Research Scientists and Faculty Affiliates

The group’s research faculty and scientists lead their own lines of inquiry while collaborating across USRG projects and mentoring doctoral, master’s, and undergraduate researchers.

Education

• 2018 Ph.D., Geography, University of the Aegean
• 2012 M.Sc., Applied Geo-Informatics, University of the Aegean
• 2009 B.A., Forestry and Management of the Natural Environment, International Hellenic University
  
• Expertise: Land change dynamics, remote sensing, spatial analysis, simulation modeling, geospatial AI.

Biography

Jim’s research spans the theoretical and applied dimensions of land change, the interplay of proximate and underlying driving forces, the multiple scales involved, and the role and effectiveness of planning and policy. He has a background in forestry and applied geo-informatics, and was awarded a Ph.D. in geography for his dissertation on multi-scale simulation modeling of land use and land cover change.

His current work in the group applies geospatial artificial intelligence and remote sensing to critical mineral supply chains, freshwater security, and environmental health. He is co-investigator on SAGE, a scalable GeoAI framework for mapping lithium mines, and contributes to projects on water security in the Indo-Pacific and coastal change in Michigan.

He has published in Nature Climate Change, Communications Earth & Environment, Scientific Reports, Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, Environmental Research Letters, Landscape Ecology, Applied Geography, and Science of the Total Environment, among other journals.

Education

• 2022 Ph.D., Urban Planning, Harvard University
• 2016 M.Sc., Urban Studies, University College London
• 2014 B.Soc.Sci. (Hons), Environmental and Geographical Science, University of Cape Town
• 2013 B.A., Environmental and Geographical Studies and Media and Writing, University of Cape Town
  
• Expertise: Mining and urbanization, informal labour and housing, governance, informal sustainability.

Biography

Brandon conducts mixed-methods research on mining and urbanization, focusing on informal and unregulated labour, housing, and governance. His work proceeds from the recognition that unregistered labour constitutes the predominant form of economic activity worldwide, and that informal housing is a defining feature of global urbanization. Sustainability scholarship has largely overlooked these modes of urban and economic life, producing development and sustainability models that fail to account for some of the world’s most vulnerable people, places, and environments.

He is establishing a new subfield under the theme of informal sustainability, which treats informality as a livelihood and housing strategy that enables survival and upward mobility while examining its tensions with sustainability outcomes. To that end he leads the Informal Sustainability Lab at the University of Michigan.

His current work assesses the role of artisanal and small-scale cobalt miners in the Democratic Republic of Congo and the intersection of electronic waste and urbanization in Accra, Ghana.

Faculty Affiliate

Faculty in other University of Michigan units who collaborate with the group and co-supervise its researchers.

Education

• 2017 Ph.D., Management Engineering, Technical University of Denmark
• 2012 M.Sc., Environmental Engineering, Technical University of Denmark
• 2007 B.A.Sc., Chemical Engineering, University of Toronto
  
• Expertise: Sustainable systems, climate and energy, food systems, cities, mobility and the built environment.

Biography

Ben’s work focuses on the sustainable production, procurement, and consumption of food, fuels, and fibres, using tools from industrial ecology, geography, and engineering to quantify and map the relationships between urban processes and environmental change at bioresource production sites within cities and far beyond their borders. His research domains include agroforestry products in Southeast Asia, livestock production systems in North and Central America, and the urban centres that drive demand for them.

He was a postdoctoral fellow with the group from 2018 to 2020, continues to collaborate with it, and co-chairs a current USRG doctoral committee.