Michelle Afkhami's lab studies the ecology, evolution, and genomics of species interactions at scales ranging from genes to communities using a combination of long term field and greenhouse experiments, mathematical modeling, and laboratory-based molecular methods. While her lab’s research spans all types of interactions, they are especially interested in positive species associations and often work with plant-microbial mutualisms, such as rhizobia, mycorrhizal fungi, and fungal endophytes. Much of their research is aimed at understanding the mechanisms underlying how mutualisms work and integrating these associations into the broader foundations of ecology and evolution. Some of their current projects investigate: (1) the role of fungal endophytes in plant population persistence across species ranges and in the resilience of communities to wildfires in California; (2) how plant-soil feedbacks impact the demography and conservation of rare species in Florida; and (3) the genomic basis of plant and microbial performance in a tripartite interaction between legumes, rhizobia, and mycorrhizal fungi.
Anthony Alfieri is a Dean's Distinguished Scholar and the Director of the Center for Ethics and Public Service in the School of Law where he leads the Historic Black Church Program. Professor Alfieri graduated from Brown University in 1981 and Columbia University School of Law in 1984. He teaches civil procedure, ethics, public interest law, social enterprise, professional liability and lawyer malpractice, and environmental justice. He has published more than 80 articles, essays, and editorials in leading journals and book anthologies. His work has been cited and downloaded more than 5,000 times in books, law journals, social science networks, and the media. At the Center for Ethics & Public Service, Professor Alfieri supervises graduate and undergraduate students working on education, research, policy, and advocacy projects in the fields of civil rights and poverty law, economic development and social enterprise, and environmental justice and public health.
Traci Ardren is Professor in the Department of Anthropology and co-teaches in the EcosystemScience and Policy program at the University of Miami. Dr. Ardren is an anthropological archaeologist interested in New World prehistoric cultures. Her research focuses on issues of identity and other forms of symbolic representation in the archaeological record, as well as how ancient people understood the natural world. She co-directs an ongoing research program at the ancient Maya archaeological site of Xuenkal, Yucatán, México where her team investigates the role of environmental resources and trade on the development of an economically dominant state centered at the urban center of Chichen Itzá. Dr. Ardren also directs archaeological research in the Florida Keys aimed at exploring issues of political relations and environmental adaptation over time with special emphasis on the changing experience of coastal fisherfolk during the evolution of social hierarchies prior to European contact. She has received funding from the National Science Foundation and National Geographic, and her research has been published in The Holocene, Antiquity, World Archaeology, Geoarchaeology, etc. Her most recent book is Social Identities in the Classic Maya Northern Lowlands: Gender, Age, Memory, and Place with University of Texas Press (2015). Occasionally Dr. Ardren teaches an archaeological and environmental field school over spring break at prehistoric archaeological sites within Everglades National Park.
Andrew Baker is an Associate Professor at the University of Miami’s Rosenstiel School of Marine and Atmospheric Science and co-teaches in the Ecosystem Science and Policy program. His research applies genetic tools to understand how reef corals adapt to environmental change, and combines laboratory experiments on corals with fieldwork on reefs around the world. Andrew has a Bachelor’s degree in Natural Sciences (Zoology) from Cambridge University (1993), and a Ph.D. in Marine Biology and Fisheries from the University of Miami (1999). He is a Pew Fellow in Marine Conservation and a former Fulbright Scholar from the United Kingdom.
Kenneth Broad is Director of the Leonard and Jayne Abess Center for Ecosystem Science and Policy and Professor and Chair of the Department of Environmental Science and Policy at UM’s Rosenstiel School of Marine and Atmospheric Science. Additionally, he holds a joint appointment at Columbia University where he served as Co-Director of the Center for Research on Environmental Decisions. Kenny received his Ph.D.in anthropology from Columbia University in 1999. Working around the globe, Dr. Broad has directed major interdisciplinary efforts to study diverse aspects of human and environmental interaction, including climate impacts and human perception, the use and misuse of scientific information, decision making under uncertainty, and ecosystem based management. He has participated in extreme scientific and filmmaking expeditions on every continent - from studying cocaine distribution patterns to venomous snakes to the deepest caves on the planet - to gather information and samples that shed light on little known environmental and cultural subjects. He regularly collaborates with ecologists, climatologists, hydrologists, psychologists and a host of other strange ‘ologists’. Kenny, along with the late Wes Skiles, was awarded the 2011 National Geographic Explorer of the Year for their work in the underwater caves of The Bahamas, which appeared as a cover story in National Geographic Magazine. Broad also received the National Geographic 2006 Emerging Explorer Award and was elected a Fellow National of the Explorers Club in 2009. Kenny is a member of the National Geographic Society Expedition Council Advisory Board and is on the board of advisors for several non profit organizations.
