News & Events

Erin Siebert, MSES student, and Steve Goldsmith, Associate Professor of Environmental Science, discuss their research in Puerto Rico. Read more here. 

Jen grew up exploring the woods of northern New Jersey and attended Hamilton College, where she earned her BA in Environmental Studies. After completing her Master of Forestry (MF) and Master of Environmental Management (MEM) degrees from Duke University, she worked for several years as a forestry and GIS consultant in the southeast. Before beginning her PhD at the University of Vermont, Jen taught two GIS courses at Lake Superior State University, which solidified her love of teaching. In her free time, Jen spends as much time as she can outdoors hiking, kayaking, and gardening.

Currently, Jen is in the final stages of her PhD studies in UVM’s Applied Forest Ecology lab. Her research combines field work and spatial modeling, and broadly focuses on modeling the long-term outcomes of adaptive forest management in northeastern forests. Her other research interests center around the interaction between humans and forests, and include modeling species habitat, mapping invasive forests pests, and examining the adaptive capacity of urban forests.

Jen is excited to share her passion for maps, trees, and GIS with Villanova students. This fall, she is teaching two GIS courses in the department of Geography and the Environment and is looking forward to exploring additional topics connecting GIS and environmental science with her students. With the start of the semester right around the corner, Jen is thrilled to be joining the GEV department and the Villanova community.

Shakya, K.M., Rupakheti, M., Shahi, A., Maskey, R., Pradhan, B., Panday, A., Puppala, S.P., Lawrence, M., Peltier, R.E. (2017). Near-road sampling of PM2.5, BC, and fine-particle chemical components in Kathmandu Valley, Nepal. Atmospheric Chemistry and Physics 17: 6503-6516.

Shakya, K.M., Peltier, R.E., Shrestha, H., Byanju, R.M. (2017). Measurements of TSP, PM10, PM2.5, BC, and PM chemical composition from an urban residential location in Nepal. Atmospheric Pollution Research. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.apr.2017.05.002.

Haase, D., Kabisch, S., Haase, A., Andersson, E., Banzhaf, E., Baró, F., Brenck, M., Kremer P., Wolff, M. (2017). Greening cities – To be socially inclusive? About the alleged paradox of society and ecology in cities. Habitat International, 64, 3, 41-48. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.habitatint.2017.04.005

Gittleman, M., Farmer, C. J. Q., Kremer, P., & McPhearson, T. (2016). Estimating stormwater runoff for community gardens in New York City. Urban Ecosystems, 5. http://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s11252-016-0575-8

Hamstead Z., Kremer P., Larondelle N., McPhearson T., Hasse D. (2016). Classification of the heterogeneous structure of urban landscapes (STURLA) as an indicator of landscape function applied to surface temperature in New York City. Ecological Indicators. 70:574-585. http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.ecolind.2015.10.014

Grant Award: The National Science Foundation funded the Plum Island Ecosystem Long Term Ecological Research (PIE-LTER) project, with Dr. Nat Weston as a principal investigator.  This is a large ($6.7 million) project with multiple investigators that work to understand impacts of land-use change and climate change on the Plum Island, MA ecosystem. Dr. Weston’s work is focused on understanding salt-marsh response to sea-level rise, which is driven largely by carbon cycling and sediment dynamics in the marsh-estuarine system.

Grant Award: Dr. Lisa Rodrigues has received $540,092.00 from the National Science Foundation, Division of Integrative Organismal Systems to assess the physiological and molecular implications of coral bleaching on coral reproduction.  This study is a collaborative award with Jacqueline Padilla-Gamino and Brook Nunn from the University of Washington ($1,055,010.00).  The three-year funded study will use isotopic tracers to assess carbon and nitrogen pathways in corals to better understand how changing climatic conditions affects coral physiology, ultimately coral reproduction. 

Grant Award:  Drs. Peleg Kremer and Kabin Shakya were awarded a summer grant from the Associate Vice Provost for Research to support their project titled, Spatial Variability of Air Pollution In Philadelphia during summer 2017.  The study aims to investigate the spatial distribution of particulate air pollution (PM2.5) and noise pollution in Philadelphia by using mobile monitoring.

Grant Award:  The Alberta Environment and Parks have awarded $1,046,562 CAD to Dr. R. Kelman Wieder (Biology) and Dr. Melanie Vile to support their research titled, Oil Sands Wetlands Ecosystem Monitoring Network Design (B-MD-10-1718): Atmospheric Deposition Effects on Peatland Ecosystem Biogeochemistry Response Component.”

Society Election: Dr. Lisa Rodrigues was elected by her peers to serve as a Councilor to the International Society for Coral Reef Studies.  This is the leading scholarly organization in her field. 

Keynote Address:  In August 2017, Dr. Melanie Vile and colleagues Mika Schlesinger and Hope Fillingim were invited to give a keynote presentation, titled “Digging Deeper to Explore Linkages between Methane and N Cycling in Boreal Peatlands: Do N₂-fixers like it better on top?” at BIOGEOMON, the 9^th International Conference on Ecosystem Behavior in Litomšyl, Czech Republic.