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I'm a geographer interested in complex environmental science: the integration of biophysical science, social science, and information science to solve environmental problems. In particular, my research addresses global environmental change in local places--that is, how people and the places in which they live contribute to global environmental changes and how global environmental change affects people and places.
Current Research Areas:
General topics:
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E-mail: alibar@essc.psu.edu
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View Brent's curriculum vitae
Researchers in the Human-Environment Regional Observatories (HERO) project (funded by the National Science Foundation and NOAA) are developing ways--including the use of geographic information science--to study the local causes and consequences of global environmental change. HERO is a consortium involving geographers from Penn State, Clark University, Kansas State University, and the University of Arizona.
The Mid-Atlantic Regional Assessment (MARA) project was part of the National Assessment of Climate Change and funded by the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA). I worked on establishing the patterns of regional climatic variation and change in the region and their impacts on freshwater resources. The Consortium for Atlantic Regional Assessment (CARA), also funded by EPA, followed MARA. CARA is working with stakeholders to assess vulnerabilities to climate variation and change in selected sites. I have worked on the vulnerability of Cape May County, New Jersey and Hampton Roads, Virginia to the interactions of storm surges, sea-level rise, and coastal development.
The Global Change in Local Places (GCLP) project (funded by NASA and sponsored by the Association of American Geographers) determined the bundle of greenhouse gases (GHGs) emitted from various places, the socioeconomic forces driving these emissions, and the potential of mitigating the emissions. I was part of the Penn State team that put together the Central Pennsylvania contribution. Following that work, I helped produce an inventory of GHG emissions for the state of Pennsylvania. I also helped produce a GHG emissions inventory for Penn State and develop a mitigation action plan for the campus.
The Center for Integrated Regional Assessment (CIRA) was founded in 1996 to facilitate integrated human-environment research and education on global change at regional and local scales. CIRA is an inter-college and inter-university community that operates under the auspices of the Earth and Environmental Systems Institute. I am the current Director of CIRA.
Brent was recently honored as
"First Architect of the Geoscope"
United States Geological Survey: Current and Future Vulnerability of Maui County, Hawai'i to Climate Variation and Change (2005-2006; B Yarnal, PI)
National Science Foundation (with additional support from NOAA): Infrastructure to Develop a Human-Environment Regional Observatory (HERO) Network (2000-2006; B Yarnal, PI).
National Science Foundation: The Human-Environment Regional Observatories Research Experiences for Undergraduates Site (2002-2003, 2003-2006; B Yarnal, PI).
Environmental Protection Agency: Consortium for Atlantic Regional Assessment (2003-2006; A Fisher, PI).
Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection: Greenhouse Gas Emissions Inventory for Pennsylvania (2001-2002; B Yarnal and A Rose, PIs).
National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration: Decision-Making and Long-Lead Climate Forecasts: A Case Study in Community Water System Management (1999-2004; B Yarnal, PI).
Edited books, and edited special journal issues
Association of American Geographers Global Change in Local Places Research Group, Editors. Global Change in Local Places: Estimating, Understanding, and Reducing Greenhouse Gases. 2003, Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, England.
B Yarnal, Guest Editor. (2002) CLIMAS: Climate Assessment for the Southwest. Climate Research 21 (3), CR SPECIAL 12.
B Yarnal, LS Kalkstein, and JD Scheraga, Guest Editors. (2002) Mid-Atlantic Regional Assessment of Climate Change Impacts. Climate Research 14 (3), CR SPECIAL 7.
Refereed journal articles:
L Rygel, B Yarnal, and A Fisher (in press). Vulnerability of Hampton Roads, Virginia to storm-surge flooding and sea-level rise. Natural Hazards.
AM MacEachren, W Pike, C Yu, I Brewer, M Gahegan, SD Weaver, and B Yarnal (in press). Building a geocollaboratory: Supporting Human-Environment Regional Observatory (HERO) collaborative science activities. Computers, Environment and Urban Systems.
L Rygel, D O'Sullivan, and B Yarnal (in press). A method for constructing a social vulnerability index: An application to hurricane storm surges in a developed country. Mitigation and Adaptations Strategies for Global Change.
R O'Connor, B Yarnal, K Dow, CS Jocoy, and G Carbone (2005). Feeling at-risk matters: Water managers and the decision to use forecasts. Risk Analysis 25,1265-1275.
A Rose, R Neff, B Yarnal, and H Greenberg. A greenhouse gas emissions inventory for Pennsylvania (2005). Journal of the Air and Waste Management Association 55,1122-1113.
W Pike, B Yarnal, A MacEachren, M Gahegan, and C Yu. Retooling collaboration: A vision for environmental change research (2005). Environment 47 (2), 8-21.
B Yarnal, and R Neff. Wither parity? The need for a comprehensive curriculum in human-environment geography (2004). The Professional Geographer 56, 28-36.
B Yarnal, RE O'Connor, and R Shudak (2003). "The impact of local versus national framing on willingness to reduce greenhouse gas emissions: A case study from central Pennsylvania". Local Environment 8, 457-469.
