SANDRA R. BAPTISTA
Ph.D. Candidate
Department of Geography
Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey
srbaptis@eden.rutgers.edu
EDUCATION
ABD, Ph.D. expected May 2008, Geography, Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey. Dissertation Title: Forest Transition, Urbanization, and Social Inequalities in the Metropolitan Region of Florianópolis, Santa Catarina State, Brazil. Advisor: Thomas K. Rudel.
2000, M.S., Geography, Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey.
1993, B.A., Environmental Studies and Portuguese & Brazilian Studies, Brown University, Providence, Rhode Island.
Professional Training and Workshops
Social Science Research Council and the American Council of Learned Societies. Workshop for returning 2003 International Dissertation Field Research Fellows, Nashville, Tennessee, September 30 – October 5, 2004.
Center for the Study of Institutions, Population and Environmental Change (CIPEC) Summer Institute. Environmental Monitoring and Assessment: Applications in the Americas, Indiana University, Bloomington, Indiana, May 17 – June 4, 1999.
Brazil’s National Institute for Amazonian Research (INPA) and the Smithsonian Institution. Ecology of Amazonian Forests field course, Amazonas state, Brazil, July – August 1998. Independent project: The Influence of Edge Effects on Seedling Density in a Terra Firme Forest in Central Amazônia: A Study Conducted along Road ZF-3 in Amazonas State, Brazil.
RESEARCH AND TEACHING INTERESTS
Human-environment interactions; integrative research approaches in land-change science; environmental history; urban and metropolitan studies; globalization; migration; forest-transition theory; environmental governance; sustainability; social justice.
PUBLICATIONS
Refereed Journal Articles
Baptista, S. R. (in review). Human Dimensions of Forest Recovery in the Metropolitan Region of Florianópolis, Santa Catarina State, Southern Brazil. Ecology and Society (Special Feature).
Baptista, S. R. and T. K. Rudel. 2006. A Re-emerging Atlantic Forest? Urbanization, Industrialization and the Forest Transition in Santa Catarina, Southern Brazil. Environmental Conservation 33(3):195–202.
Research Report
Rudel, T. K., K. Flesher, D. Bates, S. Baptista and P. Holmgren. 2000. Tropical Deforestation Literature: Geographical and Historical Patterns. Unasylva 203(51):11–18.
EMPLOYMENT
University Teaching Experience
Teaching Assistant, Department of Human Ecology, Rutgers University, academic year 2004-05. Introduction to Human Ecology.
Assistant Instructor, Department of Human Ecology, Rutgers University, academic year 2001-02. Undergraduate courses developed and taught: Culture and Environment; Environment and Development; Research Methods in Human Ecology; Seminar on Forests and Society in Latin America.
Acting Instructor, Department of Geography, Rutgers University, academic year 1999-2000. Undergraduate courses developed and taught: Geographic Research Methods; Latin America and the Caribbean: Bridges and Borders.
Teaching Assistant, Center for Environmental Studies, Brown University, spring 1993. Analysis and Resolution of Environmental Problems.
Research Experience
Research Assistant, Department of Sociology, Rutgers University, 2000-01. Principal Investigator: Dr. Ann Mische.
Research Assistant, Department of Human Ecology, Rutgers University, 2000. Principal Investigator: Dr. Thomas K. Rudel.
Research Assistant, Department of Geography, Rutgers University, summer 1998. Principal Investigator: Dr. Richard A. Schroeder.
Research Assistant, Taubman Center for Public Policy, Brown University, 1989-90. Principal Investigator: Dr. Michael J. Rich.
Other Professional Experience
Editor, summer 2005. Portuguese version of Mary’s Pence website at http://www.maryspence.org.
Project Assistant, Union of Concerned Scientists, Cambridge, Massachusetts, 1995-97. Sound Science Initiative, Global Resources Program.
Middle School Teacher, Newark Academy, Livingston, New Jersey, 1993-94. Ecology and Pre-Algebra.
Resident Counselor, New Jersey Governor's School on the Environment, Richard Stockton College, Pomona, New Jersey, summer 1993.
Intern, Brazilian Federal Working Group (GTN) in preparation for the 1992 United Nations Conference on Environment and Development (UNCED-92), Scientific Academic Agenda and Brazil's Exposition, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, September – November 1991.
Coordinator, Organic Community Garden at the Urban Environmental Laboratory, Brown University, 1990-92.
PRESENTATIONS
Invited Presentations
July 16, 2007. Land-use and Land-cover Trends in the Metropolitan Region of Florianópolis, Santa Catarina State, Southern Brazil. Association for Tropical Biology and Conservation. Annual Meeting: Linking Tropical Biology with Human Dimensions, Morelia, Mexico. Symposium: The Influence of Human Demography and Agriculture on Natural Systems in the Neotropics.
March 30, 2005. Landscape Transformations in the Metropolitan Area of Florianópolis, Santa Catarina, Brazil. Spring Seminar Series, Department of Human Ecology, Rutgers University.
Professional Meeting Presentation
April 9, 2005. Forest Transition and Sprawl Development in the Coastal Zone of Southern Brazil. Session on Historical Environmental Change in Latin America, Annual Meeting of the Association of American Geographers, Denver, Colorado.
GRANTS, FELLOWSHIPS AND AWARDS
Travel grant from the National Science Foundation for participation in the 2007 Association of Tropical Biology and Conservation Annual Meeting in Morelia, Mexico.
Human Dimensions of Global Change Specialty Group of the Association of American Geographers, travel award for paper presentation in session on The Forest Transition at the 6th Open Meeting of the Human Dimensions of Global Environmental Change Research Community, University of Bonn, Bonn, Germany, October 2005 (declined).
2003 International Dissertation Research Fellowship supporting ten months of fieldwork in Brazil awarded by the Social Science Research Council and the American Council of Learned Societies with funds provided by the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation.
Summer Pre-Dissertation Research Grant. Rutgers University, Department of Human Ecology, 2002.
Rutgers University, Graduate School Fellowships, 1997-99 and 2000-01.
UNIVERSITY SERVICE
Organizer and Editor, Human Ecology departmental newsletter, spring 2002.
President, Rutgers Association of Geography Graduate Students, 1998-99.
PROFESSIONAL MEMBERSHIPS
Association of American Geographers
Latin American Studies Association
LANGUAGES
Fluency in English and Portuguese; intermediate proficiency in Spanish; reading knowledge of French.