The Environmental Social Sciences (ESS) specialization provides multidisciplinary training in social sciences with an applied focus on the complex relationships between people and the environment. Students learn to approach environmental problems and solutions through three core perspectives: 1) individual-level behavior and decision-making (e.g., communications, psychology), 2) communities (e.g., sociology), and 3) polities (e.g., public policy, political science). The flexibility of the ESS specialization allows students to pursue theoretical depth in any one area if desired while gaining experience applying theories and methods across multiple social science disciplines. By taking courses from different departments across campus, students are also trained in research methods and statistics to develop the skills necessary to address research questions with real-world implications.
Active Graduate Advisors:
Kerry Ard
Ramiro Berardo
Jeremy Brooks
Jeremy Bruskotter
Alia Dietsch
Matthew Hamilton
Marijke Hecht
Shoshanah Inwood
Douglas Jackson-Smith
Jeffrey Jacquet
Kristi Lekies
Sayeed Mehmood
Jeff Sharp
Nicole Sintov
Eric Toman
Robyn Wilson
Recent Theses and Dissertations (available on OhioLink*)
| 2022 |
Degree |
Thesis or Dissertation Title |
| A. Liu |
MS |
Campus Sustainability and COVID-19: Perspectives of Challenges and Opportunities from Sustainability Leaders
|
| C. Rapp |
PhD |
An Analysis of the Social and Technological Factors Influencing Team Performance in Wildland Fire Incident Management Teams
|
| 2021 |
|
|
| M. Anderson |
MS |
Are we on the same page? Informing adaptive management of outdoor rock climbing using document analysis and cognitive mapping
|
| M. Beetstra |
PhD |
Evaluating the Impact of Seasonality and COVID-19 on Farmers
|
| H. Fried |
MS |
Theorizing conditions and incentives that lead actors to develop resilient management strategies in complex environmental governance settings
|
| F. Holm |
MS |
Environmental Policy Across Space and Time: A Comparative Approach to the Study of Advocacy Coalitions in Climate Change and Energy Policy in the United States
|
| E. Jazi |
MS |
The Role of Green Place Attachment and Sociodemographic Variables on the Nature-Wellbeing Chain
|
| C. Soldo |
MS |
Farmer Willingness to Implement Constructed Wetlands in the Western Lake Erie Basin
|
| S. Taber |
MS |
Understanding Water Quality Perception Accuracy in the Maumee River Watershed
|
| T. Velez |
PhD |
A Just Recovery: Agroecology and Climate Justice in Puerto Rico post-Hurricane Maria
|
| 2020 |
|
|
| A. Miles |
MS |
Changes in Social Networks and Narratives associated with Lake Erie Water Quality Management after the 2014 Toledo Water Crisis
|
| M. Becerra |
PhD |
Environmental Justice for Whom? Three Empirical Papers Exploring Brownfield Redevelopment and Gentrification in the United States
|
| M. Dowiatt |
MS |
Urban Adaptation Planning in Response to Climate Change Risk
|
| S. Fisher- Garibay |
MS |
Urban Waterways, E. coli Levels, and the Surrounding Communities: An Examination of Potential Exposure to E. coli in Communities
|
| B. Hendey |
MS |
Balancing Diet and Wellbeing: Exploring the Relationship Between Wise Consumption, Meat Reduction, and Psychological Wellbeing
|
| A. Junod |
PhD |
Risks, Attitudes, and Discourses in Hydrocarbon Transportation Communities: Oil by Rail and the United States’ Shale Energy Revolution
|
| K. Poland |
MS |
Learning in the Ecology of Games |
| E. Rabung |
MS |
U.S. Military Land Management and Endangered Species Conservation
|
| P. Ruchie |
MS |
Sharing the Sun: Community Solar in Ohio
|
| J. Simon |
MS |
Socioeconomic Dimensions of Urban Greenspace Access and Usage Patterns
|
| T. Williams |
MS |
Race, Religion, and Environmental Concern Among Black and White Americans
|
| 2019 |
|
|
| I. Adams |
MS |
Pride, Guilt, and Pro-Environmental Behavior: The Role of Experienced Self-Conscious Emotions in an Individual’s Response to Carbon Footprint Feedback |
| K. Allen |
MS |
Wildlife Value Orientations in Context: Using Experimental Design to Explain Acceptability of Lethal Removal and Risk Perceptions toward Wildlife |
| E. Walpole |
PhD |
Communicating Climate Adaptation: A Mechanistic and Audience-Based Investigation of Message Framing Approaches for Climate-Exacerbated Hazards |
| H. Walpole |
PhD |
Re-Perceiving Perceived Risk: Examining the Psychological Structure of Risk Perception |
| S. Weiss |
MS |
Social and Ecological Aspects of Managing Wildlife in Fire-dependent Forested Ecosystems |
| 2018 |
|
|
| L. Bates |
PhD |
Environmental Deficit Phenomenon: The Effect of Recess on Attention and Emotion Regulation and Implications for the Connectedness of People and the Natural World |
| F. DePrator |
MS |
Innovation Among Nutrient Service Providers in the Midwest |
| |
|
|
| |
|
|
| E. Grover |
MS |
Investigating the Influence of Zoo Exhibit Design on Visitor Empathy for Wildlife |
| |
|
|
| C. Hartel |
MS |
The Role of Wildlife Value Orientations in Framing Interactions with Wildlife Near the Home: A Mixed-methods Analysis of Self-reported Problems with Wildlife |
| |
|
|
*OhioLink articles available to OSU students, faculty, and staff
**Student advised by SENR faculty in other OSU graduate programs