Book chapters:
D Liverman, B Yarnal, and BL Turner II (2003). "Human Dimensions of Global Change." In: Geography in America at the Turn of the 21st Century, G Gaille and C Willmott, editors, Oxford University Press, Oxford, England, 267-282.
A Denny, B Yarnal, C Polsky, and S Lachman (2003). "Global change and Central Pennsylvania: Local re-sources and impacts of mitigation." In: Global Change in Local Places: Estimating, Understanding, and Reducing Greenhouse Gases, Association of American Geographers Global Change in Local Places Research Group, editors, Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, England, 122-140.
WE Easterling, C Polsky, D Goodin, M Mayfield, WA Muraco, and B Yarnal (2003). "Changing places and changing emissions: Comparing local, state, and United States emissions." In: Global Change in Local Places: Estimating, Understanding, and Reducing Greenhouse Gases, Association of American Geographers Global Change in Local Places Research Group, editors, Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, England, 143-157.
CG Knight, S Cutter, J DeHart, A Denny, D Howard, S-L Kaktins, DE Kromm, SE White, and B Yarnal (2003). "Reducing greenhouse gas emissions: Learning from local analogs." In: Global Change in Local Places: Estimating, Understanding, and Reducing Greenhouse Gases, Association of American Geographers Global Change in Local Places Research Group, editors, Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, England, 192-213.
Introductory Course:
Landforms of the World (Geography 115)
Advanced Undergraduate Course:
Climate Change and Variation (Geography 432W)
Service Learning Course:
Centre County Community Energy Project (Geography 497K; co-taught with H Greenberg)
Recent Graduate Seminars:
Vulnerability to environmental change
Land-use and land-cover change
Drivers of greenhouse-gas emissions
Greenhouse-gas emissions inventories
Nyalladzi Batisani, a native of Botswana, is a PhD student interested in land-use/land-cover change. Nyali's dissertation focuses on multi-scalar LULCC modeling in Centre County, PA.
Tim Frazier hails from Arkansas and is a PhD student interested in environmental hazards, environmental change, and coastal development. Tim is working on the intersection of these issues in Maui County, Hawai'i.
Sarah Knuth is from Edinboro, PA. Sarah is working with stakeholders in Montgomery County, PA--a major suburban hub of Philadelphia--to develop a greenhouse-gas emissions inventory and mitigation action plan.
Tania Lopez is a PhD student from Puerto Rico. Tania is interested in human vulnerability to natural hazards and ways to understand that vulnerability visually. Her research focuses on two villages in coastal Puerto Rico.
Jessica Whitehead is a PhD student developing scenarios to assess the capacity of organizations to adapt to climate variation and change. Jess is working with water managers in Centre County, PA.
Former Students (2000s)
Rob Neff (PhD 2005) studied greenhouse-gas emissions patterns from transportation in the Philadelphia metropolitan region, emphasizing historical socioeconomic processes underlying those patterns. Rob is an Assistant Professor of Geography at the University of Maryland, Baltimore County.
Brandi Nagle (MS 2005) helped the Penn State campus develop a greenhouse-gas mitigation action plan. Brandi manages the CARA (Consortium for Atlantic Regional Assessment) research project.
Tim Frazier (MS 2005) addressed issues of coastal development and hurricane evacuation in Charleston, South Carolina. Tim is a PhD student at Penn State.
Lisa Rygel (MS 2004) modeled the current and future vulnerability of Virginia's Hampton Roads metropolitan region to hurricane storm surge. Lisa is a GIS instructor for ESRI.
Christopher Steuer (MS 2004) compiled the greenhouse-gas emissions inventory of the Penn State University Park campus. Chris works for ICF Consulting on the U.S. greenhouse-gas emissions inventory.
Amy Heasley (MS 2004) determined the perceived vulnerability of large water-system managers to climate variation and change. Amy is a Peace Corps volunteer.
Rachel Kurtz (PhD 2003) used remote sensing and carbon modeling to analyze regional carbon fluxes from land-use and land-cover change. Rachel works at the USGS EROS Data Center on the Landsat team.
Steven Lachman (PhD 2003) evaluated the environmental sustainability of two small metropolitan regions--State College, PA and Burlington, VT. Steve is a lawyer in Altoona, PA and teaches geography on the side.
Mark Read (MS 2002) addressed associations between Mid-Atlantic regional streamflow and the North Atlantic Oscillation. He is a major in the Army who taught in the U.S. Military Academy's Department of Geography and Environmental Engineering from 2002-2005.
William Pike (MS 2001) modeled water quality violations using Bayesian expert systems. He obtained his PhD from the Department of Geography and now works at Pacific Northwest National Laboratory.
Robin Shudak (MS 2000) studied the impact of ENSO on severe tornado formation in the south-central Great Plains. Robin works at the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency headquarters in Washington, DC.
Christopher Ryan (M.S. 2000) regionalized American perceptions of greenhouse-gas emissions and global warming. Before circumnavigating the globe to photograph its wonders, he worked as environmental lobbyist on Capitol Hill. Chris is currently an instructor at the University of California at Santa Cruz and a free-lance photographer and writer.