Geography and the Environment Department Faculty, Courtesy Appointments, and Affiliates

Geography and the Environment Department faculty have expertise in environmental, cultural, economic, historical, physical and urban geography, and in geospatial analysis.

Faculty research is enriched through interdisciplinary collaborations with faculty in the Maxwell School and from other schools, as well as through rigorous field-based study of geographical processes in a variety of regions, places and landscapes.


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Philip P. Arnold

Philip P. Arnold

Professor, Religion, College of Arts & Sciences

Ph.D., University of Chicago Divinity School, 1992

 

Areas of Expertise

Religion, indigenous groups
Anne Bellows

Anne Bellows

Professor, Food Studies, Falk College

Graduate Program Director, Food Studies, Falk College

Ph.D., Rutgers University
Jacob Bendix

Jacob Bendix

Professor Emeritus, Geography and the Environment Department

Senior Research Associate, Center for Environmental Policy and Administration

Ph.D., University of Georgia, 1992

Areas of Expertise

Biogeography, pyrogeography, geomorphology, human impacts on environmental systems, media coverage of the environment
Tripti Bhattacharya

Tripti Bhattacharya

Senior Research Associate and Advisory Board Member, Program on Latin America and the Caribbean

Assistant Professor, Earth and Environmental Sciences, College of Arts & Sciences

Ph.D., University of California, Berkeley, 2016

Areas of Expertise

Paleoclimatology, paleoecology, tropical climate dynamics, hydroclimate, proxy reconstruction
A person smiles while seated at a desk in his office, with bookshelves, a floor lamp, and a colorful striped textile visible in the background.

Ethan Coffel

Assistant Professor, Geography and the Environment Department

Research Affiliate, Center for Policy Research

Ph.D., Columbia University, 2018

Areas of Expertise

Climate science, climate impacts, extreme weather, agriculture, energy, infrastructure
Joshua Cousins

Joshua Cousins

Senior Research Associate, Program for the Advancement of Research on Conflict and Collaboration

Assistant Professor, Environmental Studies, SUNY ESF

Ph.D., School of Natural Resources & Environment, University of Michigan

Areas of Expertise

Urban political ecology; science and technology studies; critical infrastructure studies; water policy, planning and governance; energy; urban sustainability; political-industrial ecology; climate change adaptation planning
Douglas Frank

Douglas Frank

Professor, Biology, College of Arts & Sciences

Ph.D., Syracuse University, 1990

 

Areas of Expertise

Plant/ecosystem ecology, grazing mammals, grasslands, carbon storage, plant-herbivore interactions
Peng Gao
(Pronouns: He, Him)

Peng Gao

Professor and Chair, Geography and the Environment Department

Ph.D., State University of New York at Buffalo, 2003

Areas of Expertise

River environment and morphodynamics, Geospatial-based (GIS, remote sensing, and UAV) urban planning and reforming
Timur Hammond

Timur Hammond

Associate Professor and Director of Graduate Studies, Geography and the Environment Department

Senior Research Associate, Middle Eastern Studies Program

Research Affiliate, South Asia Center

Research Affiliate, Center for European Studies

Ph.D., Department of Geography, University of California, Los Angeles, 2016

Areas of Expertise

Cultural geography, urban geography, geographies of memory, Turkey, Middle East
Matt Huber

Matthew T. Huber

Professor, Geography and the Environment Department

Senior Research Associate, Center for Environmental Policy and Administration

Senior Research Associate, Program for the Advancement of Research on Conflict and Collaboration

Ph.D., Graduate School of Geography, Clark University, 2009

Areas of Expertise

Political economy, energy and capitalism, climate politics, resource geography
Meghan Kelly
(Pronouns: She, Her)

Meghan Kelly

Assistant Professor, Geography and the Environment Department

Ph.D., Department of Geography, University of Wisconsin - Madison, 2020

Areas of Expertise

Cartography, feminist mapping, critical GIS, community geography, digital storytelling, feminist digital geographies
Natalie Koch
(Pronouns: She, Her)

Natalie Koch

Professor and Director of Undergraduate Studies, Geography and the Environment Department

Director, Central Asia and the Caucasus Initiative

Senior Research Associate, Middle Eastern Studies Program

Ph.D., University of Colorado, Boulder, 2012

Areas of Expertise

political geography, nationalism, geopolitics, authoritarianism, sports geography, Gulf and Arabian Peninsula studies
Austin Kocher

Austin Kocher

Faculty Affiliate, Geography and the Environment Department

Areas of Expertise

Political and legal geographies of immigration enforcement, policing and the immigration court system.
India Luxton photo

India Luxton

Postdoctoral Fellow, Geography and the Environment Department

Postdoctoral Research Fellow, Center for Policy Research

Ph.D., Colorado State University, 2024

Areas of Expertise

Food systems, animal agriculture, environmental justice, environmental and applied sociology, green criminology, labor policy

