The Office of Research Development encourages collaboration between JMU researchers. Starting in Fall 2025, we convened groups of researchers from across campus on selected topics to develop collaborations.
Sustainability research explores how to balance environmental protection, economic development, and social well-being to meet present needs without compromising future generations. It is inherently interdisciplinary, drawing on fields such as ecology, economics, engineering, sociology, and public policy to address complex, interconnected global challenges. By integrating diverse perspectives and methods, sustainability research seeks holistic solutions that are both practical and equitable.
This research cluster will have its kick-off meeting on April 17th at 8:30 am. To join the cluster and/or register for the kick-off meeting, please register with this form this form.
Below, you'll find researchers in this cluster who are open to building new collaborations. They shared the information below regarding their work and consented to placing it on our website.
Rob Alexander, Associate Professor Political Science, ICAD Co-Director, CAL
Research Interests: Resiliency planning; intersections of local government, public policy, community deliberation, sustainable communities
Research Question: How do actors at the local level perceive conflicts related to data center siting?
Interdisciplinary Research Interest: I offer via the Institute for Constructive Advocacy and Dialogue (ICAD) a research partner that can design, implement, and evaluate community engagement processes for grants requiring an applied stakeholder engagement component; for sustainability, I am looking for natural scientists/data scientists interested in examining how data and modelling impacts and influences regional and local government decision-making and policies.
Mesude Bayrakci-Boz, Assistant Professor, Integrated Science and Technology, CISE
Research Topics: Sustainability: Renewable Energy Sources and Grid Integration, Geospatial Analysis of Clean Energy, SMR, Energy Economics
Research Questions: Sustainability and AI: Developing a quantitative, network-aware framework to evaluate and mitigate energy security risks associated with large-scale AI data center siting.
Collaboration Interests: Policy, and Technical Grid Integration Expertise
Tobias Gerken, Assistant Professor, ISAT, CISE
Research Interests: I am an atmospheric and climate scientist that uses data science methods.
Research Questions: My main research focus is currently on impacts and processes associated with drought. This is something that could be broadened to other extreme events. This is also something that could be explored in a regional context.
Collaboration Interests: Right now, I am mostly interested in exploring potential collaborative topics. I don't have anything specific in mind, but am open to anything that aligns with my expertise
Alleyn Harned, Executive Director, VCC (REDI)
Research Areas: VCC does clean fuel vehicle and infrastructure planning, outreach, education, and deployment
Research Questions: Utilization of mobile zero emissions health centers as gap fill and rural community assistance as health/dental centers
Collaboration Interest: We seek community need
Christie-Joy Hartman, Executive Director INSW, Provost's Office
Research Areas: sustainable transportation, sustainability in higher education
Research Questions: How has the East Campus Hillside project advanced student learning? Why do students at JMU take the bus for transportation to/from campus?
Collaboration Interest: statistical analysis and assessment
Cindy Klevickis, Professor, ISAT, CISE
Research Interests: For over 20 years, I have been working with Huguenot high school in Richmond to develop ways to incorporate gardens and cooking into as many different areas of the curriculum as possible. We have raised vet gardens. We have a rooftop garden. We have an orchard and we have indoor hydroponic gardens. We’re trying to find projects that link gardening with history.1) One of my capstone project students is working with pure Shenandoah in Elkton to map about the life cycle sustainability analysis of Hemp fiber, production 3) Another, one of the research areas in our lab is to look at optimizing the effectiveness of essential oils such as oregano and thyme oil in managing infectious disease, diseases of poultry. This involves microbiology and also agricultural economics and chemical identification of the components of the essential oils. It also involves biotechnology
Research Questions: The poultry research is called the Bordetella avium project. For that project, I’d be interested in working with someone from the college of business to do a cost benefit analysis of the different ways in which interventions that would protect poultry from that disease might make not just microbiological sense, but also economic sense.
Collaboration Interests: I would love to find someone from the College of education who would be interested in turning the work that we’ve been doing at Huguenot high school into a research project
Ehren Moler, Assistant Professor, ISAT, CISE
Research Interests: Plant ecology and conservation, forest biology, invasive species management
Research Questions: We can expect a greater frequency of forest disturbances due to climate change, but will more frequent disturbance result in more fire-prone forest ecosystems or less fire-prone forest ecosystems? Can we manage the flammability of forest systems through targeted management of plant communities that colonize disturbed forests?
Collaboration Interests: Collaborators with expertise in fire ecology, fire or emergency preparedness, science communication, and social organizing and governance for helping communities adapt to new forest disturbance regimes.
Ali Shahzad, Professor, Management, CoB
Research Interests: Corporate Social Responsibility, Stakeholder Analysis
Research Questions: How does firms' CSR impact it's financial outcomes? How does the firm governance mechanisms affect its CSR?
Collaboration Interests: Mutual interest in publishing research on sustainability in general and CSR/stakeholders in particular
Tim Thomas, Professor, CoE
Research Interests: Place connection; Environmental Education
Research Questions: How can K-12 classrooms connect learners to the natural habitat in which they live and learn? What steps can K-12 teachers take to connect the taught curriculum to community and local environment?
Collaboration Interests: Content-area specialists; collecting stakeholder data
Brian Walter, Assistant Professor, Anthropology, CAL
Research Interests: Community Based Environmental Justice
Research Questions: I am interested in how communities pursue environmental justice even when they understand the limits of the regulatory or political landscape they are operating in. I am also interested in efforts to represent data in response to community feedback and needs.
Collaboration Interests: Would love to partner with experts in environmental monitoring and mapping.