Welcome to our research group in Land Change Science in the Department of Geography at Rutgers University. The research group is lead by Dr. Laura Schneider. We study how socio-ecological systems affect patterns and processes of land-use land-cover change. Specific research interests of the group include understanding forest resilience after disturbances in the tropics, monitoring and modeling tropical deforestation and re-growth, using biophysical remote sensing to map forest dynamics and socio-ecological vulnerability and resilience in rural settings. Two major projects are currently ongoing:

  1. Environmental Disturbances in Yucatan Peninsula, Mexico supported by Moore Foundation and
  2. The Spontaneous Spread of Silvopastoral Landscapes in the Ecuadorian Amazon supported by the National Science Foundation through the Dynamics of Coupled Natural and Human Systems Program.
The research group includes Rutgers undergraduate and graduate students (MA and PhD) and graduate researchers (Postdoctoral researchers) with interdisciplinary interest in land change science. We also collaborate with researchers at Clark University, El Colegio de la Frontera Sur in Mexico, University of Virginia andUniversidad San Francisco de Quito, Ecuador.


Land Change Research Group News
January 31, 2018
Congratulations to Dr. Diya Paul on the successful completion of her PhD defense and dissertation, Widening the constituency for wildlife conservation: Unintended conservation spaces in forests outside protected areas in India.
Upcoming Events
March 5, 2018
12:00 Lucy Stone Hall B-120
Tabby Fenn, PhD Dissertation Defense, Protected area networks in urbanizing landscapes: Spatial characteristics and acquisition strategies.

March 8, 2018
10:30 AM, Lucy Stone Hall B-120
Gabriela Ulloa, Masters Thesis Defense, The stakeholders' relationships role in the formation of environmental inequality in the Valdivia Plant, Los Rios Region, Chile: A case study of environmental inequality.