Research Areas of Focus
Research Areas of Focus
Ecosystems Change
IBES researchers use remote sensing, advanced imaging, and DNA metabarcoding to study the impacts of climate change on ecosystems, such as tropical forests and coral reefs. This work focuses on species responses, carbon dynamics, and long-term ecological shifts driven by human activity.
An unmanned drone equipped with advanced imaging technology is shedding light on the mysterious carbon exchange between tropical forests and the atmosphere. Led by Associate Professor James Kellner, the research project in Costa Rica explores the role of these vital ecosystems in mitigating climate change and the "missing sink" of carbon.
Associate Professor Tyler Kartzinel's lab group studies the diets of large herbivores to understand how they compete or cooperate through their foraging behaviors. By blending field observations with advanced DNA metabarcoding, Kartzinel aims to understand how these animals' eating habits interact with and influence Yellowstone’s ecosystem.
Dov Sax’s research questions how we predict nature's reaction to climate change, warning against relying too much on current climate differences. By looking at the past responses to changing weather patterns, his studies suggest we need a fresh approach to forecasting long-term ecological impacts, urging a more practical perspective.
Associate Professor Brian Lander’s award-winning work in China focuses on the transformation of ecosystems and agricultural landscapes over thousands of years and emphasizes the significant role of empires in shaping the country's "humanized" environment.
Assistant Professor Aparajita Majumdar examines the socio-ecological impacts of failed crops and the regenerative relationships between Indigenous communities and their landscapes in colonial and postcolonial South Asia.
IBES Director Kim Cobb and her lab are using fossil and modern coral samples to uncover critical data about natural and human-induced climate change. By analyzing coral cores and their oxygen isotopic composition, they aim to extend our understanding of tropical Pacific climate over millennia, providing insights into future climate projections with global implications.
Lab website coming soon.
Seda Şalap-Ayça explores geospatial modeling and spatial decision support systems, using GIScience to advance understanding of land-use patterns and spatial data evolution in decision-making processes.
Led by Professor Laurence C. Smith, the Northern Change Research Laboratory examines current trends and changes in the northern high latitudes using cutting-edge geospatial remote sensing, computational modeling, and field studies. Past and current projects include work in Alaska, Canada, Greenland, Iceland, and the Russian Federation, as well as numerous pan-Arctic and continental scale studies.
Climate and Health
Using satellite data, computational analysis, and epigenomics, IBES researchers study the impacts of climate change, air pollution, and other environmental factors on human health and the spread of infectious diseases.
Associate Professor Allan Just's research uses advanced techniques—such as machine learning with satellite data and epidemiological studies in large health registries–to better understand the localized effects of heat and air pollution, revealing crucial insights into environmental health, particularly in children and older adults.
Led by Professor Scott Frickel, an international team of environmental social scientists are working to develop digital data, tools, and infrastructure that will harness the power of computational analysis for understanding science’s role in shaping environment-society interactions and impacts.
Rachel Baker and her team examine the role of different factors, including population immunity and climate, on the transmission of SARS-CoV-2.
Climate Policy & Communications
This work focuses on analyzing media coverage of climate change, identifying misinformation in the energy policy landscape, and exploring local environmental history to better understand the intersection of policy, public perception, and environmental impact.
Rachel Wetts’s research investigates how powerful organizations influence media coverage on climate change and why some perspectives are given more media attention than others.
A team from the IBES-based Climate and Development Lab (CDL) is developing methodologies, datasets, and web tools to help nonprofits understand who they are associating with when they take grants and gifts and sign contracts.
Associate Professor Bathsheba Demuth’s research blends fieldwork and education to illuminate the region's past through the lens of human-environment interactions, particularly focusing on the impact of governmental policies on local ecosystems and Indigenous practices.
Visiting Professor Robert Brulle's research focuses on how right-wing lobbyists and fossil fuel companies use public relations, misinformation, and obstruction to distort narratives, downplay climate threats, and delay the transition to renewable energy sources.
Sustainable Energy Systems
An emerging focus on energy and climate includes exploring decarbonization pathways, advancing renewable energy systems, and developing innovative resources, including offshore wind and carbon reservoirs, with a commitment to supporting at-risk populations and addressing equity injustice.
A former sustainable energy policy practitioner, Assistant Professor Myles Lennon’s research explores how rooftop solar, ‘resiliency’ microgrids, and other climate mitigation infrastructures simultaneously reinforce and upend entrenched structures of power as they materialize across long-standing race and class divisions in New York City.
Assistant Professor Daniel Ibarra is a recipient of a seed grant from the Brown School of Engineering’s Initiative for Sustainable Energy (ISE). His project is entitled "Investigating Mineralogical, Geochemical, and Thermodynamic Mechanisms Governing Lithium Enrichment in Lake Clay Deposits and Subsequent Release into Lithium-Rich Brine-Aquifer Systems."
Research Professor Elizabeth Fussell's work examines how climate-related disasters affect human migration. Her research focuses in part on energy equity, and particularly on how climate change impacts access to energy for marginalized and disadvantaged groups.
IBES' Climate and Development Lab has developed three studies in this area. One considers the discourses of a local Rhode Island group. A second maps the relationships between what appear to be local groups with right-wing think tanks and fossil fuel funders, through networks. The third examines all mentions of offshore and wind in the first six months of the 118th Congress. All provide key insights into the opposition to a key part of our renewable future for policymakers, journalists, and civil society groups.
Senior Lecturer Kurt Teichert advances strategies that enhance energy efficiency and promote environmentally responsible infrastructure in urban and institutional settings.
Professor Stephen Porder's Sustainability Lab uses the Brown University campus, Providence, and Rhode Island as a living lab to explore solutions to climate and sustainability challenges.
Climate Resilience and Adaptation
IBES researchers study the changing Arctic, weather-related population shifts, sustainable urban agriculture, and the socio-environmental impacts of industrial agriculture worldwide.
The rapidly changing Arctic landscape presents both challenges and opportunities, from habitat loss to increased access to valuable resources and trade routes. Amanda Lynch and her team at IBES are analyzing economic potentials, climate change impacts, and evolving governance strategies, all while considering the critical role of Arctic Indigenous communities in shaping the region’s future.
Assistant Professor Myles Lennon's fieldwork at Shelterwood — a queer, Black, and Indigenous land stewardship collective in California — involves a comprehensive ethnographic study that explores antiracist, decolonial land stewardship dynamics, integrating hands-on learning for Brown students. The project emphasizes regenerative fire practices, climate resiliency, and challenges conventional land ownership and human-nature relationship.
Elizabeth Fussell investigates population change in areas impacted by frequent hurricanes, drought, and wildfire. Her studies show that hurricane losses suppress immediate growth, but cumulatively, they boost population in high-density areas.
The instructor for ENVS 1925: Energy Policy and Politics, Senior Lecturer Dawn King’s research focuses on urban agriculture and local food systems, state and local food politics, and urban energy and sustainability policy.
Lecturer Mindi Schneider's research and teaching focus on socio-environmental inequalities and the impacts of industrial agriculture, with fieldwork spanning across the United States, China, and Indonesia.