Other EVR People: Affiliated Faculty | Staff | Graduate Students
The faculty of the Department of Environmental Studies possess a wide range of expertise in the basic areas of chemistry, biology, hydrology, demography, economics, energy and environmental policy, anthropology, and environmental education. Special expertise is also found in the applied and crosscutting disciplines of ecotoxicology, protected area management, tropical forest management, watershed management, ecological economics, environmental health, and coastal hazard mitigation. Beyond the core faculty members, students will find a number of affiliated and adjunct faculty who expand the range of disciplines further, teach environmental electives, provide independent study opportunities, and serve on student committees.
Mahadev Bhat, Associate Professor
Ph.D. The University of Tennessee 1991
Joint appointment with Economics
Dr. Bhat's research focuses on the economics of coastal resource management, ecosystem restoration, international trade and biodiversity, and water quality. His past research included issues related to wildlife management, forestry and sustainable agriculture. Most of his works adopt the ecological-economics approach to environmental problem solving. This approach would drastically depart from the conventional economic approach and attempts to integrate ecological and economic principles into a unified decision-making framework in order to promote a sustainable resource management.
David Bray, Professor
Associate Chair, Dept. Earth & Environment
Ph.D. Brown University 1982
Dr. Bray conducts research on community natural resource management in Latin America, particularly community forest and ecosystem management in Mexico. He has an ongoing research and action project with community forest management organizations in Quintana Roo, Mexico, where local organizations manage over 500,000 hectares of semi-humid tropical forest and related ecosystems. He also has related research projects in the state of Guerrero and elsewhere in Mexico. He is also Director of the Institute for Sustainability Science in Latin America and the Caribbean (ISSLAC) within FIU’s Latin American and Caribbean Center.
Joel Heinen, Professor
Ph.D. The University of Michigan 1992
Dr. Heinen's research is in the area of international biodiversity conservation policy, especially focusing on aspects of protected area managment. He is particularly interested in the implementation of conservation treaties, the formulation of national conservation policies and programs and park/people relations in developing countries of Asia. Dr. Heinen has extensive international experience, especially in Nepal, but also in Kyrgyzstan, Thailand and India. Dr. Heinen is an invited member of the World Conservation Union's (IUCN) Species Survival Commission, The World Cultural Council and the Mountain Forum.
Patricia Houle, Lecturer
M.Sc. Florida International University 2006
After completing her B.Sc. in Biological Sciences and M.Sc. in Nutritional Biochemistry at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Ms. Houle worked in the medical device industry developing new tests for the assessment of human health and disease and managing research laboratories. She came to FIU to pursue her interests in medicinal and food plants, Florida ecology and current environmental issues, earning an M.Sc. in Environmental Studies and a Graduate Certificate in Geographical Information Systems (GIS). Ms. Houle’s research, in collaboration with Drs. Zhang and Ross, used laser altimetry to study the 3D structure of pine forest and mangrove vegetation in the Everglades and the Florida Keys. Ms. Houle teaches undergraduate courses for the Environmental Studies Department, including Ecololgy of South Florida and Intro to Environmental Science as well as working with Faculty members on applications of remote sensing and GIS to areas of environmental research.
Krishnaswamy (Jay) Jayachandran
Associate Professor, Graduate Director
Ph.D. Kansas State University 1991
Joint appointment with Southeast Environmental Research Center (SERC)
Dr. Jayachandran's research expertise is in the area of soil microbiology and soil science. His research focuses on microbial diversity and activity in surface and subsurface soils, pesticide degradation, transport, and potential groundwater contamination, physiology, biochemistry, molecular biology, and biological interactions of arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi with tropical plants including cultivated, native, and endangered species and possible restoration of the native species, nutrient cycling, primarily phosphorus, in wetlands (the Everglades), uplands (Pine rocklands), and agricultural systems, defining soil quality in relation to sustainable agriculture.