Karlisa Callwood teaches core courses in the Ecosystem Science and Policy program and is Director of Diversified Engagement for the Abess Center. Prior to joining UM, Dr. Callwood was Director of the Community Conservation Action Program at the Perry Institute for Marine Science (PIMS). She is a science professional, interdisciplinary fisheries researcher, and science communicator with more than 15 years of experience in managing cross-departmental teams, developing and leading multi-year projects, expanding community engagement and partnership initiatives, and implementing access, diversity, equity, and inclusion initiatives with a focus on populations traditionally underrepresented and underserved in the sciences. Dr. Callwood is a graduate of the Abess Center's Environmental Science and Policy Ph.D. program.
Kilan Ashad-Bishop is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Environmental Science and Policy at the Rosenstiel School. Dr. Bishop is a biomedical scientist focused on the intersection of environmental justice and health equity. Broadly, her transdisciplinary research focuses on emerging environmental health issues that affect medically vulnerable populations, particularly in the context of climate change and urbanization.
José Maria Cardoso da Silva joined the Department of Geography and Regional Studies at the University of Miami in August 2015. Before joining the University of Miami, Dr. Silva was researcher at the Museu Paraense Emílio Goeldi and professor in four Brazilian universities (Universidade Federal de Pernambuco, Universidade Federal do Pará, Universidade Federal da Paraíba and Universidade Federal do Amapá). He also worked for 14 years for Conservation International, one of the largest global conservation organizations, and as Executive Vice President (2011-2014) he oversaw conservation programs in Latin America, Africa, and Asia-Pacific. His research agenda integrates concepts, methods and insights from ecology, biogeography, environmental geography, political ecology, economic geography, and political geography to find ways tropical countries can improve the living standards of their citizens while conserving their extraordinary biodiversity and building resilience to climate change. Current projects are focused on sustainable development in Amazonia and Caatinga, two of the largest South American ecological regions. Dr. Silva is Fellow of the American Ornithologist’s Union and the Linnean Society of London.
Ching-Hua Chuan is an Assistant Professor of Interactive Media at the University of Miami. She received her Ph.D. in computer science from the University of Southern California (Los Angeles, CA, USA) Viterbi School of Engineering, and her B.S. and M.S. degrees in electrical engineering from the National Taiwan University. Dr. Chuan’s research interests include artificial intelligence (AI), human-centered computing, computational communication research and music information retrieval. Her interdisciplinary research explores the applications of AI and emerging technologies such as augmented/mixed reality for social change. Dr. Chuan and her team won the 2022 Page Legacy Scholar Grant on sustainability communication with their mobile app intervention for facilitating pro-environmental habits. She was the recipient of the best paper award from the Journal of Current Issues and Research in Advertising in 2022, and the best new investigator paper award at the Grace Hopper Celebration of Women in Computing in 2010. She is also the founder of Women in Music Information Retrieval (WiMIR).
Amy Clement is a Professor in the Department of Atmospheric Sciences at the University of Miami’s Rosenstiel School of Marine and Atmospheric Science. She is an expert in climate modeling and in her research she strives to understand the mechanisms of past, present, and future climate change. Clement teaches courses on atmospheric science, physics of climate, science policy, and climate and society. She mentors graduate students and postdoctoral scientists in the atmospheric and ocean sciences, and she prepares her students to go on to successful careers where they can make an impact in their fields. She enjoys changing the way people think about the Earth and its climate through her teaching and mentoring.
