Sensing, Climate Change, South Asia, Water Resources.
Andrew Bernier
STEM and Sustainability Education, School of Environment and Sustainability
Teachers College
Andrew Bernier, Ph.D. is an Assistant Professor - Educator of STEM and Sustainability Education. He oversees the certificate programs of STEM and Sustainability Education (graduate) and Education for Sustainability (undergraduate). He also teaches courses in the Curriculum & Instruction M.Ed. program and serves to connect campus and community partners for sustainability education initiatives.
He was a secondary classroom teacher for 6 years teaching sustainability, biology, and general science courses. He also managed an afterschool youth media center after working as a science and innovation senior field correspondent for NPR member station KJZZ in Phoenix, AZ.
Faculty and Scholar Affiliations:
He was a secondary classroom teacher for 6 years teaching sustainability, biology, and general science courses. He also managed an afterschool youth media center after working as a science and innovation senior field correspondent for NPR member station KJZZ in Phoenix, AZ.
Faculty and Scholar Affiliations:
- UC School of Environment and Sustainability
- UC Center for Public Engagement with Science
- Arizona State University - Global Futures Scholar in the Julie Ann Wrigley Global Futures Laboratory, Global Institute of Sustainability and Innovation.
Pravin Bhiwapurkar
Assoc Professor, School of Environment and Sustainability
7213 DAA Addition
I am Associate Professor in the School of Architecture and Interior Design at the University of Cincinnati. I investigate how the built environment contributes to the urban heat island (UHI) effect, its impact on outdoor and indoor environments, how it affects human health, and how much energy buildings need to compensate for heat exposure. I have developed an urban approach to climate-sensitive design to mitigate UHI in dense urban environments that can inform new and redevelopment policies. My research is also applied to marginalized communities facing the inequitable burden of climate change and health disparity. My community-engaged research provides evidence to support resident-led changes to develop ecologically sensitive healthy living conditions.
I have worked as a sustainability expert on over 6 million square feet of commercial projects to reduce peak energy demand. Utility companies funded this effort. By working in an interdisciplinary team, I helped improve the building performance by integrating environmental technologies early in the design process and creating evidence by employing energy modeling and simulation approaches. I also conducted field studies to assess the building performance after its completion for statewide energy efficiency programs in the Midwest region via energy audits. This team effort received the “Exemplary Award” by the American Council for Energy-Efficient Economy.
My works have been awarded nationally and internationally. I have received a prestigious India-US exchange scholarship to pursue my doctorate, and my research work was awarded an honorary mention at the International Association of Urban Climate conference in Gottenberg, Sweden. My works in India received three national awards for designing and analyzing low-income communities that focused on sustainability using the self-help (design-build) approach. In addition, I was a member of the “Innovative Curtain Wall Design Competition” team that received an honorable mention by the American Institute of Architects-New York while working at the Center for Architectural Science and Ecology in New York City.
My works are published in journals and conferences, including Architectural Science Review, Intelligent Buildings International, Architectural Research Center Consortium, Passive and Low Energy Architecture, and the International Congress of Biometeorology. Previously, I taught at the Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute’s industry-academic collaborative unit, Center for Architecture Science and Ecology, in New York City, Montana State University at Bozeman, and Kent State University in Kent, OH.
I have worked as a sustainability expert on over 6 million square feet of commercial projects to reduce peak energy demand. Utility companies funded this effort. By working in an interdisciplinary team, I helped improve the building performance by integrating environmental technologies early in the design process and creating evidence by employing energy modeling and simulation approaches. I also conducted field studies to assess the building performance after its completion for statewide energy efficiency programs in the Midwest region via energy audits. This team effort received the “Exemplary Award” by the American Council for Energy-Efficient Economy.
My works have been awarded nationally and internationally. I have received a prestigious India-US exchange scholarship to pursue my doctorate, and my research work was awarded an honorary mention at the International Association of Urban Climate conference in Gottenberg, Sweden. My works in India received three national awards for designing and analyzing low-income communities that focused on sustainability using the self-help (design-build) approach. In addition, I was a member of the “Innovative Curtain Wall Design Competition” team that received an honorable mention by the American Institute of Architects-New York while working at the Center for Architectural Science and Ecology in New York City.
My works are published in journals and conferences, including Architectural Science Review, Intelligent Buildings International, Architectural Research Center Consortium, Passive and Low Energy Architecture, and the International Congress of Biometeorology. Previously, I taught at the Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute’s industry-academic collaborative unit, Center for Architecture Science and Ecology, in New York City, Montana State University at Bozeman, and Kent State University in Kent, OH.
Michael T Booth
Visiting Scholar, School of Environment and Sustainability
Rieveschl Hall
Aquatic ecology, fish biology, migration and dispersal, streams, limnology, invasive species
Jeffrey L Brewer
Asst Professor - Educator, School of Environment and Sustainability
400A Braunstein Hall
I am an Assistant Professor- Educator in the Department of Geography & GIS (College of A&S). My primary research interest is adopting an interdisciplinary approach to understanding human-environment relations and the evolution of urban landscapes, particularly as they relate to resource conservation and sustainability. My current fieldwork focuses on the study of household and community scale, sustainable water management activities in subtropical regions. I am also interested in the cultural geographies of food and sport, particularly the geospatial dynamics of craft breweries and urban cycling networks.
