Environment Research Recognition
Tobias Gerken, Assistant Professor, School of Integrated Sciences, College of Integrated Science and Engineering is a 2023 Recipient of the Provost Award for Excellence in Research and Scholarship. Read more about Dr. Gerken's research, which largely focuses on land-atmosphere interactions.
Sustainability Research Inventory
The following database of JMU's sustainability research is intended to (1) recognize the instructional and A&P faculty who are conducting sustainability research at JMU and (2) connect stakeholders with a shared interest in sustainability. For the purpose of this inventory, sustainability research was defined following the Sustainability Tracking, Assessment & Rating System's (v2.2, June 2019) definition: research and scholarship that explicitly addresses the concept of sustainability, furthers our understanding of the interdependence of ecological and social/economic systems, or has a primary and explicit focus on a major sustainability challenge, where major sustainability challenges include, but are not limited to, climate change, global poverty and inequality, natural resource depletion, and environmental degradation.
The research inventory identified more than 150 JMU faculty members representing 78% of academic units who conducted sustainability research. Use the search box to search by key word, faculty member's name, or department/unit. To read about an individual’s research interests and publications, click on the green plus sign (+) in the table, and a description will appear.
The database is being updated. Follow this link to a working version of the draft 2024 table of sustainability research, which will be transferred to the searchable table when finalized in Spring '24. If you are a JMU instructional or A&P faculty member conducting sustainability-related research who is not listed in the working draft version of the 2024 table and should be considered for inclusion in the inventory, please email stewardship@jmu.edu!
The table below is best viewed at horizontal orientation on your device.
| Faculty Name | Department | Summary and Examples of Scholarship: |
|---|---|---|
| Adams, Melinda | Department of Political Science | Dr. Adams focuses on gender and politics and women’s political participation, particularly in West Africa. 1. Scherpereel, J. A., Adams, M., & Jacob, S. (2018). Ratchets and see-saws: Divergent institutional patterns in women’s political representation. Socius: Sociological Research for a Dynamic World, 4, 237802311773527. https://doi.org/10.1177/2378023117735271 2. Jacob, S., Scherpereel, J. A., & Adams, M. (2017). Will rising powers undermine global norms? The case of gender-balanced decision-making. European Journal of International Relations, 23(4), 780–808. https://doi.org/10.1177/1354066116681429 3. Adams, M. J., Scherpereel, J. A., & Wylie, K. N. (2019). The adoption of women’s legislative caucuses worldwide. International Feminist Journal of Politics, 21(2), 249–270. https://doi.org/10.1080/14616742.2018.1543550 |
| Admassu, Yonathan | Department of Geology and Environmental Science | Dr. Admassu studies sinkholes and landslides. |
| Alexander, Robert | Department of Political Science | Dr. Alexander's research in sustainability takes two forms. The first focuses on policy tool selection in storm water management, a project resulting from Dr. Alexander's Fall 2017 PUAD 584 class. They developed an interview protocol and engaged with thematic analysis of government documents to construct the story of how the City of Harrisonburg selected the policy instruments it uses to address storm water regulations. This case will be submitted to the journal Case Studies in the Environment. The second revolves around assessing pre-voter knowledge of climate science and climate policy, a study derived from the mentoring of Massanutten Regional Governor’s School student, Zach Benevento-Zahner. On the empirical side, Zach and Dr. Alexander co-developed and have begun implementation of a survey of high school students to assess their ‘pre-voter’ knowledge of climate science and state-level public policy processes. Together with evaluation data from the teaching workshop that was developed, they hope to write up a paper for a climate education journal to disseminate the workshop curriculum along with an empirical justification for it. 1. Buckland, P., Goodstein, E., Alexander, R., Muchnick, B., Mallia, M. E., Leary, N., Andrejewski, R., & Barsom, S. (2018). The challenge of coordinated civic climate change education. Journal of Environmental Studies and Sciences, 8(2), 169-178. 2. Alexander, R., & Clarke, J. (2018, February). Mapping sustainable development networks in the Shenandoah Valley of Virginia. Poster session presented at the 8th Annual Dimensions of Political Ecology Conference. Lexington, KY 3. Alexander, R., Sturm, D., Brodrick-Hartman, C.J., & Jacovidis, J. (2017, October). Development of a Sustainability Culture Assessment to inform planning. Presented at The Association for the Advancement of Sustainability in Higher Education Conference. San Antonio, TX |
| Altaii, Karim | School of Integrated Sciences | Renewable energy is Dr. Altaii's research focus. |
| Amin, Neel | Department of History | Environmental History is Dr. Amin's focus. |
| Annan, Sandra Lee | School of Nursing | Dr. Annan's research interests include intimate partner violence, sexual assault, and rural health. She also teaches an elective: JMU NSG 393 – Issues in Family Violence. This course covers domestic violence, sexual assault, sex trafficking, child maltreatment, violence against the disabled, etc. 1. Schminkey, D. L., Liu, X., Annan, S., & Sawin, E. M. (2019). Contributors to health inequities in rural Latinas of childbearing age: An Integrative Review Using an Ecological Framework. SAGE Open, 9(1), 215824401882307. https://doi.org/10.1177/2158244018823077 2. Sawin, E. M., Sobel, L. L., Annan, S. L., & Schminkey, D. L. (2017). From systematic review to call for action. Hispanic Health Care International, 15(2), 79–87. https://doi.org/10.1177/1540415317698947 |
| Atkins, Laura | Department of Computer Information Systems and Business Analytics | Information systems can be an important piece of sustainability solutions, and including sustainability in the curriculum serves to make students in the College of Business stronger job candidates. The new Computer Information Systems (CIS) elective course that Laura Atkins designed explores the role of information systems in support of organizational sustainability initiatives and associated ethical issues. Topics include the Internet of Things, sustainability concerns related to the manufacture of technology products, system-supported manufacturing processes, and sustainable IT practices. Students study the environmental impact of manufacturing technology products and the concept of planned obsolescence; using case studies, students weigh the effects of continuous product upgrades on the profit and planet components of sustainability. The course also includes research into current practices in CIS management, including practices in other countries, which may be more stringent that those found in the US; this research includes both physical elements such as equipment use, and digital elements such as efficient coding practices that reduce energy usage. |
| Baber, Ashleigh | Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry | The goal of Dr. Baber's research is to make more efficient catalysts which would decrease side reactions, and therefore waste, and increase yield of desired products. |
| Bachmann, Chris | School of Integrated Sciences | As Co-Director of JMU's Alternative Fuel Vehicle Lab, Dr. Bachmann oversees student projects pertaining to the implementation of energy resources and engine management strategies that reduce exhaust emissions and/or increase fuel economy. |
| Baedke, Steve | Department of Geology and Environmental Science | Dr. Baedke creates predictive models for groundwater systems around the Great Lakes. The models, when used correctly, help researchers to understand the potential impacts of ongoing modification of shorelines (human induced and naturally occurring) and the future impacts of potential climate change scenario's on both the physical and chemical hydrology of Great Lakes coastlines. This further facilitates proper planning, management, and protection of these important wetland ecosystems. |
| Barnes, Audrey | School of Art, Design and Art History | Audrey Barnes co-developed a university course focused on designing Unmanned Systems (i.e. “drones”) solutions to conservation issues sponsored/posed by clients such as the Smithsonian Conservation Biology Institute and the Virginia Department of Game & Inland Fisheries. 1. Barnes, J. S., Ludwig, P. M., Barnes, A., McCarthy, S., Briggs, F., & Giovanetti, K. (2018). Unmanned systems for ecological research: An applied, interdisciplinary partnership bridging student researchers, conservation organizations, and industry. ESA - 2018 ESA Annual Meeting (August 5 - 10); ESA. https://eco.confex.com/eco/2018/meetingapp.cgi/Paper/75410 2. McCarthy, S., Barnes, A., Holland, K. S., Lewis, E., Ludwig, P., & Swayne, N. (2018). Making It: Institutionalizing collaborative innovation in public higher education. Proceedings of the 4th International Conference on Higher Education Advances (HEAd’18). https://doi.org/10.4995/head18.2018.8247 |
| Basnyat, Iccha | School of Communication Studies | Dr. Basnyat's interests are in women's health, inequalities in health, and the health experience at the margins. 1. Zhao, X., & Basnyat, I. (2018). Online social support for “Danqin Mama”: A case study of parenting discussion forum for unwed single mothers in China. Computers in Human Behavior, 80, 12–21. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.chb.2017.10.045 2. Basnyat, I. (2017). Theorizing the relationship between gender and health through a case study of Nepalese street-based female sex workers. Communication Theory, 27(4), 388–406. https://doi.org/10.1111/comt.12114 3. Basnyat, I., & Chang, L. (2017). Examining live-In foreign domestic helpers as a coping resource for family caregivers of people with dementia in Singapore. Health Communication, 32(9), 1171–1179. https://doi.org/10.1080/10410236.2016.1220346 4. Chang, L., & Basnyat, I. (2017). Exploring family support for older Chinese Singaporean women in a Confucian society. Health Communication, 32(5), 603–611. https://doi.org/10.1080/10410236.2016.1146568 5. Basnyat, I. (2017). Structural violence in health care. Qualitative Health Research, 27(2), 191–203. https://doi.org/10.1177/1049732315601665 |
| Beers, Daniel | Department of Justice Studies | Dr. Beers teaches and conducts research on global poverty, humanitarian emergencies and international aid programs intended to alleviate suffering and improve peoples’ physical, economic and emotional well-being. His work focuses specifically on development and humanitarian aid in the global south, especially Haiti, where he directs a small not-for-profit, Resources to Resources, which supports locally led humanitarian and development projects in disaster-affected communities in Haiti. |
| Bentley, Mace | School of Integrated Sciences | Dr. Bentley is a geographer who has teaching and research interests in weather-societal interactions and critical physical geography. This interdisciplinary research examines issues surrounding human-land-atmosphere interactions and works to untangle their complex, critical relationships. Given the breadth of subjects found under the umbrella of geography, he enjoys teaching a wide range of courses from climate change to understanding human cognition and environmental perception through film. |
| Bodkin, Alison | School of Communication Studies | Sustainability is central to Dr. Bodkin's research, both in terms of advocating for more sustainable systems and in her personal activist work as an environmentalist. She has published about composting and most recently fracking. Bodkin, A. F., & Collins, C. C. (2017). Fractured. Text and Performance Quarterly, 37(3–4), 257–269. https://doi.org/10.1080/10462937.2017.1321779 |
| Bogard, Paul | Department of English | Dr. Bogard's work is in environmental literature and creative writing. Bogard, P. (2017). The ground beneath us: from the oldest cities to the last wilderness, what dirt tells us about who we are. Little, Brown And Company. |
| Bonsal, Dudley | School of Integrated Sciences | Dr. Bonsal uses GIS to examine a variety of environmental issues, mainly focusing on how people perceive their surrounding landscape and how GIS can be harnessed to examine this perceptual dimension. Presently, this focus includes specific concerns with the sound environment, including noise pollution, and how land use patterns and the built environment promote or deter pedestrian and bicycling activity. He is also interested in issues pertaining to biogeography and watershed management. |
| Borg, Kevin | Department of History | Dr. Borg studies the history of the automobile and influence on US environmental policy. This includes review of relevant historical environmental case studies in auto emissions and DDT. |
