Experiences of IGERT Fellows

Shade Shutters left a career in international finance after questioning the logic of his company's philosophy of "grow or die." He came to the School of Life Sciences at Arizona State University where he joined the IGERT program and began interacting with a broad range of social scientists, both at Arizona State University and at other universities. Shade spent part of summer 2005 at Indiana University at a conference on modeling complex adaptive social systems and part of summer 2006 at the University of Bologna, Italy, at a workshop on modeling cooperative behavior. After obtaining his doctorate, Shade would like to do a postdoc at the interface of policy and science, then seek a job that would combine active global sustainability policy work with academic responsibilities.

James Clancy is a new Ph.D. student in public administration, having completed a 30-year career in the private sector. As an IGERT Fellow, James is studying urban ecology with Nancy Grimm and John Briggs. His interests include application of decision science and policy analysis to urban ecology and national science policy. James is currently studying Arizona state water legislation with the intent of conducting policy implementation studies on this topic as part of his dissertation.

Kris Gade came to Arizona State University to study the interactions between human development and ecological services. In her second year, she organized an IGERT workshop focused on the first park established in Phoenix and its changing role in the surrounding neighborhood. She is studying the role of transportation corridors in plant dispersal between developed and natural areas. Kris spent two months in Melbourne, Australia, with the Australian Research Center for Urban Ecology learning about policies, management, and ecology of roadside habitats. She plans to do a policy-related postdoc before seeking an interdisciplinary position in urban ecology.

Cathyrn Meegan came to Arizona State University to study archaeobotany in Jordan. Since joining IGERT, she changed her focus to the Hohokam (a prehistoric group that lived in the Phoenix Basin) and is including a strong ecological component in her research on subsistence stress and risk aversion. She has also pursued IGERT research in France, where she learned about using a historical perspective to study land use, which she will integrate into her dissertation to reflect modern-day relevance.

Carol Atkinson-Palombo. Originally trained as an economist, my Ph.D. will be in geography, with IGERT minors in planning and ecology. My research specialization is using geographic approaches to understand why places develop differently. For my dissertation, I am studying how light-rail transit is used as a tool for urban revitalization, using the system under construction in metropolitan Phoenix as a case study. I am quantifying its effect on the intensity of the built environment, land values, and the distribution of new construction to understand how this smart-growth policy influences urban form. IGERT has enhanced my scholarship by giving me an opportunity to consider cities as systems, the complexity of concepts of sustainable development and sustainability, and the interrelationships of economic, social, and environmental issues. Highlights of my IGERT experience include guest lecturing in sociology and writing a book chapter for undergraduate sociology students on social issues in sustainability, participating in a Young Scholars Dialogue about the UN Millennium Ecosystem Assessment, and being involved in the Phoenix Area Social Survey. However, the most rewarding aspect of IGERT for me is the opportunity to be part of a community of scholars interested in considering creative theoretical and empirical approaches to address complex issues that lie at the intersection of multiple disciplines.

Anne Gustafson. I earned my B.A. in history from Bowdoin College in 2003 and started the Ph.D. program in Arizona State University's Department of History in the fall of 2004. As an IGERT Fellow in Urban Ecology, I will continue to pursue research interests in urban environmental history and especially themes relevant to metropolitan water use and consumption. My chair is Paul Hirt (History) and other dissertation committee members include Stephen Pyne (School of Life Sciences) and Kelli Larson (Global Institute of Sustainability/School of Geographical Sciences). For my dissertation, I intend to examine how Phoenix and Tucson developed complementary and contrasting cultures of water use and management. I am interested in explaining the historical factors that shaped water use, the development of distinctive urban water "cultures" and water conservation policies and practices as they evolved in each city over the course of the 20th century. In support of this project, I am currently studying each city's physical geography and hydrology (especially climate, rainfall, soil and slope, and surface and groundwater supplies), water-consumption statistics (municipal, industrial, and agricultural), water-policy history (federal , state, and urban), the development of irrigation and landscaping regulations, water education and conservation programs, population growth, land-use transitions (e.g., agriculture to urban) and the evolving political economy of each city. As I progress in my research, I will document how distinctive water uses, water policies, and water cultures have evolved in these two cities over time, and the historical reasons for these differences. A comparative analysis of municipal water use and management in two similar but distinct urban environments will illuminate some of the inherent complexities of managing population growth and water use in arid regions, and most importantly, guide future policymaking to ensure a sustainable future.

Nathan A. Toke. Growing up in Vermont, I spent a lot of time outside exploring the small streams and other nifty landforms hidden within the lush forests of the Green Mountains. That time outside was fascinating for me and sparked my interests in the natural sciences. I attended the University of Vermont in Burlington and decided right away that I wanted to be a geologist! The University of Vermont provided me with many wonderful research experiences where I learned about urban watershed processes, paleoclimatology, and relationships between climate and tectonics. However, with what seemed like three months of subzero temperatures in my final semester at the University of Vermont, I decided to pack my bags and moved to the warmth of Tempe, Arizona, for my M.S. in Geological Sciences. At Arizona State University, I have worked with J Ramon Arrowsmith on a variety of research projects relating to gemorphology (the study of landforms) in tectonically active areas such as the San Andreas Fault. After a wonderful time studying earthquakes I decided to focus my Ph.D. on my other primary research interest -- the interaction of human activities with geomorphic systems. Lucky for me, Phoenix is an ideal place to do this because of its rapid urban growth and the existence of the Central Arizona-Phoenix Long-Term Ecological Research project, Global Institute of Sustainability, and IGERT programs, which are dedicated to research in urban ecosystems and global sustainability!