Dr. Erica Smithwick
LandscapeU Principle Investigator
Erica Smithwick Professor of Geography, is a landscape and ecosystem ecologist. She is the Director of the Ecology Institute and the Center for Landscape Dynamics. She is also a Faculty Associate of the Earth and Environmental Systems Institute at Penn State, and Graduate Faculty in the Intercollege Graduate Degree Program in Ecology. Her laboratory group (LEAPS: Landscape Ecology at Penn State) is actively involved in understanding how a wide range of disturbances, especially fire, affect ecosystem function at landscape scales. Current research is focused on the influence of these changes on socio-ecological resilience and sustainability, with special attention to protected area management in Africa and the U.S. She recently served as a Fulbright Scholar in South Africa at Rhodes University. Additional information can be found at https://www.geog.psu.edu/directory/erica-h-smithwick
Dr. Jennifer Baka
Co-Principle Investigator
Jennifer Baka is an energy geographer that studies how material, political and environmental processes interconnect and with what effects in the context of energy development. I work on unconventional and renewable energy systems in both domestic and international contexts. The main theoretical lens I employ in my research is political-industrial ecology, an emerging sub-field of geography that aims to embed resources flows within their broader historic, economic and political contexts. An overarching goal of my research, teaching and service is to develop strategies for reducing environmental inequities in energy systems. More information can be found at https://www.geog.psu.edu/directory/jennifer-baka
Christopher Boxe
Senior Personnel
Dr. Christopher Blaszczak-Boxe is a lifelong educator that uses numerical-modeling platforms to assess the atmospheric evolution of planets on various timescales. For Earth, he focuses on air quality modeling. On the experimental front, he participates in field and laboratory studies that assess the abundance of potentially toxic substances in indoor/outdoor environments and their potential impacts on human health. The majority of his field work takes place in New York and Pennsylvania. At Penn State, he is an Associate Research Professor in the Department of Geosciences, an Associate at their Earth and Environmental Science Institute and Institute of Computational and Data Sciences, and Co-Director of PSU EnvironMentors. Dr. Boxe also implements STEM-education initiatives to help increase, retain, and inevitably steer students toward STEM disciplines and careers. His work converges at the nexuses of sustainable and environmental research, education, and justice.
Dr. Boxe earned a B.S. in Chemistry and a Minor in Math from Morehouse College in 1999 and later completed a Ph.D. in Environmental Science & Engineering at Caltech in 2005 (along with a Minor in Geology, an MS in Environmental Science & Engineering and an MS in Planetary Science). Since graduating, he worked at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory’s Earth & Space Science Division (as a Research Scientist), the City University of New York (as an Associate Professor & Deputy Chair), and several STEM-focused high schools within the borough of Brooklyn (as an AP/Regents Teacher).
Penn State LandscapeU team Members
Dr. Leticia Oseguera
Evaluator
Leticia Oseguera is an Associate Professor and Senior Research Associate in the Higher Education Program and the Center for the Study of Higher Education in the Department of Education Policy Studies at the Pennsylvania State University. She received her master’s and doctoral degree from the Higher Education and Organizational Change Program from the University of California, Los Angeles. Prior to Penn State, Dr. Oseguera was an Assistant Professor in the Department of Education at the University of California, Irvine where she also earned her bachelor’s degree in Sociology. Her area of research focuses on access and success in postsecondary and graduate education for historically underserved groups and she holds extensive expertise in program evaluation. Additional information can be found at https://ed.psu.edu/directory/lzo1
Dr. Jason Kaye
Co-Principle Investigator
Kaye is a professor of soil biogeochemistry and Chair of Ecology Intercollege Graduate Degree Program at Penn State. He teaches undergraduate and graduate classes in ecosystem ecology, environmental sustainability and biogeochemistry. A faculty member since 2005 in the Department of Ecosystem Science and Management, Kaye has been a pioneer in a critically important but understudied corner of ecology: the nutrient cycling dynamics driven by soils, soil-forming processes, and the role plants play in mediating those dynamics.
He applies this work to improving sustainability of forests and agricultural land management addressing broad-scale questions about how plants, soils, hydrology and climate interact. Additional information can be found at https://ecosystems.psu.edu/directory/jpk12.
