Environmental Studies Program Faculty
Research Interests
- Biogeography
- Plant Ecology
- Environmental History
- Energy and Society
- Weed Ecology and Evolution
- Ethic Cultural Trajectories
- Agricultural Origins
Amber (Amy) Churchill
Assistant Professor of Ecosystem Science
Environmental Studies Program
Research Interests
- Plant ecology and plant-ecosystem feedbacks
- Community-level interactions in plants and impacts on ecosystems
- Plant-pollinator interactions under global change
- Forage and mixed pasture ecosystem resilience
- Global changes as drivers of ecosystem function and services
Teaching Interests
Churchill teaches courses focused on ecosystem function and services
- as well as field methods and experimental design for students interested in ecology and global change. Courses taught include:
- ENVI Global Change and Ecosystems (Fall)
- ENVI Environmental Studies Capstone (Fall)
- ENVI Biodiversity as an Ecosystem Service (Spring)
- ENVI Field Methods in Ecosystem Ecology (Spring)
Research Interests
- Food and agriculture
- Water resources
- Indigeneity
- China
- Tibet
- US
Teaching Interests
- Food and agriculture
- Rivers and water
- Sustainability
- East and Southeast Asia
- Wine and viticulture
Research Interests
- Environmental Geochemistry
- Environmental Hydrogeology
Teaching Interests
- Environmental Hydrology
- Environmental Measurements
Research Interests
Multi-actor and multi-level governance
Decentralization
Resource rights
Collaboration
Institutional analysis
Knowledge co-production
Teaching Interests
- ENVI 225: International Environmental Policy
- ENVI 340: Natural Resource Equity in the Global South
- ENVI 481: Earth Justice
George Homsy
Director of Environmental Studies
Environmental Studies Program
Research Interests
- Sustainability
- Sustainable communities and regions
- Heritage and neighborhood sustainability
- Community planning across generations
- Land use and economic development planning
- Citizen participation in local government policymaking
Research Interests
- Environmental Economics
Research Interests
- Paleoethnobotany
- Landscape archaeology in the Andes Mountains of South America
Carl P. Lipo
Professor; Associate Dean for Research and Programs
Anthropology; Harpur College of Arts and Sciences
Research Interests
- Evolution of Past Human Populations
- Models of Cultural Transmission
- Methods in Remote Sensing, Geophysics
- North American Prehistory, Prehistory of the Pacific
Teaching Interests
- Archaeological Laboratory Methods
- Archaeological Remote Sensing
- Introduction to Anthropology
- Humans and the Environment
- Eastern North American Prehistory
Pamela Mischen
Faculty Advisor to the President; Chief Sustainability Officer; Professor
President, Office of the; Office of Sustainability; Environmental Studies Program
Research Interests
- Knowledge management and inter-organizational networks
- Local government capacity to create sustainable communities
- Sustainability metrics for communities
Research Interests
- Archaeology of the Ancient Maya
- Comparative Studies of Societal Collapse and Recovery
- Frontiers and Early Complexity
- Social Dynamics of Urban Landscapes
- Collective Memory
- GIS and Spatial Analysis
Research Interests
- Ethics
- Metaethics
- Applied Ethics
Joe Panzik
Environmental Visualization, Research Assistant Professor; Research Educator
First-year Research Immersion Program; Department of Earth Sciences
Research Interests
- Geomagnetism
- Geophysics
- Data Science
- Earth Evolution
Molly Patterson
Assistant Professor
Department of Earth Sciences
Research Interests
- Sedimentology, Stratigraphy, Cyclostratigraphy
- Paleoceanography
- Paleoclimatology
Teaching Interests
- Climate and Paleoclimate
- Global Change: A Geological Perspective
- Oceanography
Research Interests
- Community ecology
- Species interactions
- Environmental change
Belinda C. Ramírez
Assistant Professor; LACAS Faculty Affiliate
Global Public Health; Sociology; Latin American and Caribbean Area Studies Program
Research Interests
- Latin America and the United States
- Urban agriculture
- Food justice and sovereignty movements
- Environmental ethics
- Community-based research
- Political economy/ecology
Teaching Interests
- Food justice and sovereignty
- Food systems and agriculture
- Race/ethnicity and racisms
- Environmental and climate justice
- Food-climate-health nexus
- Ethnographic methods
Joshua Reno
Professor/Graduate Director; TRIP Courtesy Title
Anthropology; Translation Research and Instruction Program (TRIP)
Research Interests
- Environmental anthropology
- Semiotics and language
- Critical disability studies
- Science and technology studies
- Gaming, games and play
Teaching Interests
- History of anthropology
- Graphic anthropology
- Critical disability studies
- Anthropology of religion
- Climate change
Jonathan Schmitkons
Biogeochemistry, Research Associate Professor
First-year Research Immersion Program; Department of Earth Sciences
Research Interests
- Urban watersheds: transport and storage of traffic derived pollutants, pollutant cycling through constructed wetlands
- Biogeochemical cycling in meromictic lakes: whiting events, sulfur oxidizing bacteria, microbialite
Alexander Sorenson
Lecturer
Comparative Literature; German and Russian Studies
Research Interests
- German literature and thought ca. 1800-1917
- Literary, philosophical and artistic accounts of the relation between human communities and the natural world (ecocriticism, nature writing, eco-phenomenology, posthumanism, etc.)
- Modern European intellectual and cultural history
- Convergences between the natural and human sciences
Teaching Interests
- German language and literature
- European literature, culture and thought
- Cultural, literary and critical theory
Research Interests
- Behavioral Ecology
- Herpetology
- Tropical Ecology
Adam Vaught
Administrative Assistant 1
Environmental Studies Program
Sara Velardi
Instructor; Undergraduate Director
Environmental Studies Program
Research Interests
- Human dimensions of agriculture and natural resources
- Agrifood policy
- Biotechnology in the food system
- Community engagement in research
Yuxin Wang
Assistant Professor
School of Systems Science and Industrial Engineering
Research Interests
- Energy systems and environment impacts
- Water quality related to human activity and technology development
- Risk assessment of contaminants
- Urban water system and sustainability
Teaching Interests
- Environmental chemistry
- Environmental processes and laboratory
- Drinking water treatment
- Biological wastewater treatment
- Sustainable engineering
Adjunct Faculty
Juliet Meghan Berling
Adjunct Lecturer
Environmental Studies Program; Engineering Design Division (EDD); Geography
Research Interests
- Environmental Law
Emeritus Faculty
Peter L. Knuepfer
Associate Professor Emeritus
Department of Earth Sciences
