Core Faculty
Core Faculty
GPS Core Faculty
Tenure-Track Faculty
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Qian He, Ph.D.Assistant Professor Dr. Qian He is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Geography, Planning, and Sustainability at Rowan University. Her research focuses on the risks and resilience of vulnerable communities at the intersection of the urban built environment, public policy, and climate change. Her research and teaching advocate for equitable planning, adaptation, and response to climate change, including impacts of Sea Level Rise, hurricanes, and Presidential Declared Disasters (PDDs). Trained as a planner, her recent projects use spatial econometric modeling and urban informatics techniques to examine how planning decisions (land use regulation and transportation access) and public policies (federal disaster aid programs and place-based policies) can affect the well-being of historically disadvantaged communities on critical issues including public health disparity, housing affordability, and community safety. Prior to joining Rowan, Dr. Qian He was a Postdoctoral Research Associate at the University of Maryland, College Park in the Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering. She received her Ph.D. in Urban Planning and Public Policy from the University of Texas at Arlington. She previously taught as an instructor for planning practitioners at Planetizen with her expertise in infrastructure justice and community resilience. |
Lecturers
![]() Richard Federman, MSSenior Lecturer / Student Club Advisor Richard Federman has taught for the Department of Geography, Planning & Sustainability for the past sixteen years, first as an adjunct, more recently as 3/4-time faculty, and beginning Fall 2018 as a Full-Time Lecturer. Some of the courses he teaches on a regular basis include Earth, People & Environment, The Geography of New Jersey, Quantitative & Qualitative Methods in Geography, and Planet in peril: Environmental Science in the 21st Century. Prior to teaching at Rowan, Richard has worked as an environmental planner for the New Jersey Pinelands Commission, and as an actuarial analyst for a consulting firm in Philadelphia. |
![]() Megan BucknumSenior Lecturer / Research Associate Megan Bucknum applies her background in urban and environmental planning to the fields of food systems and participatory planning. Leveraging knowledge gained from holding positions across the food supply chain, she conducts research about regionally-based food distribution models that address sustainability and food security. Additionally, she integrates her experience facilitating public meetings, conducting interviews and designing participatory research projects into the curriculum of her courses and in support of faculty research projects. Motivated by the power of narrative, her research and class projects use interviews and oral histories to explore barriers and opportunities along our food supply chains and to understand how people connect to the built and natural environment This method allows people to be both involved and informed by her projects. She currently teaches Introduction to Planning and Environmental Design, Urban Geography and Food Systems Planning. |
Ashley York, Ph.D.Lecturer Dr. York uses GIS and remote sensing methods to answer questions about the Earth’s cryosphere in a changing climate. Specifically, her research uses satellite image time series analysis to investigate spacio-temporal variability in sea ice conditions and ocean temperatures, as well as change point detection to test for significant transitions in the behavior of marine-terminating glaciers along the coast of West Greenland. She has also done work using historical air photos and photogrammetry to calculate mass changes of small glaciers in western Canada. She has participated in glaciological field work in Alaska and Greenland. In the past Dr. York has taught courses on earth system science, field methods for environmental science, and GIS. Whether based on computers or based on in-situ observations and fieldwork, her courses are designed to further the interests of individual students through project-based learning. She believes projects encourage student independence and she enjoys the one-on-one advising such projects provide, as this also provides her with a greater opportunity to learn from the students in return. She currently teaches Introduction to Mapping and GIS, and Fundamentals of GIS. |
Ted Howell, Ph.D.Lecturer Dr. Ted Howell teaches jointly in Writing Arts and GPS, focusing on environmental and sustainability issues, specifically climate change. He helps students develop their capacity for ecological thought and enables them to find actionable solutions to complex problems. His teaching on climate change fiction, which is often called “cli-fi,” has been featured in The Atlantic, The Chronicle of Higher Education, and Smithsonian, and he leads workshops for local libraries about what novels can teach us about climate change. Dr. Howell’s research explores in how philosophies of nature are reflected in creative works and how scientists, reformers, and authors collaborate to formulate and frame ideas about the environment. His work has been published in Modern Language Quarterly and the collection Modernism and the Anthropocene. In addition to scholarly work, he presents and writes about teaching and pedagogy, including a series of freely available learning modules through Rowan’s Cultivating the Environmental Humanities group. Dr. Howell lives in Glassboro and enjoys hiking, gardening, playing disc golf and board games, and exploring parks and woods at every opportunity. For GPS, he currently teaches Senior Seminar and two additional courses that will appeal to GPS majors: Environmental Writing and Rhetoric (a Writing Arts course) and Environmental Communication (in Communication Studies). |
Louis L. Thomas, Ph.D.Lecturer
PhD, MIT
thomaslou@rowan.edu
Discovery Hall 125
Dr. Lou Thomas is passionate about creating an equitable, sustainable, and all-age-friendly city. His research focuses on family-oriented and multi-generational high-density as one tool in our toolbox for addressing climate change, inequality, and social isolation. His work has been published in JAPA, Planning Magazine, PLATFORM, Planning Perspectives, and he was a guest on UCLA’s Housing Voice podcast. A dedicated educator, he has previously taught in planning programs at Hunter College, the University of Maryland College Park, Georgetown University, George Washington University, and the University of the District of Columbia's Urban Sustainability and Environmental Science program. He was also an Associate Professor of American History & Urban Studies at Bard Early College DC and a Postdoctoral Scholar in the Urbanism Lab at the University of Chicago. He earned his PhD from MIT's Dept. of Urban Studies & Planning in 2019, and his MCP from UMD in 2012. He currently teaches Introduction to City Planning; Land Use & Conservation; Community Planning, Engagement & Site Design; and Environmental / Sustainable Planning. |
'3/4'-Time Faculty
Christine Nolan3/4 Faculty Christine Nolan is the Executive Director of the South Jersey Land & Water Trust and has been with the organization since 2003. She has a degree in Geography & Environmental Studies from UCLA. Christine also serves as an adjunct professor of Geography at Rowan University and has served on her municipality’s Environmental Commission and Open Space Committee. She enjoys quilting, photography and travel in her free time. |