Program Faculty | Penn State College of Health and Human Development

TREES program faculty and areas of expertise

Richard Alley, Ph.D.

Evan Pugh Prof. of Geosciences

Area of Expertise: Glaciology, Ice and Climate, Abrubt Climate Change, Sea Level Change

Theodore Alter, Ph.D.

Prof. of Agricultural, Environmental, and Regional Economics

Area of Expertise: Agriculture Economics and Policy, Development Economics, Public Sector Economics

Jennifer Baka, Ph.D.

Associate Professor of Geography

Areas of Expertise: energy geographies, political-industrial ecology, environmental governance

Rebecca Bascom, M.D.

Professor of Medicine and Public Health Sciences College of Medicine

Area of Expertise: Health and Environment, Health and Climate, Public Health, Science-policy Communication and Partnerships

Douglas Bird, Ph.D.

Associate Prof. of Anthropology

Area of Expertise: Human Behavior Ecology, Complex Socio-ecological Systems, Livelihoods and Sustainability

Rebecca Bliege Bird, Ph.D.

Professor of Anthropology

Area of Expertise: Human Behavior Ecology, Evolutionary Ecology, Community and Population Ecology

Mallika Bose, Ph.D.

Associate Prof. of Landscape Architecture

Area of Expertise: Urban Planning, Environment-Behavior Studies

Beth Boyer, Ph.D.

Prof. of Water Resources

Area of Expertise: Hydrological Processes, Water Quality, Watershed Management

Kathryn Brasier, Ph.D.

Prof. of Rural Sociology

Area of Expertise: Energy and Society, Community Development and Public Engagement, Water Quality

Robert Chiles, Ph.D.

Assistant Prof. of Rural Sociology

Area of Expertise: Environmental Sociology, Food and Agriculture Ethics, Culture and Consumption

Andy Cole, Ph.D.

Associate Prof. of Landscape Architecture and Ecology

Area of Expertise: Wetland Ecology, Restoration Ecology

Duane Diefenbach, Ph.D.

Adjunct Prof. of Wildlife Ecology

Area of Expertise: Biometrics, White-tailed Deer, Harvest Management

Ida Djenontin, Ph.D.

Assistant Professor of Geography

Area of Expertise: Human-environment geography, biodiversity conservation, mitigation, sustainable natural resource-based livelihoods, food security, and socio-economic development goals

Patrick Drohan, Ph.D.

Professor of Pedology & Graduate Program Chair

Area of Expertise: Soil Science, Watershed Management, Landscape Ecology, Natural Resource Management

Stuart Echols, Ph.D.

Associate Prof. of Landscape Architecture

Area of Expertise: Stormwater Design: Utility and Amenity

William Elmendorf, Ph.D.

Associate Professor, Extension Specialist Community and Urban Forestry

Area of Expertise: Technical Assistance to Municipalities in Preparation and Enactment of Environmental Ordinances and Other Policy

Semih Eser, Ph.D.

Professor of Energy and Geo-Environmental Engineering

Area of Expertise: Carbon Materials from Petroleum and Coal, Preparation of Activated Carbons

Travis Flohr, Ph.D.

Assistant Professor of Landscape Architecture

Area of Expertise: Urban and regional planning, climate-resistant communities and ecosystems, spatial methods

David Gamson, Ph.D.

Associate Professor of Education

Area of Expertise: Public, urban, and minority education, civil rights and education, race and ethnicity

Leland Glenna, Ph.D.

Prof. of Rural Sociology, and Science, Technology, and Society

Area of Expertise: Social and Environmental Impacts of Agricultural Science and Technologies, The Role of Science and Technology in Agricultural and Natural Resource Policy Making

Larry Gorenflo, Ph.D.

Prof. of Landscape Architecture and Geography

Area of Expertise: Links between Cultural and Biological Diversity, Co-occurrence of Important Linguistic and Cultural Conservation Areas with Area of High Biodiversity

Alan Graefe, Ph.D.

Prof. of Recreation, Park, and Tourism Management

Area of Expertise: Outdoor Recreation Behavior and Management and Water-Based Recreation Carrying Capacity

Murali Haran, Ph.D.

