The University of Waterloo Faculty of Environment is very pleased to welcome Derek Robinson and Peter Johnson to the Department of Geography and Environmental Management.
Derek Robinson completed a PhD at the University of Michigan, and was a post-doctoral fellow at the University of Edinburgh before coming to Waterloo. Derek’s research interests focus on land use, land management, and the carbon cycle. Derek uses agent-based modelling as an approach to integrate GIS, ecological, and human decision-making models to evaluate the socioeconomic contexts and policy scenarios that influence changes to land use and land cover, ecological function and the provision of ecosystem services, and human well-being.
Peter Johnson arrives in our department after completing his PhD and post-doctoral studies at McGill University. Peter’s research focuses on the development and evaluation of several geospatial technologies, including agent-based models (ABM), geographic information systems (GIS), and the Geospatial Web 2.0 (Geoweb), to determine how they can be used to facilitate better planning decisions. Peter is interested in how these tools are used by different types of people. For example, some of his recent research has looked at how web-based geospatial information tools have been used by community watershed management organizations.
Students who are interested in learning more about the research programs are invited to contact Dr. Robinson or Dr. Johnson directly.