Stephen Leatherman, Professor
Ph.D. University of Virginia 1976
Director of the International Hurricane Research Center
Dr. Leatherman is an internationally recognized authority on coastal storm impacts, beach erosion, and the effects of sealevel rise. He has authored or edited 13 books and over 100 journal articles and technical reports on coastal issues. Dr. Leatherman has given expert testimony ten times to U.S. Congressional Committees and was the on-screen host and co-producer of the “Vanashing Lands” documentary film that won three international awards.
Hong Liu, Assistant Professor
Ph. D. Florida International University 2003
Joint appointment with the Center for Tropical Plant Conservation, Fairchild Tropical Botanic Garden.
Dr. Liu is an ecologist with research interests in invasive species biology and conservation ecology. Her research areas include plant mating systems, population viability analysis and plant-animal interactions (seed dispersal, insect pollination, and insect herbivory). Her current research addresses important environmental issues such as predicting horticultural plant naturalization, the ecological consequences of specialized invasive pollinator and invasive mutualism. She also interested in rare plant restoration, especially endangered orchids. She is currently leading several conservation and restoration research projects in a remote area in southwestern China where the first orchid nature preserve is situated. She teaches courses in restoration ecology and invasive species ecology.
Michael McClain, Associate Professor
Ph.D. University of Washington 1996
Joint international appointment with the UNESCO-IHE Institute for Water Education
Dr. McClain's interests lie in science and training to support integrated water resources management (IWRM). His specific interests lie in the science of environmental flows and ecosystem services provided by healthy river systems. He is Director of the Global Water for Sustainability (GLOWS) Program and works in developing countries around the world to plan and implement IWRM programs that balance the needs of people and ecosystems. Dr. McClain is responsible for the graduate certificate in Water, Environment & Development and teaches the foundation course for the certificate. He is based in Delft, The Netherlands.
Assefa Melesse, Associate Professor
Ph.D. University of Florida 2002
Dr. Melesse's areas of research include spatially distributed hydrologic modeling, ecohydrology, surface and groundwater interactions modeling, water-energy-carbon fluxes coupling and modeling, Non-Point Source modeling for Total Maximum Daily Load (TMDL) development and evaluation of Best Management Practices (BMPs), remote sensing hydrology employing data from various sensors, platforms and spectra, and land cover change detection and scaling. He is working on artificial neural networks and supports vector machines application to hydrology. Dr. Melesse is also a Professional Engineer registered in the State of Florida.
Pallab Mozumder, Assistant Professor
Ph.D. University of New Mexico 2005
Joint appointment with the International Hurricane Research Center
Dr. Mozumder’s research focuses on environmental and natural resource economics, coastal resource management and interdisciplinary approaches in addressing complex environmental issues. He is interested in understanding the human dimensions of environmental changes and mitigation of natural hazards and disasters. Understanding human behavior in the face of environmental changes and prudent decision-making in managing natural resources are recurrent themes of his research.
Jeff Onsted, Assistant Professor
Ph.D. University of California, Santa Barbara 2007
Joint appointment with Internetional Relations & Geography
Dr. Onsted’s research involves the geographic implications of human environment relations. In particular, he focuses on urban growth and land use / land cover change both in the forms they take and the impacts they have as well as the efficacy of policies instituted to mediate and regulate this change. His most current research examines the effectiveness of tax breaks for the long-term protection of agricultural land. He uses GIS software to understand these processes and cellular automata to model them into the future.
Jack Parker, Professor Emeritus
Ph.D. University of California - Berkeley 1969
Dr. Parker's research focuses on ecological landscaping, passive solar cooling, climate change mitigation, energy and resource conservation, environmental housing, energy policy and environmental education. He is particularly interested in applications in warm, humid climates and in less-developed countries. His work has also included the implementation of his research concepts in local community projects including environmental housing and ecological landscaping with Habitat for Humanity, campus sustainability, various greening projects in the inner city, and energy/environmental education programs. Dr. Parker teaches course in introductory environmental science, energy resources, global environmental issues and urban ecology.
