Robert Wilson, 
Assistant Professor of Geography

rmwilson@maxwell.syr.edu
 
Ph.D. Geography, University of British Columbia, 2003
BA Geology and English, Colorado College, 1994



Biography
Robert Wilson is a geographer whose research interests lie in the areas of environmental history, historical geography, and the history of environmental thought and policy. He is especially interested in the historical geography of social conflicts associated with the management of protected areas in the United States and Canada. Currently, he is completing a book titled Seeking Refuge: An Environmental History of the Pacific Flyway. The book examines the challenges associated with the management of migratory birds, and the wildlife refuges they depend on, in western North America during the twentieth century. Many of these refuges are found in landscapes dominated by irrigated, industrial agriculture, which has made managing them for the benefit of wildlife extremely difficult. Some of his other projects include histories of wildlife conservation in the American West during the Second World War and the complicated relationship between federal irrigation projects and internment camps for Japanese Americans during the same period. He is also completing a study on the links between landscape and the body in Rachel Carson’s writings, particularly Silent Spring, one of the founding texts of American environmentalism.

Robert finished his PhD in geography at the University of British Columbia in 2003. In 2004-2005, he was at the Department of History and Philosophy at Montana State University—Bozeman completing a postdoctoral fellowship that explored the links between geography, environmental history, and the history of science and technology.

Teaching
Population and Environment (GEO 103)
American Environmental History and Geography (GEO 300)
Seminar in Environmental History (GEO 700)