Xavier Cortada is Professor of Practice: Artist at the University of Miami as a faculty member of the Department of Art and Art History. His science art practice is oriented toward social engagement and environmental concerns. The artist has created art installations at the Earth’s poles to generate awareness about global climate change at points in between. In 2007, as a National Science Foundation Antarctic Artists and Writers Program Fellow, Cortada used the moving ice sheet beneath the South Pole as an instrument to mark time; the art piece will be completed in 150,000 years. In 2008, he planted a green flag at the North Pole to reclaim it for nature and launch an eco-art reforestation effort. Cortada has exhibited and produced works internationally, including in Belgium, Bolivia, Canada, Cyprus, Holland, Latvia, Monaco, Norway, Northern Ireland, Panama, Peru, South Africa, and Switzerland. The Cuban American artist has been commissioned to create art for CERN, the White House, the World Bank and, locally, for Miami City Hall, the County Commission Chambers, the Florida Turnpike and the Frost Art Museum. Cortada, who was born in Albany, New York, and grew up in Miami, holds degrees from the University of Miami College of Arts and Sciences, Graduate School of Business, and School of Law.
G. Chris Cosner is a Professor in the Department of Mathematics and faculty advisory committee member and collaborator in the Abess Center. He has been at U.M. since 1988. Dr. Cosner received a B.A. in Mathematics from the University of California, San Diego, and an M.A. and Ph.D. in Mathematics from the University of California, Berkeley. He is also a member of the Institute for Theoretical and Mathematical Ecology (ITME) at U.M. and has participated in developing and teaching an interdisciplinary graduate course on mathematical models in ecology as part of a curriculum developed by the ITME.
William Drennan is a Professor of Applied Marine Physics at the Rosenstiel School of Marine and Atmospheric Science, where he has worked since 1997. Dr. Drennan received his Ph.D. in applied mathematics from the University of Waterloo in 1989. His current research focuses on processes at the air-sea interface and includes aspects of both climate change and hurricanes. He also has interest in development issues, having served on the board of director's of the development agency USC Canada.
Rebecca Gruby (she/her) is a Professor in the Department of Environmental Science and Policy in the Rosenstiel School. Dr. Gruby is an interdisciplinary social scientist focused on marine governance – the rules, processes, politics, and actors that shape collective action and human-environment interactions in the oceans. Broadly, her lab seeks to identify transformations in marine governance that can advance human well-being, social justice, and sustainability. Over the last 15 years, Dr. Gruby has worked on a wide range of issues from local to global scales, including marine protected areas, small-scale fisheries, the blue economy, ocean philanthropy, and equity and justice in marine conservation. She is currently leading the Ocean Philanthropy Research Initiative, which is the first global study of the roles and impacts of philanthropic foundations as governance agents in marine conservation.
Tyler R. Harrison is Professor in the Department of Communication Studies in the School of Communication at the University of Miami. His work focuses on the design, implementation, and evaluation of communication interventions to improve health and wellbeing. He has worked on state, foundation, and federally funded projects with governmental, organizational, and community partners. His work has focused on environmental and communicative factors associated with cancer risk in firefighters, designing systems to overcome barriers to joining organ donor registries, training of the Policía Nacional de Colombia on issues related to the commercial sexual exploitation of children, improving systems of conflict management and dispute resolution processes, and analyzing climate related discourses. He is currently working on a U-LINK funded interdisciplinary project related to climate adaptation at a hyperlocal scale in South Florida. He is co-editor (with Elizabeth A. Williams) of the award winning book, Organizations, Communication, and Health. His research has appeared in such outlets as Journal of Communication, Journal of Health Communication, Journal of Applied Communication Research, American Journal of Industrial Medicine, Experimental and Clinical Transplantation, and Journal of Contingencies and Crisis Management.
Brian Haus co-teaches in the Ecosystem Science and Policy program and is a Professor of Applied Marine Physics and Director of the Air-Sea Interaction Saltwater Tank (ASIST) Facility at the Rosenstiel School. His expertise is in experimental studies of air-sea interaction and wave dynamics. He is the Principal Investigator of laboratory-based studies sponsored by the National Science Foundation (NSF) and the Office of Naval Research (ONR) on wind-wave coupling and hurricane dynamics and their effects on coastal structures. He is also leading efforts to understand wave-current interactions through innovative coastal radar systems that are operated as a part of the Integrated Ocean Observing System. In an interesting application of this type of experimental capability, Dr. Haus is working with researchers of the UM Center for Oceans and Human Health to understand bacterial transport on recreational beaches. This research will be greatly enhanced by the new Marine Technology and Life Sciences Seawater building on the RSMAS campus for which Dr. Haus spearheaded a successful $15 M grant to the National Institute of Standards and Technology.