Victoria Carr
Professor, Early Childhood Education (Birth-5) & Executive Director, Arlitt Center for Education, Research & Sustainability , School of Environment and Sustainability
2150H EDWARDS 1 Edwards Center
Victoria Carr, Professor of Early Childhood Education (Birth-Age 5) and Developmental and Learning Sciences at the University of Cincinnati, is Executive Director of the Arlitt Center for Education, Research, and Sustainability which houses the Arlitt Child Development Center, one of the oldest early childhood laboratory schools in the country. She is also an affiliate faculty member in the UC School of Environment and Sustainability. She is co-editor-in-chief for Children, Youth and Environments, a journal that publishes research articles and reports from the field on environments where children and youth live, learn, work, and play. She serves on the editorial review board for the Journal of Research in Childhood Education and is an active member of the Transnational Dialogues on Early Childhood Education for Sustainability (ECEfS), now affiliated with the Sustainability in Early Childhood Special Interest Group within the European Early Childhood Research Association.
She is co-chair of Leave No Child Inside Collaborative of Cincinnati and created the Education for Environmental Sustainability certificate, a UC interdisciplinary undergraduate opportunity for students. She co-founded the Cincinnati Nature Playscape Initiative and implemented the Arlitt Professional Educator Learning Series. Dr. Carr served for several years on Cincinnati Nature Center's Board of Directors and continues to work closely with its programming and applied learning committee. She has served as the faculty advisor for the UC Equestrian Team since 2006.
Dr. Carr mentors doctoral students and teaches graduate and undergraduate courses within the School of Education, primarily focused on nature-based early learning. She conducts research and publishes books and articles on ECEfS, children and nature, teacher efficacy, and challenging behaviors in early childhood settings. She has generated over $20M in funding related to programming and research in early childhood education during her UC career. Her research on informal science learning in playscapes was supported by the National Science Foundation and she has had multiple projects supported by the PNC Foundation. She conducted research on a community-built playground in Papua New Guinea with her Australian colleagues and continues to collaborate with Arlitt Center researchers and graduate assistants to work with agencies and groups interested in transforming playgrounds into playscapes.
She is co-chair of Leave No Child Inside Collaborative of Cincinnati and created the Education for Environmental Sustainability certificate, a UC interdisciplinary undergraduate opportunity for students. She co-founded the Cincinnati Nature Playscape Initiative and implemented the Arlitt Professional Educator Learning Series. Dr. Carr served for several years on Cincinnati Nature Center's Board of Directors and continues to work closely with its programming and applied learning committee. She has served as the faculty advisor for the UC Equestrian Team since 2006.
Dr. Carr mentors doctoral students and teaches graduate and undergraduate courses within the School of Education, primarily focused on nature-based early learning. She conducts research and publishes books and articles on ECEfS, children and nature, teacher efficacy, and challenging behaviors in early childhood settings. She has generated over $20M in funding related to programming and research in early childhood education during her UC career. Her research on informal science learning in playscapes was supported by the National Science Foundation and she has had multiple projects supported by the PNC Foundation. She conducted research on a community-built playground in Papua New Guinea with her Australian colleagues and continues to collaborate with Arlitt Center researchers and graduate assistants to work with agencies and groups interested in transforming playgrounds into playscapes.
Xi Chen
Assoc Professor, School of Environment and Sustainability
Braunstein Hall
Hydrology, water resources, environmental studies and modeling, physical geography, environmental engineering
Brooke E Crowley
Professor, Stable Isotope Ecology, Quaternary Paleoecology, School of Environment and Sustainability
503 Geology-Physics Building
I use stable isotope biogeochemistry to answer a variety of questions about modern and extinct vertebrate communities. My main research interests include extinction, environmental and ecological consequences of human impacts, habitat transformation and conservation. Please visit my personal website for more information (http://www.agoraphotia.com).
Diego F. Cuadros
Assistant Professor, School of Environment and Sustainability
210F DIGITFUT
Medical and health geography, GIS applications in epidemiology, environmental studies, mathematical modeling of infectious diseases, host-pathogen and pathogen-pathogen interactions, health economics assessment
Steve Paul Depoe
Professor - Adj Ann, School of Environment and Sustainability
4231A CLIFTCT
Stephen P. Depoe, PhD (Northwestern, 1986), is a Professor of Communication. He is currently the co-editor of a book series on Media and Environmental Communication published by Palgrave MacMillan. He was the founding editor of ENVIRONMENTAL COMMUNICATION: A JOURNAL OF NATURE AND CULTURE (www.tandfonline.com/renc) from 2007-13, and was also the founding chair of the International Environmental Communication Association (IECA) (http://theieca.org). His research areas include environmental and risk communication, particularly the role of the public in environmental decision-making; and public communication. His recent work includes the co-edited volumes VOICE AND ENVIRONMENTAL COMMUNICATION (Palgrave MacMillan, 2014); NUCLEAR LEGACIES: COMMUNICATION, CONTROVERSY, AND THE U. S. NUCLEAR WEAPONS COMPLEX (Lexington Press, 2007) and COMMUNICATION AND PUBLIC PARTICIPATION IN ENVIRONMENTAL DECISION MAKING (SUNY Press, 2004). Dr. Depoe teaches courses in Environmental Communication, Communication and Sport, Rhetoric of Social Movements, Rhetorical Research Methods, and Advanced Rhetorical Theory.
