Alison is a PhD candidate in the Rubenstein School of the Environment and Natural Resources (RSENR), a graduate student fellow at the Gund Institute for Environment, and a student in the Economics for the Anthropocene program. Her research explores the non-material benefits humans receive from nature. She is particularly interested in how environmental change affects individuals’ subjective well-being and cultural practices, and the justice and equity implications of these effects.
With a background in spatial modeling and land cover change, Alison considers how spatial patterns affect and emerge from people’s interactions with nature and climate change. Additionally, she is interested in the ways art can contribute to understandings of the intangible ways people and nature interact. Previously Alison worked in environmental advocacy on issues such as stopping uranium mining around the Grand Canyon and securing stronger protections for public lands. Alison has a BA in History of Art from Yale, and a MS in Natural Resources from the University of Vermont.
“I’m inspired by the power of qualitative and mixed methods research to paint a deeper or more complete picture of what’s happening in a system. As someone who studies the complex—and often emotional–relationships between people and the rest of nature, the specific words, stories, and language are very important to me.”
Economics for the Anthropocene: https://e4a-net.org/