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Samuel Markolf

Samuel Markolf

SETS Postdoctoral Fellow, Emeritus, Urban Resilience to Extremes Sustainability Research Network, Global Institute of Sustainability and Innovation

smarkolf@asu.edu

Global Institute of Sustainability and Innovation
Arizona State University
PO Box 875402
Tempe, AZ 85287-5402

Titles

  • SETS Postdoctoral Fellow, Emeritus, Urban Resilience to Extremes Sustainability Research Network, Global Institute of Sustainability and Innovation

Biography

Sam Markolf received his BS in chemical engineering from the University of Texas at Austin and his PhD in civil & environmental engineering and engineering & public policy from Carnegie Mellon University. The topic of his dissertation was “Climate Change Decision-Making at the Metropolitan Level: Current Estimates and Future Drivers of Greenhouse Gas Emissions in U.S. Metropolitan Areas.” His general interests include sustainable planning and decision making at the urban level, climate change adaptation and mitigation, and urban systems engineering.

Sam is now a fellow within the UREx SRN and Arizona State University’s Global Institute of Sustainability and Innovation and his research primarily focuses on the integration of Social-Ecological-Technical Systems (SETS) in urban areas. In particular, he is investigating how SETS solutions can be implemented to enhance the long-term sustainability of urban environments and their resilience to extreme events caused by climate change. Sam is also exploring the temporal dynamics of urban infrastructure systems in response to historical extreme events, and working with colleagues to develop novel methods for spatially visualizing and analyzing the impacts of climate change.

When not working on ways to enhance the sustainability and resiliency of our cities, Sam is most likely travelling, hiking, biking, playing and watching sports (especially basketball and soccer), or enjoying the company of his friends and family.

Education

  • PhD, Civil and Environmental Engineering, Carnegie Mellon University, 2015
  • BS, Civil Engineering, The University of Texas-Austin, 2011

Journal Articles

2023

Chester, M. V., T. R. Miller, T. A. Munoz-Erickson, A. Helmrich, D. M. Iwaniec, T. McPhearson, E. M. Cook, N. B. Grimm and S. A. Markolf. 2023. Sensemaking for entangled urban social, ecological, and technological systems in the Anthropocene. npj Urban Sustainability 3:Art. 39. DOI: 10.1038/s42949-023-00120-1. (link )

2022

Batur, I., S. A. Markolf, M. V. Chester, A. Middel, D. M. Hondula and J. K. Vanos. 2022. Street-level heat and air pollution exposure informed by mobile sensing. Transportation Research Part D: Transport and Environment 113(Dec):10353. DOI: 10.1016/j.trd.2022.103535. (link )

Kim, Y., T. M. Carvalhaes, A. Helmrich, S. A. Markolf, R. Hoff, M. V. Chester, R. Li and N. Ahmad. 2022. Leveraging SETS resilience capabilities for safe-to-fail infrastructure under climate change. Current Opinion in Environmental Sustainability 54(Feb):101153. DOI: 10.1016/j.cosust.2022.101153. (link )

Markolf, S. A., A. Helmrich, Y. Kim, R. Hoff and M. V. Chester. 2022. Balancing efficiency and resilience objectives in pursuit of sustainable infrastructure transformations. Current Opinion in Environmental Sustainability 56:101181. DOI: 10.1016/j.cosust.2022.101181. (link )

McPhearson, P. T., E. M. Cook, M. Berbés-Blázquez, C. Cheng, N. B. Grimm, E. Andersson, O. Barbosa, D. G. Chandler, H. Chang, M. V. Chester, D. L. Childers, S. R. Elser, N. Frantzeskaki, Z. J. Grabowski, P. M. Groffman, R. L. Hale, D. M. Iwaniec, N. Kabisch, C. Kennedy, S. A. Markolf, M. Matsler, L. McPhillips, T. R. Miller, T. A. Munoz-Erickson, E. J. Rosi and T. G. Troxler. 2022. A social-ecological-technological systems framework for urban ecosystem services. One Earth 5(5):505-518. DOI: 10.1016/j.oneear.2022.04.007. (link )

2021

Chang, H., D. J. Yu, S. A. Markolf, C. Hong, S. Eom, W. Song and D. Bae. 2021. Understanding Urban Flood Resilience in the Anthropocene: A Social-Ecological-Technological Systems (SETS) Learning Framework. Annals of the American Association of Geographers 111(3):. DOI: 10.1080/24694452.2020.1850230. (link )