Aaron Diefendorf
Organic and Isotope Geochemistry, School of Environment and Sustainability
610 Geology-Physics Building
I am a geoscientist with interests in organic and isotope geochemistry. My group studies chemical fossils (biomarkers) to unravel Earth’s past and develop new biomarker techniques and tools. We currently focus on plant and diatom derived biomarkers.
Please see my website for current information, a curriculum vitae, information about our organic and isotope geochemistry facilities.
Please see my website for current information, a curriculum vitae, information about our organic and isotope geochemistry facilities.
Laura D. Dudley Jenkins
Professor of Political Science, Faculty Affiliate WGSS and Asian Studies , School of Environment and Sustainability
5140 CLIFTCT
Laura Dudley Jenkins' research focuses on social justice policies in the context of culturally diverse democracies, including India, Indonesia, South Africa, and the United States.
Her book Religious Freedom and Mass Conversion in India (Penn Press 2019) won the Hubert Morken Best Book Prize from the Religion and Politics Section of the American Political Science Association (APSA). A study of mass conversions to Christianity, Buddhism, and Judaism and ongoing efforts to prevent conversions, Jenkins reveals how "religious freedom" arguments and laws have actually undermined the religious freedom of women, lower castes, and religious minorities.
Jenkins' book Identity and Identification in India: Defining the Disadvantaged (Routledge, 2003, 2009) examines competing demands for affirmative action on the basis of caste, religion, class, and gender and the ways the government identifies recipients through the courts, census, and official certificates. Her research as a Fulbright New Century Scholar in South Africa and India resulted in Affirmative Action Matters: Creating Opportunities for Students Around the World, co-edited with Michele S. Moses (Routledge 2014).
In her articles, she analyzes religious freedom and conversion, competing minorities’ claims for affirmative action, colonial and contemporary government anthropology, the role of social science in anti-discrimination law, reserved legislative seats for women, and the role of culture and the arts in sustainable development.
Jenkins' book chapters examine anti-Muslim political communication in the US and India, religious family laws, mass religious conversion as protest, comparative affirmative action, minority rights, historically Dalit colleges, anxious secularism, women and development, regulation of religion, and methodological diversity in political science.
In addition to two Fulbrights, Dr. Jenkins has received fellowships from the Dartmouth Humanities Center and the United States Institute of Peace.
Religious Freedom and Mass Conversion in India. Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania Press, 2019.
Hubert Morken Best Book Award
APSA Religion and Politics Section
Affirmative action matters: Creating opportunities for students around the world. (with Michele S. Moses). New York: Routledge, 2014.
Identity and Identification in India: Defining the Disadvantaged. London and New York: RoutledgeCurzon 2003, reissued in paperback by Routledge 2009.
Her book Religious Freedom and Mass Conversion in India (Penn Press 2019) won the Hubert Morken Best Book Prize from the Religion and Politics Section of the American Political Science Association (APSA). A study of mass conversions to Christianity, Buddhism, and Judaism and ongoing efforts to prevent conversions, Jenkins reveals how "religious freedom" arguments and laws have actually undermined the religious freedom of women, lower castes, and religious minorities.
Jenkins' book Identity and Identification in India: Defining the Disadvantaged (Routledge, 2003, 2009) examines competing demands for affirmative action on the basis of caste, religion, class, and gender and the ways the government identifies recipients through the courts, census, and official certificates. Her research as a Fulbright New Century Scholar in South Africa and India resulted in Affirmative Action Matters: Creating Opportunities for Students Around the World, co-edited with Michele S. Moses (Routledge 2014).
In her articles, she analyzes religious freedom and conversion, competing minorities’ claims for affirmative action, colonial and contemporary government anthropology, the role of social science in anti-discrimination law, reserved legislative seats for women, and the role of culture and the arts in sustainable development.
Jenkins' book chapters examine anti-Muslim political communication in the US and India, religious family laws, mass religious conversion as protest, comparative affirmative action, minority rights, historically Dalit colleges, anxious secularism, women and development, regulation of religion, and methodological diversity in political science.
In addition to two Fulbrights, Dr. Jenkins has received fellowships from the Dartmouth Humanities Center and the United States Institute of Peace.
Religious Freedom and Mass Conversion in India. Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania Press, 2019.
Hubert Morken Best Book Award
APSA Religion and Politics Section
Affirmative action matters: Creating opportunities for students around the world. (with Michele S. Moses). New York: Routledge, 2014.
Identity and Identification in India: Defining the Disadvantaged. London and New York: RoutledgeCurzon 2003, reissued in paperback by Routledge 2009.
Nicholas P Dunning
Professor , School of Environment and Sustainability
Environmental archaeology, soils, physical geography, cultural ecology, Latin America
J. Mauricio Espinoza
Assistant Professor of Spanish and Latin American Literature/Cultural Studies , School of Environment and Sustainability
5260 CLIFTCT
My areas of research are Latin American cultural studies, Central American literature, and Latino/a studies. Within Latin American studies, I concentrate on film/TV and graphic narrative (comics and graphic novels). Within Central American literature, I study poetry and migration narratives. Finally, I study issues of migration, identity formation, and visual representation of Latinos/as in U.S. popular culture.
