Tropical Studies Faculty

There are many avenues by which graduate and undergraduate students may pursue tropical studies at Yale. Course offerings shift from year to year, but here is a list of faculty who work across a variety of disciplines and departments pertaining to the tropics.

Name

Department

Focus

Lab/personal site

Mark Ashton YSE Silviculture (tropical, temperate, and boreal) Ashton Lab
Michelle Bell YSE, SPH Effects of atmospheric systems on human health (epidemiology, biostatistics, and environmental engineering) Bell Lab
Paulo Brando YSE Ecological thresholds and boundaries in forest and agricultural systems (global change, land use, sustainability, ecosystem resilience) Brando Lab
Liza Comita YSE, E&EB Tropical forest ecology (biodiversity, species distributions, and forest dynamics in pristine and human-altered landscapes) Comita Lab
Amity Doolittle YSE Property rights and natural resource governance (land access, social inequities, historical and interdisciplinary approaches, Southeast Asia and urban landscapes)  
Michael Dove YSE, ANTH, EVST Human ecology and environmental anthropology (Southeast Asia, climate change, natural hazards, resource management, and indigenous environmental knowledge) Dove Lab
Marlyse Duguid YSE Plant diversity and composition in understory communities (forest management, landscape ecology, biodiversity) Duguid Lab
Dan Esty YSE, LAW Sustainability, law, and policy (climate change, corporate strategy, environmental law, and global trade) Yale Center for Environmental Law & Policy
Justin Farrell YSE, SOC How land and belief shape American life (culture, environment, and social change) The American West at Yale: Culture, Policy, and Ecosystems 
Eduardo Fernandez-Duque ANTH, E&EB, EVST Primate behavior and conservation (monogamy, mating systems, socioecology, and field-based conservation in South America) Research Page
Eva Garen YSE Conservation and development in the tropics (social-ecological systems, forest management, and community-based restoration) Environmental Leadership & Training Initiative (ELTI)
Ken Gillingham YSE Energy and environmental economics (applied microeconomics, behavioral economics, industrial organization, climate policy, and integrated assessment modeling) Environmental and Natural Resource Economics Group (ENRE)
Nyeema Harris YSE Wildlife and land conservation (biodiversity, ecosystem resilience, and human–environment interactions)  
Xuhui Lee YSE Terrestrial–atmosphere interactions (field observations, modeling, and remote sensing of biosphere–atmosphere processes) Lee Lab
Anthony Leiserowitz YSE Climate perception and decision making (risk perception, behavior, policy support, and public engagement on climate change) Yale Program on Climate Change Communication (YPCCC)
Sparkle L. Malone YSE Carbon dynamics and ecosystem function (natural climate solutions, biodiversity, and human–environment benefits) Malone Lab
Simon Queenborough YSE Botanical ecology and evolution (species coexistence, reproductive trade-offs, defense traits, and population dynamics) Queenborough Lab
Narasimha Rao YSE Energy systems and human well-being (climate policy, sustainable development, and global energy transitions) Energy, Climate and Well-Being Lab 
Luke Sanford YSE Environmental policy and governance (political institutions, natural resource management, remote sensing, and causal inference)  
Karen Seto YSE Urbanization and environmental impacts (land-use change, urban growth dynamics, environmental consequences, and forecasting) Seto Lab
Oswald Schmitz YSE Dynamics and structure of terrestrial food webs (biodiversity, species functional identity, ecosystem processes, and responses to environmental disturbances) Schmitz Lab
Dorceta Taylor YSE Environmental sociology and justice (diversity, inequality, and power in conservation and environmental movements)  
Gerald Torres YSE, LAW Tribal law and environmental governance (resource use, social movements, and climate law) Yale Center for Environmental Justice