Keene Haywood is the Director of the Exploration Science program and Senior Lecturer in Environmental Science and Policy at the Rosenstiel School. His background is a combination of media production, conservation, and geospatial and educational technology research. His interests intersect the humanities and natural sciences with a particular focus on the implementation of effective uses of technology in the field to gather data, document research, and disseminate discovery to the general public. In the past, Dr. Haywood has worked on deep ocean ROV projects, film projects for National Geographic's Explorer and Wild Chronicles series, and field projects for The Nature Conservancy and Earthwatch. He has held positions at the University of Texas at Austin, the New Media Consortium, National Geographic, and The Nature Conservancy. He holds a PhD in Geography from the University of Texas at Austin, an MFA in Science and Natural History filmmaking from Montana State University, an MA in Marine Affairs and Policy from RSMAS, and a BA in Anthropology from the University of Miami. He was elected to the Explorers Club as a National Fellow in 2007 and currently sits on the ESRI Education Community Advisory Board and the board of the PAST Foundation.
Denis Hector co-teaches in the Ecosystem Science and Policy program and is Associate Dean and Associate Professor in the School of Architecture. His teaching areas include Design, Structures and Theory of Technology, Environment and Green Building. He is the Co-Chair of the Abess Center Faculty Advisory Committee.
Terri Hood is faculty emeritus and the former Assistant Director of the Ecosystem Science and Policy undergraduate program and Senior Lecturer in the Department of Geological Sciences. Her research interests include chemical processes occurring in coastal sediments (kinetics of pyrite oxidation in marine systems) and development of new methods in electron microscopy. Her research in the last decade has focused on deciphering human impacts in coastal environments using sediment records. Dr. Hood's particular areas of study have included the Everglades/Florida Bay ecosystem and the Mississippi River outflow region in the northern Gulf of Mexico.
Jennifer Jacquet is a Professor in the Department of Environmental Science and Policy at the Rosenstiel School and Director of its EVR graduate programs. She is interested in globalized cooperation dilemmas, such as climate change and the exploitation of wild animals via fishing and the Internet wildlife trade. She is particularly interested in the role of social approval in encouraging cooperation, and is the author of Is Shame Necessary? New Uses for an Old Tool (2015) and The Playbook: How To Deny Science, Sell Lies, and Make A Killing In The Corporate World (2022). Dr. Jacquet earned a Ph.D. in Natural Resource Management and Environmental Studies from the University of British Columbia.
James Klaus co-teaches in the Ecosystem Science and Policy program, is Assistant Professor in the Department of Geological Sciences, and a Post Doctoral Associate in the Division of Marine Geology and Geophysics at the Rosenstiel School.
David Letson co-teaches in the Ecosystem Science and Policy program and is Professor and Chair of the Division of Marine Affairs and Policy at the Rosensteil School for Marine and Atmospheric Science, where he has worked since 1995. Dr. Letson's research focuses on natural resource economics, with particular emphasis on the economics of extreme weather and climate variations. Specifically, he is interested in the value of predictions from the geosciences and in how those predictions are interpreted and used. A critical part of Dr. Letson's research has been the process of team formation and collaboration since it has enabled him to move beyond isolated studies of parts of weather and climate problems to a more systemic view. Living in Miami, on a barrier island no less, Dr. Letson is well acquainted with hurricanes and hurricane forecasts. As an economist, he is interested in the value of hurricane forecasts and mitigations. Short-sighted and narrow conceptions of the human relationship to the natural environment have prevented nations like the U.S. from reducing their losses from hurricanes and other natural hazards. He is a member of NOAA's Hurricane Forecast Socioeconomic Working Group, a panel convened by the National Weather Service and the Office of Atmospheric Research to develop a hurricane social science research agenda. Letson recently testified before the Florida Legislature on the possible economic effects to Florida's economy if the hurricanes of the 2004 season were to strike again in 2008. Dr. Letson's other main interest is the economics of climate. He studies the value of climate prediction for agricultural and water resources management in the southeastern US and Argentina, as part of the Southeastern Climate Consortium, which represents eight universities (Alabama-Huntsville, Auburn, Clemson, Georgia, Miami, North Carolina State, Florida and Florida State). Climate predictions, like free advice, may not always seem relevant or transparent to their intended audience. The over-arching theme of Letson's climate research is that climate risk must be assessed within the specific economic, institutional, land tenure, and technological contexts in which they occur.
