iUTAH Team - Graduate Research Assistant

Back to Research Assistants

 

MOREY BURNHAM

Utah State University

 

Research Topic

Participatory Climate Scenario Design for Adaptation Policy

 

iUTAH Research Focus Area

RFA2

 

Faculty Advisor

Zhao Ma, Joanna Endter-Wada

 

Abstract

This research will assess the information needs of institutional agricultural and water management stakeholders in the Wasatch Region Metropolitan Area (WRMA) in order to co-produce hydroclimate scenarios for the WRMA. The scenarios will be used to facilitate discussions of climate change adaptation for water management policy, assess the political landscape on which adaptive decisions will be made, and brainstorm policy solutions with institutional stakeholders. In addition, the presentation of the hydroclimate scenarios to stakeholders will be evaluated in terms of how credible, legitimate, and salient they were to their audience so that best practices for enhancing communication between science and policy makers can be identified.

 

Biography

Morey is a doctoral student in Human Dimensions of Ecosystem Science and Management at Utah State University in the Department of Environment and Society. His research focuses on smallholder farmer perceptions and adaptation to climate change in semi-arid and arid Northwest China. Additionally, his research examines the historical, social, and institutional processes that produce smallholder vulnerability to climate change in the region. His secondary research focuses on institutional decision-making about climate change adaptation in the arid and semi-arid Intermountain West, with a particular focus on agricultural water management in Utah. He holds a master’s degree in Environmental Studies from Antioch University New England.

 

Posters