Testing what we think we know, so we can change the world

Space and place matter when we study things that happen in the world. My group is working to find better ways to design research, accumulate evidence, and put that evidence to use.

Reproducibility and Replicability

Grants (BCS-2049837)

Reproductions and replications are needed because the evidence they provide supports or calls into question existing findings. Without these error correcting mechanisms in operation, a discipline consists of scattered hypotheses and insufficiently supported generalizations. While several fields have moved reproductions and replications forward on their research agendas, geography is only beginning to address these issues. Nonetheless, integrating space and spatial thinking into reproductions and replications is critical given the growing use of spatial data across the sciences and the increasing number of mandates that the evidence we use to inform policy be reproducible and validated by replication.

In collaboration with students and colleagues, I am developing research practices and pedagogical models that integrate reproduction, replication, and geographic analysis. We are also evaluating our existing geographic knowledge by reproducing and replicating published work that is being used in policy making and policy evaluation.

Updates on our work are available on the HEGSRR Github, and our associated OSF Website

Accumulating Evidence, Changing Policy

Most of the time, we do not understand things that happen in the world by conducting a single study. Instead, we usually need to study a phenomenon many times, from many different perspectives, before we come to know it. The key to progress is accumulating and synthesizing the evidence produced by many studies. That may sound simple, but geography adds a wrinkle. If we expect places to be related but also different, how do we go about systematically combining evidence about a phenomenon, or phenomena?

My group and I are working to develop frameworks and approaches to the problem of evidence accumulation, when the signal from the evidence we are accumulating is obscured and altered by differences between places and local confounds. Ultimately, we believe our work can accelerate discovery and strengthen the evidence base we use to make policy.

Geographies of Industry and Innovation

Grants (BCS-1139870)

I am working with collaborators to develop spatial-temporal methods and tools capable of identifying the technological composition and trajectory of regions, so we can better support innovation and enhance regional prosperity. We are examining how innovation, policy, and incumbent response shape the regional development. To date we have studied - renewable energy industries, agricultural biotech, and ICT firms.

Socio-Ecological Systems Research

Grants (OIA-1301789; BCS-1561021)

My colleagues and I are working at the intersection of computational spatial science, landscape ecology, and human geography to develop new methods for analyzing landscape patterns and processes and understanding their relationships to human systems. Our work has touched on issues of:

  • Data complexity and spatial scaling - investigating the impacts heterogeneity and data loss have on scaling in different geographic contexts (BCS-1561021).

  • Conservation planning - developing methods to select target locations for conservation to meet ecosystem needs and policy goals

  • Adaptation to climate change - understanding of how socio-ecological systems can adapt sustainably to climate change (OIA-1301789).