Faculty
Owen Grumbling
Professor of Environmental Literature/Chair, Dept of Environmental Studies
Decary Hall 213D
Phone: 207-602-2245
Fax: 207-602-5926
Email: ogrumbling@une.edu
Expertise
Nature literature; Edward Abbey; William Wordsworth; land/habitat conservation policy; pedagogy relating science, humanities, and environmental awareness.
Research Interests/ Scholarship
Ethics and aesthetics in writings of Edward Abbey; teaching literature in context of environmental values; the traditions of nature writing; interpretation of wilderness experience.
Christine Baumann Feurt
Director, Center for Sustainable Communities
Decary Hall 213C
Phone: 207-602-2834
Email: cfeurt@une.edu
Expertise
Design and facilitation of training, outreach and communication strategies to facilitate ecosystem management, watershed management and coastal management. Science translation and science to management application in coastal and marine systems.
Research Interests/ Scholarship
Using participatory strategies and environmental communication theory and practice to facilitate ecosystem management, resolve environmental conflict and mediate the science to management process.
Pamela A. Morgan
Associate Professor
Decary Hall 223
Phone: 207-602-2227
Email: pmorgan@une.edu
Expertise
Salt marsh conservation/restoration/ecology;
Wetland conservation/restoration/ecology;
Conservation and Preservation; Environmental education
Research Interests/ Scholarship
Salt marsh conservation and ecology; Environmental education
Noah Perlut
Assistant Professor
Decary Hall 221
Phone: 207-602-2778
Email: nperlut@une.edu
Expertise
Ornithology, grassland birds, ecology, breeding systems, survival, mating systems, conservation biology, molecular ecology, animal behavior, dispersal
Research Interests/ Scholarship
I study the joint ecological and evolutionary consequences of using human-managed habitats as wildlife habitat. In 2002 I began a long-term research project on how hayfield and pasture management affects the life-histories of grassland songbirds. Along with ecology and evolution work, this project has expanded to create and explore federal policies that balance landowners' economic and birds' life-history needs. Additional projects include: studying grey squirrel ecology on the UNE campus; exploring the ecology of urban roof-nesting Herring Gulls; evaluating the marsh bird communities on the Saco River; exploring what the ideal farm looks like--both in terms of maximizing farm production as well as biodiversity.
Richard B. Peterson
Associate Professor
Decary Hall 215
Phone: 207-602-2862
Email: rpeterson@une.edu
Expertise
Ecological anthropology; indigenous ecological knowledge systems; Learning Community pedagogy; qualitative research methods; East and Central Africa.
Research Interests/ Scholarship
Integrating indigenous ecological and cultural knowledge into development and conservation; community-based conservation; impacts of war on conservation and land use; human immigration into rainforests; foodshed analysis.
Michelle M. Steen-Adams
Assistant Professor
Decary Hall 217
Phone: 207-602-2515
Fax: 207-602-5926
Email: msteenadams@une.edu
Expertise
Historical ecology
Environmental history
Landscape ecology
Terrestrial-aquatic interactions
Interdisciplinary scholarship and pedagogy
Geographic Information Systems (GIS).
Research Interests/ Scholarship
My research investigates the extent, causes, and significance of long-term ecosystem change to guide future ecosystem management, integrating the fields of environmental history, landscape ecology, and historical ecology. Landscape ecological research quantitatively characterizes land-cover change relative to preEuroAmerican settlement baseline conditions. Related environmental history research examines how cultural, political, and economic factors (including land ownership) help explain change in forest ecosystems.
We employ diverse methods in this interdisciplinary, student-engaged research, including Geographic Information Systems (GIS), archival document analysis, and oral history interviews. Journals that have published our work include Landscape Ecology, Environmental History, American Indian Culture and Research Journal (AICJR), Journal of Environmental Studies and Sciences (JESS), and Environmental Management.
Bethany L. Woodworth
Visiting Assistant Professor
Decary Hall 213A1
Phone: 207-602-2647
Email: bwoodworth@une.edu
Research Interests/ Scholarship
My research on the ecology and conservation of bird populations has led me into investigations of avian disease, climate change, habitat fragmentation, invasive species, monitoring techniques, population dynamics, conservation planning, and endangered species recovery. My priority has been to develop on-the-ground conservation strategies for vulnerable species, such as invasive species control, forest restoration, and captive propagation and release.
Mark D. O. Adams
Associate Research Faculty
Decary Hall 224
Phone: 207-602-2626
Email: madams3@une.edu
Expertise
Geography of land development, land use planning, and urban / environmental policy; Civic Environmentalism; Demographic change; Environmental history.