| Bortolot, Zachary | School of Integrated Sciences | Dr. Bortolot uses imagery collected by aircraft and satellites to address sustainability challenges by performing natural resource inventories, and by creating visualizations from historical imagery that he hopes will lead to greater public understanding of environmental change. 1. Bortolot, Z.J. (2018). Mapping proposed Marine Management Areas in Haiti and estimating their ecosystem service values using satellite imagery and ground data. ASPRS Annual Conference 2018, Denver, CO 2. Bortolot, Z.J. (2017). A method for colorizing historical panchromatic aerial photographs, ASPRS Annual Conference 2017, Baltimore, MD |
| Bosch, Ruthie | Department of Educational Foundations and Exceptionalities | Dr. Bosch works in teaching in a Diverse Society. |
| Brantmeier, Edward | Department of Learning, Technology and Leadership Education | Dr. Brantmeier has been researching leadership education for sustainable peace in relationship to his undergraduate honors course, Inclusive and Mindful Leadership for Sustainable Peace. 1. Brantmeier, E. J. & Webb, D. (2018). Examining learning in the course, 'Inclusive Leadership for Sustainable Peace. Journal of Peace Education, 17(1), 1-25. DOI: 10.1080/17400201.2019.1669145 2. Brantmeier, E. J. (2018). Sustainable peace for the planet. In J. Miller, K. Nigh, M. Binder, B. Novak, & S. Crowell (Eds.), International Handbook of holistic education. Retrieved February 11, 2020 from https://www.taylorfrancis.com/books/e/9781315112398/chapters/10.4324/9781315112398-11 |
| Breneman, Daisy | Department of Justice Studies | Dr. Breneman's professional interests include diversity, disability studies, and social justice ally formation. |
| Brent, Robert | School of Integrated Sciences | One aspect of Dr. Brent's research is conducting Total Maximum Daily Load (TMDL) studies. These studies are clean-up plans for polluted rivers, lakes, and estuaries. The process for developing these studies is to model the relationship between aquatic ecological systems and human activities and land use. Based on these relationships, the studies estimate the maximum pollutant loads that human activities can generate and still sustain healthy aquatic ecosystems. Brent, R., & Shoemaker, K. (2019). Revision of the Benthic Total Maximum Daily Load (TMDL) developed for the Blacks Run and Cooks Creek watershed located in the City of Harrisonburg and Rockingham County. Virginia Department of Environmental Quality. https://www.deq.virginia.gov/Portals/0/DEQ/Water/TMDL/drftmdls/11443_CooksBlacks_TM_Mod_Final_Rpt_20190319.docx |
| Brewer, Benjamin | Department of Sociology and Anthropology |
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| Brigham, Matthew | School of Communication Studies | Dr. Brigham's scholarly focus in relation to sustainability is to examine the role that rhetoric, argumentation, communication, and advocacy play in public controversies involving sustainability. He is particularly interested in environmental justice topics, where environmental and social justice are either compatible/mutually supportive or, frequently, in opposition to one another. Brigham, M. P. (2017). Chrono-Controversy: The Makah’s campaign to resume the whale hunt. Western Journal of Communication, 81(2), 243–261. https://doi.org/10.1080/10570314.2016.1242023 |
| Broderick, Michael | School of Communication Studies |
Dr. Broderick's current research interest centers around food studies/systems and the way in which environmentally vulnerable populations make sense of climate change. Three projects he is undertaking: (1) Serving as the JMU anchor faculty for a 4VA initiative: Virginia Food Systems Leadership Institute, (2) Teaching two food-related courses: Food and Communication (SCOM 355) and JMU Fueled Project (ISAT 480) and, (3) Conducting research, begun in summer 2018, in rural Alaska examining the ways in which environmentally vulnerable populations are making sense of climate change. He is part of a large research team whose work was featured in National Geographic. (https://www.nationalgeographic.com/magazine/2017/04/artifact-melt-alaska-archaeology-climate-change/). He returned summer of 2019 to conduct ethnographic interviews with Yup’ik elders about the impacts of climate change. |
| Bsumek, Pete | School of Communication Studies | Dr. Bsumek's research and teaching focus on rhetoric and the processes of advocacy and decision-making in social change, with a specific emphasis in environmental communication. This relates to the challenge of transforming social systems and enacting policies to advance sustainability. |
| Butner, Harold | Department of Physics and Astronomy | Dr. Butner designed and implemented an assessment approach to measure the change in undergraduate students' environmental stewardship reasoning and knowledge over time. Hartman, C. J., DeMars, C., Griscom, H., & Butner, H. (2017). Assessment of undergraduate students’ environmental stewardship reasoning and knowledge. International Journal of Sustainability in Higher Education, 18(4), 492–502. https://doi.org/10.1108/IJSHE-07-2015-0128 |
| Byrne, Jennifer | Department of Political Science |
Dr. Byrne's research focuses on what motivates volunteers to work with endangered species and conservation projects, ethical principles of volunteerism and how it affects views on policies towards animal rights, and what draws people to ecotourism. Two sections of both her senior capstone seminar and her Minority Politics upper-division political science classes include environmental racism and speciesism. She has expanded the section on animal rights this semester and these issues take up about 1/3 of the total course material. |
| Castaneda, Daniel | Department of Engineering | Sustainability in infrastructure materials and resiliency of infrastructure comprise Dr. Castaneda's research. The production of Portland cement (the grey powder used to make Portland cement concrete) is energy intensive and combined with the volume of concrete that humanity consumes (second only to drinking water), it generates upwards to 3-5 % of worldwide CO2 emissions. One aspect of Dr. Castaneda's research in infrastructure materials is focused on exploring the incorporation of waste materials into concrete in order to offset the overall consumption of concrete. At present, he is collaborating with faculty at JMU and elsewhere on alternative concrete materials (acrylic composite concrete, bio-fiber reinforced concrete, and geopolymeric concrete) that aims to increase infrastructure's material sustainability. Regarding sustainability and resiliency of infrastructure, Dr. Castaneda and his students realize the consequences of climate change are now being felt in the Shenandoah Valley where extreme (flash) flooding is ever more frequently, straining the existing infrastructure beyond its intended design. A collaboration among engineering faculty and students is engaging a local community near Mt Solon on the design and construction of a new pedestrian foot bridge that reclaims washed out debris from past floods (touching on material sustainability) while designing the foot bridge to physically move itself out of the way during future flood events (touching on resiliency of infrastructure against extreme events). |
| Castellano, Katey | Department of English | Dr. Castellano is an English professor working at the intersection of Environmental Humanities and British Romantic literature. Her current book project contests the idea that commons inevitably lead to overuse and “tragedy” by investigating the Romantic-era cottage industries of marginalized women, fugitive resistances of enslaved and colonized peoples under British rule, and religious practices of displaced commoners, which provide a history of how the poor and marginalized cooperatively maintained thriving commons. 1. Castellano, K. (2020). Multispecies work in John Clare’s “Birds Nesting” poems. In S. Kovesi & E. Lafford (Eds.), Palgrave advances in John Clare studies. Palgrave Macmillan. https://www.palgrave.com/gp/book/9783030433734 2. Castellano, K. (2019). William Cobbett, ‘Resurrection man!’: the Peterloo Massacre and the bones of Tom Paine. In M. Demson & R. Hewitt (Eds.), Commemorating Peterloo: Violence, resilience and claim-making during the Romantic Era (pp. 183–204). Edinburgh University Press. https://edinburghuniversitypress.com/book-commemorating-peterloo.html 3. Castellano, K. (2018). Anthropomorphism in the Anthropocene: Reassembling wildlife management data in Bear 71. Environment & Society Portal. Environmentandsociety.Org, 10(1). http://www.environmentandsociety.org/mml/anthropomorphism-anthropocene-reassembling-wildlife-management-data-bear-71 4. Castellano, K. (2017). Moles, molehills, and common right in John Clare’s poetry. Studies in Romanticism, 56(2), 157–176. |
| Cavanagh, Erica | Department of English | Dr. Cavanagh's work in sustainability has largely been teaching and service oriented with a focus on food, including the agricultural, labor, animal welfare, environmental, and nutritional aspects of food. Since 2010, she has taught two food-studies courses, "Food Writing," which is a part of the creative writing curriculum, and "Food Ethics," a capstone course for IdLS majors. Along with a team of interdisciplinary faculty she developed an interdisciplinary Food Studies Minor proposal. She has also been an integral part of organizing the Food and Place Conference, held in 2019 at the Madison Hotel and Conference Center. Bleeg, E. (2018). Slideshow: Feeding the Future | Wilson Quarterly. Wilsonquarterly.Com. http://archive.wilsonquarterly.com/web-exclusive/slideshow-feeding-future |
| Chen, Tony | School of Integrated Sciences | Dr. Chen studies solar and renewable energy. |
| Choshi, Modjadji | School of Nursing | Dr. Choshi's work will advance the understanding of self-care behaviors in women living in rural areas. |
| Cocking, Dean | Department of Biology | Mercury as an impactful component of the environment has always been interesting to Dr. Cocking. His first venture with the element led to a study while he was a M.S. candidate in plant physiology at Cornell University and was studying the role that phenyl mercuric acetate plays as an anti-transpirant for chrysanthemum cutting propagation. It was effective, but small concentration variances were toxic and shortly after he graduated, the use of Hg in agricultural products was banned. His Ph.D. thesis research in the 1970’s at Rutgers University involved exposing ~25 m2 plots of old-field vegetation within a portable chamber to SO2 and evaluating differential impacts on plant community composition from that component of air pollution. After graduating, he accepted a teaching position at Madison College and initially directed students carrying out studies of fire ecology at Big Meadows and another group examined the influence of slope and elevation on forest community succession in Shenandoah National Park. His research interests then evolved to focus on questions involving the uptake of mercury by plants and animals within terrestrial ecosystems. In conjunction with undergraduate and graduate students at James Madison University his research group looked at field situations associated with Hg contamination of the South River floodplain at Waynesboro, VA, as well as laboratory models of bioaccumulation in plants. For example, Dr. Cocking and his students examined translocation of Hg within plant tissues, the presence of Hg and MeHg in earthworms collected on the floodplain for a reach downstream from the point source of a fiber manufacturing facility in Waynesboro, VA, and evaluation of traces of Hg with garden crops grown on the flood plain of the South River. Theses studies were often in conjunction with the South River Science Team and supported by E.I. DuPont and the Virginia Department of Environmental Quality. Most recently Dr. Cocking's attention focused on the role of atmospheric dust deposition as a contaminant source in Rockingham County, VA. In addition to pursuing these research interests as mentor and in cooperation with JMU students, for 46 years he also taught courses in ecology including ones specializing in plant communities, ecosystem dynamics and landscape ecology. His most recent teaching focus included an upper division BIO majors course examining “Global Climate Change and Life” as well as a non-majors general education Contemporary Biology course addressing concepts of biology through the topic of "Climate Change; Impacts on Humans and the Environment.” He retired with Emeritus status in September of 2018, and expects to do some writing combining results from some of these research activities and may ultimately offer updated versions of the climate change courses on an occasional basis. |