In addition to research, I write original poetry and translate the work of Central American poets (particularly the twentieth-century Costa Rican poet Eunice Odio).
In addition to research, I write original poetry and translate the work of Central American poets (particularly the twentieth-century Costa Rican poet Eunice Odio).
Muhammad U. Faruque
Associate Professor and Taft Center Fellow (AY 23-24), School of Environment and Sustainability
5240 CLIFTCT
Muhammad U. Faruque is the Inayat Malik Associate Professor and a Taft Center Fellow at the University of Cincinnati and a former Visiting Scholar at Harvard University. He earned his PhD (with distinction) from the University of California, Berkeley, and served as Exchange Scholar at Harvard University and as George Ames Postdoctoral Fellow at Fordham University. He was also educated at the University of London and Tehran University. In addition to his formal college education, he has traveled throughout the world to learn and explore, and studied with many scholars in South Asia, Iran, Turkey, Egypt, North Africa, and Malaysia.
His book Sculpting the Self (University of Michigan Press, 2021) won the prestigious 31st World Book of the Year Award from Iran. The book addresses “what it means to be human” in a secular, post-Enlightenment world by exploring notions of selfhood and subjectivity in Islamic and non-Islamic philosophical literatures, including modern philosophy and neuroscience. He is the author of three books and over fifty academic articles, which have appeared (or are forthcoming) in numerous prestigious, peer-reviewed journals and edited volumes such as Philosophy East and West, Philosophical Forum, Journal of Contemplative Studies, Arabic Sciences and Philosophy (Cambridge), Sophia, Journal of Sufi Studies (Brill), Religious Studies (Cambridge), and Ancient Philosophy. He has delivered lectures in many North American, European, Asian, and Middle Eastern universities. He gives public lectures on a wide range of topics such as climate change, spirituality, meditation, AI, Islamic psychology, and Islam and the West. He is also a recipient of numerous awards and fellowships, including the prestigious Templeton Foundation Global Philosophy of Religion grant and the Title IV Grant, U.S. Dept. of Education.
While his past research has explored modern and premodern conceptions of selfhood and identity and their bearing on ethics, religion, and culture, his current book project entitled The Interconnected Universe: Sufism, Climate Change, and Ecological Living aims to develop a new theory of the human and the more-than-human world based on a cross-cultural, multidisciplinary approach that draws on the environmental humanities, on one hand, and Sufism and Islamic Contemplative Studies, on the other. Alongside developing a theory of what he calls the “interconnected universe,” this study also argues that Sufi contemplative practices support and foster an active engagement toward the planet’s well-being and an ecologically viable way of life and vision through an “anthropocosmic” vision of the self. He is also at work on a book on AI and the existential threats of information technology. He also just published an edited volume entitled From the Divine to the Human: New Perspectives on Evil, Suffering, and the Global Pandemic (co-edited with M. Rustom and published by Routledge). In addition, he has a forthcoming edited volume A Cultural History of South Asian Literature, Volume 3: The Early Modern Age (1400-1700) (co-edited with S. Nair).
In his personal life, he loves gardening (plant life fascinates him), spending time in nature, travelling (he always likes to explore new places!), trying out new cuisines, hiking, cooking, sports (esp. tennis, table tennis, and chess), and watching movies. He also has a passion for classical Indian (raag) and Persian music.
He is affiliated with the departments of Philosophy, Women’s, Gender, and Sexuality Studies, Environmental Studies, and the Religious Studies Certificate program.
Website: https://muhammadfaruque.com/
His book Sculpting the Self (University of Michigan Press, 2021) won the prestigious 31st World Book of the Year Award from Iran. The book addresses “what it means to be human” in a secular, post-Enlightenment world by exploring notions of selfhood and subjectivity in Islamic and non-Islamic philosophical literatures, including modern philosophy and neuroscience. He is the author of three books and over fifty academic articles, which have appeared (or are forthcoming) in numerous prestigious, peer-reviewed journals and edited volumes such as Philosophy East and West, Philosophical Forum, Journal of Contemplative Studies, Arabic Sciences and Philosophy (Cambridge), Sophia, Journal of Sufi Studies (Brill), Religious Studies (Cambridge), and Ancient Philosophy. He has delivered lectures in many North American, European, Asian, and Middle Eastern universities. He gives public lectures on a wide range of topics such as climate change, spirituality, meditation, AI, Islamic psychology, and Islam and the West. He is also a recipient of numerous awards and fellowships, including the prestigious Templeton Foundation Global Philosophy of Religion grant and the Title IV Grant, U.S. Dept. of Education.
