Graduate Students

Isabelle Staph

  • Isabelle graduated with an M.S. in Natural Resources Social Science. She was also an Ecological Sciences and Engineering (ESE) student and a member of the Coastal Great Lakes Social Science Lab. Isabelle’s thesis research examined community perceptions of remediation, restoration, and revitalization in the Great Lakes Areas of Concern (AOCs). This research was in collaboration with Illinois-Indiana Sea Grant, and highlighted community members’ perceptions of AOC clean-up and what motivators and barriers are in place for community involvement. Isabelle is currently pursuing a Ph.D. at the University of Tennessee, where she is studying human-wildlife interactions.

Dr. Becca Nixon

  • Dr. Nixon graduated with a PhD in Natural Resource Social Science. After graduation, she stayed at Purdue and worked as a post-doctoral research associate with the Illinois-Indiana Sea Grant and Human Dimensions Lab (co-mentors: Drs. Stuart Clarlton and Zhao Ma). Dr. Nixon’s research focused on environmental justice in coastal communities and adaptation to social-ecological change. Specifically, Dr. Nixon examined the links between environmental restoration and community revitalization in areas along the Great Lakes where significant remediation and restoration projects have been employed to repair highly degraded shorelines. Dr. Nixon is currently an assistant professor in the Department of Geography & Spatial Sciences at the University of Delaware.

Dr. Brooke McWherter

  • Dr. McWherter graduated in 2022 with a PhD in Natural Resource Social Science. Her dissertation research explored how individuals take up different types of water conservation contracts in lowland Bolivia and the different socioeconomic and social equity factors that may influence those decisions. This research was part of a larger NSF-funded project that examined the environmental and social impacts of conditionality in a payments for ecosystem services program in Bolivia. In addition, Dr. McWherter also conducted research on factors shaping livestock producers’ perceptions of black vultures and their management in Indiana and Kentucky. Dr. McWherter is currently a research assistant professor at the University of Nebraska–Lincoln.

Dr. Taylor Stinchcomb

  • Dr. Stinchcomb graduated in 2022 with a PhD in Natural Resource Social Science. She was also part of the Interdisciplinary Ecological Sciences & Engineering (ESE) Graduate Program. Dr. Stinchcomb’s dissertation research investigated people’s cognitions, emotions, and satisfaction towards white-tailed deer populations and their management across Indiana using interviews, focus groups, surveys, and geospatial analysis. Her research was part of Purdue’s Integrated Deer Management Project, a collaboration with the Indiana Department of Natural Resources. Currently, Dr. Stinchcomb is a Science Application Specialist at the Wildlife Conservation Society (Alaska).

Megan Suri (Rathjen)

  • Meagan was a PhD student in the Human Dimensions Lab (2018-2021). She was also part of the Interdisciplinary Ecological Sciences & Engineering (ESE) Graduate Program. Meagan was part of a team that examined the environmental and social equity impacts of conditionality in a Payment for Ecosystem Services program in Bolivia. Meagan is currently working for Terraformation, a global reforestation company.

Kimberly Ordonez

  • Kimberly graduated in 2020 with an MS in Natural Resource Social Science. Kimberly’s research examined the psychological distance of invasive plants with a focus on family forest owners in the Central Hardwood Region of the U.S. Kimberly is currently pursuing a PhD degree in the School of Environment and Natural Resources at The Ohio State University.

Jake Hawes

  • Jake graduated in 2019 with a MS in Natural Resource Social Science and he was also part of the Interdisciplinary Ecological Sciences & Engineering (ESE) Graduate Program. Jake’s research modeled the social, economic, and environmental impacts of a new water rights agreement in the Eastern Snake River Plain in Idaho. He constructed an agent-based model to identify resilience of water management institutions in the face of water use limits and climate change. Jake is currently pursuing a PhD degree in the School for Environment and Sustainability at the University of Michigan.

Dr. Landon Young

  • Dr. Young graduated in 2019 with a PhD in Civil Engineering and was also part of the Interdisciplinary Ecological Sciences & Engineering (ESE) Graduate Program. Dr. Young was co-advised by Dr. David Yu and Dr. Zhao Ma. His research investigated the impact of community-level innovation processes on project outputs and outcomes, including transformative and adaptive capacity, in Malawi specifically and Sub-Saharan Africa broadly. Dr. Young is currently the Executive Director of Entrepreneurial Programming at Elevate Ventures (Indiana, USA).

Dr. Mysha Clarke

  • Dr. Mysha Clarke graduated in 2018 with a Ph.D. in Natural Resource Social Science. Her dissertation research focused on the human dimensions of invasive plants management on family forestlands in Indiana. Dr. Clarke is currently an assistant professor in the School of Forest Resources and Conservation at the University of Florida.

