Caitlin Littlefield. My general research interests are human-environment interactions emphasizing risk perception, decision-making, and policy: What motivates people to respond to environmental change? How does environmental science influence individual's decisions and reactions? How effective is top-down control (e.g. governmental regulation) compared with individual risk and response? My current work is on an EPA funded project modeling atmospheric mercury in the Great Lakes region using the Community Muiti-Scale Air Quality Model (CMAQ). The results will be compared with field observations and at a later stage future climate scenarios will be put into the model to assess possible effects on mercury deposition. The ultimate aim is to inform mercury emissions policy and work towards a better understanding of atmospheric mercury chemistry.

Erin Madden (Fellow)

Abigail Popp (Fellow). I am a graduate student in the department of Geography as well as a fellow in the CHANGE (Certificate on Humans and the Global Environment) program. I am interested in the dynamics of socio-ecological systems in the context of water management in arid regions. I'm curious about the ways in which socio-cultural processes mediate environmental management decisions and how western “scientific” ecological understanding can be blended with a political ecology approach to assess vulnerability and resilience of socio-ecological systems.

Anne Shudy Palmer. Anne is pursuing an M.S. in Conservation Biology and Sustainable Development and the Certificate on Humans and the Global Environment (CHANGE). Her research project is a partnership between SAGE, Madison Gas & Electric, and 1000 Friends of Wisconsin to create a locally focused, collaborative climate protection web site that will allow individuals to measure, track, and collaborate to reduce their carbon footprints.

Anne graduated from UW-Madison in 2002 with a B.S. in math and communication arts and a certificate in environmental studies. She worked as a technical writer for four years at Epic Systems Corporation, a local healthcare software company, before returning to school.

Outside of school, Anne loves soccer, reading, and trying to garden.

Megan Raby (Fellow). As a historian of science, I believe that appreciating the historical, socially embedded nature of science is necessary in order to understand changing relationships between humans and the environment. My interests stand at the intersection of the history of science, environmental history, and the environmental sciences. I am currently working on preliminary research for a dissertation on the history of medical geography.

Nina Trautmann. My Ph.D. research focuses on sustainable development in the Yunnan Province of southwestern China. Specifically, I am studying the conversion of steep agricultural land from annual crops (corn) to perennial crops (buckwheat) and the resulting effects on soil properties, erosion, and human livelihoods. I am doing a Ph.D. in Environment & Resources through the Nelson Institute for Environmental Studies with a graduate Certificate in Humans and the Global Environment (CHANGE). My research is funded by the UW-Madison NSF IGERT China Program.

My M.S. research in Land Resources (completed December 2007) improved knowledge of two parts of the global carbon cycle: carbonaceous aerosol emissions and soil carbon storage. (i) I estimated historic global industrial biofuel burning from 1850-2000, and (ii) I tested soil carbon throughout a Wisconsin watershed to study variability in local carbon storage.

My career goal is to do environmental science research to further the goals of sustainable development.