Dr. Justin Beall

POSTDOCTORAL NETWORK  |   Global Change Center

Postdoctoral Associate

Faculty Mentors:  Dr. Ashley Dayer and Dr. Elizabeth Hunter

Department of Fish and Wildlife Conservation

jmbeall@vt.edu

Google Scholar  •  Research Gate

Dr. Beall is a conservation social scientist. Broadly, his research focuses on understanding the factors that influence pro-environmental behaviors among the public and designing interventions that can promote both individual and collective action to address natural resource issues. His interest in the human dimensions of natural resource use began while he was pursuing a B.A. in Environmental Science at the University of Florida, where much of his coursework focused on the intersection of society and the environment. Continuing to explore these interests, he completed an M.S. in Forest Resources at the University of Georgia. There, he studied the reasons why travelers choose sustainable tourism products (e.g., ecotourism) over other options. His interests began to broaden as he progressed through a PhD in Parks, Recreation and Tourism Management at North Carolina State University, where his dissertation focused on designing and testing conservation communication strategies with audience characteristics in mind.

During his time at Virginia Tech, he will work with an interdisciplinary team on a research project that aims to develop and test a socio-ecological model of sea-level rise along the mid-Atlantic coastal region of the eastern United States. He will examine how several factors (e.g., social, economic, psychological) might influence the decisions of coastal landowners in the face of sea-level rise (retreat, resist, or adapt). The research team will also examine how accounting for the decisions of coastal landowners influences the model. In his free time, Justin enjoys hiking, canoeing, songwriting, and performing music.