Derek Robinson Assistant Professor (starting February 1, 2012) Geography and Environmental Management  Contact Information: Phone: +1-519-888-4567 ext. 31789 Office: EV1 - 105A Email: dtrobinson(at)uwaterloo.ca

Degrees:

Ph.D. University of Michigan, 2009  

M.E.S. University of Waterloo, 2003

B.E.S. University of Waterloo, 2001

Research Interest:

My research interests lie at the center of land use, land management, and the carbon cycle. I use agent-based modelling as an approach to integrate GIS, ecological, and human decision-making models to evaluate socio-economic contexts and policy scenarios on changes to land use and land cover, ecological function and the provision of ecosystem services, and human well-being. The research projects I am involved with are typically situated at the urban-rural fringe (i.e. exurban or peri-urban lands), which requires insight into the drivers of farmer decision-making, public land management, and urban, suburban, and exurban growth. Contact Derek Robinson for more information on research opportunities.

Recent/Key Publications:

In Press. Rounsevell, M., Robinson, D.T. and D. Murray-Rust. From actors to agents in socio-ecological systemsmodels. Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society B (2011) 00, 1–11, DOI: 10.1098/rstb.2011.0187

In Press. Robinson, D.T., Murray-Rust, D., Rieser, V., Melicic, V., and M. Rounsevell. Modelling the impacts of land system dynamics on human well-being: using an agent-based approach to cope with data limitations in Koper, Slovenia. Computers, Environment, and Urban Systems.

Online First. Robinson, D.T., Land-cover fragmentation and configuration of ownership parcels in an exurban landscape. Urban Ecosystems. DOI: 10.1007/s11252-011-0205-4.

2009. Robinson, D.T. and D.G. Brown, Evaluating the effects of land-use development policies on ex-urban forest cover: an integrated agent-based GIS approach. International Journal of Geographical Information Science 23:9, 1211-1232.

2009. Robinson. D.T., Brown, D.G., and W.S. Currie. Modelling carbon storage in highly fragmentedand human dominated landscapes: linking land-cover patterns and ecosystem models. Ecological Modelling 220: 1325-1338.

2008. Brown D.G., Robinson D.T., Nassauer J.I., An L., Page S.E., Low B., Rand W., Zellner M., andR. Riolo. Exurbia from the Bottom-Up: Agent-Based Modeling and Empirical Requirements. Geoforum 39: 805-818.

2007. Robinson D.T., Brown D.G., Parker D.C., Schreinemachers P., Janssen M.A., Huigen M., Wittmer H., Gotts N., Promburom P. , Irwin E., Berger T., Gatzweiler F., and C. Barnaud. Comparison of Empirical Methods for Building Agent-Based Models in Land Use Science. Journal of Land Use Science 2(1): 31-55. 

2006. Brown, D. G. and D. T. Robinson. Effects of Heterogeneity in Residential Preferences on anAgent-Based Model of Urban Sprawl. Ecology and Society 11(1): 46. [online] URL: http://www.ecologyandsociety.org/vol11/iss1/art46/  

2005.Brown D., Riolo R., Robinson D.T., North M., and W. Rand. Spatial Process and Data Models: Toward

Integration of Agent-Based Models and GIS. Journal of Geographical Systems (7)1: 25-47.