Stentor Benjamin Danielson

PhD Student

Graduate School of Geography
Clark University
950 Main St.
Worcester, MA 01610

(202) 215-7888

Research Interests
Wildfire, environmental decisionmaking, public participation, risk and hazards, political ecology, archaeology, feminist geography, Australia

Dissertation
"Discourses about Wildfire in New Jersey and New South Wales"
This research is a comparative study of the Pine Barrens of New Jersey and the outer suburbs of Sydney, Australia examining how different types of urban-wildland interface residents think about wildfire. It will employ Q methodology and a mail survey to test the claims made by the Cultural Theory of risk about the content and origin of perspectives on environmental risks. Funded by a National Science Foundation Dissertation Improvement grant.

Other Projects

A study into how the quality of community involvement efforts and clean-up decisions at Superfund sites can be assessed. (with the Social and Environmental Research Institute, funded by a cooperative agreement with the US EPA)
A meta-analysis of case studies of vulnerability to environmental hazards (with Colin Polsky, funding pending)

Advisors
Colin Polsky and Roger Kasperson

Other Committee Members
B.L. Turner II, John Rogan, and Seth Tuler

Clark University
2002-present
Pursuing PhD in Geography

Colgate University
1998-2002
Bachelor of Arts, double major in Geography and Anthropology

University of Wollongong
2000
Semester abroad

Teaching Materials
The following items, originally prepared for the Seminar in College Teaching, illustrate my approach to teaching.

Introduction to Weather, Climate, and Landforms
September 2005-December 2005
Teaching Assistant
Duties: Run two two-hour labs, grade assignments, and give guest lectures

Introduction to Geographic Information Systems
August 2002-December 2002
Teaching Assistant
Duties: Run three two-hour GIS labs and grade assignments

Social and Environmental Research Institute
September 2003-present
Research Assistant
Project: A study into how the quality of community involvement efforts and clean-up decisions at Superfund sites can be assessed.

Dayton Society of Natural History
June 2003-August 2003
Wallace Intern
Project: Excavations at Fort Ancient period site in Dayton, OH and reconstruction of village from same era at SunWatch Archaeological Park.

Professor of Geography Susan Hanson
January 2003-May 2003
Research Assistant
Project: Research for Hanson, Susan. 2003. The weight of tradition, the springboard of tradition: Let's move beyond the 1990s. Urban Geography 24 (6): 465-478.

National Geographic Society
May 2002-August 2002
Intern, National Geographic News
Duties: Reporting on current science and nature news.

Longyear Museum of Anthropology, Colgate University
June 2001-May 2002
Research Assistant
Project: Inventory verification in preparation for digital photographing of NAGPRA-sensitive items, and assist with week-long Oneida Workshop excavation at contact-era Oneida site.

Assistant Professor of Geography Lisa Benton
December 1999-May 2001
Research Assistant
Project: Background research on World Heritage Sites.

Danielson, S., S. L. Santos, T. Webler, and S. P. Tuler. forthcoming. Building and breaking a bridge of trust in a Superfund site remediation. International Journal of Global Environmental Issues. (PDF Available)

"Public Viewpoints on Fire Management in New Jersey and New South Wales." Presented at the Human Dimensions of Wildland Fire Conference, 23 October 2007, Fort Collins, CO. (PowerPoint)

"A New Cultural Theory of Discourses About Fire in New Jersey and New South Wales." Dissertation Defense presentation, 6 September 2007, Worcester, MA. (PowerPoint)

"Discourses About Fire in New Jersey and New South Wales." Presented at the 3rd International Fire Ecology Congress, 14 November 2006, San Diego, CA. (PowerPoint)

"What Do People Think About Bushfires?" Seminar at the University of Wollongong, 2 August 2006, Wollongong, NSW. (PowerPoint)

"Discourses About Fire in New Jersey and New South Wales." Presented at the Bushfire 2006 conference, 7 June 2006, Brisbane QLD. (Consisted of the preliminary Q method results from my larger project of the same name.)

"Tools for Evaluating Community Involvement at Superfund Sites: A Comparative Analysis." Presented at the 25th Meeting of the Society for Risk Analysis, 6 December 2005, Orlando FL. (poster in .ppt format)

"Social Capital as a Double-Edged Sword: Trust and Distrust at a Superfund Site." Presented at the 101st Meeting of the Association of American Geographers, 9 April 2005, Denver CO.

"Geographic Ideas In Goddess Mythology." Presented at the Centennial Meeting of the Association of American Geographers, 15 March 2004, Philadelphia PA.

Bush vs. Schwarzenegger: Political Economic Re-regulation and the 2003 Southern California Wildfires (document in .pdf format) (2003)

Ideology and Environmental Degradation in the Aral Sea Basin (High Honors Thesis in Geography) (document in .pdf format) (2002)

Oneida-Archaeologist Relations: A Utilitarian Perspective On Cooperation Between American Indians And Archaeologists (Honors Thesis in Sociology and Anthropology) (document in .pdf format) (2002)

Environmental Justice at the Palmerton Zinc Superfund Site, Palmerton PA (document in .doc format) (2001)

Numerous opinion columns and news stories in The Colgate Maroon-News, National Geographic News, and The Scarlet.

Frequent entries on debitage, a weblog about politics and environmental issues.