Interviews

Sarah Anderson is an Associate Professor at the Bren School of Environmental Science & Management at the University of California, Santa Barbara. She has three main research agendas: 1) the role of political parties in influencing policy outcomes; 2) the effect of bureaucratic delegation on policy implementation; and 3) the mobilization of the public for environmental action. Her current research focuses on how the public drives agencies’ wildfire prevention and why legislators don’t compromise. She believes deep disciplinary knowledge and exposure to other disciplines are keys to fostering interdisciplinary experience for her students. She is a member of the Grizzly Group, and interdisciplinary project researching grizzly bear reintroduction to California.

Dr. Susannah Porter is a professor in the Earth Science department of UCSB. She researches early evolution and radiation of eukaryotes and its relationship to environmental change, and the fossil record of the earliest skeletal animals. Dr. Porter believes incorporating the history of science into teaching is just as important as teaching the science, because it makes it relatable and inspires students to pursue their own research that may lead to new discoveries.

Dr. Stanley Awramik is an associate professor in the Earth Science department at UCSB. His research interests center on understanding the early history of life on Earth, with a major focus on the fossil record during the Archean and Proterozoic, specifically on microbial fossils and stromatolites.

Dr. Naomi Tague is an associate professor at the Bren School of Environmental Science and Management and an ecohydrologist. Her research interests include the interactions between hydrologic and ecosystem processes, and how they change with climate and land use. She uses a model to answer research questions regarding ecosystem health and hydrologic patterns. Dr. Tague practices interdisciplinary work in several areas - she is a principal investigator on the SERI fire project, which focuses on the impacts of wildfires on ecosystems and society, and the UCSB Crossroads project on visualizing environmental models.

Dr. James Frew is an associate professor at UCSB’s Bren School of Environmental Science and Management. He teaches environmental informatics, which synthesizes computer and earth sciences, and GIS. His experiences in interdisciplinary work began in the Geography department at UCSB, where social and physical sciences united through spatial theory and using maps for organizing knowledge. In a room full of computer scientists and physical earth scientists he was once referred to as the “Rosetta Stone” of their interdisciplinary project. Frew is currently a principal investigator on the UCSB Crossroads interdisciplinary project for Visualizing Environmental Models.

Dr. Bruce Kendall is a Professor at the Bren School of Environmental Science and Management. His research involves studying population dynamics using models, analysis of abundance, and demographic data. He combines his research with the applied fields of conservation science and management of harvested populations. Dr. Kendall is a principal investigator on a UCSB Crossroads grant studying the ecological and social aspects of reintroducing grizzly bears to California. He is passionate about solving environmental problems that combine perspectives from multiple disciplines, and passes that forward as a teacher and mentor in the Bren School.