Projects

In a rapidly changing world, we are confronted with the challenge of simultaneously planning for food-energy-water systems and communities that are more environmentally responsible, more resilient to change, and more welcoming for residents. These outcomes, from the scale of individuals to regions, are shaped by assemblages of resource-provisioning infrastructures, institutions, and ecosystems. However, environmental, economic, and social outcomes are difficult to assess in parallel, leaving us with key questions about their complementarity. Specifically, to what degree can transformation of built, social, and natural systems promote synergies between desirable outcomes in coupled natural-human systems? To what degree are tradeoffs inevitable? And how can we better measure and predict these tradeoffs and synergies in order to design and plan for a better future?

Our research and teaching address the challenge of planning and designing systems to be more resilient to natural hazards and in sync with natural and social systems. We are interdisciplinary scholars of coupled natural-human systems, drawing on theory and methods from planning, geography, and engineering. This work focuses on understanding coupled natural-human systems outcomes across scales. To do this, we study the built, natural, and social structures which shape these outcomes, pointing us towards design and planning interventions for some of our stickiest social-environmental crises. Our ongoing work is examing urban agriculture, critical infrastructure, and housing, among other topics. Past and ongoing research has been supported by NSF, USDA, and Sea Grant.

The lab is led by Jake Hawes, Assistant Professor of Computing and Environment at the University of Wyoming. Jake is co-appointed between the School of Computing and Haub School of Environment and Natural Resources and can supervise MS students in either program. Prior to Jake's time in Laramie, he earned his PhD from the University of Michigan School of Environment and Sustainability. He also earned a bachelor's degree in Environmental and Ecological Engineering and a master’s degree in Natural Resources Social Science, both from Purdue University. For more information on Jake's research, teaching, and other professional interests, see specific topic areas below. Please feel free to reach out with questions about this work or if you'd like to chat about current and future research direction.


Current research projects and topics:
In-development - Please check back soon or reach out to jhawes@uwyo.edu with questions.