| Coffman, Jennifer | School of Integrated Sciences | Dr. Coffman is committed to global education and applied critical social science focused on human-environment interactions. Her work focuses on environment and development from a political ecology perspective. She has studied land and wildlife resource management, development, and sociocultural change among Maasai populations in southern Kenya and northern Tanzania; participatory development and ethnic politicking in rural and urban East Africa; international education, voluntourism, and the environmental impacts of study abroad; and land use and food-production issues. Two current research projects tied to sustainability include: (1) ERAMAT is the first Culturally Anchored Eco-Game®. ERAMAT reflects kinship and culture, everyday life, and the ecological dynamics of the East African semi-arid rangelands into an interactive board game that serves as a system-based learning tool to explore in “fast-forward time” the dynamics contributing to the recurrent drought and hunger in pastoralist (livestock-centered) communities. (2) A Political Ecology of Study Abroad: Reducing the Environmental Impacts of High Impact Learning? This project pursues a political ecology approach to study abroad and concludes with proposals of how to “do good” better. Using a mixed methods approach, a group of faculty and student researchers sought to evaluate whether there are and/or could be study abroad programs that, even given the heavy footprint of international travel, are less “ecologically expensive” than living in the United States for the same period of time, or at least not dramatically more ecologically expensive. |
| Colocousis, Chris | Department of Sociology and Anthropology | Dr. Colocousis's work on social and environmental change in historically natural resource-dependent communities is concerned with their long-term sustainability. At the same time, some of his research takes a critical look at sustainability as a concept. 1. Van Berkel, D. B., Rayfield, B., Martinuzzi, S., Lechowicz, M. J., White, E., Bell, K. P., Colocousis, C. R., Kovacs, K. F., Morzillo, A. T., Munroe, D. K., Parmentier, B., Radeloff, V. C., & McGill, B. J. (2018). Recognizing the ‘sparsely settled forest’: Multi-decade socioecological change dynamics and community exemplars. Landscape and Urban Planning, 170, 177–186. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.landurbplan.2017.10.009 2. Colocousis, C. R., Rebellon, C. J., Smith, N., & Sobolowski, S. (2017). How long can we keep doing this? Sustainability as a strictly temporal concept. Journal of Environmental Studies and Sciences, 7(2), 274–287. https://doi.org/10.1007/s13412-015-0355-4 |
| Conley, Shannon | School of Integrated Sciences | Dr. Conley's research focuses on collaborative inquiry into the broader social, ethical, and environmental implications of emerging technologies. |
| Connerly, Jennifer | Interdisciplinary Liberal Studies Department | Women, gender, diversity and social media are areas Dr. Connerley research. |
| Crawford, Kerry | Department of Political Science | Dr. Crawford is looking at how the international community is changing its understanding of what constitutes security in order to factor in the daily threats and opportunities that individuals face. Anderson-Rodgers, D., & Crawford, K. (2018). Human security: Theory and action. Rowman & Littlefield. https://rowman.com/isbn/9781442273771/human-security-theory-and-action |
| Davidson, Jessica | Department of History | Dr. Davidson's research includes modern European political, social, and women’s history, and women's and gender studies. |
| De Fazio, Gianluca | Department of Justice Studies | Dr. De Fazio's current work on lynching in Virginia contributes to highlight and discuss past and present patterns of racial inequality and violence. 1. De Fazio, G. (2019). Improving lynching inventories with local newspapers: Racial terror in Virginia, 1877–1927. Current Research in Digital History, 2. https://doi.org/10.31835/crdh.2019.04 2. De Fazio, G. (2019). Racial terror: Lynching in Virginia, 1877-1927. |
| Delp, Benjamin | Office of Research and Scholarship |
Ben Delp’s role is focused on administrative support and service, most notably for the renewable and alternative energy sector. He serves as Principal Investigator on the Virginia Clean Cities (VCC) entity agreement with JMU and on the VCC board. He engages in clean energy advocacy at the local, state, and federal levels; and he serves as point of contact for external entities seeking to partner with JMU. |
| DeValpine, Maria | School of Nursing | Dr. DeValpine's research focuses on inequality and health. |
| Diop, Corinne | School of Art, Design and Art History | Dr. Diop works in documenting hunger at a community level, photomicroscopic nature imagery, and science education using science-on-a-sphere technology. |
| Dmytriyev, Sergiy | Department of Management | Dr. Dmytriyev works in stakeholder theory and corporate social responsibility. 1. Freeman, R. E., & Dmytriyev, S. (2017). Corporate Social Responsibility and Stakeholder Theory: Learning From Each Other. Symphonya: Emerging Issues in Management, 1, 7–15. https://doi.org/10.4468/2017.1.02freeman.dmytriyev 2. Freeman, R. E., Dmytriyev, S., & Strand, R. G. (2017). Managing for Stakeholders in the Digital Age. In A. Rasche, M. Morsing, & J. Moon (Eds.), Corporate social responsibility: Strategy, communication, governance (pp. 110–135). Cambridge University Press. 3. Brownlee, E. R. II, Dmytriyev, S., & Elias, A. (2017). Integrative stakeholder engagement: Stakeholder-oriented partnership between the Coca-Cola Company and World Wildlife Fund. In R. E. Freeman, J. Kujala, & S. Sachs (Eds.), Stakeholder engagement: Clinical research cases (pp. 339-367). Springer. 4. Werhane, P. H., Freeman, R. E., & Dmytriyev, S. (Eds.). (2017). Research approaches to business ethics and corporate responsibility. 1st edition. Cambridge University Press. https://doi.org/10.1017/9781316584385 5. Dmytriyev, S., Freeman, R. E., Kujala, J., & Sachs, S. (2017). A pragmatist perspective on management scholarship and on stakeholder engagement in particular. In R. E. Freeman, J. Kujala, & S. Sachs (Eds.), Stakeholder engagement: Clinical research cases (pp. 391-400). Springer. 6. Dmytriyev, S., & Wicks, A. C. (2018). Building bridges: Patricia Werhane, business ethics and health care. In R. E. Freeman, S. Dmytriyev, & A. C. Wicks (Eds.), The moral imagination of Patricia Werhane: A festschrift (pp. 143-163). Springer. |
| Downey, Daniel | Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry | Dr. Downey works in lab and field environmental chemistry; water chemistry in surface water is studied to support projects in fisheries and ecological management. |
| Eaton, L. Scott | Department of Geology and Environmental Science | Land use and natural hazards are Dr. Eaton's research areas. |
| Elmi, Chiara | Department of Geology and Environmental Science | Dr. Elmi studies the reactivity of metal oxides at the nanoscale for environmental protection. |
| El-Tawab, Samy | School of Integrated Sciences |
The rapid increase of modern wireless technology opens the door for several new applications using the Internet of Things (IoT) technology, and applying the technology to mass transit is Dr. El-Tawab's research focus. In an educational environment, students depend on the transit bus system for their daily routine and there is a high demand of people to be served by buses around university campuses in the United States of America. Often times, the members of university communities find themselves waiting for a significant amount of time for a bus to arrive at the bus station. Universities have numerous bus stops as well as routes on which riders can use for travel. Several of these bus stops are covered by Wi-Fi capabilities, and usually students are checking their smart phones while waiting for bus arrival. In order to monitor the quality of transit buses and passengers’ services, Dr. El-Tawab's team designs, develops, and demonstrates a low cost IoT system that detects the majority of the riders on the bus system at each station. In the project, the IoT devices collect, analyze and archive transit and passenger data (e.g., waiting times) to Cloud Storage from each bus station. The goal is to improve the passenger’s experience by refining the current infrastructure in place, focusing on better planning and increasing bus ridership through better scheduling. By collecting such data (e.g., waiting times), the performance of the bus system can be further analyzed and suggest changes to a route in order to achieve a more efficient and sustainable urban transportation system. 1. Salman A., El-Tawab S., & Yorio Z. (2020) Expanding Coverage of an Intelligent Transit Bus Monitoring System via ZigBee Radio Network. In: Arai K. & Bhatia R. (Eds.) Advances in Information and Communication. FICC 2019. Lecture Notes in Networks and Systems, vol 69. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-12388-8_15 2. El-Tawab, S., Yorio, Z., Salman, A., Oram, R., & Park, B.B., (2019). Origin-Destination Tracking Analysis of an Intelligent Transit Bus System using Internet of Things, 2019 IEEE International Conference on Pervasive Computing and Communications Workshops (PerCom Workshops), (pp. 139-144). Kyoto, Japan. doi: 10.1109/PERCOMW.2019.8730746 3. Yorio, Z., Oram, R., El-Tawab, S., Salman, A., Hossain Heydari, M., & Park, B.B., (2018, April). Data analysis and information security of an Internet of Things (IoT) intelligent transit system. Paper presented at Systems and Information Engineering Design Symposium (SIEDS), (pp. 24-29). Charlottesville, VA |
| Erdman, Jori | School of Art, Design, and Art History | Professor Erdman's focus is on designing resilient communities and elevated structures. 1. Day, J., & Erdman, J. (Eds.) (2018). Mississippi delta restoration: Pathways to a sustainable future. Springer Int'l Publishing. Retrieved July 31, 2023, from https://www.lacoast.gov/crms/crms_public_data/publications/Wiegman%20et%20al%202018%20in%20Day%20et%20al%202018.pdf 2. Erdman, J.W., Williams, E.A., James, C.W., & Coakley, G.P. (2018). Raising buildings: The resilience of elevated structures. In: Day, J.W., & Erdman, J.A. (Eds). Mississippi Delta Restoration: Pathways to a sustainable future. Springer Int'l Publishing. Retrieved July 31, 2023, from https://www.lacoast.gov/crms/crms_public_data/publications/Wiegman%20et%20al%202018%20in%20Day%20et%20al%202018.pdf 3. Erdman, J.W., James, C.W., Coakley, G.P., & Williams, E.A., (2018). Raising New Orleans: The Marais Design Strategy. In: Day, J.W., & Erdman, J.A. (Eds). Mississippi Delta Restoration: Pathways to a sustainable future. Springer Int'l Publishing. Retrieved July 31, 2023, from https://www.lacoast.gov/crms/crms_public_data/publications/Wiegman%20et%20al%202018%20in%20Day%20et%20al%202018.pdf |
| Estes, Michele | Department of Learning, Technology and Leadership Education |
Dr. Estes is involved in numerous sustainability projects that are likely to result in research. In general, she designs, develop, consult on, and support the communications and collaborations of international, sustainability expert teams. Further, she am a member of multiple teams that co-author, deliver online conferences, and co-teach in the area of education for sustainable development (ESD). She serves on the International Beliefs and Values Institute Board (see http://www.ibavi.org/), and on the leadership team for the Summit Series: Cultivating the Globally Sustainable Self initiative. 2. Shudel, I., Urenji, S., Estes, M., Nolet, V., Baumann, S., & Petersen, A. (accepted, 2019). ESD Innovate. In Ed. C. Shealy, Exploring self: Examining the “How” and “Why” of self transformation through theory, research, and practice (pp. x-x). Oxford University Press. |
| Ezzell, Matthew | Department of Sociology and Anthropology | Dr. Ezzell's work is related to sustainability as he studies the sociology of race, class, and gender inequality, with a particular focus on media, identity, and interpersonal violence. 1. Johnson, J.A., Ezzell, M.B., Bridges, A.J. & Sun, C.F. (2019). Pornography and Heterosexual Women's Intimate Experiences with a Partner. Journal of Women's Health, 28(9), 1254-1265. https://doi.org/10.1089/jwh.2018.7006 2. Wright, P. J., Bridges, A. J., Sun, C., Ezzell, M. B., & Johnson, J. A. (2018). Personal Pornography Viewing and Sexual Satisfaction: A Quadratic Analysis. Journal of Sex & Marital Therapy, 44(3), 308–315. https://doi.org/10.1080/0092623X.2017.1377131 3. Ezzell, M. B. (2017). Current Controversies: Pornography and violence against women. In C. Renzetti, J. Edleson, & R. K. Bergen (Eds.), Sourcebook on violence against women (3rd edition) (pp. 219–225). Sage Publications. |
| Fagan, Allison | Department of English | Dr. Fagan's research contributes to a sustainable future by attending to vulnerable and marginalized populations and their access to the means of storytelling. Highlighting both the journeys and the narratives of refugees, undocumented immigrants, and black and Latinx writers, her scholarship participates in a dialogue about the need for raised awareness of the experiences of others. 1. Fagan, A., (2017). Living in print: The half-dead books of three posthumously published Chicana/o writers. Aztlán: A Journal of Chicano Studies 42(1), 179-196. 2. Fagan, A., (Forthcoming 2020). Will my page be colored that I write? Race and American Publishing. In MLA approaches to teaching book history. |
| Fasching Maphis, Christine | School of Nursing | Christine Fasching Maphis's study areas include health care reform, ethics, civic, and professional engagement towards climate change mitigation and adaptation. |
| Flamiano, Dolores | School of Media Arts & Design | Dr. Flamiano focuses on media representations of race and gender. |
| Flannery, Frances | Department of Philosophy and Religion |
