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Using multiple social science tools and approaches, department faculty study topics from green energy transitions to food insecurity to biodiversity and climate change. Current research questions include:
- How do fishers in Indonesia and the Northeast US adapt to environmental change and in what ways can policies support sustainable coastal livelihoods? (Dr. Victoria Ramenzoni)
- How can we label new kinds of cell-based meat to maximize public understanding? (Dr. Bill Hallman)
- How can we best deliver programs on campus and in schools that reduce food insecurity for students ? (Dr. Cara Cuite)
- Why do farmers participate in local farmers markets and do they use less chemicals to grow their food when they do? (Dr. Ethan Schoolman)
- How have community payment for forest ecosystems programs evolved in Vietnam and how are they working to protect forests and livelihoods? (Dr. Pamela McElwee)
- What legal tools do we have to protect the high seas – the ocean that is 200 miles offshore of any nation and outside national jurisdiction? (Dr. Cymie Payne)
- How did Super Storm Sandy impact how we think about the risks to life and property on the New Jersey shore and how did people and governments responded post-storm? (Dr. Karen O’Neill)
- How do water prices and affordability vary across states ? (Dr. Dan Van Abs)
- What are the public’s preferences for energy technologies that reduce greenhouse gas emissions and how can this inform acceptable energy policies? (Dr. Rachael Shwom)
Our work has been funded by grants from programs including Sea Grant/NOAA, U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, N.J. Department of Environmental Protection, U.S. Department of Energy, the National Science Foundation, the National Cancer Institute, the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation, the U.S. Department of Agriculture, National Institutes of Health, and the U.S. Department of Labor.
Our research interests are vast across forests, oceans, energy, climate and agriculture while our research sites include the local (New Brunswick, NJ; the Raritan and Rahway, NJ river watersheds; the New Jersey coastlines, New York City) to the global (high seas, Vietnam, Indonesia, Thailand, Canada, and Cuba).