WHAT I DO
My teaching covers the broad sweep of human-environment geography, from globalization to environmental management decisions made by individuals in a particular place. My research focuses on how and why landscapes change, asking what are the best ways and who are the best people to manage landscapes. Specific topics include conservation, human-environment interactions in urban fringe areas, arid lands management, social dimensions of biological invasions, land-use attitudes and practices, vulnerability and resilience in land systems, and mapping. I like to use mixed methods, including surveys, interviews, focus groups, participant observation, ecological surveys, and geospatial analysis (GPS, GIS, and remote sensing). I have a long-standing interest in Latin America, having lived and worked in Costa Rica, Bolivia, and Mexico. Much of my work these days focuses on prospects for conservation on private land in central upstate New York, including Ithaca College Natural Lands (ICNL).
For a brief explanation of why I love what I do, check out the following video (4 min):
For more information on Ithaca College Natural Lands, check out the following Web site:
http://www.ithaca.edu/naturallands/
COURSES
ICSM 105: Diversity Amid Globalization (first-year seminar)
ENVS 120: Environmental Sentinels
ENVS 220: Human-Environment Geography
ENVS 201/301: Environmental Research (introductory/intermediate)
ENVS 322: Environmental Research Methods
ENVS 331: Topics in Geography and Planning – Land Use and Landscape Change
ENVS 331: Topics in Geography and Planning – Water Use and Management
ENVS 450: Senior Research
SELECTED PUBLICATIONS AND PRESENTATIONS
Brenner, J. C., J. G. Hamilton, T. Drake, and J. Jordan. (in press) Building Local Environmental Knowledge in Undergraduates with Experiential Wilderness Skills and Awareness Training: The Case of Environmental Sentinels. Journal of Environmental Studies and Sciences.
Brenner, J. C. and J. G. Davis. (in press) Transboundary Conservation across Scales: A World-Regional Inventory and a Local Case Study from the United States-Mexico Border. Journal of the Southwest.
Brenner, J. C. and L. L. Kanda. (in press) Land Disturbance Facilitates Buffelgrass (Pennisetum ciliare) Invasion from Pastures in Sonora, Mexico. Invasive Plant Science and Management.
Brenner, J. C., Z. J. Christman, and J. Rogan. (2012) Segmentation of Landsat Thematic Mapper Imagery Improves Buffelgrass (Pennisetum ciliare) Pasture Mapping in the Sonoran Desert of Mexico. Applied Geography 34: 569-575.
Brenner, J. C. (2012) Conservation at the Urban Fringe. Interactive Short Paper Session at the Annual Meeting of the Association of American Geographers, New York, NY. (organized and chaired – 16 presenters including 3 undergraduate student research advisees)
S. Lavallato and J. C. Brenner. (2012) Prospects for Conservation Easements in an Urban Fringe Area: Evidence from Upstate New York. Presentation at the Annual Meeting of the Association of American Geographers, New York, NY.
Brenner, J. C. (2012) Landscape as a Framework for Integrating Physical and Social Science Approaches in Human-Environment Interaction Research. Invited Panel Presentation at the Annual Meeting of the Association of American Geographers, New York, NY.
Brenner, J. C. (2011) Pasture Conversion, Private Ranchers, and the Invasive Exotic Buffelgrass (Pennisetum ciliare) in Mexico’s Sonoran Desert. Annals of the Association of American Geographers 101(1): 84-106.
Brenner, J. C. (2011) Human-Environment Interactions in the [United States-Mexico] Borderlands. Invited Panel Presentation at the Annual Meeting of the Association of American Geographers, Washington, DC.
Goldberg, L. E. and L. A. L. Hill. (2011) The Great Pacific Garbage Patch: A Case of Ineffective Global Environmental Management. Poster presentation at the National Conference on Undergraduate Research, Ithaca, NY. (student research advisees)
Konnaris, C. (2011) Mapping Land Cover for Local-Scale Conservation in the Town of Danby, upstate NY. Poster presentation at the National Conference on Undergraduate Research, Ithaca, NY. (student research advisee)
Davis, J. G. (2011) Challenges of Transboundary Conservation on the US/Mexico Border in the Big Bend/Rio Bravo Area. Presentation at the National Conference on Undergraduate Research, Ithaca, NY. (student research advisee)
Brenner, J. C. (2010) What Drives the Conversion of Native Rangeland to Buffelgrass (Pennisetum ciliare) Pasture in Mexico’s Sonoran Desert?: The Social Dimensions of a Biological Invasion. Human Ecology 38(4): 495-505.
Schultheis, E. H., K. N. Hopfensperger, and J. C. Brenner. (2010) Potential Impacts of Climate Change on Sphagnum Bogs of the Southern Appalachian Mountains. Natural Areas Journal 30(4): 417-424.
Brenner, J. C., S. Walker, and A. Olsson. (2010) Vulnerability and Biological Invasion at an Urban-Wildland Interface in Tucson, Arizona. Presentation at the Global Land Project Open Science Meeting, Tempe, AZ.