Environmental Studies Program

Expertise: Community and citizen science, ecology, evolution and urban biodiversity and conservation.

Colleen Hitchcock's academic interests are focused on the role of citizen science in ecological inquiry and conservation biology, specifically relating to studies of biodiversity, conservation, phenology and climate change. She is a lead organizer for the City Nature Challenge in eastern Massachusetts and is also interested in both the application of community/citizen science research as a model for learning by students.

Citizen Science on Campus

• To schedule office hours, please email Professor Hitchcock.

Expertise: International environmental policy, transborder conservation.

Charles Chester teaches global environmental politics at Brandeis and in the Global Master of Arts Program at the Fletcher School of Tufts University. He is the board chair of Bat Conservation International, chair of theYellowstone to Yukon Council and manages the website Global Environmental Politics — An Online Guide.

Expertise: Environmental Justice, climate justice, global climate and geoengineering governance, international development, collective action on the Commons, and global conservation.

Prakash Kashwan’s research and teaching focuses on environmental and climate justice, climate governance, environmental policies and institutions, and the commons. He is the author of "Democracy in the Woods: Environmental Conservation and Social Justice in India, Tanzania and Mexico" (Oxford University Press, 2017), editor of "Climate Justice in India" (Cambridge University Press, 2022), and editor of the journal Environmental Politics. He advises international and multilateral agencies and welcomes research collaborations with graduate and undergraduate students.

• To schedule office hours, please click this link, or email Professor Kashwan.

Expertise: Political ecology, Africa, conservation, development, wildlife tourism, trophy hunting, forestry, mining, agriculture.

Richard Schroeder is a geographer by training whose research has addressed questions of gender vulnerability to drought and famine in Nigeria; gender, agroforestry and community forestry politics in The Gambia; counter-mapping, community wildlife management and artisanal mining in Tanzania; race, nationality and South African investment in Tanzania; and trophy hunting in South Africa. He teaches courses on the Anthropology of the Environment, Anthropology of Development and Conservation Politics.

Expertise: Ecology, conservation biology and animal behavior. Pedagogical methods and innovations.

Dan Perlman's work in biology has ranged from studying colony-founding behaviors among tropical ants to helping regional conservation groups throughout the western United States set priorities for land and species protection. He also is interested in studying human learning. As founding director of the Brandeis Center for Teaching and Learning, Perlman worked with faculty to help them foster student learning. Perlman also developed a website, EcoLibrary.org, that freely distributes teaching materials developed for ecology and environmental studies.

Expertise: German as a foreign language; climate change and the humanities; fairy tales; Jewish-German dialogue; German women writers; German cinema; Age of Goethe; German drama.

Sabine von Mering is currently working on the role of climate change as a challenge for the humanities. Her most recent scholarly work focused on right-wing extremism in Europe and the United States. As director of the Center for German and European Studies, she organizes lectures, conferences and cultural events in the interest of promoting transatlantic dialogue.

Expertise: Climate science, physical oceanography, turbulence and mixing, estuarine and coastal fluid dynamics.

Sally Warner is a physical oceanographer who studies how water moves and mixes in the ocean. She is particularly interested in connecting the small, fast motions of turbulence to decadal-scale, global processes like El Niño and climate change. She has spent many months living and working on oceanographic research vessels in places like the equatorial Pacific Ocean and the Gulf of Mexico. As an educator, she aims to teach climate science and oceanography in ways that highlight local case studies to motivate the underlying science.

• To schedule office hours, please click this link or email Professor Warner.

Expertise: American environmental studies, New England farm and forest history, sustainable agriculture, sustainable forestry, land conservation.

Brian Donahue taught courses on environmental issues, environmental history, sustainable farming and forestry, and early American culture. His primary research interests include the history and the prospects of human engagement with the land, especially in New England.

• Sustainable Working Landscapes Program

Expertise: Environmental justice, environmental law and policy, environmental sustainability.

Laura came to Brandeis in the late 1990s after a 20-year career as an environmental lawyer addressing the full range of issues from clean air and water protection to toxic exposure and serving as general counsel of the Massachusetts Department of Environmental Protection. She helped establish the Environmental Studies program and created the environmental internship program. Her environmental law, sustainability and social justice courses and field programs involved students in hands-on problem-solving and research addressing the needs of disenfranchised communities, including groundbreaking occupational health studies involving Vietnamese nail salon workers and hair products targeted to black women. Brandeis students can continue to be involved in several local programs Laura created with students, including the WATCH Housing Clinic.