John Mercer

John Mercer

Professor Emeritus, Geography and the Environment Department

Ph.D., McMaster University, 1971

Areas of Expertise

Urban and political geography, housing, comparative studies
Susan W. S. Millar

Susan W. S. Millar

Associate Professor Emeritus, Geography and the Environment Department

Ph.D., Rutgers University, 1995

Areas of Expertise

Physical geography, periglacial geomorphology, arctic science, climate change
Laura-Anne Minkoff-Zern

Laura-Anne Minkoff-Zern

Associate Professor, Geography and the Environment Department

Senior Research Associate, Center for Policy Research

Research Affiliate, Lerner Center for Public Health Promotion and Population Health

Ph.D., Geography, University of California, Berkeley, 2012

Areas of Expertise

Food systems, immigration and racial justice, agrarian political ecology, labor movements, environmental and agricultural policy
Don Mitchell

Don Mitchell

Distinguished Professor Emeritus, Geography and the Environment Department

Senior Research Associate, Program for the Advancement of Research on Conflict and Collaboration

Ph.D., Rutgers University, 1992

Areas of Expertise

Cultural and political economy of landscape, social theory, labor, geographies of power and marginalization, Marxism
Mark Monmonier

Mark Monmonier

Distinguished Professor Emeritus, Geography and the Environment Department

Ph.D., Pennsylvania State University, 1969

Areas of Expertise

Geographic information (technology, policy and societal role), history of cartography in the 20th century (esp. innovation and intellectual property), map design, environmental mapping
Sharon D. Moran

Sharon D. Moran

Associate Professor, Environmental Studies, SUNY–ESF

Ph.D., Clark University, 2000

Areas of Expertise

Environmental policy, human dimensions of water, political ecology, qualitative research methods, gender and nature, Central/Eastern Europe
Anne E. Mosher

Anne E. Mosher

Associate Professor, Geography and the Environment Department

Ph.D., Department of Geography, Pennsylvania State University, 1989

Areas of Expertise

Urban planning and geographies of infrastructure, crisis and disaster management, public scholarship and community engagement, digital humanities
James L. Newman

James L. Newman

Professor Emeritus, Geography and the Environment Department

Ph.D., University of Minnesota, 1968

Areas of Expertise

Population and settlement geography, diet and nutrition, human geography of Africa, prehistory
Karl Offen
(Pronouns: He, Him)

Karl Offen

Professor, Geography and the Environment Department

Senior Research Associate and Advisory Board Member, Program on Latin America and the Caribbean

Ph.D., Department of Geography and the Environment, University of Texas at Austin, 1999

Areas of Expertise

Historical geography, political ecology, Latin America and the Caribbean, Atlantic world, map studies
Arnisson Andre Ortega

Arnisson Andre Ortega

Associate Professor, Geography and the Environment Department

Faculty Affiliate, Community Geography

Senior Research Associate, East Asia Program

Ph.D., University of Washington, 2012

Areas of Expertise

Community geography, urban geography, population geography, Global South cities, migration, transnationalism, suburbanization, population, socio-spatial theory, decolonization, quantitative methods, mixed-methods, critical demography, counter-mapping
Tom Perreault

Tom Perreault

Professor, Geography and the Environment Department

DellPlain Professor of Latin American Geography

Laura J. and L. Douglas Meredith Professor of Teaching Excellence

Senior Research Associate, Center for Environmental Policy and Administration

Senior Research Associate, Program for the Advancement of Research on Conflict and Collaboration

Senior Research Associate, Campbell Public Affairs Institute

Advisory Board Member and Senior Research Associate, Program on Latin America and the Caribbean

Ph.D., University of Colorado, Boulder, 2000

Areas of Expertise

Political ecology, environmental justice, water governance, critical resource geography, mining and extractivism, rural livelihoods, agrarian political economy, indigeneity and indigenous politics, Latin America
Sarah Pralle

Sarah Pralle

Associate Professor, Political Science Department

Senior Research Associate, Campbell Public Affairs Institute

Senior Research Associate, Center for Environmental Policy and Administration

Ph.D., University of Washington, 2001

Areas of Expertise

U.S. public policy, agenda setting and policy change, environmental politics and policy, climate change and energy, interest groups and social movements
Jane M. Read

Jane M. Read

Associate Professor, Geography and the Environment Department

Director, Integrated Learning Major, Environment, Sustainability and Policy

Senior Research Associate, Center for Environmental Policy and Administration

Ph.D., Louisiana State University, 1999

Areas of Expertise

Geographic information systems and remote sensing, human-environment interactions, geohumanities, indigenous livelihoods, Latin America
David J. Robinson

David J. Robinson

Professor Emeritus, Geography and the Environment Department

DellPlain Professor of Latin American Geography, Emeritus

Ph.D., London University, 1967

Areas of Expertise

Latin America, historical geography, Spanish colonialism, development
Jonnell A. Robinson