While his past research has explored modern and premodern conceptions of selfhood and identity and their bearing on ethics, religion, and culture, his current book project entitled The Interconnected Universe: Sufism, Climate Change, and Ecological Living aims to develop a new theory of the human and the more-than-human world based on a cross-cultural, multidisciplinary approach that draws on the environmental humanities, on one hand, and Sufism and Islamic Contemplative Studies, on the other. Alongside developing a theory of what he calls the “interconnected universe,” this study also argues that Sufi contemplative practices support and foster an active engagement toward the planet’s well-being and an ecologically viable way of life and vision through an “anthropocosmic” vision of the self. He is also at work on a book on AI and the existential threats of information technology. He also just published an edited volume entitled From the Divine to the Human: New Perspectives on Evil, Suffering, and the Global Pandemic (co-edited with M. Rustom and published by Routledge). In addition, he has a forthcoming edited volume A Cultural History of South Asian Literature, Volume 3: The Early Modern Age (1400-1700) (co-edited with S. Nair).
In his personal life, he loves gardening (plant life fascinates him), spending time in nature, travelling (he always likes to explore new places!), trying out new cuisines, hiking, cooking, sports (esp. tennis, table tennis, and chess), and watching movies. He also has a passion for classical Indian (raag) and Persian music.
He is affiliated with the departments of Philosophy, Women’s, Gender, and Sexuality Studies, Environmental Studies, and the Religious Studies Certificate program.
Website: https://muhammadfaruque.com/
Abel Thomas Gustafson
Assistant Professor, School of Environment and Sustainability
4262 CLIFTCT
Dr. Abel Gustafson is a social scientist who studies persuasion, behavior change, and public opinion -- specializing in topics related to sustainability and emerging technologies. His research studies the psychological and social roots of attitudes and behavior, and then uses these insights to develop and test communication strategies.
Dr. Gustafson's research has been published in premier academic journals such as Nature Energy, Nature Climate Change, Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (PNAS), and Journal of Environmental Psychology.
His first-authored research has been covered in New York Times, The Washington Post, Huffington Post, Business Insider, VICE, Axios, and others. His co-authored research has also been covered in Reuters, ABC News, CNN, LA Times, Five Thirty-Eight, Forbes, National Geographic, Rolling Stone, and others including The Onion.
Before joining the University of Cincinnati, Dr. Gustafson was a postdoc at Yale University (2018-2020) and earned his Ph.D. at the University of California, Santa Barbara (2018).
Dr. Gustafson's research has been published in premier academic journals such as Nature Energy, Nature Climate Change, Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (PNAS), and Journal of Environmental Psychology.
His first-authored research has been covered in New York Times, The Washington Post, Huffington Post, Business Insider, VICE, Axios, and others. His co-authored research has also been covered in Reuters, ABC News, CNN, LA Times, Five Thirty-Eight, Forbes, National Geographic, Rolling Stone, and others including The Onion.
Before joining the University of Cincinnati, Dr. Gustafson was a postdoc at Yale University (2018-2020) and earned his Ph.D. at the University of California, Santa Barbara (2018).
Kristen Iversen
Professor, School of Environment and Sustainability
214B ARTSCI
Kristen Iversen holds a Ph.D in English and Creative Writing from the University of Denver (1996). She teaches graduate and undergraduate courses in literary nonfiction and fiction, and also serves as Literary Nonfiction Editor of The Cincinnati Review and faculty editor of the undergraduate journal Short Vine. Her work includes the books Full Body Burden: Growing Up in the Nuclear Shadow of Rocky Flats (2012, paperback/audio 2013; selected by universities around the country for their First Year Experience/Common Read programs); Molly Brown: Unraveling the Myth (1999, third edition 2018); Shadow Boxing: Art and Craft in Creative Nonfiction (2004); and two edited anthologies, Doom with a View (2020) and Don’t Look Now: Things We Wish We Hadn't Seen (2020). Essays and stories have appeared in The New York Times, The Nation, The American Scholar, Fourth Genre, Beloit Fiction Journal, and others. Several documentaries have been based on her work, including a new documentary Full Body Burden (forthcoming 2023) and an option for a tv series. In 2020-2021, she was chosen as a Fulbright Scholar for the University of Bergen, Norway (temporarily postponed due to Covid). Forthcoming books are Friend and Faithful Stranger: Nikola Tesla in the Gilded Age and Wide and Generous World: New and Published Essays. See www.kristeniversen.com
Latonya Jackson
Research Assistant Professor, School of Environment and Sustainability
422 QA Rieveschl Hall
Aquatic toxicology, ecotoxicology, endocrine disrupting chemicals, chemical mixtures in the aquatic environment, anthropogenic contamination, chronic and acute effects of environmental contaminants on fish, fish biology, live-bearing fish, combined effects of global warming and other stressors on aquatic organisms
Jason N. Krupar
Associate Professor, School of Environment and Sustainability
310E ARTSCI
Dr. Jason Krupar earned his Ph.D. in American Social Policy History from Case Western Reserve University in 2000. He taught for eight years at the OMI College of Applied Science, University of Cincinnati, before joining the History Department faculty in Spring, 2010. He specializes in history of technology and science policy, history of engineering, history of the Manhattan Project, and Cold War technology/science policy. He co-authored a book chapter in Nuclear Legacies: Communication, Controversy, and the U.S. Nuclear Weapons Complex that examined several case studies of grass-roots attempts to preserve the memory of the nation’s nuclear arsenal. This book received the 2008 Christine L. Oravac Book Award sponsored by the Environmental Communication Division of the National Communication Association. He authored a book chapter that appeared in, The Atomic Bomb and American Society: New Perspectives, published by University of Tennessee Press in Spring 2009. He has had articles published in Public History, Technology and Culture and the Ohio Valley History Journal. He has reviewed manuscripts for several professional journals, university presses, and written book reviews for multiple journals. His current research project involves investigating the creation of the Atomic River Valley. He is also co-editor of the Ohio Valley History Journal.
