This is a listing of older East-West Center events (newer listed first). See Events to get the list of current or upcoming events.
Brown Bag Seminar by Visiting Scholar Ashton Shortridge
The term coupled human and natural systems (CHANS) encompasses the intersections of human
beings and the environment. CHANS research recognizes that human activities and environmental
processes interact with one another, and that multidisciplinary scientific approaches are necessary to
study such systems, monitor and model the processes driving them, and forecast their trajectories,
perhaps under various policy contexts, into the future.
As a geographer with a focus on geocomputation, Dr. Shortridge is particularly interested in the
spatial dimensions of CHANS. Intersection of people, policies, and environmental processes plays out
within specific geographic contexts, and the challenges of measuring, monitoring, and modeling these
systems are fundamentally spatial. In this talk he will provide vignettes on three problems generally
concerned with coupled human and natural systems:
- Individual household decisions and their consequences for regional agricultural land use
change (Nang Rong, Thailand)
- Measuring the geographic intersections of humans and tigers (Chitwan, Nepal)
- Modeling spatial relationships between habitat change and conservation policy
(Wolong, China)
Ashton Shortridge is an associate professor in the Department of Geography at Michigan State University. One primary focus of his research is spatial analysis, including GIS/geocomputation and spatial statistics. He also conducts research on health geography policy and on digital elevation modeling and uncertainty. In addition he has summited the high points of most Midwestern states.