Joanna Lombard co-teaches in the Ecosystem Science and Policy program and is an architect and Professor at the University of Miami School of Architecture with a joint appointment in the Department of Public Health Sciences at the Miller School of Medicine. Her undergraduate degree is from Tulane University and her graduate degree is from Harvard University. As a member of the UM Built Environment Behavior & Health team, with grants from RWJ, NIMH, NIEHS, and NIA, she has studied built environment impacts on children and elders with results published in peer-reviewed journals and book chapters, and she has just completed a HUD study which examines Medicare/Medicaid data in relation to walkable neighborhoods. In partnership with AIA Miami, ASLA Florida, and the Florida Dept. of Health Miami Dade, she, Scott Brown (UMMSM), and Maria Nardi (Miami-Dade County Parks, Recreation and Open Spaces) have been designated as one of eleven university-based teams selected as charter members of the American Institute of Architects Design & Health Research Consortium. With Denis Hector, she has an architectural practice that focuses on healthy places. She collaborated with Xavier Iglesias and Elizabeth Plater-Zyberk of DPZ on the design of the Fairchild Tropical Botanic Garden Visitor Center in Coral Gables, and with Professor Rocco Ceo, developed an exhibition and publication, The Historic Landscapes of Florida, studying twenty-seven historic landscapes throughout the state of Florida that was supported by grants from the University of Miami Orovitz Awards in the Arts and Humanities and the Deering Foundation. She is also the Co-Chair of the Abess Center Faculty Advisory Committee.
Katie (Katharine) Mach is an Associate Professor at the University of Miami's Rosenstiel School of Marine and Atmospheric Science and a faculty scholar at the Abess Center, focused on environmental science and policy. Her research assesses climate change risks and response options to address increased flooding, extreme heat, wildfire, and other hazards. Through innovative approaches to integrating evidence, she informs effective and equitable adaptations to the risks. Dr. Mach is the 2020 recipient of the Piers Sellers Prize for world leading contribution to solution-focused climate research. She previously was a Senior Research Scientist at Stanford University and Director of the Stanford Environment Assessment Facility. Before that from 2010 until 2015, she co-directed the scientific activities of Working Group II of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change. This work on impacts, adaptation, and vulnerability culminated in the IPCC’s Fifth Assessment Report and its Special Report on Managing the Risks of Extreme Events and Disasters to Advance Climate Change Adaptation. The associated global scientific collaborations have supported diverse climate policies and actions, including the Paris Agreement. At UM, Dr. Mach is the Graduate Program Director for the Department of Environmental Science and Policy. She teaches Interdisciplinary Environmental Research: Introduction to the Why and the How (ECS 601/MES 603) and the Science of Actionable Knowledge (MES 511/611).
Gina Maranto is faculty emeritus and the former director of the undergraduate program in Ecosystem Science and Policy and coordinater of the graduate program in Environmental Science and Policy. She received her M.A. from The Writing Seminars at The Johns Hopkins University in 1980, and her B.A. in English Literature from Pomona College in 1977. She is a prize-winning science writer who has covered the environment, earth sciences, and biomedicine at the national level since 1982. Her articles, opinion pieces, and reviews have appeared in Discover, The Atlantic Monthly, Scientific American, The New York Times, and other publications. Her cover piece for Discover on climate change won the National Association of Science Writers Award for best magazine piece of 1986 and limned the major issues that remain of interest today with regard to that subject. She is author of Quest for Perfection (1996), a history of attempts to alter birth outcomes and a critique of assisted reproductive technologies. She served as director of the English Composition program at UM from 2005 to 2011.
Imelda Moise is a health geographer and a mixed-methods researcher of issues affecting vulnerable populations. Her research focuses on the two-way links between health disparities research, and linking research to practice or policy. Her scholarly work has focused primarily on addressing health disparities and vulnerabilities as it relates to: health care and utilization; geographical targeting of resources, food environments; maternal, child and adolescent health in Sub-Saharan Africa, Southeastern United States and Illinois. Prior to UM, Dr. Moise worked as a Geographical Information Systems (GIS)/Monitoring and Evaluation (M&E) Advisor at John Snow Inc.’s International Division where she supported USAID funded health programs in supported low-middle income countries on various scopes of work relating to M&E, national assessments, indicator development, system strengthening, RHIS, implementing partner coordination, etc., and five years as a Research Program Specialist in Illinois coordinating federally funded research projects and program evaluation for state agency initiatives and ongoing programs, and six years as a Peace Corps technical trainer in Zambia. She has authored and co-authored peer-reviewed publications, guidance documents and presentations at various conferences and symposia.
