SCALes

The SCALes (Sustainability of Communities and Agricultural Landscapes) lab examines the joint influences of environmental hazards, land use, and socioeconomic conditions in socioenvironmental systems. Our goal is to identify policy and practice solutions that promote social equity and the preservation of natural resources and ecosystems for future generations.

SCALes

Latest News

Last updated on Oct 10, 2024 1 min read
ruralityindex.com goes live!

The Community Assets and Relative Rurality (CARR) index now has its own website at ruralityindex.com! On the website we provide open access to the original block group scale CARR data as well as CARR data for several additional spatial scales including: school districts, ZIP codes, and counties.

Last updated on Aug 22, 2024 1 min read
Jean attends Rocks & Rockets community outreach and education event in Colby, KS

Jean represented SCALes and the Department of Geography and Geospatial Sciences at the 3rd annual Rocks & Rockets community science outreach event held in Colby, Kansas. More than 500 visitors and 300 K-12 students attended the event!

Last updated on Sep 12, 2024 1 min read
Jean's paper published in Sustainability!

Jean’s paper Linking Diversity–Productivity Conditions of Farming Systems with the Well-Being of Agricultural Communities was recently published in Sustainability. The paper examines variation in a community well being index across counties in the U.

Last updated on Jul 9, 2024 1 min read
Dr. Nelson moves to the University of Missouri

I am excited to share the news that I will be starting a new position as Associate Professor of Sustainability in the School of Natural Resources at the University of Missouri this August.

Last updated on Sep 12, 2024 1 min read
Congratulations to PhD candidate Michael!

Congratulations to Michael, who successfully passed his preliminary exams and advanced to candidacy April 2024!

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Research Areas

Here are some projects we are currently working on.

BioWRAP - Bioplastics with Regenerative Agricultural Properties
The BioWRAP project’s primary aim is to reduce the use of plastics, herbicides and associated environmental impacts in agricultural production by creating an all-in-one bioplastic system that can better manage weeds, nutrients, soils, and water resources.
Sustainable Adaptations to the Future Environment of Kansas’s Agriculture and Water
In this project, led by Dr. Sam Zipper at the University of Kansas Geological Survey and conducted in collaboration with Dr. Erin Seybold (KGS) and Dr. Vaishali Sharda (KSU BioAg Engineering), we aim to identify ways to protect water resources while maintaining rural livelihoods in the face of a changing climate with strong impacts on agriculture.
Evaluating Sustainability
Examining how we conceptualize and measure complex latent constructs like sustainability and related ideas of vulnerability, resilience, and adaptive capacity. Ongoing work includes: A sensitivity analysis of a social vulnerability index for the US across resolutions and extents.
Relevant publications
Rural Sustainability
Critically examining how we define what is “rural” and the factors that are uniquely associated with sustainability in rural areas. Ongoing work includes: Construction, sensitivity analysis, and validation of a measure of agricultural community adaptive capacity.
Relevant publications
Nurture Wildcat Creek
The Nurture Wildcat Creek initiative aims to promote community-engaged research and education in the Wildcat Creek Watershed in Riley County, Kansas. Our goals are to: Promote responsible and sustainable management of our local watershed resources.
Nurture Wildcat Creek
Diversity of Agricultural Landscapes
Agriculture is undeniably the anthropogenic process that has had the greatest impact on what covers the earth’s surface. Advances in agricultural technology have revolutionized how we farm and have led to major increases in our ability to produce food and fibers to meet the needs of a growing the human population.
Relevant publications
Diversity of Agricultural Landscapes
Flood Risk, Flood Policy, and Strategic Retreat
Flood Risk Paxico, Kansas is a rural small town with just over 200 residents. The majority of the town lies in a high flood risk zone, which has experienced limited economic development for over a generation.
Relevant publications
Flood Risk, Flood Policy, and Strategic Retreat