Dr. Flannery is working with an NGO, Vijana Africa, on a sustainability project in the Democratic Republic of Congo. She is a Trinity College (Dublin, Ireland) Longroom Hub Fellow on ecotheology, and will work in residence there when covid-19 permits. In 2019 she attended the International Society for the Study of Nature and Culture Conference in Cork, Ireland. In 2019 she also presented two research papers related to sustainability. 1. Flannery, F. (2019, November). Eschatological Responses to Apocalyptic Ecocide in World Religions and Policy, Presented at Apocalypse Now Colloquium, Society of Biblical Literature National Meeting, San Diego, CA 2. Flannery, F. (2019, June). A Covenantal Understanding of Human Impact on the Weather and Animals, Presented at Religion/Water/Climate: Changing Cultures and Landscapes Conference, International Society for the Study of Religion, Nature, and Culture, University College Cork, Cork, Ireland |
| Foust, Richard | Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry | Dr. Foust studies biogeochemistry of environmental arsenic and the fate and behavior of trace metals in the environment. Foust, R., Phillips, M., Hull, K., & Yehorova, D. (2018). Changes in arsenic, copper, iron, manganese, and zinc levels resulting from the application of poultry litter to agricultural soils. Toxics, 6(2), 28–40. https://doi.org/10.3390/toxics6020028 |
| Frysinger, Steven | School of Integrated Sciences | Dr. Frysinger's primary area of research surrounds the science and design of environmental decision support systems intended to help decision makers include sound science in their process. 1. Frysinger, S.P. (Guest Ed.), (2017). Food sustainability: Feeding the World Responsibly. EM Magazine, Air and Waste Management Association. Retrieved February 12, 2020 from http://pubs.awma.org/flip/EM-Dec-2017/emdec17.pdf 2. Frysinger, S. P. (In press). Advances in environmental decision support: Tools for informed environmental management. In C. N. Madu (Ed.), Handbook for Environmentally Conscious Manufacturing, 2nd Edition. Kluwer Academic Publishers. |
| Gelfand, Howard | Interdisciplinary Liberal Studies Program | Dr. Gelfand's research includes environmental activism & consciousness. 1. Gelfand, H., (2018). Surfing Point Loma: Surfers and the National Park Service at Cabrillo National Monument, San Diego, California. Presented at the American Historical Association Pacific Coast Branch Conference. Santa Clara, CA 2. Gelfand, H., (2017). Coastal Engineering, Surfers, and Environmental Consciousness in Southern California, 1940-Present. Presented at the American Historical Association Pacific Coast Branch Conference. Los Angeles, CA |
| Ghiaciuc, Susan | School of Writing, Rhetoric and Technical Communication | Dr. Ghiaciuc’s environment interests are grounded in agricultural sustainability and health, as well as environmental justice. These subjects are featured regularly in her classes including WRTC 103: Critical Reading and Writing, WRTC 301: Language, Law, and Ethics, and WRTC 430: Contemporary Rhetorical Theory. |
| Godfrey, Mollie | Department of English | Dr. Godfrey works in African American literature, race and ethnicity studies, and public and digital humanities. 1. Godfrey, M., & McCarthy, S. (2018). Celebrating Simms: Complicating the single story in community engagement projects. Public: A Journal of Imagining America; Digital Engagements; Or, The Virtual Gets Real, 4(2). Retrieved on February 12, 2020 at https://public.imaginingamerica.org/blog/article/celebrating-simms-complicating-the-single-story-in-community-engagement-projects/ 2. Godfrey, M. (2018). Sheep, Rats, and Jungle Beasts: Black Humanisms and the Protest Fiction Debate. Arizona Quarterly: A Journal of American Literature, Culture, and Theory, 74 (2), 39–62. https://doi.org/10.1353/arq.2018.0008 3. Godfrey, M., (2017). Passing as Post-Racial: The Human Stain, Political Correctness, and the Post-Racial Passing Narrative. Contemporary Literature, 58(2), 233–261. 4. Godfrey, M., & Young, A. (Eds.), (2018). Introduction: The Neo-Passing narrative. In M. Godfrey & A. Young (Eds.), Neo-Passing: Performing Identity after Jim Crow. University of Illinois Press. pp.1-40. |
| Goodall, Amy | School of Integrated Sciences | Through research grants and projects with students, Dr. Goodall has worked for over 20 years with understanding the distribution and behaviors of migratory bird and butterfly species. Her teaching emphasizes the importance of Earth’s biodiversity. As part of her work, she collaborates with public school administrators, teachers, and students to develop vegetable and flower gardens at Harrisonburg City schools. The gardens provide habitat for wildlife and serve as biodiversity study sites for students of all ages. 1. Goodall, A (2019, June). Multiple Values of Urban School Gardens. Paper presented at the International Urban Wildlife Conference. Portland, OR 2. Goodall, A. & Goodall, P. (2019, July). Undergraduate Engagement in a Public School Garden Program. Presented at the National Children & Youth Garden Symposium Workshop. Madison, WI 3. Goodall A., & Goodall, P. (2018). Value of school gardens for engagement between university and public school students. Poster presentation at the Engagement for the Public Good Conference. Harrisonburg, VA 4. Conley, S., Henriques, J., Goodall, A., Holland, K., Way, H., Miles, J., Goodall, P., & Kolvoord, R. (2018). Sustainable Engagement Study Abroad: A Case Study in International Collaboration between James Madison University and Maltese Non-profit Institutions. Roundtable at the Engagement for the Public Good Conference. Harrisonburg, VA 5. Goodall, A. (2017). Urban Elementary School Garden Importance for Biodiversity Education. Paper presented at the International Congress for Conservation Biology. Cartagena, Columbia 6. Goodall, A. (2017). Urban Elementary School Garden Importance for Butterfly Biodiversity. Paper presented at the International Urban Wildlife Conference. San Diego, CA |
| Grande, Steven | Community Service Learning | Dr. Grande serves as chair of Sustainable Shenandoah Valley (2016-present), a regional consortium dedicated to preserving and enhancing the unique educational, social, environmental, and economic resources to ensure the future well-being of Valley residents and children. This consortium brings together teachers, higher education representatives, members of the local business community, local and regional governmental officials, researchers, and other community members to build connections and boost collaboration across the Central Shenandoah Valley. He is also a member of the JMU Clean Energy Working Group which seeks reductions in JMU's carbon footprint. |
| Gravett, Emily | Department of Philosophy and Religion | Dr. Gravett works in feminist educational development. 1. Bernhagen, L. & Gravett, E., (forthcoming). The difficulties of removing the pink collar: Affective labor and educational development. Chapter in Terms of Service. 2. Gravett, E. & Bernhagen, L., (2018). Ways of doing: Feminist educational development. To Improve the Academy, Special Issue: The One Thing, 37(1). https://doi.org/10.1002/tia2.20068 3. Bernhagen, L. & Gravett, E., (2017) “Educational Development as Pink Collar Labor: Implications and Recommendations,” To Improve the Academy, 36(1). https://doi.org/10.1002/tia2.20053 |
| Griscom, Heather | Department of Biology | Dr. Griscom and her students are involved in forest restoration ecology, currently working with local farms to reforest along streams (CREP). They are experimenting with reintroduction of plant species that have been compromised by invasive species or overharvesting (American Chestnut and American Ginseng). The ginseng plots they are researching are in the arboretum. 1. Thyroff, E., & Griscom, H. (2019). Experimental study of soil and aspect on American ginseng in an Appalachian cove ecosystem. Natural Areas Journal, 39(3), 378-383. 2. Horstman, E., Ayon, J., & Griscom, H. (2018). Growth, survival, carbon rates for some dry tropical forest trees used in enrichment planting in the Cerro Blanco protected forest on the Ecuadorian coast. Journal of Sustainable Forestry. 37(2), 82-96. doi: 10.1080/10549811.2017.1387153 3. Hartman, C.-J. B., DeMars, C. E., Griscom, H. P., & Butner, H. M. (2017). Assessment of undergraduate students’ environmental stewardship reasoning and knowledge. International Journal of Sustainability in Higher Education, 18(4), 492–502. https://doi.org/10.1108/IJSHE-07-2015-0128 4. Edgar, B.E., & Griscom, H. (2017). The effect of controlled burns on abundance of woody species in Appalachian pine-oak forests at Buck Mountain, West Virginia. Natural Areas Journal, 37(1), 30-38. https://doi.org/10.3375/043.037.0106 |
| Hanifi, Shah | Department of History | Historical animal and environmental studies are Dr. Hanifi's research areas. |
| Harned, Alleyn | Virginia Clean Cities | Mr. Harned serves as the executive director of Virginia Clean Cities, the advanced fuel technology education and deployment arm of the commonwealth of Virginia. Since 1996 VCC has worked to reduce gasoline and diesel use in transportation fuel, saving 177,000 tons of greenhouse gases annually and helping Virginians use 33 million less gallons of imported gasoline and diesel fuel each year. |
| Harsh, Joseph | Department of Biology | Urban ecology and developing science-literate citizenry are Dr. Harsh's research areas. Schmitt-Harsh, M., & Harsh, J. A. (2017). Engaging nonscience majors in urban ecology: Recommendations for course design. Journal of Environmental Studies and Sciences, 7(4), 550–561. https://doi.org/10.1007/s13412-016-0410-9 |
| Hartman, Christie-Joy | School of Integrated Sciences | Dr. Hartman's scholarly interests are sustainability in higher education as well as energy and environmental aspects of transportation. 1. Hartman, C. J., DeMars, C., Griscom, H., & Butner, H. (2017). Assessment of undergraduate students’ environmental stewardship reasoning and knowledge. International Journal of Sustainability in Higher Education, 18(4), 492–502. https://doi.org/10.1108/IJSHE-07-2015-0128 2. Alexander, R., Sturm, D., Brodrick-Hartman, C.J., & Jacovidis, J. (2017, October). Development of a Sustainability Culture Assessment to inform planning. Presented at The Association for the Advancement of Sustainability in Higher Education Conference. San Antonio, TX |
| Henriques, Carissa | School of Art, Design and Art History | As part of the content for GRPH 406 Advanced Typography, Professor Henriques includes the following two projects: (1) Sustainability Report: Advanced level graphic design publication project centered on corporate sustainability practices. Students research a company through B-Corp’s website, learn about their sustainable practices, and must produce an “annual report” style publication that markets the sustainable aspects of a company’s practices. Students learn about transparency and reporting, sourcing; ethical pay practices; corporate community engagement; and fair labor practices. (2) Social awareness information design project: Advanced level graphic design students do independent research on a social issue or topic and produce an information-design driven piece of graphic design. This project forces them to learn about data design and display as well as an ethical / social issue. This semester’s topic will revolve around food issues / food waste. She was also a member of the conference planning committee for The Alliance for the Arts in Research University (A2ru) Emerging Creatives Summit, which was hosted at JMU on Feb. 7–11, 2019. The student summit was cross-disciplinary and arts-integrative, and was centered on the topic of “Food and Waste.” Students from across disciplines from schools across the a2ru network (primarily research-one institutions) worked in groups on a research project relative to food and place. Students listened to guest speakers, panels, and performances, including Peabody award winning producer of “King Corn,” Ian Chenney, poet Ross Gay, and poultry-workers activist Michael Snell-Feikema to name a few. |
| Henriques, Justin | Department of Engineering | Dr. Henrique's scholarly focus is on sustainable and resilient infrastructure systems, climate change vulnerability assessments, and humanitarian technology. 1. Metzler, W., Pinson, D., Hendrickson, A., Xu, R., & Henriques, J. (2018, April). Low-cost drone system for analyzing elevation. Presented at the 2018 IEEE Systems and Information Engineering Design Symposium (SIEDS). Charlottesville, VA 2. Henriques, J., Blohm, A., & Moss, R. (2017, April). A framework for analyzing climate change vulnerability in the built environment. Presented at the Engineering Sustainability, Innovation and the Triple Bottom Line Conference. Pittsburgh, PA 3. Dam, N., Ricketts, A., Catlett, B. & Henriques, J. (2017, April). Wearable sensors for analyzing personal exposure to air pollution. IEEE Systems and Information Engineering Design Symposium (SIEDS), Charlottesville, VA |