Renato Molina is an engineer and economist specializing in environmental and resource economics. His work focuses on topics at the intersection between game theory, sustainability, and institutional settings. He holds a position as Assistant Professor in Environmental and Resource Economics at the Rosenstiel School of Marine and Atmospheric Science and the Department of Economics at the University of Miami.
Donald Olson co-teaches in the Ecosystem Science and Policy program and is Professor of Meteorology and Physical Oceanography at the Rosenstiel School of Marine and Atmospheric Science. He received a Ph.D. and an M.S. in Physical Oceanography from Texas A&M University , and a B.S. in Physics from the University of Wyoming . He currently serves on the U.S. WOCE Steering Committee. Dr. Olson's interests include ocean circulation dynamics, mesoscale phenomena, theory and observation of ocean frontal zones; drifter and satellite remote sensing studies of the surface circulation, tracer dynamics; processing studies of biophysical interactions and ecosystem modeling.
Jessica Owley is a Professor of Law. She specializes in Environmental Law and Property Law, with a focus on Climate Change Law and Policy. She is a leading expert on private land conservation and conservation easements. Her interdisciplinary work explores ways to mitigate and adapt to climate change as well as furthering other environmental goals in the context of drastic change. Her work is cited widely and has received multiple awards, including most recently the 2019 Morrison Prize for sustainability research. She annually participates as an observer at the annual treaty negotiations for the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change. Professor Owley holds a Ph.D. and M.S. in Environmental Science, Policy, and Management from the University of California—Berkeley where she also received a J.D. and MLA (Masters of Landscape Architecture). She practiced in the Land Use and Environmental Law group at Morrison & Foerster in San Francisco after clerking on the Ninth Circuit and in the Central District of California. She is a member of the California bar. She teaches the core graduate course in Environmental Law and Policy.
Cameron Riopelle teaches in the Environmental Science and Policy Ph.D. program and is the Data Services Librarian / Assistant Professor for the University of Miami Libraries. He receivied his Ph.D. in Sociology, Master's in Statistics, and Master's in Sociology from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. His research interests include quantitative and qualitative methods, theories of colonialism and the state, and the study of educational systems. In additional to his background in statistics and social scientific methods, Cameron has expertise in oral history and historical-archival research. He has also been actively involved in field archaeological and and historical archaeological projects, and projects that use mixed methodologies.
Christopher Searcy's lab group focuses on conservation ecology, the use of ecological principles to improve understanding of basic ecological theory while also informing decisions about how to conserve and manage threatened or endangered species. The lab will concentrate especially on community ecology and landscape ecology, recognizing that while conservation may focus on individual species, it is important to protect ecological communities as a whole, and that all species exist in landscapes where habitat quality varies through space.. Searcy emphasizes fieldwork: only through observing natural populations is it possible to understand how species persist individually and in concert while also dealing with environmental stochasticity. Searcy’s previous research has focused on amphibians and aquatic invertebrates.
Shouraseni Sen Roy's research and teaching interests center on climatology, spatial analysis, and crime patterns. Her work focuses on spatial and temporal patterns of climate processes across various regions, including the Indian subcontinent, South Africa, China, and USA, using advanced geo-statistical techniques to analyze trends in climatic variables. In addition, she has recently started working on crime patterns in South Florida. She recently completed a 2019 Fulbright Nehru U.S. Scholar grant to conduct research in India. Her research have been published in The International Journal of Climatology, Physical Geography, Monthly Weather Review, Geophysical Research Letters, and Journal of Geophysical Research, Weather and Climate Extremes, British Journal of Criminology, European Journal of Criminal Policy and Research, The Professional Geographer, and Applied Geography.