Lucinda P Lawson
Asst Professor - Research, School of Environment and Sustainability
820F Rieveschl Hall
My research focuses on the relationship between species and their environment. Species do not exist nor evolve in a vacuum. Thus both the climate and geological landscape in which they exist as well as the other species which they encounter have shaped their past and their present, and will shape their future in our rapidly changing world. I model these dynamics both to study the past (evolutionary processes) and to predict the future (conservation biology). I primarily work on tropical, terrestrial, vertebrates including African amphibians and Galapagos finches. Majors areas of reseach are: landscape genetics/genomics, conservation genetics and evaluations of extinction potential, functional genomics, evolutionary processes, speciation dynamics, hybrid admixure and contact zones.
I teach in the introductory Environmental Science course series (EVST 1012) where we tackle the environmental challenges of our times.
I teach in the introductory Environmental Science course series (EVST 1012) where we tackle the environmental challenges of our times.
Lin Liu
Professor, Graduate Director, Co-Director of GIS Center, School of Environment and Sustainability
400E Braunstein Hall
GIS, geographic visualization, quantitative methods, location analysis, crime mapping and analysis, geo-simulation, China
Eduardo Joseph Martinez
Assistant Professor, School of Environment and Sustainability
5254 CLIFTCT
My research is in democratic theory and focuses on standards for evaluating institutions and practices within democracies, such as administrative agencies, civic education, representation, and political partisanship. For more on my research, please see my website: eduardojmartinez.com
Eric Franklin Maurer
Assistant Professor Educator, School of Environment and Sustainability
Braunstein Hall
Evolutionary & Aquatic Ecology:
Patterns of distribution and diversity;
Evolution of life history, morphology, behavior;
Dynamics of temperate and arctic lakes and streams
Joshua H Miller
Assoc Professor, School of Environment and Sustainability
509 Geology-Physics Building
Carolyn Kelley Patterson
School of Environment and Sustainability
Kevin N Raleigh
Department Head, Associate Professor Educator, School of Environment and Sustainability
401-I Braunstein Hall
Olga Sanmiguel-Valderrama
Associate Professor in Women's, Gender, & Sexuality Studies, School of Environment and Sustainability
3314 French Hall
Born and raised in Colombia, South America, Dr. Sanmiguel-Valderrama practiced law in Colombia for five years before migrating to Canada in her late 20s. Dr. Sanmiguel-Valderrama earned her LLM in international human rights law at the University of Ottawa, where she also worked at the Human Rights Research and Education Center co-directing a women's project with CEMUJER in El Salvador (Central America) funded by the Canadian International Development Agency (CIDA). In 2004, she graduated with her Ph.D. in Law from Osgoode Hall Law School at York University in Toronto, where she was also affiliated to CERLAC, The Centre for Research on Latin America and the Caribbean at York University.
On the basis of extensive fieldwork in Colombia, her research and publications examine the contradictions between neoliberal international trade and military aid on the one hand, and respect for individual and collective human rights –in particular labor, environmental, and equality rights for women and racial minorities—on the other hand. These relationships and contradictions are examined through case studies where both trade and human rights laws and practices are in operation: first, the Colombian export-led flower industry. Her upcoming book (2012) is provisionally titled “No Roses Without Thorns: Trade, Militarization, and Human Rights in the Production and Export of Colombian Flowers” (click here to see book prospectus). Second, though the case of NAFTA and undocumented migration of Mexican and Central American into the USA.
Dr. Sanmiguel -Valderrama have published various articles in prestigious international academic journals presenting her research findings on the interrelationship between globalization, international trade, militarism, social reproduction, and human rights from multidisciplinary and transnational anti-racist feminist approaches. Her research have been supported by competitive grants from the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada, the Charles Phelps Taft Research Center, and the University of Cincinnati Research Council. Professor's Sanmiguel-Valderrama current areas of research and teaching are family-work conflict under globalization, the relationships between military aid, trade, and human rights in Colombia, feminist mothering, women, gender and law, international women's rights, and women's labor rights.
Shaunak Sastry
Professor of Communication and Provostal Fellow (2024-2025), School of Environment and Sustainability
4272 CLIFTCT
Dr. Shaunak Sastry, Ph.D. is Professor of Communication at the University of Cincinnati and Director of The Cincinnati Project, a center for community-engaged research. His research and teaching interests are in the areas of health and culture, globalization and health, and the cultural politics of infectious diseases. His work combines ethnographic and field-based methods with critical analysis of public discourses of health. His work has been published in leading international peer-reviewed journals like Human Communication Research, Health Communication, Communication Theory, Journal of Health Communication, Culture, Health & Sexuality, Frontiers in Communication, and Journal of International andIntercultural Communication, in addition to several book chapters and more than 40 paper presentations at national and international conferences. He is a senior editor of the journal Health Communication and sits on the editorial boards of several other academic journals. He is the Chair of the National Communication Association’s (NCA) Research Council and is immediate past-chair of the Asian and Pacific American Caucus at NCA. He is an inductee of the 2024-2045 Provostal Fellow Program.