| Herrick, James | Department of Biology | In Dr. Herrick's laboratory, molecular, genetic, genomic, and microbiological techniques are used to study populations of native and introduced -- including pathogenic -- bacteria in natural streams and soils. The main interest is in the lateral transfer of genes to and among bacteria in streams and soils. Lateral gene transfer - as opposed to the 'vertical' transfer of genes via simple cell division - allows genes to move between mature cells and thus to potentially spread very quickly through a population and even from species to species. Lateral gene transfer has had a profound effect on genome evolution, on pollutant biodegradation, and particularly on the development of antibiotic resistance in bacteria. Our current focus is on the transfer of resistance genes in stream waters and sediments. Antibiotic overuse and misuse may lead to selection for resistance genes, many of which are found on mobile genetic elements such as plasmids and transposons, and these can potentially be transferred from human or animal strains to bacteria in the environment. Resistant environmental bacterial populations may then act as environmental reservoirs and evolutionary "incubators" of resistance genes, thus providing new variants and combinations of resistance phenotypes for subsequent transfer to human and animal pathogenic bacteria. They are currently using genetic 'capture' techniques and comparative genomics methods to study actively transferring resistance plasmids which, though acquired from native stream bacteria, may have their origins in introduced, antibiotic-selected fecal bacteria. |
| Herrington, Philip | Department of History |
Dr. Herrington is an agricultural and environmental historian whose work includes studies of how nineteenth-century Americans conceived of agricultural landscapes (both farms and plantations) and sought to defend or change traditional land-use and labor practices. |
| Hinderliter, Sarah | School of Art, Design and Art History | Dr. Hinderliter works in Africana studies, feminist theory, and gender and sexuality studies. |
| Holland, Keith | Department of Engineering | Dr. Holland's current research interests include sustainable and renewable energy technologies, non-destructive and stand-off detection technologies for wind and solar plant health assessment, and optoelectronic sensor development. |
| Howes-Mischel, Rebecca | Department of Sociology and Anthropology | Dr. Howes-Mischel's research examines how medical professionals, public health researchers and policy-makers, and pregnant people together negotiate the meaning of reproductive health disparities, their race-based connections, and their lived experiences. Past research has examined the impact of the MDG5/SDG focus on maternal mortality on Oaxacan (Mexico) public health experiences; current research examines how life sciences researchers are attempting to link environmentally linked reproductive health disparities to the maternal microbiome. Howes‐Mischel, R. (2017). Humanizing big numbers: Representational strategies in institutional films about global maternal mortality. Visual Anthropology Review 33(2), 164-176. |
| Hulton, Linda | School of Nursing | Dr. Hulton's works in sustainability in the interdependence of community systems to meet the healthcare needs of the homeless in Harrisonburg. Kiser, T., & Hulton, L. (2018). Addressing Health Care Needs in the Homeless Population: A New Approach Using Participatory Action Research. SAGE Open, 8(3), 1–7. https://doi.org/10.1177/2158244018789750 |
| Kimsey, Mary | School of Integrated Sciences | As an instructor of Geography: The Global Dimension, Dr. Kimsey promotes global understanding through the study of humans, their institutions and processes, and the resulting interactions between humans and the environment. The focus is on environmental issues at the world, regional, and global levels with an evaluation of how individuals and groups around the world are addressing the issues. In the Water Resources of the World course, she introduce students to the human dimensions of water. This includes distribution of water across the Earth’s surface, water economics, disease and water, management and planning of water at the local and regional levels, conflict over water, and the future of water resources. As the instructor of Climatology, she help students to understand atmospheric processes, how they create variation in climate types across the surface of the Earth, and how humans impact the atmosphere through their activities. She supervises student projects that involve an analysis of climate data for stations from around the world. Her research focuses on an island off the coast of Haiti called La Gonâve. For over 15 years, she has been studying environmental issues that deal with the sea (fishing and coral reefs) and the land (farming, production of charcoal and deforestation). She supervises student projects and travel related to environmental issues on La Gonâve. |
| Klevickis, Cindy | School of Integrated Sciences | Dr. Klevickis studies science and civic engagement. |
| Kutchins, Laurie | Department of English | Professor Kutchins works in environmental poetry. |
| Leslie, Stephen | Department of Geology and Environmental Science | Dr. Leslie works in carbon cycling, paleoclimatology, and paleoecology. |
| Lewis, Mark | Department of Early, Elementary, and Reading Education | Equitable and effective education for emergent bilinguals is Dr. Lewis's focus. Lewis, M. A., & Gómez Zisselsberger, M. (2019). Scaffolding and inequitable participation in linguistically diverse book clubs. Reading Research Quarterly, 54, 167-186. |
| Linder, Joshua | Department of Sociology and Anthropology | Dr. Linder studies primates and protected area management. Astaras, C., Linder, J. M., Wrege, P., Orume, R. D., & Macdonald, D. W. (2017). Passive acoustic monitoring as a law enforcement tool for Afrotropical rainforests. Frontiers in Ecology and the Environment, 15(5), 233–234. https://doi.org/10.1002/fee.1495 |
| Ludwig, Patrice | Department of Biology | Dr. Ludwig researches the efficacy of artificial oyster substrates on long term restoration reefs. |
| Lukens, William | Department of Geology & Environmental Science | Dr. Lukens studies paleoclimatology and climate change. |
| Malenke, Lucy | University Writing Center | Lucy Malenke (née Bryan) is a creative writer who predominantly publishes place-based nonfiction. Her essays and articles incorporate personal narrative, human and natural history, geology, and ecology. 1. Bryan, L., (2018). Dirty Hands. In J. Ross (Ed.), In Season: Stories of discovery, loss, home, and places in between, pp. 54-60, University Press of Florida. https://upf.com/book.asp?id=9780813056951 2. Bryan, L., (n.d.). Citizens Afield. Earth Island Journal, http://www.earthisland.org/journal/index.php/magazine/entry/citizens_afield/ 3. Bryan, L. (n.d.). Island, Wilding; 1st place, Fall 2018 Parks and Points Essay Contest, Parks and Points. https://www.parksandpoints.com/island-wilding |
| Martinez Gonzalez, Andrea | School of Communication Studies |
Dr. Martinez Gonzalez studies persuasion in the context of strategic environmental and health communication. A current list of her publications can be found here: https://scholar.google.com/citations?user=IaMqnx8AAAAJ&hl=en# 1. Gonzalez Martinez, A., Reynolds-Tylus, T., & Quick, B.L., (2020). Clustering energy and water conservations behaviors as choices: Examining the moderating roles of message elaboration and involvement. Applied Environmental Education & Communication (pp.1-16). https://doi.org/10.1080/1533015X.2020.1740116 2. Reynolds-Tylus, T., Martinez Gonzalez, A., & Quick, B. L. (2018). The role of choice clustering and descriptive norms in attenuating psychological reactance to water and energy conservation messages. Environmental Communication, 13(7), 847–863. https://doi.org/10.1080/17524032.2018.1461672 |
| Mathur, Smita | Department of Early, Elementary and Reading Education | Dr. Mathur focuses on teacher effectiveness and preparation among socially, academically, economically, and linguistically vulnerable early childhood educators. |
| May, Christine | Department of Biology | Dr. May's research team investigates the impacts of environmental change (e.g., acid rain, stormwater runoff, sedimentation) on the ecology of Virginia's waterways. 1. Harmon, P. A., (2017). Revealing the current relationship between stream acidification and fish species richness: What is the status after two decades of recovery? Masters Theses. 499. https://commons.lib.jmu.edu/master201019/499 2. Studio, J. (2018). Competition and Predation: Interactions between American eels (Anguilla rostrata) and brook trout (Salvelinus fontinalis) in Virginia mountain streams. Masters Theses. 542. https://commons.lib.jmu.edu/master201019/542 3. Watt, C., Swanson, C., Miller, D., Chen, L., & May, C. (2017). Social hierarchies override environmental conditions in determining body coloration of brook trout. Journal of Freshwater Ecology, 32(1), 575–580. https://doi.org/10.1080/02705060.2017.1360218 |
| McCartney, Holly | Department of Early, Elementary & Reading Education | Dr. McCartney's research focuses on teacher education. Reducing inequalities in schools, providing a quality education for all children, and social justice are all embedded in her work. Kavanagh, K. & McCartney, H. (2018). James Madison University sowing the seeds of CARE (Creativity and Reading Education) within the Harrisonburg refugee community. In E. Sengupta & P. Blessinger (Eds.), Refugee education: Integration and acceptance of refugees in mainstream society. Innovations in Higher Education Teaching and Learning (IHETL). Emerald Publishing. |
| McCusker, Dawn | School of Art, Design and Art History | One part of Professor McCusker's research is book arts - making books by hand. In this process she makes and uses paper made from thrift store shirts, table cloths, etc. She also prints using letterpress printing on old equipment that does not use electricity, and all binding is by hand. From the experience in Book Paper Ink with the handmade Chapbook, she worked on a Chapbook for the Furious Flower 25th Anniversary with fellow colleague Karin Tollefson Hall and Special Collections preservationist Julia Merkel. |
| McKay, Catherine | Department of Kinesiology | Sustainability topics and principles play a role in Dr. McKay's research and scholarship, as her research focuses on social inclusion. Specifically, she offer education and awareness programming related to the Paralympic movement and disability sport, and collect data related to attitude change as the result of such programming. Her research promotes a culture of tolerance, of inclusiveness, and of viewing sport as a human right. The theoretical basis of her research is Allport’s Contact Theory. |
| Melchiori, Kala | Department of Graduate Psychology | Dr. Melchiori studies how emotions and goals impact pro-environmental behavior. |
| Mellinger, Gwyneth | School of Media Arts and Design | Dr. Mellinger studies civil rights in the American newsroom. Mellinger, G. (2017). Saving the Republic: An editor's crusade against integration, Journalism History, 42(4). Retrieved on February 12, 2020 at https://www.questia.com/library/journal/1P3-4315853221/saving-the-republic-an-editor-s-crusade-against-integration |
| Miles, Jonathan | School of Integrated Sciences | Dr. Miles serves as Executive Director of the Office for the Advancement of Sustainable Energy (OASE) at JMU. In this quasi-administrative role he is responsible for the oversight and management of a range of projects sponsored by government, industry, and foundations, all of which are intended to advance sustainable energy education, research, outreach, and deployment. |
| Milliman, Scott | Department of Economics | Along with Sam Ford, a former JMU economics major (graduated in Spring 2017), Dr. Milliman is doing research on the factors which underlie the decline in hunting participation by young people (roughly, ages 16-24) in the United States. This research, broadly, would fall under the United Nation's Sustainable Development Goal 15: Protect, Restore and Promote Sustainable Use of Terrestrial Ecosystems, Sustainably. That is, absent significant hunting by people or else predation by various animal predators (wolves, mountain lions), deer populations in many parts of the United States are expanding in abundance, at times resulting in significant damage to forest ecosystems. In particular, younger trees and certain plant species (e.g., flowers) have been decimated in certain eastern forests due to extensive deer foraging. Deer hunting, in certain situations, may be able to place some limits on deer population expansion, but due to the decline in hunting participation by young people in the United States, this policy option will likely become a less effective lever to pull by resource managers (particularly so since if a young person has not started hunting by roughly the age of 25, then they are unlikely to ever hunt). Sam and Dr. Milliman hope to illuminate some of the key factors underlying this decline in hunting participation by young people; they are particularly interested in assessing the impact of electronic communication (such as social media usage) on this activity. If deer populations can be reduced to more ecologically healthy population levels via hunting and other policy actions, then protecting forest ecosystems will become a more achievable goal for many parts of the United States. |
| Mitchell, Talé | School of Media Arts & Design | Dr. Mitchell's research focuses on perceptions of African Americans in the media; how the media Influences people through marketing, advertising, race, and body image, and consumer behavior as it relates to advertising, digital marketing and social influence. |