Justin Stoler is Assistant Professor of Geography and Public Health Sciences. His research explores the geographic patterns of urban health disparities, particularly in the developing world, and environmental influences on social and behavioral epidemiology. He uses spatial modelling techniques to integrate household survey data, GIS layers of municipal infrastructure, and remote sensing data, and has conducted field work in multiple countries. He has worked in Accra, Ghana, for several years exploring links between neighborhoods, the environment, and infectious diseases. His courses integrate GIS and geographic frameworks with contemporary population, environmental, and global health issues.
Geoffrey Supran is an Associate Professor in the Department of Environmental Science and Policy at the University of Miami’s Rosenstiel School of Marine, Atmospheric, and Earth Science. His research focuses on the history of climate disinformation and propaganda by fossil fuel interests. This work elucidates the historical and sociological dimensions of the climate challenge and informs initiatives to hold bad actors accountable. Geoffrey has published peer-reviewed articles in journals such as Science, Nature, Nature Photonics, Environmental Research Letters, Environmental Science and Technology, and One Earth. He has briefed U.S. Members of Congress, Governors, and Attorneys General about his work; testified as an expert witness to EU Parliament and the Philippines Commission on Human Rights; and co-authored numerous amicus briefs in support of climate litigation. His research and organizing have been covered by most major print and TV news outlets. He also frequently contributes to and comments in international media, such as The New York Times, The Guardian, CNN, BBC, and PBS. Geoffrey was previously a Research Associate in the Department of the History of Science at Harvard University. From 2020-21, he was also the co-founding Director of Climate Accountability Communication for the Climate Social Science Network, which is an international community of more than 300 scholars in 25 countries focused on understanding political conflict over climate change. Geoffrey received his Ph.D. in Materials Science & Engineering at MIT and a B.A. in Natural Sciences (Physics) from Trinity College, University of Cambridge.
Peter Swart co-teaches in the Ecosystem Science and Policy program and is Professor and Chair of the Division of Marine Geology and Geophysics at the Rosenstiel School of Marine and Atmospheric Science. Dr. Swart was educated in the United Kingdom attending the University of Sheffield (B.Sc in Natural Environmental Science) and King's College, University of London (Ph.D in Geology). While in London he supplemented his income working on hit films such as 'The Shining' as well as duds such as 'Holocaust 2000' and 'The Mummy' as well as writing articles for 'On Your Bike'. Unable to find gainful employment he started a posdoctoral position at the University of Cambridge working on the stable isotopic composition of extraterrestrial material with Colin Pillinger.
John Van Leer is faculty emeritus in the Ecosystem Science and Policy program and was Professor of Meteorology and Physical Oceanography at the Rosenstiel School of Marine and Atmospheric Science. He received a Sc.D. in Physical Oceanography from the M.I.T/W.H.O.I. joint program in Oceanography and a B.S. from Case Institute of Technology in Mechanical Engineering. He designed and tested re-entry missile guidance systems at M.I.T. Instrumentation Laboratory (now Charles Stark Draper Lab) at the peak of the Cold War. Dr. Van Leer's interests include Arctic Ocean measurements under sea-ice, and continental shelf measurements, especially in upwelling regions, including surface and bottom boundary layers. He developed and used autonomous moored profilers, called Cyclesondes, which have measured repeated profiles for months and reported data in real time by telemetry in diverse environments around the world. He led the effort at RSMAS to design the first oceanographic research vessel capable of sail/solar/electric hybrid operation and stabilized robotic sensor deployments. Dr. Van Leer is a member of the Science and Technology Committee for Miami-Dade County Climate Change Task Force. He has campaigned for carbon dioxide reductions with the Union of Concerned Scientists on Capitol Hill. Dr. Van Leer is also on the Board of the Urban Environment League with interests in mass transportation, renewable energy and green building. He spearheaded construction of a system of safe bicycle paths along the Rickenbacker Causeway requiring an additional lane on all three bridges. Dr. Van Leer is co-advisor to Living the Green Life student organization and advocates for Sustainable Living Practices whenever possible.
Julia Wester is a Lecturer in the College of Arts and Sciences and the Associate Director of the Ecosystem Science and Policy undergraduate program. She graduated from the University of Miami with a Ph.D. in Environmental Science and Policy. She is a co-founder and director at Field School and the Field School Foundation, two Miami-based organizations that focus on getting students involved hands-on in research about the natural world and their place in it. Dr. Wester teaches environmental policy courses.