Jenn Domenech

  • Jenn graduated in 2018 with a MS in Natural Resource Social Science. She joined the Human Dimensions Lab after completing her service as an Environmental Conservation Volunteer in Peace Corps Paraguay in 2016. Jenn’s research assessed factors shaping resident’s adoption of water quality improvement practices across different types of landownership in northwestern Indiana. Jenn is currently a Research Analyst at Southwick Associates (Pittsburgh, PA).

Keri Iles

  • Keri graduated in 2017 with a M.S. in Natural Resource Social Science. Her thesis research was focused on small-scale farming in Indiana, particularly the roles of identity and community and how they interact with sustainability of the farming operations. Keri is currently an Environmental Specialist at Hilcorp (Anchorage, AK).

Dr. Morey Burnham

  • Dr. Burnham graduated in 2014 with a Ph.D. in the Human Dimensions of Ecosystem Science and Managementat Utah State University where Dr. Zhao Ma was a faculty member prior to joining Purdue. Dr. Burnham’s dissertation research focused on climate change perception and adaptation among smallholder farmers in China. Dr. Burnham is currently an assistant professor in the Department of Sociology, Social Work, and Criminology at Idaho State University.

Jamie Laatsch

  • Jamie graduated in 2014 with a M.S. in the Human Dimensions of Ecosystem Science and Managementat Utah State University where Dr. Zhao Ma was a faculty member prior to joining Purdue. Jamie’s thesis research focused on forest management and policy strategies adopted by the USDA Forest Service in response to climate change in the Intermountain West. Jamie is currently the Conservation and Outreach Coordinator for the Henry’s Fork Foundation in Idaho.

Seth Cook

  • Seth graduated in 2012 with a M.S. in the Human Dimensions of Ecosystem Science and Managementat Utah State University where Dr. Zhao Ma was a faculty member prior to joining Purdue. Seth’s thesis research focused on the human dimensions of carbon sequestration on private rangelands in Utah. Seth is currently the Director of Land Conservation for the Pee Dee Land Trust in South Carolina.

Staff Research Associates

Chelsea Silva, Research Coordinator

  • Chelsea was the Research Coordinator for the Human Dimensions Lab (2019-2022). In her role, she helped plan and manage research project processes and milestones and developed relationships with collaborators and stakeholders. She also managed daily operations and communications for the lab, including managing undergraduate research assistants and ongoing data collection. Chelsea’s current position is the Healthy Rivers Program Associate with River Network.

Colleen Hartel

  • Colleen was a full-time Research Assistant in the Human Dimensions from March to December 2014. She was part of the research team at Purdue working with the Indiana Division of Fish and Wildlife on updating and revising Indiana’s State Wildlife Action Plan. She was the Human Dimensions Specialist at the Indiana Department of Natural Resources.

Post-doctoral Research Associates

Dr. Vaishnavi (Vaish) Tripuranani

Dr. Anna Erwin

  • Dr. Erwin was a postdoctoral researcher in the Human Dimensions Lab working with the Arequipa Nexus Institute for Sustainable Food, Energy, Water and the Environment, a collaboration between Purdue University and the Universidad Nacional de San Agustin de Arequipa (UNSA). Dr. Erwin’s current position is an assistant professor in the School of Earth, Environmental, and Marine Sciences at the University of Texas- Rio Grande Valley.

Dr. Ruzandra (Rux) Popovici

  • Dr. Popovici was a postdoctoral researcher in the Human Dimensions Lab (2018-2019) working with the Arequipa Nexus Institute for Sustainable Food, Energy, Water and the Environment, a collaboration between Purdue University and the Universidad Nacional de San Agustin de Arequipa (UNSA). Her current position is the Advisor POR for Global Affairs Canada (Ottawa, Canada).

Dr. Becky Barak

  • Dr. Barak was a 2017 David H. Smith Conservation Research Fellow, working with Drs. Zhao Ma (Purdue University), Lars Brudvig (Michigan State University) and Kayri Havens (Chicago Botanic Garden) from 2017 to 2019. Dr. Barak studied biodiversity and restoration in the tallgrass prairie. Her post-doctoral research project focused on seed mix design for restoration from a social and ecological perspective. She is currently a Conservation Scientist at the Chicago Botanic Garden. Dr. Becky Barak’s Lab Page.

Dr. Diana Steele-Jones

  • Dr. Steele-Jones was a post-doctoral research associate in the Human Dimensions Lab from 2016 to 2017. She obtained her Ph.D. in Cultural Anthropology. While in the Human Dimensions Lab, Dr. Steele-Jones was part of two research teams, one focused on payments for ecosystem services programs in the Global South and the other focused on perceptions and practices of sustainability within the USDA Forest Service. Dr. Steele-Jones is currently an Academic Editor at AJE Editing (part of Springer Nature) in California.

Visiting Scholars and Students

Dr. Zelin Wang, Visiting PhD Student

  • Zelin Wang was a visiting scholar in the Human Dimensions Lab (09/2017-02/2018; 08/2018-09/2019). While in the Human Dimensions Lab, her research focused on the environmental justice aspect of large-scale water transfer projects in China, particularly the mid-route project for the South-to-North Water Transfer Project in southern Shaanxi. Dr. Wang is currently an assistant professor at the East China JiaoTong University.