| Molloy, Cathryn | School of Writing, Rhetoric and Technical Communication | Dr. Molloy studies the rhetoric of health and medicine, rhetoric of mental healthcare and feminist rhetoric. |
| Moore, Rebekah | School of Accounting | Dr. Moore works in understanding the social demands for responsible tax practices and disclosures by corporations and the consequences of these practices for individuals, communities and governments. 1. Davis, A., Moore, R., Rupert, T., (2017, working paper). The effect of tax expense management and CSR ratings on investor perceptions of firm value and CSR performance. Northeastern U. D’Amore-McKim School of Business Research Paper No. 2767615.Retrieved on February 12, 2020 at SSRN: https://ssrn.com/abstract=2767615 or http://dx.doi.org/10.2139/ssrn.2767615 2. Hardeck, I., Inger, K., Moore, R., Schneider, J., (2019, working paper) Cross-cultural evidence on tax disclosures in CSR reports – A textual analysis approach. Retrieved on February 12, 2020 at SSRN: https://ssrn.com/abstract=3308467 or http://dx.doi.org/10.2139/ssrn.3308467 |
| Morgan, Steffen | Department of Biology | Microorganisms are key members of aquatic ecosystems, largely due to their critical role in biogeochemical processes. In Dr. Morgan's laboratory, they aim to understand the interactions of key members of aquatic microbial communities with other organisms and the surrounding environment. Specifically, the lab uses a combination of molecular and genomic techniques to study microbial communities associated with blooms of toxic cyanobacteria. Cyanobacterial harmful algal blooms (or cHABs) plague aquatic ecosystems around the world. Toxins associated with bloom events can devastate local ecology, impact revenues from tourism and fishery industries, and limit the supply of potable water to surrounding communities. Members of the genus Microcystis are globally distributed and are often dominant members of bloom communities. The success of these organisms in the environment is known to be influenced by factors such as nutrient availability and temperature. However, the suite of factors that drive the dominance of Microcystis and other toxic cyanobacteria have yet to be identified. Currently, Dr. Morgan is interested in the role of specific nutrients in shaping bloom community structure and the genomic architecture of individual community members. |
| Morton, Sam | Department of Engineering | Dr. Morton works in biofuels, bio energy, and bio products, focusing on life cycle or holistic thinking. |
| Muhonja, Besi Brillian | Department of English | Dr. Muhonja's scholarship and teaching focus on decolonial knowledge; Africana, transnational and subaltern feminisms; queer African studies; feminist theory; and digital humanities. She is a scholar of Wangari Maathai, founder of the Green Belt Movement. |
| Murton, Galen | School of Integrated Sciences | Dr. Murton's research addresses sustainability as it relates to the construction, maintenance, and repair of infrastructure in the Tibet-Himalaya region and the ways in which local communities and national development agencies address and contend with changing social and environmental conditions in an especially geopolitical and geologically dynamic place on earth. Lewison, E. & G. Murton. (forthcoming). Sustainability, infrastructure, and disaster in Himalayan contexts: Key contributions from Nepal geography. SINHAS: Studies in Nepali History and Society. |
| Nagel, Jacquelyn | Department of Engineering | Sustainability is incorporated into Dr. Nagel's research through manufacturing by focusing on reducing material diversity and waste while meeting essential functions. 1. Zhang, H., Nagel, J.K., Al-Qas, A., Gibbons, E., Lee, J.J. (2018). Additive manufacturing with bioinspired sustainable product design: A conceptual model. Proceedings of the 46th SME North American Manufacturing Research Conference, NAMRC 46, Procedia Manufacturing, 26, 880-891 2. Behdad, S., Sabbaghi, M., Nagel, J.K.S. (2018). Sustainable manufacturing. In Y. Bar-Cohen (Ed.), Advances in manufacturing processing of materials and structures. CRC Press/Taylor & Francis Group. ISBN: ISBN: 9781138035959. |
| Nagel, Robert | Department of Engineering | Dr. Nagel works in integrating sustainable design and systems thinking throughout an engineering curriculum. 1. Barrella, E., Spratto, E. P., Pappas, E., & Nagel, R. (2018). Developing and Validating an Individual Sustainability Instrument with Engineering Students to Motivate Intentional Change. Sustainability, 10(8), 2885. https://doi.org/10.3390/su10082885 2. Nagel, R. L., Gipson, K. G., & Ogundipe, A. (2017). Integrating sustainable design and systems thinking throughout an engineering curriculum. In Decision management: Concepts, methodologies, tools, and applications. (pp. 1607-1624). doi:10.4018/978-1-5225-1837-2.ch075 |
| Naletelich, Kelly | Department of Marketing |
Dr. Naletelich’s research explores how anthropomorphic messengers can effectively be used in marketing communications to encourage sustainable behavior. Ketron, S., & Naletelich, K. (2019). Victim or beggar? Anthropomorphic messengers and the savior effect in consumer sustainability behavior. Journal of Business Research, 96, 73–84. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jbusres.2018.11.00 |
| Nash, Carole | School of Integrated Sciences | Sustainability provides a framework for almost every course Dr. Nash teaches, from General Education Cluster 3 courses to senior seminars in the School of Integrated Sciences. Given her training in social and natural science, she emphasizes the 'three-legged stool' of sustainability as critical to the understanding of a sustainable world. She believes it is important for students to understand the physical processes that provide boundaries for what is possible (i.e. atmospheric science, ecology, hydrology, etc.). She also believes it is important to study these processes as a whole system that is impacted when a part of it is changed. The question of a sustainable future is completely integrated into an understanding of social power and the needs of human communities. By bringing a systems approach to teaching sustainability, she hopes that she is able to show students both complexity and the many pathways along which people can make a difference. |
| Naumenko, Alexandra | College of Business | Environmental economics is Dr. Naumenko's focus. |
| Ogundipe, Adebayo | Department of Engineering | Dr. Ogundipe's current scholarly work focuses on the social impacts of engineered systems. Of the three traditional pillars of sustainability, social impacts have always been very difficult to assess. His goal is to develop learning modules to train globally competent engineers who can recognize the potential for these impacts and minimize them through better design. |
| Ott Walter, Kathy | Department of Health Sciences | Dr. Ott Walter studies sexual consent. |
| Owusu-Ansah, David | Department of History | A broad range of the work in sustainability that Dr. Owusu-Ansah does at JMU includes: a) Serves as faculty in History and the work that contributes to the AAAD minor. The Modern Africa (HIST 470) course deals with topics and provides opportunities for students to engage in research on sustainability issues. He has had students work on topics on women and development, regional government efforts to reverse desertification, and African continental efforts toward female education. In his book on Islamic Education in Ghana, one of the topics he discussed was the national effort to keep Muslim girls in secular schools past the primary level of schooling. b) Serves as director of the JMU Professor-in-Residence (PIR) program. This JMU program reaches out to schools with high-level free lunch student populations and advocates for post-secondary education for underrepresented and economically challenged student populations. c) Through the Ghana summer/internship program Dr. Owusu-Ansah created and has sustained for 22 years at JMU, students engage in volunteer projects that support inner-city and at-risk children at an after-school literacy center. |
| Pal, Raktim | Department of Computer Information Systems and Business Analytics | Among other sustainability topics, Dr. Pal has published on the assessment of business firms' proactive environmental initiatives. |
| Pangle, Remy | Center for the Advancement of Sustainable Energy | Dr. Pangle Studies renewable energy. |
| Papadakis, Maria | School of Integrated Sciences | Dr. Papadakis's work focuses on human-environment interactions and the long term sustainability of natural resources. She is currently conducting research on the US Dust Bowl experience as well as the historical near-extinction of the American bison. |
| Park, Ji Hyung | Department of Political Science | Dr. Park is interested in sustainable development and citizen participation in sustainable decision making. Particularly, he’d like to examine how citizen participation contributes to the development of sustainable cities in the zoning and code-plan process. Park, J.H. (submitted). Exploring the role of citizen participation in the policy acceptance process: The case of Korean nuclear facilities. Sustainability. |
| Parker, M. Rockwell | Department of Biology | Dr. Parker's lab conducts research on invasive species, specifically large reptiles that affect ecological stability in the Florida Everglades. The primary goal is to aid wildlife managers in finding and removing invasive reptiles to preserve the biodiversity of this region in the U.S. 1. Richard, S. A., Tillman, E. A., Humphrey, J. S., Avery, M. L., & Parker, M. R. (2019). Male Burmese pythons follow female scent trails and show sex-specific behaviors. Integrative Zoology, 14(5), 460–469. https://doi.org/10.1111/1749-4877.12376 2. Baedke, P. E., Rucker, H. R., Mason, R. T., & Parker, M. R. (2019). Chemical Isolation, Quantification, and Separation of Skin Lipids from Reptiles. Journal of Visualized Experiments, 144. https://doi.org/10.3791/59018 3. Parker, M. R., Patel, S. M., Zachry, J. E., & Kimball, B. A. (2018). Feminization of Male Brown Treesnake Methyl Ketone Expression via Steroid Hormone Manipulation. Journal of Chemical Ecology, 44(2), 189–197. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10886-018-0935-3 |
| Parker, Janna | Department of Marketing | Dr. Parker's research in sustainability has focused on the use of advertising messages and eco-feedback technology, such as LED showerheads with lights that change colors every two minutes, to influence water consumption behavior. Parker, J. M., Sams, D., Poddar, A., & Manoylov, K. (2018). Water conservation behavior: Is what we say what we do? Journal of Consumer Marketing, 35(6), 644–652. https://doi.org/10.1108/JCM-09-2017-2345 |
| Parrish, Alex | School of Writing, Rhetoric and Technical Communication |
Alex C. Parrish is Associate Professor of Writing, Rhetoric, and Technical Communication at James Madison University (Virginia, U.S.A.). His research interests include the rhetoric of science, environmental communication, animal studies, nature writing, and the history of rhetoric. Parrish is the author Adaptive Rhetoric: Evolution, Culture, and the Art of Persuasion, and co-editor, with Kristian Bjørkdahl, of Rhetorical Animals: Boundaries of the Human in the Study of Persuasion. He has published articles in a variety of journals, including Rhetoric Society Quarterly, Literature Compass, Rhetoric Review, POROI, and The Evolutionary Review. He is currently finishing a monograph, on the subjects of animals, persuasion, and the senses, which is under contract with the University of Chicago Press for publication in their “Animal Lives” series. 1. Parrish, A. (under contract). A Hoot in the Light: Illuminating the Sensory Modes of Animal Rhetorics. University of Chicago Press. 2. Parrish, A., (2019). Banal Classicism and Borrowed Ethos in the Rhetorics of Human and Nonhuman Animals, in D. Vanderbeke & B. Cook (Eds.), Evolution and Popular Narrative, Brill. 3. Parrish, A. (2018). Rhetoric and the animal turn: Addressing the challenges of a cross-species art of persuasion. In J. Rice, C. Graham, & E. Detweiler (Eds.), eBook: Rhetorics Change / Rhetoric’s Change. Parlor Press and Intermezzo. http://parlorpress.com/sites/default/files/RhetoricsChange.epub 4. Parrish, A. & Bjørkdahl, K. (Eds.). (2017). Rhetorical Animals: Boundaries of the Human in the Study of Persuasion. Lexington Press. 5. Parrish, A., (2017). ‘Don’t Try to Kid Me, Mancub’: Re-Animaling Rhetoric in Theory and Practice.” Rhetoric Society Quarterly, 47(3), 215-221. |
| Parsons, Tara | Department of Justice Studies | Dr. Parsons studies political representation of indigenous peoples in Latin America, and serves as Humanitarian Affairs minor coordinator. |