Dr. Alan Graefe
Co-Principle Investigator
Alan Graefe is a professor in the Department of Recreation, Park, and Tourism Management who teaches courses and conducts research about outdoor recreation behavior and management at Penn State. He was one of the developers of the Visitor Impact Management (VIM) framework for addressing visitor capacity issues and was a co-founder of the Northeastern Recreation Research (NERR) Symposium. His principal research interests revolve around the application of social science to various aspects of recreation resources planning and management. Much of his recent research has focused on monitoring park and forest recreation use on public lands in Pennsylvania. Dr. Graefe was awarded the 2013 Theodore and Franklin Roosevelt Award for Excellence in Recreation and Park Research. More information can be found at https://hhd.psu.edu/contact/alan-graefe
Dr. Leland Glenna
Co-Principle Investigator
Leland Glenna is Professor of Rural Sociology and Science, Technology, and Society at The Pennsylvania State University. His teaching and research focus on the social and environmental impacts of agricultural sciences and technologies, the role of science and technology in agricultural and natural resource policy making, and the social and ethical implications of democratizing science and technology research. He recently served on the National Academies of Sciences genetically engineered crops report and as president of the Agriculture, Food, and Human Values Society. Additional information can be found at https://aese.psu.edu/directory/llg13
Dr. Klaus Keller
Co-Principle Investigator
Klaus Keller is a Professor of Geosciences at The Pennsylvania State University, where he has worked since 2002. Klaus is the Founding Director of the Penn State Center for Climate Risk Management and served as contributing author for the Fourth and Fifth IPCC Assessment Reports. His research addresses two interrelated questions. First, how can we mechanistically understand past and potential future changes in the Earth system? Second, how can we use this information to design scientifically sound, economically efficient, and ethically defensible climate risk-management strategies? He analyzes these questions by mission- oriented basic research covering a wide range of disciplines such as Earth system science, engineering, decision science, statistics, economics, operations research, and ethics. Additional information can be found at https://www.geosc.psu.edu/~kzk10
Dr. Douglas Bird
Senior Personnel
Doug Bird is an Associate Professor and Director of the Center for Human Ecology at Penn State, with faculty appointments in Penn State’s Dept of Anthropology, the Huck Institute’s Ecology Program, and the dual-title PhD program in Human Dimensions of Natural Resources and the Environment. He serves as a Principal Investigator in the Human Environmental Dynamics Lab (HEnDy) at Penn State, part of a growing interdisciplinary initiative to support research into the interaction between decision making, social organization, ecosystem function and sustainability. His interests are especially in questions about livelihood decisions and Indigenous lands, exploring the dynamics of human hunting practices, their role in ecosystem function and their archaeological implications. His research is mostly based in Western Australia . More information can be obtained at https://anth.la.psu.edu/people/dwb5537
Dr. Andrew Cole
Senior Personnel
Andy Cole, an Associate Professor of Landscape Architecture and Ecology in the Department of Landscape Architecture at Penn State, is a wetland ecologist looking at all aspects of created wetlands, from soils and plants to hydrology. He is also interested in all aspects of natural resources assessment especially as they pertain to design and impacts to the land. Cole has a deep interest in restoration ecology, ranging from wetlands in Pennsylvania to arctic tundra in Alaska. Andy serves as the ecologist within the department, bringing ecological understanding into the curriculum such that students’ thinking, and their designs are enhanced. He teaches the basic ecology course, including plant identification, and seminars ranging from restoration ecology to watershed stewardship. He is a wetland ecologist by training, though he also has a wildlife biology background. Additional information can be found at http://www.iee.psu.edu/content/charles-andy-cole
Dr. Caitlin Grady
Senior Personnel
Caitlin Grady joined Penn State as an Assistant Professor of Civil and Environmental Engineering and a Research Associate in the Rock Ethics Institute in 2017. Previously she was an analyst for US Department of State working on international environmental treaty negotiations in the areas of transboundary chemicals, waste, and air pollution. Prior to joining the Department of State, Dr. Grady completed a Women’s Policy Inc. Fellowship and served as a Legislative Assistant managing water, food, and energy policy issues for Congresswoman Betty McCollum. She also served as an analyst at the Department of Energy. Dr. Grady’s research interests revolve around the transdisciplinary nature of water resources, particularly within the water, energy, and food security international development community. Additional information can be found at www.gradylab.psu.edu
Dr. Carter Hunt
Senior Personnel
Carter Hunt is an Associate Professor in Recreation, Park, and Tourism Management, and Anthropology, and a co-chair of the Human Dimensions of Natural Resources and the Environment Dual Doctoral Degree Program at Penn State. His teaching and research through the ecotourismology lab focuses on the impact of tourism on biodiversity conservation, sustainable community development efforts, and rural livelihoods around parks and protected areas in the biodiverse tropics of Latin America and East Africa. He also leverages an interest in conservation psychology into research on the ways that different forms of nature-based travel influences pro-environmental behavior, including conservation philanthropy. He recently received a Fulbright Scholar Award to collaborate on these research interests with the Charles Darwin Foundation in the Galapagos Islands. Additional information can be found at: http://www.personal.psu.edu/cah59/blogs/carterahunt/
Cindy Etchison
Program Coordinator
Cindy Etchison joined the LandscapeU team in March of 2019. After earning her undergraduate and graduate degrees from Penn State, she worked over 30 years in the public-school system as an educator, counselor and administrator. During those years she applied for, was awarded and administered many grants. She also worked six years as a therapist and behavior specialist. During her professional career she has gained certification in numerous areas including Active Effective Communication, CANS Mental Health Assessment, Functional Behavior Assessment (FBA), and Technology Leadership for Principals and Superintendents. She was honored to be named “Most Valuable Player” when working in mental health and earned the “Golden Apple Award” while working in South Carolina as a school counselor.
Jose Fuentes
Senior Personnel
Jose Fuentes …
Christopher Kirk
Graduate Student
Chris Kirk is a second year PhD student in the Higher Education program and a research assistant in the Center for the Study of Higher Education. Prior to coming to Penn State, he worked in housing at Baylor University for five years followed by two years in academic advising at Ball State University. His research interests include student development, the impact of organizational design on student outcomes, and issues related to equity in higher education. He received both his bachelor’s degree in Philosophy and master’s degree in Higher Education & Student Development from Taylor University in Indiana.