Environmental Science Research

Leslie Eldridge
My research and professional experience focuses on data-based and stakeholder-driven management and/or policy solutions to complex environmental problems. Most of my work has been in policy and legislation but focuses on synthesizing the relevant scientific, cultural and economic information while facilitating interest groups to reach a negotiated set of management changes. For example, my graduate research and later professional work focused on how to reduce commercial shipping impacts on endangered whales off the coast of California. Management solutions were informed by a stakeholder group of marine biologists and ecologists, acousticians, environmental advocacy groups, federal and state government agencies, and shipping industry representatives. I am especially interested in exploring ways to bring traditionally oppositional sides together to realize environmental, economic and social/cultural benefits.

John Gutrich
My current research addresses ecological-economic modeling of control efforts for Rapid Ohia Death (from Ceratocystis sp.) in the Hawaiian islands. My research interests include ecological and environmental economics, environmental justice, sustainable development, global climate change, watershed management, invasive species control, wetland ecology and management, and ecosystem modeling. My research efforts have addressed optimal forest management and the value of carbon sequestration in New Hampshire forests, the sustainable use of upland forested watersheds in Hawaii, invasive species control, valuation of non-market ecosystem goods and services, restoration wetland ecology, ecological and economic risks of marine transgenic organisms and cost-effective economic approaches considering federal antidegradation requirements for rivers.

Hima Hassenruck-Gudipati
I am a geomorphologist focused on understanding how landscapes evolve in response to environmental change. My research emphasizes the integration of physical and climatic factors to explore how landscapes—particularly rivers, deltas, and wetlands—respond to key drivers like sea-level rise, changing precipitation patterns, and human impacts. I investigate upland watershed responses to climate change, the evolution of river channels due to tectonics and sediment transport, and the interactions between sediment and hydrology that shape estuarine ecosystems. By combining fieldwork, remote sensing, and numerical modeling, I aim to close knowledge gaps in Earth surface processes over varying spatial and temporal scales.

Karen Mager
Karen’s research aims to improve the management and conservation of mammals by providing scientific knowledge of wildlife populations. Her research on caribou investigates how historical population dynamics and landscape features shape the genetic diversity and connectivity of caribou herds in Alaska and the Yukon. Her research has contributed to delineation of conservation units in caribou and, in combination with local indigenous knowledge research, had identified evidence of hybridization between domestic reindeer. In southern Oregon, she works with a coalition of partners to monitor wildlife along the Interstate 5 corridor in order to plan for construction of a new wildlife overpass and to evaluate its effectiveness. From small mammal live-trapping to beaver monitoring and non-invasive DNA sampling, she loves to train undergraduates in field research methods.

Vincent Smith
My research explores the complex interactions between human behavior and ecosystem function. I employ tools from environmental sociology, human ecology, agroecology, and sustainability science to better understand how to promote human behaviors that benefit ecosystem function. I am currently conducting research in two areas. First, I work with the Rogue Valley Food System Network to explore the impact of the cannabis industry on the region’s food system and environment. Second, I am working with collaborators in Mexico to assess the economic and ecological impacts of macroalgae formation in the Caribbean. In addition, I have recently co-authored a USDA grant to explore regenerative cover cropping and tillage in test plots at The Farm at SOU. I welcome interested undergraduate students to work with me as research assistants.

Jamie Trammell
I am a landscape ecologist interested in modeling landscape change with an explicit focus on the integration of socioeconomic and biophysical drivers. I am particularly interested in modeling alternative futures in order to better understand how various landscape drivers combine to determine the future conditions of both terrestrial and aquatic systems. I continually work to translate disparate data sources (from climate to social to economic to ecological) into a common geospatial framework for landscape-level analyses, and I have experience in modeling aquatic and terrestrial systems within a GIS to facilitate visualization and communication.

Chhaya Werner
I study how disturbances such as drought and fire interact to shape our forests, grasslands, and chaparral ecosystems, and how interactions between plant species drive community responses to disturbance. My work includes post-fire regeneration in burned conifer forests, interactions between species in grassland restoration settings, and riparian restoration from small mountain meadows to the Klamath River dam removals.