Research Interests/ Scholarship
I am interested in evaluating the present trend in the U.S. towards civic environmentalism, especially efforts to implement sustainability principles in the land use planning activities of state, regional and local governments. I aim to understand how historic, demographic, and landscape context shapes the adoption and design of land use policies and planning goals -- and conversely how successful implementation of those goals shapes subsequent demographic change and limits the future range of local policy choices.
Militsa (Mila) Plavsic
Research Associate
Decary Hall 213 A2
Phone: 207-602-2732
Email: mplavsic@une.edu
Expertise
Conservation biology, population ecology, international environmental policy, fire ecology, global change biology, science/policy interface, mammalogy, southern Africa
Research Interests/ Scholarship
My primary research interests are anthropogenic ecosystem disturbance and international conservation policy. In addition to policy work in Washington, DC and the Northeast, my fieldwork has taken me to Kenya, Madagascar, Botswana, and the Dominican Republic. I investigate the impacts of invasive species, fire, timber harvest, and climate change on community diversity over time (with small mammals and birds as study systems) and the policy implications of those impacts. I am interested in how science is applied and conservation achieved under such entities as the UN’s Ramsar Convention and the proposed International science-policy Platform on Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services. By synthesizing biological and sociological research, my work illuminates needed changes in some environmental policies. In all of my research, I strive to make it relevant and applicable to management and policy decisions.
Mark Andrew Ward
Research Associate
Decary Hall 224
Phone: 207-563-2956
Email: maward@midcoast.com
Expertise
Landscape scale conservation planning, Identification of rare plant and animal species of New England, Natural community classification, Vernal pool biology, Invertebrate taxonomy (odonates, tiger beetles, and fairy shrimp), Natural history education
Research Interests/ Scholarship
I am interested in enhancing our understanding of natural systems to inform the conservation of functional ecosystems. I use a layer cake approach from bedrock geology to soil science to plant and animal distribution to try and understand terrestrial and freshwater ecosystems and to assess their ecological quality and uniqueness. In recent years, my field research has focused primarily on the distribution, biology, and conservation of rare amphibian, reptile, and invertebrate species in Maine. Some of the species with which I have become particularly enthralled are spotted and Blanding’s turtles, odonates (especially the ringed boghuanter dragonfly), tiger beetles, butterflies (spicebush swallowtail) and fairy shrimp.
Michael C. Daley
Associate Professor
Alfond Center 232
Phone: 207-602-2592
Fax: 207-602-5951
Email: mdaley@une.edu
Expertise
contemporary macroeconomics environmental economics
ecological economics
post positivist economic methodology.
Research Interests/ Scholarship
Economic methodology - the post-positivist turn and its application to the field of ecological economics.
Stephan I. Zeeman
Professor and Chair, Department of Marine Sciences
Marine Science Center 205
Phone: 207-602-2410
Email: szeeman@une.edu
Expertise
Oceanography, phytoplankton, primary production, remote sensing, geographic information systems, Bering Sea ecosystems.
Research Interests/ Scholarship
Phytoplankton, primary production, remote sensing, GIS, satellite tracking, food web dynamics, habitat selection by marine animals (whales, basking sharks), K-12 science education
Gregory P. Zogg
Associate Professor
Phone: 207-602-2884
Email: gzogg@une.edu
Expertise
Terrestrial and wetland plant ecology; soil microbiology and plant physiology; carbon and nitrogen biogeochemistry.
Research Interests/ Scholarship
Primary research interests are in the effects of human-induced environmental change on the biogeochemistry of forests and saline, tidal wetlands (i.e., marshes and mangroves),
Cynthia L. Simon
CAS Internship Director
Decary Hall 118
Phone: 207-602-2540
Fax: 207-602-5973
Email: csimon@une.edu
Expertise
Experiential Education, Internships, and Collaborative learning design.
Other expertise: Sustainable agriculture, canis latrans (coyote), environmental education & advocacy, wilderness skills and survival.
Cheryl Labrecque
Decary Hall
Phone: 207-602-2626
Email: clabrecque@une.edu
John Lemons
Professor Emeritus of Biology and Environmental Science
Decary Hall
Phone: 907-299-7779
Email: jlemons@une.edu
Expertise
Global climate change, nuclear waste disposal, national park policy, environmental ethics, scientific uncertainty and public policy
Research Interests/ Scholarship
Global climate change, nuclear waste disposal, national park policy, environmental ethics, scientific uncertainty and public policy