Reza Soltanian
Associate Professor, Hydrogeology, School of Environment and Sustainability
508 Geology-Physics Building
Tomasz F Stepinski
Thomas Jefferson Chair Professor, School of Environment and Sustainability
215 Braunstein Hall
Space Informatics, planetary geomorphology, land change science, remote sensing, GIS
Yujie Sun
Professor, School of Environment and Sustainability
722 Rieveschl Hall
Group page: www.yujiesun.org
Yujie Sun (孙宇杰) received a B.S. degree in Chemistry from Fudan University in 2005. He then pursued graduate studies in inorganic photochemistry with Prof. Claudia Turro at The Ohio State University and obtained his Ph.D. degree in 2010. Subsequently, he joined the group of Prof. Christopher J. Chang at the University of California, Berkeley and Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory as a postdoctoral scholar, working on renewable energy catalysis. Yujie started his independent career as an Assistant Professor at Utah State University in 2013, moved to the University of Cincinnati as an Associate Professor in 2018, and was promoted to Professor in 2023. His group is interested in developing and understanding inexpensive materials and complexes for energy catalysis and biomedical applications.
Yujie Sun (孙宇杰) received a B.S. degree in Chemistry from Fudan University in 2005. He then pursued graduate studies in inorganic photochemistry with Prof. Claudia Turro at The Ohio State University and obtained his Ph.D. degree in 2010. Subsequently, he joined the group of Prof. Christopher J. Chang at the University of California, Berkeley and Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory as a postdoctoral scholar, working on renewable energy catalysis. Yujie started his independent career as an Assistant Professor at Utah State University in 2013, moved to the University of Cincinnati as an Associate Professor in 2018, and was promoted to Professor in 2023. His group is interested in developing and understanding inexpensive materials and complexes for energy catalysis and biomedical applications.
Eric J Tepe
Associate Professor
Curator of the Herbarium
,
School of Environment and Sustainability
703B Rieveschl Hall
Plant systematics, including taxonomy, phylogenetics, biogeography, and diversification of “giant genera” – those with over 1000 species – including Piper (Piperaceae) and Solanum (Solanaceae). Evolution of ant-plant associations. Visit my webpage for more details. Click here for the CINC herbarium webpage.
Susanna T.Y. Tong
Professor, Director of 2+2 Program in Geography, A&S Geography and Environmental Studies, School of Environment and Sustainability
400D Braunstein Hall
Applied Ecology, Urban Environment, Ecological Risk Assessment, Ecosystem Services, Global Changes, Watershed Management, Hydrologic and Water Quality Modeling, Land Use Modeling, Non-point Source Pollution Abatement, Wildfire, Heavy Metal Contaimination
Jenny Wohlfarth
Educator Professor, School of Environment and Sustainability
5147 CLIFTCT
Jenny Wohlfarth is an award-winning magazine journalist with 30+ years of professional experience who has been teaching journalism at UC since 2000, originally as a part-time adjunct instructor while she was working full-time as a magazine editor. After completing her M.A. degree in English (emphasis in editing and publishing) at UC, she helped build the UC Journalism Program -- which later became the UC Department of Journalism -- while teaching courses in feature writing, magazine writing, news writing, editing and specialty reporting topics.
Now a full professor (in the educator/teaching track), she teaches a wide range of courses across the curriculum: Feature Writing & In-Depth Reporting, Magazine Writing, Environmental Journalism, Science & Nature Writing, Travel Writing, Women in Journalism, Advanced Magazine Writing, Magazine Publishing, and International Field Study in Journalism -- all courses she created and developed. She was the department's first director of undergraduate studies, from 2012-2019, and has served as faculty adviser for several student journalism groups, including the UC chapters of the Society of Professional Journalists (UC-SPJ), Association of Black Journalists (UC-ABJ) and a handful of student-run online magazines.
Professor Wohlfarth’s work has been published in numerous national magazines, covering topics ranging from art/design, architecture, agriculture and animals to business, environmental and social issues, nature/science and travel writing. She has been honored by numerous reporting awards from the Society of Professional Journalists for her work in feature/magazine writing, beat reporting and lifestyle reporting.
Her journalism career began shortly after she completed an undergraduate degree in creative writing (composition) at the University of Evansville (Indiana). She landed a full-time job in journalism—at a horse magazine in Texas—and quickly fell in love with reporting. She is a former staff editor/managing editor/executive editor at several national magazines—including the Cincinnati-based design publications HOW Magazine and I.D. (International Design) Magazine—and is a longtime contributing editor to Cincinnati Magazine. She is vice-president of the Greater Cincinnati Pro Chapter of the Society of Professional Journalists (SPJ), and an active member of the national SPJ, the Society of Environmental Journalists (SEJ) and, most recently, the National Association of Science Writers.
Professor Wohlfarth has been honored with numerous teaching/advising awards, including the UC Department of English William C. Boyce Award for Excellence in Teaching, the SPJ David L. Eshelman Outstanding Campus Adviser Award and the University of Cincinnati Honors Program’s Excellence in Teaching Award—all honors based on nominations from her students and advisees. In 2022, she was nominated by a student for the prestigious UC George Barbour Award for Good Faculty-Student Relations.
