Teaching emphasis is on the application of ecological knowledge to species conservation and ecosystem management. Research interests center on the influence of human activities on the condition of rivers and their watersheds, including the effects of land use on stream health, assessment of variation in flow regime, and estimation of nutrient loads and budgets. Additional, collaborative activities are directed at the translation of aquatic science into useful products for management, conservation, and restoration of running waters. 

Research interests focus on land use change and its effects on ecosystems and on human vulnerability. This work connects a computer-based simulation (e.g., agent-based modeling) of land-use-change processes with GIS and remote sensing based data on historical patterns of landscape change and social surveys. We are working to couple these models with GIS-based data and other models to evaluate consequences of change. We are also working to understand the ways in which land-use decisions are made. Collaborative research investigate the effects of spatial and social neighborhoods on the physical and social risks on human health.

Jonathan Bulkley is the Peter M. Wege Professor of Sustainable Systems, and he holds a joint appointment with the Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering in the College of Engineering.

Teaching efforts are concentrated in water policy, risk-benefit analysis, and case studies in natural resources. Research concentrates on the development and application of both quantitative and qualitative means to help policy makers and decision makers attain improved planning, evaluation, and management of natural resources, especially water resources. Recently, research interests have expanded to include curriculum development for effective teaching of sustainale systems concepts to a wide range of disciplines.

Bilal Butt is an assistant professor at the School of Natural Resources and Environment. Bilal is a people-environment geographer with regional specialization in sub-Saharan Africa and technical expertise in geospatial technologies (GPS, GIS & Remote Sensing), ecological monitoring and social-scientific appraisals. His current research interests revolve around four key areas of investigation, which seek to understand: (1) the spatiality of livelihood strategies (resource access and utilization) among pastoral peoples under regimes of increasing climatic variability and uncertainty; (2) the nature of the relationships between wildlife and livestock in dry land pastoral ecosystems of East Africa; (3) violent and non-violent conflicts between people and institutions over natural resources, and; (4) how mobile information technologies such as cell phones influence natural resource management strategies among pastoral peoples in dry lands.

Bill studies the linkages among carbon, nutrient, and water cycling and energy flows and transformations in terrestrial ecosystems and human-environment systems.  He is interested in using our current understanding of ecosystems to explore creative, new understanding of the two-way interactions in human-environment systems.  He works at scales from field plots to landscapes, collaborating with other researchers and students to integrate understanding and build models for synthesis.  The goal of this research is to contribute to the developing field of sustainability science using an approach that grows out of ecosystem science. 

My teaching and advising interests address energy use and greenhouse gas emissions from transportation as well as broader aspects of sustainable mobility and energy use. A main interest is the "cars vs. climate" problem, which I address in a holistic, interdisciplinary manner that examines the technolgical, economic, behavioral and policy factors that shape oil demand and GHG emissions from motor vehicles and fuels that power them. Such understanding will be crucial as society seeks globally viable solutions for sustainable transportation. 

My teaching interests center on fish ecology, aquaculture, and conservation biology.  My current teaching portfolio includes a senior course on fish ecology and an introductory course on environmental sciences.  I have major research interests in the ecology of natural fishes, particularly pike and muskellunge.  In addition, I research aquaculture, its role in feeding the world, especially poorer people in developing countries, as well as its impact on the environment.  My administrative appointment is Director of Michigan Sea Grant, a program funded by NOAA, the State of Michigan, University of Michigan, and Michigan State University to focus research, education, and outreach on ecological, economical, and social issues related to the coastal environment of the state. 

Tom Gladwin is the Max McGraw Professor of Sustainable Enterprise, and he holds a joint appointment with the Ross School of Business.

Professor Gladwin's research focuses on the intersection of environmentalism and globalism in relation to the behavior of industrial corporations. He has published extensively-more than 125 publications-on the theme that the challenges of environmental sustainability and economic globalization are probably the two most profound forces shaping human destiny. This theme is a vital and challenging one, and one to which Gladwin speaks provocatively. At the core of Gladwin's research is the idea that the reintegration of humanity with nature is necessary if organizational science is to support ecologically and socially sustainable development.

Professor Hardin teaches courses in both SNRE and the Department of Anthropology. Her areas of interest and scientific study include human/wildlife interactions, and social and environmental change related to tourism, logging, conservation and hunting in the forests of Central Africa. Recent projects focus on the increasingly intertwined practices of health and environmental management in southern and eastern Africa. She also studies historical and ethnographic aspects of concessionary politics involving corporations, NGOs, and local communities, particularly in Africa.

My specialty, ecological design, is premised in the integration of art and science. It aims to create a built environment that is ecologically functional, contextually meaningful and personally engaging. I am a licensed professional landscape architect and a research ecologist. Teaching includes ecological planting design studio, civil engineering for designers, sustainable site design and urban agriculture.  Research focuses on how to design the built environment to promote well-being and health of humans and the natural systems in which we are embedded.

