Dr. Erica Smithwick
LandscapeU Principle Investigator
Erica Smithwick, Distinguished Professor of Geography, is a landscape and ecosystem ecologist. She is the Director of Earth and Environmental Systems 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