I have the privilege of working with a number of talented undergraduate and graduate students from around the world. Some of the students I directly advise or sit on committees for include: Hanbyeol Jang (PhD Geography and Urban Studies (GUS), Temple), Caitlin Joseph (PhD GUS, Temple), Jeronimo Rodriguez (PhD GUS, Temple - Chair: Victor Gutierrez-Velez), Victoria Sarmiento (PhD GUS, Temple - Chair: Victor Gutierrez-Velez), Austin Martin (PhD GUS, Temple - Chair: Hamil Pearsall).
Former advisees include Matt Marcus (PhD GUS 2023, Temple - Advisor: Victor Gutierrez-Velez), Ramzi Tubbeh (PhD Geography 2022, Penn State - Chair: Karl Zimmerer), Trung Phan (MSc Water Resources Management 2020, University of Southampton - co-advised with Tri Van and Craig Hutton), Denise Forrest (MA Environmental Studies 2017, UPenn), and Ruchi Patel (MA Geography 2018, Penn State - Chair: Brian King).
Student profile:
Hanbyeol Jang
I am a Ph.D. student in Geography and Urban Studies at Temple University. I received my Bachelor’s degree both in Tourism and Geography from Kyung Hee University, South Korea, and a Master’s degree in Geography from the same institution.
My current research interests are focused on the whaling industry in East Asia, especially in Japan and South Korea, to examine multi-scalar historical and geographic relationships with Western whaling countries through the lenses of environmental geopolitics, colonialism, and post-colonialism. Currently, I am working on building more concrete and salient frameworks to develop these interests to my doctoral dissertation project.
Before joining the Ph.D. program in Temple University, I pursued a range of academic activities in South Korea. I have published work on the political ecology of ecotourism, cold war landscapes, Official Development Assistance (ODA), comparative studies on Japan and South Korea under the broad themes of tourism and geography. I also served as a research and teaching assistant in Kyung Hee University for more than 3 years and worked as a project coordinator in a nonprofit organization.
Caitlin Joseph
I am in the process of completing a PhD in Geography and Urban Studies at Temple University, where I also received my MA in 2021. Prior to Temple, I earned a BA in Environmental Studies from Hiram College.
My previous academic and professional work dealt broadly with the environmental justice implications of municipal sustainability projects in the post-industrial Great Lakes Basin. I served as an AmeriCorps VISTA member in Akron Ohio between 2016-2019 during the community consensus process of a proposed green stormwater infrastructure plan. Since then, I have deepened my thinking of socio-environmental themes through writing on topics such as the political ecology of water, radical placemaking, and disability-responsive climate adaptation.
My research interests are still evolving but are anchored in the complex dynamics of Great Lakes water governance. I hope to interrogate and contextualize contemporary efforts toward watershed restoration within historic and geographic processes of enclosure and resistance. My non-academic interests include sketching, board games, SCUBA diving, and wandering through the woods.