Thomas Pliske, Lecturer Emeritus
Ph.D. Cornell University 1968
For 15 years Dr. Pliske researched the relationships of insects and plants in the tropical ecosystems of Guyana, Venuzuela and Ecuador and at the Archbold Biological Station in Florida. For the past twenty years he has devoted his energies to developing effective strategies of environmental education. He has pursued this both at the college level in his own courses and in his collaboration with educators worldwide to develop deep and positive experiences with nature in elementary school age children through curriculum design and teacher training programs. He teaches courses in Deep Ecology, Ecology of South Florida and Environmental Education.
Gary Rand, Professor
Ph.D. Texas A&M University 1976
Joint appointment with Southeast Environmental Research Center
For the past 20 years Dr. Rand has conducted laboratory and field studies on the fate and toxicological effects of pesticides, metals and hydrocarbons, on freshwater, saltwater, wetland and terrestrial ecosystems. He has conducted ecological risk assessments (ERAs) to evaluate impact to a variety of ecological receptors including aquatic organisms and birds/wildlife. Dr. Rand teaches graduate courses in ecotoxicology and ecological risk assessment. Dr. Rand is the Director of the Ecotoxicology Laboratory which is situated on the Biscayne Bay Campus of FIU.
Jennifer Rehage, Assistant Professor
Ph.D. University of Kentucky 2003
Dr. Rehage is an aquatic ecologist whose work focuses on examining how anthropogenic disturbance alters the nature of key ecological processes and mechanisms. Her research encompasses both biotic (i.e., non-indigenous species) and abiotic (i.e., hydrological regimes) alterations to aquatic and estuarine systems. Ongoing work examines the structuring role of hydrologic disturbance on aquatic communities, as well as the interacting effects of hydrological disturbance and non-indigenous species on native fish communities. She teaches courses in biotic resources and environmental resources and pollution.
Jim Riach, Lecturer
Ph.D. University of Georgia 2002
Dr. Riach's areas of interest spans the broad sets of relationships between the environment and health. He is particularly interested in the sociocultural and ecological linkages between globalization processes, land use change, and emergent health problems in tropical rainforest environments. He has conducted research in the Ecuadorian and Peruvian Amazon to document the impact of economically driven encroachment on the health status of local indigenous cultures. Dr. Riach is very interested in being able to apply the knowledge gained from his research to help develop successful and sustainable health intervention programs.
Michael Ross, Associate Professor
Ph.D. Virginia Tech 1982
Joint appointment with Southeast Environmental Research Center
Dr. Ross is the Director of the South Florida Terrestrial Ecosystem Laboratory. His general research interests are in the area of environmental controls on plant community composition and structure, the involvement of these controls in the successional process, and the implications of successional development on restoration efforts. His approach often incorporates large-scale field manipulations with pattern analysis based on “natural experiments”, usually arrayed along well-defined environmental gradients.
Raymond Scattone, Lecturer
Ph.D. University of Delaware 2003
Dr. Scattone's research interests are in the environmental, social and political dimensions of sustainable development, including analysis on both practical and theoretical levels. His research has centered on federal, state and local brownfields initiatives in the United States, as well as national and international energy policies and programs. He has examined these areas in accordance with environmental justice and sustainable development concerns. He is also very interested in looking at the role of the social scientist in contemporary society and the integration of science, technology, the environment and society.
Len Scinto, Assistant Professor
Ph.D. University of Florida 1997
Joint appointment with Southeast Environmental Research Center
Dr. Scinto's research focuses on the biogeochemistry of freshwater wetlands, especially the cycling and impacts of anthropogenic nutrients. He is particularly interested in physicochemical changes brought about by photosynthesis and respiration of cyanobacterial mats and the effects these changes have on the geochemistry of surface water. He is also interested in the functioning of algal/limestone systems for the removal of P from surface waters.
Keqi Zhang, Associate Professor
Ph.D. University of Maryland, 1998
Joint appointment with the International Hurricane Research Center
Dr. Zhang is the Co-Director of the Laboratory for Coastal Research at International Hurricane Center. His research interests are airborne LIDAR mapping, 3D visualization, GIS, hurricane vulnerability, and coastal erosion. He also conducts research on coastal changes in response to climate change, sea level rise, and human activity using GIS to formulate impact models so we can develop coastal zone sustainably.