Richard Shaker

Dr. Richard Ross Shaker is an applied, solution-focused researcher working in the realms of human–landscape coevolution, sustainable development, and global ecology. He is an Assistant Professor of Landscape Modeling in the Department of Sustainable Resources Management at the State University of New York College of Environmental Science and Forestry (SUNY-ESF). Previously, he was a tenured Associate Professor of Environmental and Urban Sustainability at Toronto Metropolitan University, and before that, a tenure-track faculty member at Binghamton University (SUNY). He began his international work as a Fulbright Fellow at the Academy of Sciences of Moldova, investigating sustainable urbanization and landscape function for his PhD dissertation.

Dr. Shaker’s research seeks to elucidate the patterns and processes of coupled human–environment systems through space and time, as human societies increasingly push the Earth toward and beyond its biocapacity. His group studies interactions between natural and social systems for sustainable development, ecosystem management, ecological restoration, global change resilience, and environmental planning. Past and ongoing projects include modelling aquatic invasive species propagation, sustainable urban and landscape design, rural economic development, flood risk mitigation, non-point source pollution, sustainable development indices, climate-change resilience, and sustainable landscape change from city to continental scales. Study areas include the Great Lakes watersheds, Adirondack Park, Chicago, New York City, Toronto, Ontario’s Mixedwood Plains, Romania, the Republic of Moldova, Europe, the Americas, Africa, and Asia.

Dr. Shaker’s research findings have been published in peer-reviewed journals including Ecological Indicators, Applied Geography, Journal of Cleaner Production, and Habitat International. His research has been funded by the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada; the U.S. National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA); the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA); Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), and the U.S. Department of State.

In addition to his academic work, Dr. Shaker is founder and principal of GEOECO Inc., a boutique environmental and design consultancy that applies research in sustainable development planning, ecological restoration, and environmental forensics for government, industry, and non-governmental clients. Recently, to operationalize sustainable development research into applied practice, Dr. Shaker consulted through the Fulbright Specialist Program to Botswana.