Research

  • Interested in studying energy sustainability? Join me in the Department of Community Sustainability at Michigan State University.

    The Department of Community Sustainability (CSUS) at Michigan State University is an interdisciplinary department addressing contemporary issues of sustainability in agriculture, recreation, natural resources, and the environment. Recently the department expanded that focus to include energy!  Specifically, the department hired an assistant professor of sustainable energy systems.  This person–hint, it’s me!–is tasked with researching sustainable… Read more

  • Ohio Deer Management Plan Stakeholder Engagement Process

    Ohio Deer Management Plan Stakeholder Engagement Process

    The ODNR Division of Wildlife is working with a diverse group of stakeholders to develop a Deer Management Plan that will provide a 10-year framework for managing huntable deer populations based on historical perspectives, stakeholder interests and science-based management. Using a process known as Structured Decision Making (SDM), representatives from stakeholder organizations are helping the… Read more

  • Preferences and perceptions of green infrastructure: Blueprint Columbus

    Preferences and perceptions of green infrastructure: Blueprint Columbus

    In 2015, Columbus, Ohio submitted a Wet Weather Management Plan to the Ohio EPA entitled “Blueprint Columbus,” which would eliminate 28 miles of sanitary sewer overflow tunnels in favor of green infrastructure (GI) improvements including rain gardens. The mayor of Columbus has argued Blueprint Columbus would not only bring the city into EPA compliance, but… Read more

  • Assessing non-market loss and damage in the context of climate change

    Assessing non-market loss and damage in the context of climate change

    This spring a group of twenty-four scientists from Australia, New Zealand, Ghana, United Kingdom, United States, and South Africa (Table 1) came together across disciplines to explore how loss and damage (L&D) is understood and experienced by particular groups of people in various geographic settings. We conducted a workshop in Perth, Australia, between 18th and… Read more

  • There will be blood: Communicating climate change risk honestly in 2017 and beyond.

    There will be blood: Communicating climate change risk honestly in 2017 and beyond.

    Each December my colleagues and I travel to DC or somewhere far warmer like San Francisco or San Diego to meet and discuss the state of risk communication research.  One of the enduring foci of these meetings is climate change, and more specifically how we should go about communicating the risks of climate change and… Read more

  • Structured decision support for organic farmers in the Midwest

    Structured decision support for organic farmers in the Midwest

    This December Robyn Wilson, Christian Beaudrie and I traveled to San Diego to report on a decision support framework we’re building to help organic farmers make ecological weed management decisions. This tool uses as its foundation mental models research done by Sarah Zwickle and the SDM principles that my colleagues and I rely on to… Read more