Isabella Cerchiaro Sanchez, Visiting Undergraduate Student

  • Isabella Cerchiaro Sanchez graduated in 2022 from Universidad Nacional de Colombia with a degree in Mining and Metallurgical Engineering. She studied at Purdue University as a visiting undergraduate research student through the 2021 Undergraduate Research Experience Purdue-Columbia (UREP-C) program. Isabella’s interests as a student are to learn about the main factors that affect sustainability in small communities that grow around artisanal mining and to know how to approach small communities to learn about the social reality that is lived there, in order to improve the quality of life of the people who are part of them in the future. In the future, she hoped to continue her studies focusing on sustainable development and social work with communities.

Daniela Alvarado Rincon, Undergraduate Exchange Student

  • Daniela was an exchange undergraduate student from the National University of Colombia. She visited the Human Dimensions Lab from June to December 2015. Her research focused on the framing and policy discourse related to the use and management of “wasteland”  (Baldíos) in Colombia.

Dr. Dingming An, Visiting Scholar

  • Dr. Dingming An was a visiting scholar in the Human Dimensions Lab (December 2014-December 2015). His research focused on issues related to environmental migration in the Sanjiangyuan region of China. He is currently an associate professor in the School of Finance and Economics at Qinghai University in China.

Undergraduate Research Assistants

Emerson Lemberis

  • Emerson graduated in 2024 with a Bachelor’s in Natural Resources and Environmental Science. Emerson served as an undergraduate research assistant in the Human Dimensions Lab from 2023 to 2024, where her research focused on understanding how cities are preparing for natural disasters.

Dominic Liongson

Emilie Washer

  • Emilie graduated in 2022 with a B.S. in Aquatic Sciences with an emphasis in Marine & Freshwater Biology, and a minor in Environmental Politics & Policy. Emilie assisted with several research projects in the lab, including one focused on coupled human-natural systems, and another on improved seed technology. Upon graduation, Emilie continued to pursue a career in environmental law.

Angela Guo

  • Angela graduated in 2021 with a B.S. in Natural Resources and Environmental Science with a concentration in Environmental Policy and a minor in English. Angela was interested in studying human impacts on the natural environment and the implications for climate change. Angela assisted with several research projects in the Human Dimensions lab to learn more about data collection methods along with the social and collaborative aspects of the research process. Upon graduation, Angela planned to further her education by attending a graduate program in Environmental Policy.

Mya Smith

  • Mya graduated in 2021 with a B.S. in Natural Resources and Environmental Science with an emphasis in Land Resources, and a minor in Spanish for the Professions. Mya was interested in ecological restoration and aimed to use her time as a research assistant in the Human Dimensions lab to gain a more comprehensive knowledge about how and why groups and individuals make environmental decisions, and the impacts of those decisions on the environment. She was also interested in how culture influences environmental choices. Upon graduation, Mya hopes to find a position that implements and analyzes environmental sustainability, natural resource, management, and/or mitigation, ideally one that combines time in the office with time spent in the field.

Marly Beck

  • Marly Beck graduated with her B.S. in Sustainable Food and Farming Systems as well as Global Studies. Mary worked in the lab during 2018 on the Arequipa Nexus Institute Coexistence team. She is interested in the dynamics of natural resources within food production and ensuring food security. After graduation, she intended to pursue a Master’s in International Development with a concentration on Food and Agriculture.

Kasha Halbleib

  • Kasha Halbleib graduated with her B.S. in Natural Resources and Environmental Science with a concentration in policy in 2019. She wsa involved in environmental organizations around campus as well as intramural sports. Kasha worked on the Improved Seed Technology research for the lab and planned to attend law school after graduation to become an environmental justice or energy lawyer.

Iris McFarlin

  • Iris graduated from Iowa State University in May 2017 with a Bachelor of Science in Animal Ecology. She has worked in several different areas related to natural resources, from wildlife rehabilitation to gathering data at wind farms for an environmental consulting firm. She is especially interested in human dimensions of ecology and hopes to pursue her Master’s degree in that field.

Austin Scheetz

  • Austin graduated in 2018 with a B.S. in Natural Resource & Environmental Science. He was involved in the Purdue Student Government (PSG), and served as the PSG Executive Director of Sustainability. Austin’s general interest is in using quantitative methods to prescribe environmental policies, and his particular area of interest is sustainable development, especially as it concerns deforestation and poaching. Austin is currently pursuing a Master’s degree from the Yale School of Forestry and Environmental Studies.

Priyanka Shankar

  • Priyanka graduated in 2018 with degree in Sustainable Biomaterials Process and Product Designing and Industrial Engineering Technology.

Morgan Grey

  • Morgan graduated in 2018 with a B.S. in Wildlife Biology. She currently works in the Animal Disease Diagnostic Laboratory at Purdue.