Biological & Ecological Engineering

Mathematical modeling and simulation of agricultural, aquacultural and environmental systems. Geographic Information Systems-based spatial modeling.  Artificial intelligence applications in bioresource management.

Current Research

• Big Wood Basin Alternative Futures - The goals of this project are to explore interactions between agriculture, urban land use practices, and recreational activities under future conditions of climate and water supply in the Big Wood Basin in central Idaho. Our approach is to work closely with stakeholders in each step of the process to ensure that research is delivered in a usable form for public and private decision makers. This project is being done in conjunction with the Climate Impacts Research Consortium
• Tillamook Coastal Futures - This project is exploring the impacts of climate change-induced sea level change, population growth, and development may impact coastal communities in Tillamook County, Oregon, and how Knowledge-To-Action Networks can be developed to mitigate and adapt to change. This project is being done in conjunction with the Climate Impacts Research Consortium
• Willamette Water 2100 - This project is evaluating how climate change, population growth, and economic growth will alter the availability and the use of water in the Willamette River Basin on a decadal to centennial timescale.  The project seeks to create a transferable method of predicting where climate change will create water scarcities and where those scarcities will exert the strongest impacts on human society.
• Central Oregon - Forests, People and Fire - This project focuses on improving our understanding of how biophysical systems, management actions, and socio-economic influences interact to affect sustainability in fire-prone landscapes under climate change. This work integrates social and ecological sciences to study a fire-prone landscape in central Oregon that includes private, state, federal, and tribal lands. We are developing a rich representation of social network influences on actro decision-making in this landscape, and coupling that with models of vegetation dynamics, fire, and habitat to identify policies and strategies for achieving landscape management goals.
• Coupled Natural and Human Systems in the Southern Willamette Valley - This effort examines the interactions of climate change, land management policies and forest succession on fire hazard and ecosystem trajectories in the wildland-urban interface in two study areas located in Oregon's Willamette Valley.