Chester, M. V., S. Underwood, B. R. Allenby, M. Garcia, C. Samaras, S. A. Markolf, K. Sanders, B. Preston and T. R. Miller. 2021. Infrastructure resilience to navigate increasingly uncertain and complex conditions in the Anthropocene. npj Urban Sustainability 1(4):. DOI: 10.1038/s42949-021-00016-y. (link )

Gilrein, E. J., T. M. Carvalhaes, S. A. Markolf, M. V. Chester, B. R. Allenby and M. Garcia. 2021. Concepts and practices for transforming infrastructure from rigid to adaptable. Sustainable and Resilient Infrastructure 6(3-4):213-234. DOI: 10.1080/23789689.2019.1599608. (link )

Helmrich, A., S. A. Markolf, R. Li, T. M. Carvalhaes, Y. Kim, E. Bondank, M. Natarajan, N. Ahmad and M. V. Chester. 2021. Centralization and decentralization for resilient infrastructure and complexity. Environmental Research: Infrastructure and Sustainability DOI: 10.1088/2634-4505/ac0a4f. (link )

Markolf, S. A., M. V. Chester and B. R. Allenby. 2021. Opportunities and Challenges for Artificial Intelligence Applications in Infrastructure Management During the Anthropocene. Frontiers in Water 2. DOI: 10.3389/frwa.2020.551598. (link )

Markolf, S. A., M. V. Chester, A. Helmrich and K. Shannon. 2021. Re-imagining design storm criteria for the challenges of the 21st century. Cities 109(Feb):102981. DOI: 10.1016/j.cities.2020.102981. (link )

2020

Carvalhaes, T. M., S. Markolf, A. Helmrich, Y. Kim, R. Li, M. Natarajan, E. Bondank, N. Ahmad and M. Chester. 2020. COVID-19 as a harbinger of transforming infrastructure resilience. Frontiers in Built Environment 6:Art. 148. DOI: 10.3389/fbuil.2020.00148. (link )

Helmrich, A., M. V. Chester, S. Hayes, S. A. Markolf, C. Desha and N. B. Grimm. 2020. Using Biomimicry to Support Resilient Infrastructure Design. Earth's Future 8(12):. DOI: 10.1029/2020EF001653. (link )

2019

Chester, M. V., S. A. Markolf and B. R. Allenby. 2019. Infrastructure and the environment in the Anthropocene. Journal of Industrial Ecology jiec.12848. DOI: 10.1111/jiec.12848. (link )

Markolf, S. A., C. Hoehne, A. M. Fraser, M. V. Chester and S. Underwood. 2019. Transportation resilience to climate change and extreme weather events -- beyond risk and robustness. Transport Policy 74(Feb):174-186. DOI: 10.1016/j.tranpol.2018.11.003. (link )

2018

Markolf, S. A., M. V. Chester, D. A. Eisenberg, D. M. Iwaniec, C. I. Davidson, R. Zimmerman, T. R. Miller, B. L. Ruddell and H. Chang. 2018. Interdependent Infrastructure as Linked Social, Ecological, and Technological Systems (SETSs) to Address Lock‐in and Enhance Resilience. Earth's Future 6(12):1638-1659. DOI: 10.1029/2018EF000926. (link )

2015

Markolf, S. A., K. Klima and T. L. Wong. 2015. Adaptation frameworks used by US decision-makers: A literature review. Environment Systems and Decisions 35(4):427-436. DOI: 10.1007/s10669-015-9572-3. (link )

Book Chapters

2022

Zimmerman, R., C. L. Redman and S. A. Markolf. 2022. Extreme weather: challenges for infrastructure and society. Pp. 181-195 Urban Infrastructure: Historical and Social Dimensions of an Interconnected World. University of Pittsburgh Press. Pittsburgh, PA. ISBN: 9780822946380. (link )

2021

Kim, Y., L. Mannetti, D. M. Iwaniec, N. B. Grimm, M. Berbés-Blázquez and S. A. Markolf. 2021. Social, ecological, and technological strategies for climate adaptation. Resilient Urban Futures. DOI: 10.1007/978-3-030-63131-4_3. (link )

Kim, Y., L. Mannetti, D. M. Iwaniec, N. B. Grimm, M. Berbés-Blázquez, S. A. Markolf and E. M. Cook. 2021. Social, ecological, and technologica strategies for climate adaptation. Pp. 29-45 In: Hamstead, Z., D. M. Iwaniec, P. T. McPhearson, M. Berbés-Blázquez and T. A. Munoz-Erickson eds., Resilient Urban Futures. Springer. ISBN: 978-3-030-63130-7.

