Graduate Degree Programs
Policy, Planning, Communication and Society (PPCS)
The Policy, Planning, Communication and Society area of study focuses on people's relationships and interactions with natural and built environments, and examines how we value, communicate, educate, plan, design, manage, and make decisions about such spaces and their respective resources. This area of study also explores the design, creation, maintenance and change of human institutions as well as researching the complexities of social, cultural, and biophysical system interactions. This area incorporates knowledge from the social sciences, humanities, and biophysical sciences.
- PPCS Study Area Leader: TBD
Examples of the tools and concepts that are commonly used in Policy, Planning, Communication and Society Study Area include:
- Advocacy and Conflict Management
- Environmental and Natural Resource Policy
- Human Dimensions of Natural and Built Environments
- Environmental Communication and Participatory Processes
- Environmental and Community Land Planning
- Environmental Health and Justice
- Environmental Systems Management
- Landscape Design
- Environmental Interpretation and Education
- Urban and Rural Food Systems
Participating Faculty in Policy, Planning, Communication and Society (PPCS)
| Name | Research Keywords | |
|---|---|---|
| Aidan Ackerman | acackerm@esf.edu | design of cultural, historic, and ecological landscapes, 3D modeling, rendering, virtual reality, digital fabrication, GIS, BIM, CAD |
| John Auwaerter | jeauwaer@esf.edu | historic preservation planning, landscape history and graphic documentation, design in historic landscapes |
| Margaret Bryant | mbryant@esf.edu | urban planning, climate resilience, neighborhood-scale planning and design, design and science, professional practice |
| Emanuel Carter | ejcarter@esf.edu | urban planning, urban design, rural planning and design |
| Mariela Cavo | mcavo@esf.edu | Watershed management, environmental economics, forest economics, valuation of ecosystem services, payment for ecosystem services, rural development. |
| Jonathan Cohen | jcohen14@esf.edu | adaptive management and structured decision making for wildlife |
| Josh Cousins | jcousins@esf.edu | environmental governance and decision-making, water and energy policy, climate change adaptation planning, political ecology, urban sustainability |
| drcronan@esf.edu | Alternative Futures Analysis, Scenario Planning (Urban and Regional), GIS and Geospatial Analysis, Urban Sustainability, Stormwater Green Infrastructure | |
| Shari Dann | sldann@esf.edu | environmental education, interpretation, citizen science, science education, natural resources stewardship, conservation, human dimensions |
| Stewart Diemont | sdiemont@esf.edu | food systems, security, sovereignty, and justice; agroecology; urban ecosystem design; sustainability analysis |
| Joshua Drew | jadrew@esf.edu | coupled human natural systems, coastal communities, ethnobiology |
| Andrea Feldpausch-Parker | amparker@esf.edu | environmental and science communication, public participation, conflict management, decision-making, social movements |
| Anne Godfrey | acgodfre@esf.edu | photography for environmental design decision making, diversity in the representation of landscape systems, diversity of cultural value systems |
| Paul Hirsch | pahirsch@esf.edu | decision-making, leadership, navigating complex trade-offs, environmental ethics, environmental cognition, public engagement, deliberative democracy |
| Jean Kayira | jckayira@esf.edu | Indigenous knowledge systems, decolonizing methodologies, community-based research and food sovereignty |
| Robin Kimmerer | rkimmer@esf.edu | indigenous peoples, biocultural restoration, ethnobotany |
| Patrice Kohl | pakohl@esf.edu | science and Environmental Communication; Journalism; Science and Technology Studies; Public Perceptions, Attitudes and Beliefs |
| Eun Kyung Lee | eklee02@esf.edu | Racial and socioeconomic health disparities; chronic disease prevention; environmental health disparities & environmental justice; place-based disparities; food systems; causal inference methods; community-level interventions & public policy |
| Christina Limpert | cmlimper@esf.edu | gender, culture, and environment, critical cultural studies, participatory action research, ecocinema studies |
| Valerie Luzadis | vluzadis@esf.edu | social-ecological systems, ecological economics and policy, natural resources values and policy, sustainability foundations, indicators, and values |
| Stacy McNulty | smcnulty@esf.edu | social-ecological systems, land use planning, recreation, natural resource policy, forest management, organizational governance |
| Michael Mikulewicz | mmikulew@esf.edu | Climate justice, Equitable adaptation & resilience, Vulnerability, International development, UNFCCC process, Urban sustainability, Public health, Climate finance, Critical theory (political economy, political ecology, postcolonial, feminist & queer theory), Participatory methods |
| Sharon Moran | smoran@esf.edu | human dimensions of water issues, environmental equity and justice, political ecology, socioecological systems, watershed restoration |
| Lee Newman | lanewman@esf.edu | nature deficit, horticultural therapy, urban land use and gardening, living walls |
| Madeline Nyblade | mlnyblad@esf.edu | Water justice; community-based participatory research; climate and landcover change impacts and adaptation; Indigenous Nation - University collaborations; research ethics; critical history of earth science |
| Tania Ploumi | ktploumi@esf.edu | environmental psychology, socio-ecological systems, ecosystem services, ecological economics, psychological resiliency, inner development goals, ecological grief, climate anxiety, sustainability, and behavior change, participatory methods, mental health benefits from nature. |
| Theresa Selfa | tselfa@esf.edu | environmental Governance, social implications of biotechnology in agriculture, public participation in environmental decision making |
| Scott Shannon | sshannon@esf.edu | sustainable Design & Planning, Green Infrastructure Design & Planning, Urban Design, Climate Resiliency Planning, Environmental Planning |
| Jamie Shinn | jeshinn@esf.edu | Environmental governance and policy, climate change adaptation, water-society relationships, flooding, political ecology, disaster response and recovery |
| Jill Weiss | jiweiss@esf.edu | socio-ecological systems, networks, governance, communication, education, behavior, recreation, strategic planning |
| Ellen White | eowhite@esf.edu | Urban planning, Public policy, Transportation planning & policy, GIS, Spatial analysis, Data science, Interdisciplinarity & decision-making, Landscape history |