 As an ecological designer I place aesthetics—the visceral and psychological appeal of designed spaces, on equal footing with ecosystem considerations. An engaging experience with place is critical for developing a sense of stewardship because people will fight to save what they care about. In professional practice, researching and teaching, I bring the integration of art and science to bear on designs for the built environment, particularly in urban settings. 

My work focuses upon the issues of inclusive design and social justice and how they impact both design processes and the physical places we help to create.  Through my teaching, research and writing, I work to clarify how issues pertaining to landscape construction, technology, sustainability, process and form can and should be impacted by a deeper understanding of how the decisions we make as design and planning professionals impact the ability of people to take part in the life of vibrant, healthy landscapes, be they urban, rural, or wild.

Dr. Keoleian co-founded and serves as co-director of the Center for Sustainable Systems. His research focuses on the development and application of life cycle models and metrics to enhance the sustainability of products and technology. He has pioneered new methods in life cycle design, life cycle optimization of product replacement, life cycle cost analysis and life cycle based sustainability assessments ranging from energy analysis and carbon footprints to social indicators.

Teaching and research in evolutionary and behavioral ecology; resource control and reproductive success in vertebrates, including humans; integration of evolutionary theory and resource management; resources and reproductive variance; reproductive and resource tradeoffs for modern women.

Dr. Miller  joined the SNRE faculty in 2010.  Her research interests center around the life cycle impacts of energy.  Recent work focuses on the non-carbon aspects of biofuels, such as disruptions to the nitrogen cycle and changes in land use.  Interests also include advancing Life Cycle Assessment methods to analyze dynamic and emerging systems, such as the development of electric grids in developing countries.  She teaches Environmental Systems Analysis at the graduate level and Ecological Issues at the undergraduate level.

Teaching and research interests are focused on environmental justice, public opinion and the environment, and influences on environmental policy making. A founder of the Environmental Justice Program at the University of Michigan. Current research includes understanding the causes of disproportionate environmental burdens in people of color communities and the role that environmental factors play in accounting for racial and socioeconomic disparities in health.

Joan Iverson Nassauer is Professor of Landscape Architecture in the School of Natural Resources and Environment. She was named Fellow by the American Society of Landscape Architects (1992), Fellow of the Council of Educators in Landscape Architecture (2007), and Distinguished Practitioner of Landscape Ecology in the US (1998) and Distinguished Scholar (2007) by the International Association of Landscape Ecology. She focuses on the cultural sustainability of ecological design in human-dominated landscapes.  Her research offers knowledge and strategies for basing ecological design on cultural insight, strong science, and creative engagement with policy. Her teaching and recent projects apply this approach to brownfields, vacant property, exurban sprawl, and agricultural landscapes.

Ted Parson holds a joint appointment with the School of Law. His interests include environmental policy, particularly its international dimensions; the political economy of regulation; the role of science and technology in public issues; and the analysis of negotiations, collective decisions, and conflicts. His recent research has included projects on scientific and technical assessment in international policy-making; the policy implications of carbon-cycle management; the design of international market-based policy instruments; and development of policy exercises, simulation-gaming, and related novel methods for assessment and policy analysis.

Research focus

Issues of social and ecological sustainability with a primary focus on the drivers of overconsumption and the conditions for restrained resource use.

My research interests include green jobs and other environmental labor market dynamics; urban agriculture and food security; social movement analysis; environmental justice; leisure and natural resource use; poverty; and race, gender and ethnic relations. My current research includes an assessment of the urban food deserts in Midwestern cities as well as analyses of the green jobs sector.  Other recent research activities have included four national studies of racial and gender diversity in the environmental field.  I have just completed a book on urban environmental history; I am in the process of completing companion books on (a) conservation history and (b) environmental justice history.  

Teaching involves  aquatic  ecology. Research interests include ecology of rivers and lakes, watershed management, community dynamics and population regulation, trout stream food webs, behavioral adaptations of aquatic insects, fish invertebrate interactions, and fisheries management in North America and SE Asia.

Ming Xu joined SNRE in Fall 2010. He has a courtesy appointment with the Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering at the University of Michigan. He is also a core faculty member in the Center for Sustainable Systems. He is interested in developing and applying interdisciplinary system-based analytical tools to understand complex sustainability issues.

Don Zak holds a joint appointment in the department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, College of Literature, Science, and Arts. His research investigates links between the composition and function of soil microbial communities and the influence of microbial activity on ecosystem-level processes. This work draws on ecology, microbiology, and biochemistry and is focused at several scales of understanding, ranging from the molecular to the ecosystem scale. Current research centers on understanding the link between plant and microbial activity within terrestrial ecosystems, and the influence climate change may have on these dynamics. Teaching includes courses in soil ecology and ecosystem ecology.