Prof. of Statistics

Area of Expertise: Computational Statistics, Spatial Models, Applications to Climate and Infectious Diseases

Clare Hinrichs, Ph.D.

Prof. of Rural Sociology

Area of Expertise: Food Systems, Sustainable Agriculture, Sustainability Transitions

Jacob Holland-Lulewicz, Ph.D.

Assistant Professor of Anthropology

Area of Expertise: archeology, ethnohistory, institutions of governance, collective action and democracy

Carter Hunt, Ph.D.

Associate Prof. of Recreation, Park, and Tourism Management, and Anthropology

Area of Expertise: Environmental Anthropology, Ecotourism, Sustainable Development, Conservation Social Science

Lisa Iulo, M.U.P

Associate Professor of Architecture

Area of Expertise: Residential Green Building Practices, Affordable Housing, Energy Efficiency, Strategies for the Implementation of Renewable Energy at the Building and Community Scale

Jason Kaye, Ph.D.

Distinguished Prof. of Soils and Biogeochemistry

Area of Expertise: Climate and Ecosystem Change, Global Change Biology, Biogeochemistry of Nitrogen and Carbon Cycling in Ecosystems

Brian King, Ph.D.

Associate Prof. of Geography

Area of Expertise: Livelihoods, Conservation and Development, Environmental Change and Human Health

Stephen Mainzer, Ph.D.

Assistant Professor of Landscape Architecture

Area of Expertise: Decision dynamics, Coupled environmental and political sentiment, Voting behaviors, and Place

Richard Mbih

Assistant Teaching Professor and Graduate Faculty of African Studies

Areas of Expertise: Agro-pastoral sustainability, climate change and community resilience, environmental conflicts, colonialism, natural resource governance and development in Sub-Saharan Africa

Andrew Mowen, Ph.D.

Associate Prof. of Recreation, Park, and Tourism Management

Area of Expertise: Public Attitudes toward Park and Conservation Funding, Urban Park and Conservation Non-Profit Management

Allyson Muth, Ph.D.

Forest Stewardship Program Associate

Area of Expertise: Forest Stewardship, Private Forest Landowners, Woodland Care

Peter Newman, Ph.D.

Professor of Recreation, Park, and Tourism Management

Area of Expertise: Visitor Management in Parks, Protected Areas Management

DK Osseo-Asare

Associate Professor of Architecture and Engineering Design

Area of Expertise: Humanitarian materials design, design computation, open-source maker technology

Daniel Perkins, Ph.D.

Prof. of Agricultural and Extension Education

Area of Expertise: Youth and Family Resiliency, Dissemintation and Implementation Science, Applied Research and Evaluations

Nathan Piekielek, Ph.D.

Geospatial Services Librarian

Area of Expertise: Geographic Information Science, Remote Sensing and Spatial Analysis Geospatial Research Support, Landscape Ecology and Conservation

Anne Pisor, Ph.D.

Assistant Professor of Anthropology & Social Science Research Institute

Areas of Expertise: culture, climate change adaptation, social networks

Ute Poerschke, Ph.D.

Prof. of Architecture

Area of Expertise: Relationship of Architecture and Technology

David Post, Ph.D.

Professor of Education

Area of Expertise: comparative and international education, globalization, education policy

Charles Ray, Ph.D.

Associate Professor, Ecosystem Science and Management

Area of Expertise: Natural Resources Systems Analysis, Forest Products Economics, Wood Industry Operations Research

Edwin Sabuhoro, Ph.D.

Assistant Professor of Recreation, Park, and Tourism Management

Area of Expertise: National Parks and Protected Areas, Transboundary Conservation Management, Human and Wildlife Co-existence

Christopher Scott, Ph.D.

Professor and Maurice K. Goddard Chair of Forestry and Environmental Conservation

Area of Expertise: Resilience, adaptation, social-ecological systems; Water-energy-food nexus, water security, groundwater, irrigation; Urban-wastewater irrigation, water reuse, agricultural-urban water transfers; Transboundary river basins and aquifers; Mountain water towers, Andes, Himalayas; Southwest US; Latin America (Mexico, Argentina, Chile, Brazil, Peru); South Asia (India, Nepal)