.emily.e.atkinson

Welcome to my research website. If you are here for the first time, let me tell you a little bit about myself. My overarching research interest is connecting good science with good policy. Originally, after completing a B.A. degree in Political Science in 2004 at the University of California, San Diego I planned to go to law school to study environmental law. However, I was discontent with the lack of scientific language in environmental law and policy. I decided that my career path would involve fluency in two languages: environmental science and environmental policy. In 2009, I completed my M.S. degree in Physical Geography and Watershed Science at San Diego State University. My Masters Thesis focused on changing land use along the U.S.-Mexico border and policies on both sides of the border that played a role in changing land use. Currently, I am a Ph.D. student in the Department of Geography at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, working with Dr. Erika Marín-Spiotta and Dr. Lisa Naughton. For my dissertation I am interested in studying micro-scale processes that occur in soil following aboveground changes in plant diversity, and how this information is relevant and useful for biofuels policy.

.current.projects

The Tropical Carbon Project.
This project includes a review and synthesis of literature on carbon in tropical soils with relevance for climate change policy. With this information we will produce a summary for policy-makers and lead a policy briefing for the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) in Washington, D.C. The collaborators for this project include: Dr. Erika Marín-Spiotta, Dr. Lisa Naughton, and the non-profit group Forest Trends. Funding for this project comes from USAID.

.past.projects

Analysis of land-use change in the Tijuana River Watershed.
This study was an analysis of land-use change with the objective of contributing to a habitat conservation project called the Las Californias Binational Conservation Initiative. I assessed the the dominant types of land-use change that occurred in an area encompassing the U.S.-Mexico border, the Tijuana River Watershed, and analyzed the causes of these changes. My work was conducted in conjunction with researchers at El Colegio de la Frontera Norte in Tijuana and Universidad Autónoma de Baja California in Ensenada and with funding from the Southwest Consortium for Environmental Research and Policy (SCERP).
My advisor for this study was Dr. Kathleen Farley Wolf.

Mapping land cover classes in urban areas in and around the city of Tijuana.
This study focused on the biophysical land cover changes that occur with rapid urbanization. My work included mapping and quantifying the fractions of different land cover types (vegetation, impervious surface, and bare soil) in around the city of Tijuana from 1990 to present. I utilized remote sensing tools to create a series of continuous land cover maps, which were then used to address questions regarding the process of sediment loading that is threatening the ecological health of the Tijuana River Estuary.
My advisor for this study was Dr. Trent Biggs.

Measuring spectral reflectance of vegetation in Mission Trails Regional Park.
This work was part of a department study focused on mapping 5,800 acres of natural and recreational land in one of the largest urban parks in the United States - Mission Trails Regional Park. In order to map different vegetation species in the park, I was a part of 'Team Spectra', a group working on gathering spectral reflectance signatures for a variety of vegetation inlcuding coastal sage scrub, chapparral, and sunflower scrub. The doctoral student heading the project is Yuki Hamada and her advisor is Dr. Doug Stow.

A synthesis of causes of agricultural expansion.
This synthesis study assessed the mechanisms which cause the expansion of agricultural lands in Latin America and is based on a framework proposed by David Carr (2008) in his research of land use in the Maya Biosphere Reserve, Guatemala. Data were obtained from 32 publications, representing the time period 1990-2008. Results suggest that drivers of agricultural expansion are primarily political-economic variables (60%), and 85% of identified drivers of agricultural expansion occur at the national (50%) and household (35%) level.
My advisor for this study was Dr. Kathleen Farley Wolf.

The Green Tour.
What does the term 'going green' actually mean? It seems that we as a culture have defined many things, from a country to a simple product, as being 'green', yet we have yet to actually define what is meant by this. For this project, I accompanied a fellow Masters student in her quest to investigate this very question for her thesis. We traveled from San Diego, California to Portland, Oregon asking policy officials, farmers, industry professionals, and local residents about their definitions and perceptions of 'going green'. For more information, please visit the green tour website or contact the tour's leader Emily Powers.