| Paterson, Kurt | Department of Engineering | Dr. Paterson is currently investigating the sustainability of engineering education ecosystems, including programs, infrastructure, and cultures that contribute to the development of engineering professionals. He also continues to work with students on projects that investigate air pollution transport and impacts, as well as broader environmental engineering issues. 1. Nagel, R., Henriques, J., Gipson, K., Holland, K., & Paterson, K. (submitted 2019). Creating an ecosystem that fosters innovation and entrepreneurial mindset at an undergraduate institution through Pathways to Innovation. Advances in Engineering Education. 2. Bosman, L., McDonald, W., & Paterson, K. (2019). A Collaborative multi-faculty approach to increase engineering competency through online discussions. World Transactions on Engineering and Technology Education, 17(2). http://www.wiete.com.au/journals/WTE&TE/Pages/Vol.17,%20No.2%20(2019)/05-Bosman-L.pdf 3. Kilungo, A., Powers, L., Arnold, N., Whelan, K., Paterson, K., & Young, D. (2018). Evaluation of Well Designs to Improve Access to Safe and Clean Water in Rural Tanzania. International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health, 15(1). https://doi.org/10.3390/ijerph15010064 |
| Poteyeva, Rita | Department of Justice Studies | Dr. Poteyeva's research interests include contextual variations in sentencing, policing, violence in relationships, and use of criminal justice institutions for political ends. |
| Price, Danielle | Department of English | Dr. Price works in women’s and gender studies, and disability studies. |
| Pyle, Eric | Department of Geology and Environmental Science | Dr. Pyle works in inclusion in science education and communicating science to non-scientists. |
| Rathgeber, Jesse | School of Music | Dr. Rathgeber's teaching, research, and service focuses on fostering inclusive and equitable communication/connection in, through, and around music for all, specifically disabled persons/person with disabilities. By examining disability as it intersects with experiences of music learning, music making, technology, and creativity, he strives to work with disabled persons/persons with disabilities to identify barriers, inequities, and oppressive structures that aid in collaboratively envisioning and enacting ways to create accessible and inclusive practices and spaces for music making, music learning, and connections. 1. Bell, A. P., & Rathgeber, J. (Forthcoming April 2020). Can the disabled musician sing? Songs, stories, and identities of disabled persons in/through/with social media. In J. Waldron, S. Horsley, & K. Veblen (Eds.), Oxford Handbook of Social Media and Music Learning. Oxford University Press. ISBN: 9780190660772 2. Rathgeber, J. (2019). Troubling disability: Experiences of disability in, through, and around music. Unpublished doctoral dissertation. Arizona State University. 3. Rathgeber, J. (2017). A place in the band: Negotiating barriers to inclusion in a rock band setting. In G. D. Smith, M. Brennan, P. Kirkman, Z. Moir, & S. Sambarran (Eds.) Routledge Research Companion to Popular Music Education. (pp. 369-381). Routledge. |
| Reich, Steven | Department of History | The courses that Dr. Reich teaches and the research that he does examine the historical sources of political, economic, and racial inequality; historical awareness informs how an equitable future should be constructed. Reich, S. (Ed.) (2019). The world of Jim Crow America (Vols 1&2), ABC-CLIO. https://www.abc-clio.com/ABC-CLIOCorporate/product.aspx?pc=A5205C |
| Renfroe, Michael | Department of Biology | Dr. Renfroe uses tissue culture and cryopreservation for preserving and propagating members of rare and endangered species. Germplasm conservation is an important part of protecting biodiversity. Dr. Renfroe and his students also measure the antioxidant content of plant-derived foods and beverages. Antioxidants are important in the maintenance of good health and as protection against cancer and a variety of human diseases. |
| Ritchie, William | Department of Management | Dr. Ritchie works with sustainability in the context of both quality standards (ISO 14000/1600) and GIS usage in the supply chain. Ritchie, W.J., Melnyk, S.A., & Ni, J. (2017). Environmental standard adoption in Marinas: A spatiotemporal analysis of a special form of maritime transportation hubs. Transportation Research Part D: Transport and Environment, 55, 1-11. |
| Salman, Ahmad | School of Integrated Sciences | Dr. Salman's research in the area of transportation is focused on providing the on-campus transit system with accurate number of patrons at each bus station throughout the day to help the transit system better schedule busses on different routes and maintain efficiency of the provided service. He works mainly on securing the collected data to protect the privacy and anonymity of the patrons when collecting data from their IoT devices. 1. Yorio, Z., Oram, R., El-Tawab, S., Salman, A., Hossain Heydari, M., & Park, B.B., (2018, April). Data analysis and information security of an Internet of Things (IoT) intelligent transit system. Paper presented at Systems and Information Engineering Design Symposium (SIEDS), (pp. 24-29). Charlottesville, VA 2. Salman A., El-Tawab S., Yorio Z. (2020) Expanding coverage of an intelligent transit bus monitoring system via ZigBee radio network. Chapter in K. Arai, & R. Bhatia (Eds.) Advances in information and communication. FICC 2019. Lecture Notes in Networks and Systems, 69. Springer. |
| Sarringhaus, Lauren | Department of Biology |
Dr. Sarringhaus’ research aims to better understand primates and their locomotor ecology through their research focusing on wild primate movement. Understanding how primates interact with/move through their wild habitats aids conservation efforts by informing how management of forests may impact primates if their arboreal pathways are disrupted due to habitat loss. In addition, their research provides information for the management of captive primate colonies on what “naturalistic” behavior would resemble. Sarringhaus, L., Srivastava, R., MacLatchy, L. (2024) The influence of multiple variables on bipedalcontext in wild chimpanzees; implications for the evolution of bipedality in hominins. Front. Ecol. Evol 12:1321115. Doi:10.3389/fevo.2024.1321115. Sarringhaus LA, MacLatchy LM, Mitani JC (2022). Dorsal metacarpal ridge development in wild chimpanzees. American Journal of Physical Anthropology, 1-15. DOI: 10.1002/ajpa.24477 Drummond-Clarke, R. C., Kivell, T. L., Sarringhaus, L., Stewart, F. A., Humle, T., & Piel, A.K. (2022). Wild chimpanzee behavior suggests that a savanna-mosaic habitat did not support the emergence of hominin terrestrial bipedalism. Science Advances, 8(50), eadd9752. |
| Scarel, Giovanna | Department of Physics & Astronomy | Dr. Scarel is interested in harvesting electromagnetic waves from the environment (visible light, infrared, microwave, and radio waves) as a source of sustainable energy. 1. Boone, D. , Jackson, C. , Swecker, A. , Hergenrather, J. , Wenger, K. , Kokhan, O. , Terzić, B., Melnikov, I. , Ivanov, I. , Stevens, E. & Scarel, G. (2018). Probing the wave nature of light-matter interaction. World Journal of Condensed Matter Physics, 8(2), 62-89. doi: 10.4236/wjcmp.2018.82005 2. Gordon, A. & Scarel, G. (2018.) Interaction in the steady state between electromagnetic waves and matter. World Journal of Condensed Matter Physics, 8(4), 171-184. doi: 10.4236/wjcmp.2018.84012 |
| Schmitt-Harsh, Mikaela | Interdisciplinary Liberal Studies Program | Dr. Schmitt-Harsh's research addresses sustainability in a number of ways. One ongoing project aims to better understand the current perceptions and practices households have in regards to private and neighborhood urban wood recycling. A second project aims to understand the tree care activities employed by facilities managers and arborists on college campuses to maintain and manage trees. Both of these projects have relevance to the sustainable use of resources and climate science through the lens of tree planting and removal, and the storage of carbon in forest resources. |
| Shahzad, Ali | Department of Management | Corporate social performance is Dr. Shahzad's research area. |
| Sharifian, Maryam | Department of Early, Elementary & Reading Education | Dr. Sharifian's work is focused on teacher resilience inside the war zone. The extended data has been focusing to improve resilience and decrease burnout level in teachers in inner city and urban schools in Virginia. Sharifian, M.S. (2018, March). Burnout and Resilience of Syrian Primary Teachers Working in a War Zone. Paper presented at the Comparative and International Education Society Annual Meeting. Mexico City, Mexico |
| Shealy, Craig | Department of Graduate Psychology | Dr. Shealy is an organizer for the Cultivating the Globally Sustainable Self Summit Series; a multi-year, multi-institution initiative that brings together scholars, educators, practitioners, students, and leaders from around the world to address the most pressing issues today - conflict resolution, global education, human rights, religious and cultural understanding, and sustainability. |
| Staton, Renee | Department of Graduate Psychology | Dr. Staton and her colleagues are working on a manuscript regarding the role of nature in child-based therapy. |
| Stoltzfus, Jared | School of Integrated Sciences | Dr. Stoltzfus is interested in sustainability's application to agriculture, energy, and waste. He want to identify ‘best practices’ at both personal and regional levels for the challenges faced, and explore entrepreneurial opportunities in the US and abroad. His PhD research focused on organic waste management, and he is currently working on projects for Styrofoam re-use and food waste diversion from landfills. |
| Stewart, Gregory | School of Art, Design and Art History | Professor Stewart's work asks viewers to think about sustainability in relation to landscape, material, and product design. It explores ways arts/creative thinking can offer new ideas into these fields, and how it ties in to practices like farming and food production/economy, and in turn how these fields can offer new ideas in the arts. 1. Stewart, G. & Abell, M., (2018). Encouraging the appearance of others. http://www.marinabell.org/marinabell/Encouraging_the_Appearance_of_Others.html |
| Striebig, Bradley | Department of Engineering | Dr. Striebig's work is focused on sustainable access to air, water and energy and how these resources relate to human rights and well-being. He is an environmental engineer who has worked on pollution control systems and access to water resources. 1. Cude, M., Kohrs, R. & Striebig, B. (2018, November). How wide is your community? International partnerships for global sustainability and local learning. Presented at the Engagement for the Public Good Conference. Harrisonburg, VA 2. Striebig, B.A. & Smits, E. (2018, June). GREET-based comparison of carbon emissions from locally and non- locally sourced food for a college dining hall. Presented at the 9th International Conference on Engineering Education for Sustainable Development (EESD). Glassboro, NJ 3. Striebig, B.A., Jones, B., Wilson, T., & Gossen, J. (2018, June). Comparing point-of-use water treatment technologies for emergency response. Presented at the 9th International Conference on Engineering Education for Sustainable Development (EESD). Glassboro, NJ 4. Smits, E. & Striebig, B. (2018, June). GREET-based comparison of carbon emissions from locally and non-locally sourced food for a college dining hall. Presented at the Agriculture, Food, and Human Values Society & Association for the Study of Food and Society 2018 Annual Meeting. Madison, WI 5. Striebig, B.A. (2017, June). Utilizing the Chesapeake Bay as a basis for a place-based multi- component project to attain Earth systems engineering course objectives. ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition. Columbus, OH 6. Striebig, B.A. (2017, June). Microbial fuel cell development and testing for implementing environmental engineering education in high schools. ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition, Columbus, OH 7. Striebig, B.A. & Morton, S. (2017, June). Building life cycle assessment skills with GREET and SimaPro to engage students in analyzing the sustainability of biofuel alternatives. ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition. Columbus, OH |
| Sturm, Debbie | Department of Graduate Psychology |
