Experiencing Drought in the Grasslands of the American West

Jacqueline Vadjunec, Ph.D.

Principal Investigator

Jackie is an Professor in the Department of Geography and Environmental Sustainability at the University of Oklahoma. Her interests include environmental governance; common or mixed (public-private) property/ natural resource management; land use and livelihoods of traditional agricultural communities in the Americas; and participatory and mixed research methods. Jackie teaches a variety of human-environment related undergraduate and graduate courses.

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Todd Fagin, Ph.D.

Principal Investigator

Todd is a geographical ecologist at the Center for Spatial Analysis, University of Oklahoma. His interests include land systems science; land use/land cover change; historical vegetation reconstructions; biogeography and landscape ecology; habitat fragmentation; geographic information systems; and remote sensing. Todd is also affiliate faculty in the Department of Geography and Environmental Sustainability at the University of Oklahoma and an adjunct professor at Oklahoma City Community College.

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Michael Larson

Manager Geospatial Systems, OSU Cartography Services

Mike is the Manager of Geospatial Systems at OSU's Cartography Services. His interests include GIS and cartography.

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Kate Zeigler, Ph.D.

Groundwater Researcher

Kate is the owner of and senior staff geologist at Zeigler Geologic Consulting, LLC, a small woman-owned geologic consulting company based in Albuquerque, NM. Kate has served as a co-PI an several projects, including ARID and Fostering Education and Groundwater Management.

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Brian Birchler

Graduate Research Assistant

Brian is a MS student at Oklahoma State University in the Department of Geography. Brian is interested in participatory mapping and participatory Geographic Information Systems (PGIS). Brian is studying the spatial vulnerability of drought, as well as the ways in which technology can help to foster resilience.

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Georgina Belem Carrasco Galvan

Graduate Research Assistant

Gina is a PhD. student at University of Oklahoma in the Department of Geography and Environmental Sustainability. Gina is interested in the Human Dimensions of Global Environmental Change, Cultural and Political Ecology, and Energy and Environment. She wants to better understand the influence of energy use in agriculture and how it affects agriculturalists' resilience and adaptations to drought.

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Lanah Mae Hinsdale

Graduate Research Assistant

Lanah was an undergraduate research assistant at the Center for Spatial Analysis, University of Oklahoma in 2023. In January 2024, she became an MS student and graduate research assistant at the University of Oklahoma in the Department of Geography and Environmental Sustainability. Lanah’s interests include environmental sustainability through community engagement and participatory mapping.

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Abby Curry

Undergraduate Research Assistant, 2023-Present

Abby is an undergraduate research assistant in the Department of Geography at Oklahoma State University. Abby is interested in seasonal groundwater sustainability practices during drought.

Brenda Phillips, Ph.D.

Former Co-Principal Investigator

Brenda is the Dean of the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences at Indian University South Bend. Her interests include emergency management, social vulnerability, community adaptation, disaster recovery, and women and disasters. Brenda serves in a senior mentoring capacity on the project.

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Nicole Colston, Ph.D.

Research Faculty

Nicole is a former post-doctoral research fellow in the Department of Geography at Oklahoma State University. Her interests include environmental science, environmental education, citizen science, and environmental communication. She is currently research faculty in Natural Resource Ecology & Management and Oklahoma Water Resources Center at Oklahoma State University.

Project website: Spotty Rain

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Amy Frazier, Ph.D.

Professor

Amy is a professor and the Dangermond Chair of Conservation Science at University of California Santa Barbara. Her research interests include landscape ecology, remote sensing, geographic information systems (GIS), and unmanned aerial systems (UAS). In particular, she investigates how methods and techniques developed in these fields can be used to examine issues related to scale and scaling. Amy teaches a variety of undergraduate and graduate classes in geospatial techniques including remote sensing and applications of GIS for natural resource management.

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Peter Kedron, Ph.D.

Associate Professor

Peter is School of Geographical Sciences and Urban Planning at Arizona State University. His interests include economic geography, socio-ecological interaction, and spatial analysis/statistics. Peter's serves as a project collaborator examining how interactions between patterns and processes of land use vary with geographic differences in governance.

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Austin Boardman

Graduate Research Assistant, 2018-2019

Austin was a MS student at Oklahoma State University in the Department of Geography. Austin's interests included biogeograpy, landscape ecology, GIS, and remote sensing (sUAS). Austin studied land use/land cover change dynamics during periods of drought. Austin is currently a data analyst with Gitwit.

Amy Graham

Graduate Research Assistant, 2016-2018

Amy was a Ph.D. student at Oklahoma State University in the Department of Geography. Amy is interested in better understanding how gender influences drought perceptions, as well as understanding how drought impacts both men and women differently.

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Fernanda Ramirez Saenz

Graduate Research Assistant, 2016-2019

Fernanda was a Ph.D. student at Oklahoma State University in the Department of Geography. Fernanda explored the differentials in access to funds, information, and resources by gender among agriculturalists. Fernanda studies how these differences affect their vulnerability and resilience in facing climate hazards.

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Maria Sol Ramirez Saenz

Graduate Research Assistant, 2018-2019

Maria was a Ph.D. student at Oklahoma State University in the Department of Geography. Maria interests included in small agricultural communities, agricultural policy, environmental vulnerability, and the communication process between government and farmers and ranchers in times of drought.

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Kathryn Wenger

Graduate Research Assistant, 2016-2017

Kathryn was a MS student at Oklahoma State University in the Department of Geography. Kathryn studied the growth of Center Pivot Irrigation (CPI) in the region since the 1960s. She is interested in better understanding how CPI makes land managers more or less vulnerable to drought events.

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Teddy Breig

Undergraduate GIS Technician, 2015-2016

Teddy was a Cartographic Technician at Oklahoma State University's Cartography Services.

David Dosher

Undergraduate Research Assistant, 2023

David was an undergraduate research assistant at the Center for Spatial Analysis and a recent graduate from the David is currently employed as a GIS Technician. His study interests are high alpine climate land cover change and monitoring alpine glacier loss.

Alex Holland

Undergraduate Research Assistant, 2015-2017

Alex was an undergraduate research assistant in the Department of Geography and Environmental Sustainability at the University of Oklahoma.