Jonnell A. Robinson

Associate Professor, Geography and the Environment Department

Co-Director, Community Geography

Senior Research Associate, Center for Qualitative and Multi-Method Inquiry

Ph.D., University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, 2010

Areas of Expertise

Community geography, participatory geographic information systems (GIS)
Tod Rutherford

Tod Rutherford

Professor, Geography and the Environment Department

Senior Research Associate, Program for the Advancement of Research on Conflict and Collaboration

Advisory Board Member, Center for European Studies

Ph.D., Department of City and Regional Planning, University of Wales College of Cardiff, 1992

Areas of Expertise

Economic restructuring, labor and the automobile industry, labor market processes and policies, regional development
Chie Sakakibara

Chie Sakakibara

Associate Professor, Geography and the Environment Department

Research Affiliate, East Asia Program

Ph.D., University of Oklahoma, 2007

Areas of Expertise

Indigenous geographies, environmental humanities, humanistic geography, Arctic studies
Peter Saulson

Peter Saulson

Professor Emeritus, Physics, College of Arts & Sciences

Ph.D., Princeton University, 1981

Christopher Scholz

Christopher Scholz

Faculty Affiliate, Environment, Sustainability and Policy

Senior Research Associate, Maxwell African Scholars Union

Professor, Earth and Environmental Sciences, College of Arts & Sciences

Ph.D., Duke University, 1989

Areas of Expertise

Professor of Earth Sciences: Africa, water, sedimentary lake basins, paleoclimatology, energy, sedimentary processes
Theresa Selfa

Theresa Selfa

Associate Professor, Environmental Studies, SUNY-ESF

Ph.D., Cornell University, 2001

Areas of Expertise

Political sociology, environmental sociology, rural sociology, sociology of agriculture, sociology of development, qualitative methods, comparative-historical methods
Naomi Shanguhyia photo
(Pronouns: She, Her)

Naomi Shanguhyia

Associate Teaching Professor, Geography and the Environment Department

Senior Research Associate, Maxwell African Scholars Union

Ph.D., West Virginia University, 2013
John Stella

John Stella

Vice President for Research, SUNY-ESF

Ph.D., University of California, Berkeley, 2005

Areas of Expertise

Riparian and stream ecology, plant ecohydrology and dendroecology, aridland and Mediterranean ecosystems, river corridor restoration
Farhana Sultana

Farhana Sultana

Professor, Geography and the Environment Department

Research Co-Director, Environmental Conflict and Collaboration

Senior Research Associate, Program for the Advancement of Research on Conflict and Collaboration

Senior Research Associate, South Asia Center

Ph.D., University of Minnesota, 2007

Areas of Expertise

Political ecology, international development, water governance, climate change, environmental justice, sustainability, citizenship, human rights, decolonizing, transnational feminisms, South Asia
John Western

John Western

Professor Emeritus, Geography and the Environment Department

Maxwell Professor of Teaching Excellence

Laura J. and L. Douglas Meredith Professor for Teaching Excellence

Ph.D., University of California, Los Angeles, 1978

Areas of Expertise

Social, cultural, urban geography, Southern Africa, Europe
Peter Wilcoxen
(Pronouns: He, Him)

Peter Wilcoxen

Professor, Public Administration and International Affairs Department

Laura J. and L. Douglas Meredith Professor for Teaching Excellence

Director, Center for Environmental Policy and Administration

Director of Undergraduate Studies, Policy Studies

Senior Research Associate, Program for the Advancement of Research on Conflict and Collaboration

Research Affiliate, Center for Policy Research

Ph.D., Harvard University, 1989

Areas of Expertise

Natural resource, environmental economics
Robert Wilson
(Pronouns: He, Him)

Robert Wilson

Associate Professor, Geography and the Environment Department

Senior Research Associate, Center for Environmental Policy and Administration

Ph.D., University of British Columbia, 2003

Areas of Expertise

Environmental history, historical geography, environmental humanities, animals and society, climate change history and politics
Jamie Winders
(Pronouns: She, Her)

Jamie Winders

Professor, Geography and the Environment Department

Associate Provost for Faculty Affairs, Syracuse University

Senior Research Associate, Center for Qualitative and Multi-Method Inquiry

Senior Research Associate, Program for the Advancement of Research on Conflict and Collaboration

Ph.D., University of Kentucky, 2004

Areas of Expertise

Autonomous systems, artificial intelligence, international migration, race/ethnicity, gender, cultural and social geography, social theory, social reproduction, feminist geography, qualitative methods, digital geographies
Xuebin Yang photo

Xuebin Yang

Instructor, Geography and the Environment Department

Areas of Expertise

GIS and geospatial geography

Austin Zwick

Austin Zwick

Associate Teaching Professor, Policy Studies

Director, BPS Policy Studies Program, College of Professional Studies

Ph.D., University of Toronto, 2018

Areas of Expertise

Smart cities, platform economy, autonomous systems, urban and regional planning, policy analysis, and quantitative methods

Geography and the Environment Department
144 Eggers Hall
geography@syr.edu
315.443.2605