PhD Research
Students in the Bren School PhD in Environmental Science and Management program develop broad and specialized knowledge, analytical powers, technical skills, and creative thinking to become leaders in environmental science and management.
The Bren School's interdisciplinary foundation also bolsters the PhD program, reflecting the fact that environmental problem solving frequently requires collaboration and innovation across multiple disciplines. Whether focused on natural sciences, economics, policy, digital data and modeling, communication, or some combination, the work of Bren PhD students is a balance of research and application. With the knowledge and skills acquired here, Bren PhD graduates pursue careers in academia, research, public agencies, non-profit organizations, and business.
Current PhD Research
Updated in 2020
Gabriela Alberola
Impacts of corruption on environmental management in Latin America; watershed management and policy; environmental politics in Latin America
Linus Blomqvist
Land use, conservation, agricultural economics
Kaili Brande
Landscape ecology, plant ecology, population dynamics, climate change
Will Burke
Hydrology, water resources, climate change impacts, spatial-temporal variability of fire dynamics
Sam Collie
Agriculture and natural-resource economics; wilderness management
Jessica Couture
Aquaculture/mariculture, fisheries interactions, feeds, data science
Sean Denny
Wildlife ecology and conservation; human-wildlife conflict; illegal wildlife trade; livelihoods; sustainable use
Violaine Desgens-Martin
Marine biology; aquatic toxicology; fate, transport, and effects of pharmaceuticals and personal care products in marine environments
Nakoa Farrant
Food security in island communities, integrated agriculture and aquaculture systems, and bioculture resource management
Patricia Faundez
Marine conservation and planning
Marina Feraud
Stormwater pollution, green infrastructure, heavy metals, nitrogen cycling
Elliott Finn
Investigating interactions between legislators and grassroots ecosystem management organizations through environmental politics, public policy and collaborative management
Qian Gao
Application of magnetic material and nanotechnology for water quality improvement
Albert Garcia
Environmental and natural resource economics; land-use; wilderness conservation
Jacob Gellman
Environmental and natural resource economics, urban economics
Louis Graup
Climate change, ecohydrology, environmental modeling, wildfire impacts, water resources
Niklas Griessbaum
Environmental informatics
Nathan Grimes
Ocean conservation, sustainable fisheries
Christopher Heckman
Climate change, eco-hydrology, water resource management, computer modeling
Annette Hilton
Groundwater quantity, groundwater quality, water resource management
Patrick Hunnicutt
Political science and sustainable hydroelectric resources development models
Liviu Iancu
Biogeochemistry, soil microbial ecology, nutrient cycles, climate change, climate change policy
Timnit Kefela
Micropollution, microfiber pollution, plastic pollution, nanomaterial impacts on the environment
Seonghoon Kim
Corporate environmental strategy, business sustainability, and organizations and the natural environment
Julia Lawson
Data-poor fisheries; multilateral environmental agreements
Brian Lee
Spatial ecology, remote sensing, land-use change, deforestation
Alice Lépissier
Tropical deforestation, illicit financial flows, climate change policies, market-driven environmental governance, quantitative methods
Cori Lopazanski
Marine ecology, fisheries, resource management
Jason Maier
Industrial ecology, life-cycle assessment, environmental economics, consumer behavior
Flavio Malagutti
Environmental economics, development economics, and field experiments
Casey O'Hara
Marine biodiversity conservation, equity and cooperation in marine resource management
Nicol Parker
Nanomaterials, pesticides, fate and transport, risk, contaminant release
Yang Qui
Development of Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) methodology, application of LCA in material recycling and bio-energy systems
Phoebe Racine
Aquaculture sustainability, mariculture, marine spatial planning
Maria Ignacia Rivera
Cooperation in common-pool resources; small-scale fisheries management
Jade Sainz
Marine aquaculture, marine spatial planning, climate variability, climate change, sustainable seafood
Karnamadakala Rahul Sharma
Organization studies and public management; knowledge networks and capacity building; local governance; energy; waste management; sustainable development in developing countries
Liliana Sierra Castillo
Small-scale fisheries, fisheries stock assessment, fish ecology, ecological data analysis
Sandy Sum
Agriculture systems, natural resources, applied econometrics
Sebastian Tapia
Small-scale fisheries management; adaptive capacity; resilience
Vincent Thivierge
Environmental and natural resource economics, energy economics and applied econometrics
Rachel Torres
Environmental modeling, hydrology, climate change
Juan Carlos Villaseñor-Derbez
Marine ecology, marine reserve science, ecological modeling, and marine data science
Stephen Whitaker
Marine ecology, restoration ecology, and climate change
Molly Wilson
Small-scale fisheries, coral reef ecology, social-ecological systems
Erin Winslow
Restoration ecology and understanding drivers of coral reef resilience in French Polynesia
Haozhe Yang
Air pollution, climate change and life cycle assessment
José Zenteno
Coastal aquaculture, marine ecology, vulnerability, marine spatial planning
Jiajia Zheng
Industrial ecology, life cycle assessment, climate change mitigation
