Two new faculty affiliates join the GCC this November

Dr. Zhenshan Chen

Assistant Professor, Department of Agriculture and Applied Economics

Dr. Chen is an assistant professor in the Department of Agriculture and Applied Economics. His research focuses on climate change, land use, and fishery issues. His past and working research topics mostly focus on climate change adaptation and resilience, the related public policies, and the effects on and responses from the communities. Chen plans to pursue a research program centered around climate change, involving two major topics: how coastal policies could better adapt to the rising sea level and intensified storms, and how farmers and agricultural policies could mitigate runoff caused by more frequent and extreme weather shocks.

Chen is looking forward to meeting researchers with similar interests and getting involved in the GCC community. He also believes that collaborations facilitated by the GCC will bring significant benefits to his research efforts and help to tackling existing and emerging global environmental challenges. 

Dr. Stella Schons

Assistant Professor, Department of Forest Resources and Environmental Conservation

Dr. Schons is an assistant professor of forest economics for the Department of Forest Resources and Conservation. Her interests lie in the process of conservation and development with experience in Latin America, India and more recently in the United States.  Dr. Schons’ research is focused around understanding natural resources use behavior as well as conservation incentives at the landowner or household level. She is particularly interested in how these decisions change when subject to public and community policies, and the effects of these policies on human wellbeing (and consequent future resource use). Dr. Schons has focused primarily on forest resources (both in deforestation and reforestation decisions), but also has experience working in fisheries and water resources management.

Dr. Schons is an active participant of the GCC restoration ecology working group, and was working with the group prior to her affiliation with the GCC in November 2022. Dr. Schons was eager to join the GCC to continue her current collaborations and she hopes to create new collaboration opportunities.