Dr. Sturm is primarily interested in nature-connectedness and the role that nature plays in mental health, well-being and healthy development. She is also interested in the psychology of sustainability, particularly in an effort to understand what motivates people to make sustainable choices and how to influence people to make lasting change. She has an interest in climate change as a human rights issue, particularly as it pertains to the right to health, mental health, and well-being. Finally, she has an interest in the role that environmental advocacy and environmental justice have in supporting the health and well-being of our communities. 2. Sturm, D. Nance, J. & Metz, A. (forthcoming 2020). Environmental Justice as Social Justice: An Invitation to Counselors. Manuscript accepted for publication to the Virginia Counselors Journal. 3. Sturm, D., Metz, A., & Daniels, J. (2020). Climate Crises: Helping Families Mitigate, Adapt, and Transition during Disruption. In Capuzzi, D. & Stauffer, M., Eds. (2020) Foundations of couples, marriage, & family counseling, Second edition. Wiley & Sons, Inc. 4. Sturm, D. (2020). Environmental inquality and injustice. In S.B. Derner (Ed.) The SAGE encyclopedia of multicultural counseling, social justice, and advocacy. SAGE Publications. 5. Sturm, D., Daniels, J., Metz, A., Stauffer, M., & Reese, R. (2020). Fact sheet on climate change and mental health. American Counseling Association: Alexandria, VA. 6. Sturm, D. (2019). Environmental Justice as Social Justice: An Invitation. Presented at the Association for Humanistic Counseling Conference, Minneapolis, MN. 7. Sturm, D. (2019). Climate Change, Human Rights, and the Role of Counselors. Presented at the Association for Humanistic Counseling Conference, Minneapolis, MN. 8. Hartman, C., Sturm, D., Alexander, R., & Jacovodis, J. (2019, March). Divergent Conceptualizations of Sustainability- Considerations for Instrument Design. Presented at the Symposium on Sustainability Q135 in Higher Education. Edinburgh, Scotland. 9. Sturm, D. (2019, March). Evoking the transformative power of nature play: Lessons learned from Eden. Association for the Study of Play and International Play Association joint conference. Harrisonburg, VA. 10. Sturm, D. (2019). A Breath of Fresh Air: The Ecological Self and Environmental Justice. In D. Gunther & A. Palacios (Eds.), The Theory of Change: A Counselor’s Podcast. Auburn University. http://traffic.libsyn.com/theoryofchange/Dr._Sturm_final_cut_-_22019_6.59_PM.mp3 11. Sturm, D. (2017, October). Campus and Community Partnership: The Results of a Feasibility Study on a Nature Prescription Network. Presented at the Association for the Advancement of Sustainability in Higher Education Conference. San Antonio, TX. 12. Sturm, D. (2017, October). The Psychology of Sustainability and Social Movement: Student Ecological Citizenship Through a Study Abroad to Malta. Presented at the Association for the Advancement of Sustainability in Higher Education Conference. San Antonio, TX. 13. Alexander, R., Hartman-Black, C, & Sturm, D. (2017, October). Development of a Sustainability Culture Assessment as a Planning Tool. Presented at the Association for the Advancement of Sustainability in Higher Education Conference. San Antonio, TX. 14. Sturm, D. & Pellegrino, H. (2017, April). Park Prescription Programs: Building a Network of Resiliency. Presented as part of a panel titled: Land Conservation Challenges in an Urbanized World. 28th Annual Environment Virginia Symposium, Virginia Military Institute, Lexington, VA. 15 . Sturm, D., & Echterling, L. (2017). Preparing for the mental health impact of climate change. Counseling Today. https://ct.counseling.org/2017/05/preparing-mental-health-impact-climate-change/ |
| Tang, Jeffrey | Associate Dean CISE; School of Integrated Sciences | |
| Teel, Wayne | School of Integrated Sciences |
Much of Dr. Teel's research is involved with students on the ISAT Hillside, some with students in ISAT 320, and some with capstones. The goal is to observe any changes in soil variables and biodiversity through time in the area planted to meadow. He and his students are recording information on a yearly basis and students are doing capstone research to complement the ISAT 320 work. Biochar has been added to the mix and are they are researching the effects of that as well. All of Dr. Teel's work for the ISAT 429 course called 'Sustainability: An Ecological Perspective' revolves around this theme. |
| Temple, Louise | School of Integrated Sciences | Dr. Temple researches gender in science. |
| Thomas, Tracey | Department of Health Sciences | Dr. Thomas studies health disparities and rural Appalachian health. |
| Thompson, Mary | Department of English | Dr. Thompson's research encompasses women's literature, feminist theory, body studies, motherhood studies, and reproductive justice. |
| Tokman, Mert | Department of Marketing | Dr. Tokman's research explores the advantages of sustainability as a strategic choice for supply chain management. His research has found that firms that invest in recycling and reverse logistics activities as part of their sustainable supply chain management programs achieve competitive advantages that lead to financial gains. Morgan, T. R., Tokman, M., Richey, R. G., & Defee, C. (2018). Resource commitment and sustainability: A reverse logistics performance process model. International Journal of Physical Distribution & Logistics Management, 48(2), 164–182. |
| Tongen, Anthony | Department of Mathematics and Statistics | Dr. Tongen's research demonstrates how mathematics can be used to further the understanding of the interdependence of ecological and social/economic systems. His research uses mathematical modeling to describe ecological and social systems in order to better understand the underlying structures. Hunt, E., & Tongen, A. (2017). A periodic matrix population model for monarch butterflies. Natural Resource Modeling, 30(2), e12123. https://doi.org/10.1111/nrm.12123 |
| Tracy, Megan | Department of Sociology and Anthropology | Dr. Tracy is interested in sustainable agriculture and biopower. |
| Tripodi, Francesca | Department of Sociology and Anthropology | Dr. Tripodi's research focuses on how participatory media platforms can perpetuate gendered, racial, and sexual inequality. 1. Tripodi, F. (2017). Fifty shades of consent? Feminist Media Studies, 17(1), 93–107. https://doi.org/10.1080/14680777.2017.1261846 2. Tripodi, F. (2017). Yakking about college life: Examining the role of anonymous forums on community identity formation. In T. M. Cottom, J. Daniels, & K. Gregory (Eds.), Digital sociologies. Policy Press. |
| Trouille, David | Department of Sociology and Anthropology | Dr. Trouille studies international migration, race and ethnicity, Latino/a studies, and inequality. |
| Tubach, Lisa | School of Art, Design and Art History | Professor Tubach's creative work explores the hidden complexities of the natural world, with a particular dedication to marine environments. These referential, yet invented spaces often pull from ecologies that are difficult to access: she is interested in amplifying the hidden spaces beneath surfaces and/or the smallest amongst us—creating worlds that magnify this richness yet can include obfuscated danger, as well. Much of her work over the years has concentrated on related dichotomies: beauty and threat, health and illness, and microscopic versus macroscopic perspectives. The pieces have specifically addressed environmental issues of unchecked chemical use, migration interruption, and disease. To fuel the imagery of her most recent endeavors, she has pursued field work volunteerism to glean specific scientific method and data. Recent efforts include surveys of coral and related fish populations through the Cape Eleuthera Institute (Eleuthera, Bahamas), invertebrate collection (Nemertea) at the Friday Harbor Laboratories (San Juan Island, Washington), and coral "garden" assistance at the Gates Coral Lab (Oahu, Hawaii), where researchers are hoping to develop a "super-coral" to withstand the Age of the Anthropocene. And while Professor Tubach is an investigator at heart, who routinely and obsessively documents the natural world, her visual language relies heavily upon distortion and shifting perspectives to tell the tale. Working from underwater video footage and microscopic imaging that she acquires herself, she is interested in how these qualities of abstraction reflect man's ever-evolving sense of knowledge and perception, the confusion about solutions, and the inescapable, teetering balance between the graspable and the ill-defined. With adoration and anxiety at the root of her actions, her work has become a form of documentation of what is being lost and what needs to be preserved. It has become a quiet call to action. |
| Ullrich, Carl | Department of Finance and Business Law | Dr. Ullrich researches energy-related finance issues. |
| Van Norman, William | Department of History | Cuba, slavery, Latin American and Caribbean history and culture, African Diaspora, gender are all areas Dr. Van Norman researches. |
| Walsh, Jennifer | Department of Health Professions | Dr. Walsh works in food education and behavior among limited resources audiences, and food security. |
| Walters, Jana | Department of Kinesiology | Dr. Walters conducts Paralympic research, specifically education and awareness of disability in sport to promote inclusion. |
| Watkins, Case | Department of Justice Studies | Dr. Watkins's work connects (post)colonial cultural-historical geographies, political ecologies of agricultural landscapes and development, and pedagogies of digital mapping and environmental justice. Drawing on fieldwork in New Orleans, Brazil, and Portugal, previous and ongoing projects have examined landscapes of race, class, and environmental hazards; transnational migration, identity, and citizenship; colonial agro-ecological transformation; and agrarian, development, and environmental politics in Latin America and the African diaspora. Watkins, C. (2018). Landscapes and resistance in the African diaspora: Five centuries of palm oil on Bahia’s Dendê Coast. Journal of Rural Studies, 61, 137–154. |
| Way, Henry | School of Integrated Sciences | Urban sustainability is Dr. Way's research field. |
| Westkaemper, Emily | Department of History | Dr. Westkaemper studies gender and consumer culture, working women’s activism, twentieth-century feminisms, women’s, gender, and sexuality studies. |
| Whitescarver, Robert | School of Integrated Sciences |
Robert Whitescarver is a watershed restoration consultant and award-winning writer with over forty years of field experience in natural resources management. His work focuses on soil health, the installation and maintenance of riparian forest buffers, and livestock exclusion from streams. His recent book, Swoope Almanac, Stories of Love, Land, and Water in Virginia’s Shenandoah Valley, won first place, outstanding book from the Virginia Outdoor Writers Association for 2019. His award-winning blog can be found at: www.gettingmoreontheground.com |
| Wiggins, Bruce | Department of Biology | Sustainability of water resources is a major focus of Dr. Wiggins's research. Agricultural waterways are impacted by excess nutrients and sediment, and many farmers have implemented riparian restoration practices to reduce these impacts. His research seeks to assess the effectiveness of these restoration practices, to better enable the farmers to practice sustainable agriculture. |
| Wrenn, Greg | Department of English | Dr. Wrenn's research takes the form of environmental creative nonfiction. He teaches 'The Environmental Imagination' and 'Environmental Literature of Wonder and Crisis'. 1. Wrenn, G. (2019). Trees. The Southeast Review, 36.2. Florida State University. 2. Wrenn, G. (2018, Spring). Raja Ampat: Seas of change. The American Scholar. Retrieved on February 13, 2020 at https://theamericanscholar.org/raja-ampat-seas-of-change/#.XkVoMGhKiUk 3. Wrenn, G. (2017, February 1). Otter. The Rumpus. Retrieved on February 13, 2020 at https://therumpus.net/2017/02/otter/ 4. Wrenn, G. (2017). Ice. The Southern Review, Winter 2017, Louisiana State University Press. |
| Wylie, Kristin | Department of Political Science | Dr. Wylie works in gender and inequality. |
| Yin, Jun | Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry | Dr. Yin works with a variety range of analytical instruments. Her specialty is in nuclear magnetic resonance spectroscopy; it’s considered a powerful tool for chemical structural characterization of molecules, and also the applicability of NMR in providing chemical information relating to environmental problems is of great importance. |
| Zhang, Hao | School of Integrated Sciences | Dr. Zhang's research focuses on sustainable design of product and manufacturing systems, additive manufacturing, energy planning of manufacturing systems, and life cycle engineering of industrial products and systems such as waste management. 1. Zhang, H. (2019). Understanding the Linkages: A Dynamic Sustainability Assessment Method and Decision Making in Manufacturing Systems. Procedia CIRP 80C, 233-238. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.procir.2019.01.064 2. Rusinek, M.J., Zhang, H., Radziwill, N. (2018). Blockchain for a Traceable, Circular Textile Supply Chain: A Requirements Approach. Software Quality Professional. 21 (1), 4-24. 3. Epping, K., & Zhang, H. (2018). A sustainable decision-making framework for transitioning to robotic welding for small and medium manufacturers. Sustainability, 10(10). Art. no. 3651. 4. Mahbub, N., Oyedun, A. O., Zhang, H., Kumar, A., & Poganietz, W.-R. (2018). A life cycle sustainability assessment (LCSA) of oxymethylene ether as a diesel additive produced from forest biomass. The International Journal of Life Cycle Assessment, 24(5), 881–899. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11367-018-1529-6 5. Zhang, H., Nagel, J. K., Al-Qas, A., Gibbons, E., & Lee, J. J.-Y. (2018). Additive Manufacturing with Bioinspired Sustainable Product Design: A Conceptual Model. Procedia Manufacturing, 26, 880–891. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.promfg.2018.07.113 6. Di Lullo, G., Zhang, H., & Kumar, A. (2017). Uncertainty in well-to-tank with combustion greenhouse gas emissions of transportation fuels derived from North American crudes. Energy, 128, 475–486. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.energy.2017.04.040 7. Nimana, B., Verma, A., Di Lullo, G., Rahman, M. M., Canter, C. E., Olateju, B., Zhang, H., & Kumar, A. (2017). Life cycle analysis of bitumen transportation to refineries by Rail and Pipeline. Environmental Science & Technology, 51(1), 680–691. https://doi.org/10.1021/acs.est.6b02889 |
Institute for Stewardship of the Natural World
