Last October, the School of Environmental and Forest Sciences (SEFS) launched a search to recruit three Assistant Professors whose work in climate adaptation can contribute substantially to our research and teaching programs. We are excited to share that we have three exceptional new scholars joining SEFS!

We will welcome Dr. Sameer H. Shah in Fall 2022 from the University of Pittsburgh. He brings expertise in environmental justice, climate adaptation, and food, energy, and water insecurity. Dr. Shah is interested in analyzing the equity, justice, and sustainability outcomes of climate adaptation and disaster response at multiple scales.

Most recently, as a Postdoctoral Research Associate, he and his collaborators are analyzing the public health consequences of inequitable energy restoration in the aftermath of hurricane María. Sameer received his interdisciplinary Ph.D. from the Institute for Resources, Environment & Sustainability at The University of British Columbia, and was awarded the Pagani Award for Outstanding Doctoral Dissertation in 2021.

Dr. Claire Willing, a Post-Doctoral Scholar in the Department of Biology at Stanford University, is broadly focused on forest microbiomes and climate change. She seeks to understand how global change influences patterns of microbial community composition in forests and the functional consequences for forest health.

Using interdisciplinary approaches, including molecular tools, ecological theory, and techniques in plant physiology and stable isotope ecology, the goal of Claire’s research program seeks to elucidate the importance of microbial communities in the resistance and resilience of forested ecosystems to global change.

Claire completed her Ph.D. at the University of California, Berkeley with support of a Graduate Research Fellowship from the National Science Foundation. We look forward to Claire starting with SEFS in the fall of 2023.

Dr. Francisca Santana, an interdisciplinary social scientist completing her PhD in the Emmett Interdisciplinary Program in Environment and Resources at Stanford University, will be joining the SEFS community starting in the fall of 2023, following a post-doctoral appointment at the University of Michigan.

Primarily using community-engaged scholarship, she investigates the psychosocial drivers of pro-environmental and adaptation behavior in changing landscapes and the social nature of decision-making in response to climate hazards, including fire and smoke exposure.

Prior to her doctoral studies, Francisca worked on air quality and marine policy issues for the Energy Foundation, Earth justice, and the White House Council on Environmental Quality, and earned a master’s degree in coastal marine science and management from UC Santa Barbara.

We are grateful for the leadership of Professor Soo-Hyung Kim, Professor Monika Moskal, Director of the Precision Forestry Cooperative, and the search committee who reviewed 385 applications to identify exceptional candidates and led the school in the interview process last spring.

With support of a gift of professorship support from Carole Garcia in memory of John C. Garcia, a SEFS alumnus, SEFS is eager to support our new faculty members in finding creative, sustainable, and adaptive solutions to the multi-dimensional challenges of climate change through collaborative and convergent research, teaching, and service.