The Department of Geography and Environmental Management is very pleased to welcome two new faculty members to the department to support the new Masters in Climate Change (MCC) program.
Dr. Sarah Burch received her PhD in Resource Management and Environmental Studies from the University of British Columbia in 2009. Most recently, Dr. Burch held a Banting Postdoctoral Research Fellow in Sustainability Governance at the Centre for Interactive Research on Sustainability at UBC, and was a Visiting Research Associate at the University of Oxford’s Environmental Change Institute. Her research focuses on understanding responses to climate change, including both adaptation and mitigation, in urban settings. Dr. Burch explores transitions toward more sustainable development pathways, and strategies for engaging a variety of actors in conversations about desirable futures. Dr. Burch will be supporting the department’s new MCC program by teaching courses and advising students in the human adaptation and mitigation aspects of climate change.
Dr. Rich Petrone returns to UW after 11 years, having completed his PhD in Geography here in 2002. Since graduating from Waterloo, Dr. Petrone has been an Associate Professor in the Department of Geography and Environmental Studies at Wilfred Laurier University. He was also the director of the Cold Regions Research Centre at WLU. Dr. Petrone’s research is focused on understanding soil, vegetation, and atmosphere interactions as they are influenced by climatic and hydrologic conditions in the Canadian boreal forest. Dr. Petrone has considerable experience in the supervision of graduate students and field based research. Dr. Petrone will be supporting the department’s new MCC program by teaching courses and advising students on the physical science aspects of climate change.