Hawes Research Group · University of Wyoming
Human-Environmental
Systems Lab
Sustainability · Resilience · Justice
Welcome to the Hawes Lab
The Human-Environmental Systems Research Group studies sustainability, resilience, and justice in coupled natural-human systems. We are based at the University of Wyoming, where Jake Hawes is jointly appointed in the School of Computing and the Haub School of Environment and Natural Resources.
Our work draws on computing, geography, and engineering to understand how built, natural, and social systems interact — and how thoughtful design and policy can promote more equitable and resilient outcomes. Meet the team →
Research Areas
Smart Communities
Smart Rural Places
Exploring the role of smart systems and AI in rural places and small towns
Resilience
Infrastructure Resilience
Resilient and sustainable infrastructure in rural and remote areas
Hazards & Modeling
CLIMES
Collaborative modeling of hazard impacts on social-ecological-economic systems
Sustainability
Circular Economy
Research on circular economy principles and their application to sustainable systems
Food Security
Food Systems
Research on sustainable and resilient food systems
News & Updates
- May 2026 — What would it actually take to scale up urban farming?
A recurring tension in debates about urban agriculture is the question of scale. Advocates argue that urban farming could play a meaningf... - April 2026 — What does 'circular' actually mean when we're talking about cities?
Circular economy has achieved near-universal approval as an idea while remaining frustratingly difficult to define. Everyone — industries... - March 2025 — The case for investing in urban farming at the federal level
Cities across the country are home to farms and gardens producing food, building community, and greening urban landscapes. And yet federa... - July 2024 — What do we actually know about what urban agriculture does?
A few years back, colleagues and I set out on the FEW-meter project — a multi-country effort to systematically measure what actually goes... - March 2024 — Does urban farming actually reduce carbon emissions?
One of the questions I get asked most often — at conferences, after talks, from journalists — is whether urban agriculture is actually go...