Current Projects by Faculty

Social Change and Sustainable Transport (SCAST) and Sustainable Transport Analysis and Research (STAR) Both of these NSF supported projects sought to bring sustainable transportation to the attention of transport researchers from all of the social sciences and engineering. The first of these projects resulted in the production of a collection of papers on Social Change and Sustainable Transport. The second project which is ongoing will result in a series of volumes on topics ranging from behavioral aspects of transport to freight flows and the role of globalization.

Interdisciplinary Science in the NASA Earth Science Enterprise, "Hydrologic and Nutrient Controls on the Structure and Function of Southern African Savannas: A Multi-Scale Approach": In this project, I am part of a team that is using remote sensing, in situ measurements, and modeling in an approach focused on assessing the feedback and stability of interactions in the complex savanna ecosystems found along a unique aridity gradient in Zambia, Botswana, Namibia, and the Republic of South Africa. To understand and predict how savanna vegetation dynamics respond to alterations in climate or land-use forcings, it is necessary to observe, characterize and model interactions over these disparate scales. A major goal of the proposed research is to understand how sub-pixel scale local variability is expressed in data from NASA satellite sensors and, in turn, how these sensors may be used to provide synoptic regional- scale information about sub-pixel structure and processes.

Earth System Science Research using Data and Products from TERRA,AQUA and ACRIM Satellites, "Sources, Transports and Impacts of Southern African Aerosols: Synthetic Case Studies Using Terra and Aqua Satellite Products": This project seeks to apply NASA EOS satellite derived land and atmosphere products from Terra and Aqua over varying temporal and spatial scales to improve the modeling of regional atmospheric aerosols and their radiative impacts over southern Africa, a region known to be a strong source of aerosol and trace gas emissions. Biomass burning is a primary source for aerosols and trace gas emissions in southern Africa. The amount and types of emissions and aerosols produced depends in large part on the primary production, which controls fuel load and the composition of fuels consumed. My involvement in this research centers on modeling the multi-year dynamics of fuel composition and the role of vegetation structure and composition in determining the characteristics of aerosol production and composition in southern African fires.