Kim, Y., L. Mannetti, D. M. Iwaniec, N. B. Grimm, M. Berbés-Blázquez and S. A. Markolf. 2021. Social, ecological and technological strategies for climate adaptation. In: Hamstead, Z., D. M. Iwaniec, P. T. McPhearson, M. Berbés-Blázquez, E. M. Cook and T. A. Munoz-Erickson eds., Resilient Urban Futures. Springer. ISBN: 978-3-030-63130-7.

Posters

2020

Helmrich, A., M. V. Chester, S. Hayes, S. A. Markolf, C. Desha and N. B. Grimm. 2020. Using biomimicry to support resilient infrastructure design. Poster presented at the Twenty-second Annual CAP LTER All Scientists Meeting and Poster Symposium, January 17, 2020, Skysong, Scottsdale, AZ. (link )

2019

Helmrich, A., E. J. Gilrein, S. A. Markolf, K. Shannon and M. V. Chester. 2019. The past, present, and future of design storms. Poster presented at the 21st Annual CAP LTER All Scientists Meeting and Poster Symposium, January 11, 2019, Skysong, Scottsdale, AZ. (link )

2018

Markolf, S. A., M. V. Chester, T. R. Miller, D. Eisenberg, R. Zimmerman, C. I. Davidson and T. P. Seager. 2018. Infrastructure as linked social, ecological, and technological Systems (SETS) to address lock-in and improve resilience. Poster presented at the 20th CAP LTER All Scientists Meeting and Poster Symposium, January 5, 2018, Skysong, Scottsdale, AZ. (link )

2017

Markolf, S. A., Y. Depietri, M. Smith, P. T. McPhearson and M. V. Chester. 2017. Understanding the impact of historical extreme events on the development of urban infrastructure. Poster presented at the 2nd Annual UREx SRN All Hands Meeting, New York, NY.

Presentations

2019

Markolf, S. A. 2019. Understanding transportation risk and resilience in an era of uncertainty. Presentation at the 2019 ASCE Phoenix Branch Sustainability Symposium, September 13, 2019, Phoenix, AZ.

Markolf, S. A. and M. V. Chester. 2019. An assessment of direct and indirect pathways of disruption within interconnected infrastructure systems. Presentation at the 2019 ASCE International Conference on Sustainable Infrastructure, November 6-9, 2019, Los Angeles, CA.

Markolf, S. A. and M. V. Chester. 2019. Assessing possible implications and adaptations strategies for a major disruption to the interstate highway system in the southwest United States. Presentation at the ASCE International Conference on Sustainable Infrastructure, November 6-9, 2019, Los Angeles, CA.

2018

Markolf, S. A., M. V. Chester and A. Fraser. 2018. Failure modes within energy, water and ICT infrastructure systems: An assessment of direct and indirect pathways of disruption posed by climate change and extreme events. Presentation at the International Symposium on Sustainable Systems & Technology, June 25-28, 2018, Buffalo, NY. (link )

Markolf, S. A., C. Hoehne, A. Fraser, S. Underwood and M. V. Chester. 2018. Resilience of transportation systems under climate change -- beyond risk and robustness. Presentation at the 97th Annual Meeting of the Transportation Research Bard, January 7-11, 2018, Washington, DC. (link )

2017

Markolf, S. A. 2017. Sociological-ecological-technological (SETS): A conceptual framework for understanding infrastructure. Presentation at the Resilience Summit, Arizona State University, Tempe, AZ.

Markolf, S. A., M. V. Chester, A. Fraser and C. Hoehne. 2017. Maintaining reliability of transportation systems and interdependent infrastructure under climate change. Presentation at the ISIE-ISSST 2017: Science in Support of Sustainable and Resilient Communities, June 25-29, 2017, Chicago, IL. (link )

Zimmerman, R., C. L. Redman and S. A. Markolf. 2017. Social responses to infrastructure impacts of extreme events. Presentation at the NYU Paris Conference, Interdisciplinary Perspectives on Urban Infrastructure History and the Social Sciences, New York University, Paris, France.

Conference Papers

2017

Markolf, S. A., C. Hoehne, A. Fraser and M. V. Chester. 2017. Maintaining reliability of transportation systems and interconnected infrastructure under climate change. Pp. 219-230 Proceedings of the International Conference on Sustainable Infrastructure 2017. International Conference on Sustainable Infrastructure 2017. October 26-28, 2017, New York, NY. (link )