She has a keen interest in active-learning techniques and has co-presented on SoTL (scholarship of teaching and learning) topics at numerous conferences, including the International Lilly Conference for College Teaching and the International Society of the Scholarship of Teaching and Learning Annual Conference. She is an advocate of innovative, student-centered instruction methods, and has frequently been tapped to lead training sessions for faculty on active-learning techniques, contemplative teaching strategies and methods for increasing student engagement. Her professional work and her involvement in teaching faculty-led study-abroad courses for the UC Honors Program have enabled her to travel to and write about fascinating places around the world, including Mexico, Cuba, Costa Rica, Guatemala, Namibia and Iceland.
Now a full professor (in the educator/teaching track), she teaches a wide range of courses across the curriculum: Feature Writing & In-Depth Reporting, Magazine Writing, Environmental Journalism, Science & Nature Writing, Travel Writing, Women in Journalism, Advanced Magazine Writing, Magazine Publishing, and International Field Study in Journalism -- all courses she created and developed. She was the department's first director of undergraduate studies, from 2012-2019, and has served as faculty adviser for several student journalism groups, including the UC chapters of the Society of Professional Journalists (UC-SPJ), Association of Black Journalists (UC-ABJ) and a handful of student-run online magazines.
Professor Wohlfarth’s work has been published in numerous national magazines, covering topics ranging from art/design, architecture, agriculture and animals to business, environmental and social issues, nature/science and travel writing. She has been honored by numerous reporting awards from the Society of Professional Journalists for her work in feature/magazine writing, beat reporting and lifestyle reporting.
Her journalism career began shortly after she completed an undergraduate degree in creative writing (composition) at the University of Evansville (Indiana). She landed a full-time job in journalism—at a horse magazine in Texas—and quickly fell in love with reporting. She is a former staff editor/managing editor/executive editor at several national magazines—including the Cincinnati-based design publications HOW Magazine and I.D. (International Design) Magazine—and is a longtime contributing editor to Cincinnati Magazine. She is vice-president of the Greater Cincinnati Pro Chapter of the Society of Professional Journalists (SPJ), and an active member of the national SPJ, the Society of Environmental Journalists (SEJ) and, most recently, the National Association of Science Writers.
Professor Wohlfarth has been honored with numerous teaching/advising awards, including the UC Department of English William C. Boyce Award for Excellence in Teaching, the SPJ David L. Eshelman Outstanding Campus Adviser Award and the University of Cincinnati Honors Program’s Excellence in Teaching Award—all honors based on nominations from her students and advisees. In 2022, she was nominated by a student for the prestigious UC George Barbour Award for Good Faculty-Student Relations.
She has a keen interest in active-learning techniques and has co-presented on SoTL (scholarship of teaching and learning) topics at numerous conferences, including the International Lilly Conference for College Teaching and the International Society of the Scholarship of Teaching and Learning Annual Conference. She is an advocate of innovative, student-centered instruction methods, and has frequently been tapped to lead training sessions for faculty on active-learning techniques, contemplative teaching strategies and methods for increasing student engagement. Her professional work and her involvement in teaching faculty-led study-abroad courses for the UC Honors Program have enabled her to travel to and write about fascinating places around the world, including Mexico, Cuba, Costa Rica, Guatemala, Namibia and Iceland.
Yurena Yanes
Assistant Professor, School of Environment and Sustainability
520 Geology-Physics Building
My research program examines the response of biological communities to environmental and human stressors. The sustainability and integrity of ecological resources are increasingly uncertain as climate warms and Earth faces a biodiversity crisis. To remedy this situation, scientists must understand the magnitude, direction and rate of biotic responses to environmental and human impacts. However, environmental and anthropogenic factors operate simultaneously and therefore, they are difficult to discriminate using short-term ecological/human-lifespan scales. My work incorporates a longer-term (geological) dimension through three sequential intervals in the recent geologic past: (1) before humans, which I study with paleontological records, (2) during aboriginal (pre-industrial) occupation, by investigating archeological sources; and (3) in post-industrial times, by measuring modern and historical ecological records. The group of organisms I use to examine biotic-environment-human interactions belong to the Phylum Mollusca (primarily terrestrial gastropods) because they are plentiful, sensitive to environmental and human interference, and less investigated yet more threatened than other present-day major animal groups. To investigate molluscs, I integrate data and techniques from multiple disciplines including isotope geochemistry, taphonomy, paleoecology, Quaternary geochronology, archeology and the emerging field of conservation paleobiology.
Off-Campus Faculty Affiliates
Daniel Hart
Associate Director of Sustainability and Environmental Justice, University of Richmond
The former Sustainability Coordinator at the University of Cincinnati, Daniel teaches courses in sustainability, including Perspectives in Sustainability.
Staff
Madeline Yelle Jentsch
Program Coordinator, School of Environment and Sustainability
360D ARTSCI
Ekaterina Katzarova
Program Manager, School of Environment and Sustainability
CLIFTCT
Kristin Nicole Rice
Financial Administrator 1, School of Environment and Sustainability
360C ARTSCI