Michelle Steen-Adams to present invited talk at upcoming CHANS Symposium, IALE Conference

Michelle Steen-Adams, Ph.D., assistant professor of Environmental Studies in the College of Arts and Sciences, will give an invited presentation at the 2012 conference of the US International Association of Landscape Ecology (US-IALE) in Newport, RI (April 8-12). Dr. Steen-Adams will participate in a symposium entitled, "Disentangling Diverse Drivers and Complex Dynamics of Coupled Human and Natural Systems (CHANS)". 

The symposium is convened by Dr. Jianguo ("Jack") Liu and colleagues. Dr. Liu is holder of the Rachel Carson Chair in Sustainability at Michigan State University (MSU) and is a leader in the growing field of CHANS research. Dr. Steen-Adams' and colleagues' presentation is entitled, "Integrating historical factors into CHANS research: Influence of Ojibwe versus Euro-American social histories on forest landscape change in northern Wisconsin, USA." 

This presentation highlights work with collaborators Drs. David Mladenoff, Nancy Langston, Feng Liu, and Jun Zhu (University of Wisconsin-Madison), and is based on their 2011 article in the journal, Landscape Ecology. Symposium conveners invited Dr. Steen-Adams and colleagues because of interest in their work on environmental history and efforts to link historical ecology and landscape ecology.  Their work forges new methods to integrate historical factors into CHANS research, an area in which few scholars have expertise.  Their interdisciplinary research program aims to illuminate ways that human history influences the functioning of Coupled Human-Natural Systems, to suggest policies that improve environmental sustainability, and to provide models for similar studies.

This symposium is part of the events that mark the 15th anniversary of the NASA-MSU program, which has been made possible by the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) and Michigan State University. The symposium brings together past awardees who are contributing to CHANS research. The NASA-MSU program has provided funding for 290 young scholars for them to meet leading scientists and build professional networks with conference attendees.