Dr. Casagrande has studied how human cognition and culture interact with natural environments in Latin America, Japan, and the United States with an emphasis on policy and planning. He has been researching flood mitigation since 2008. He currently collaborates in US and international teams studying decisions to relocate in response to disasters and climate change. Previous research includes how Tzeltal Maya use medicinal plants, decisions about water management in the American Southwest, response to flooding in the Midwest US, and impacts of extractive technologies like hydraulic fracturing for natural gas. His work has appeared in journals like Natural Hazards, Environmental Management, Environment & Behavior, Human Organization, Society & Natural Resources, Frontiers in Ecology & the Environment, and several edited volumes. From 1999 to 2003 he was Editor-In-Chief of the Journal of Ecological Anthropology. Dr. Casagrande’s research has been supported by the National Science Foundation, National Sea Grant Program, Department of Energy, the Japan Foundation, and the Natural Hazards Center.
David Casagrande
Professor
PhD in Anthropology, University of Georgia, 2002
Explore this Profile×
Explore Personal Pages - David Casagrande×
Research Areas
Additional Interests
- Latin America
- Climate Adaptation
- Cognition
- Disaster Risk Reduction
- Public Policy
Research Statement
Biography
David Casagrande is a professor of environmental anthropology with a joint appointment in the Environmental Studies program at Lehigh University. He is associated with Lehigh’s Latin American and Latino Studies program and is a founding member of Lehigh’s Catastrophe Modeling Center, Regional Climate Resilience Center for Water Extremes, and Institute for Cyber-Physical Infrastructure and Energy. He was the inaugural Faculty Director of the Lehigh Launch study abroad program in Ecuador. He received a B.Sci. in Geography from Southern Connecticut State University, a M.Sci. in ecology and policy from Yale University, and a Ph.D. in ecological anthropology from the University of Georgia. He worked as a policy analyst in state and local government for ten years.
PUBLICATIONS
Edited Volumes
Jalbert, K., A. Willow, D.G. Casagrande, and S. Paladino (Eds.). 2017. Extraction: Impacts, Engagements, and Alternative Futures. New York: Routledge Press.
Casagrande, D.G. (Ed.).1997. Restoration of an Urban Salt Marsh: An Interdisciplinary Approach. Bulletin No. 100, Yale School of Forestry & Environmental Studies, New Haven, CT.
Journal Special Issues
Haenn, N., & D.G. Casagrande (Guest Editors). 2007. Human Organization special issue on anthropology and environmental policy, Vol. 66, no. 2.
Peer-reviewed Journal Articles
Siders, A.R., A. Idowu, and D.G. Casagrande. 2021. Transformative Potential of Managed Retreat as Climate Adaptation. Current Opinion in Environmental Sustainability 50:272-280.
Pinter, N., M. Ishiwateri, A. Nonoguchi, Y. Tanaka, D.G. Casagrande, S. Durden, and J. Rees. 2019. Large-Scale Managed Retreat and Structural Protection following the 2011 Japan Tsunami. Natural Hazards 96(3):1429–1436.
Casagrande, D.G., E. C. Jones, F. S. Wyndham, J. R. Stepp & R. Zarger. 2017. Ecomyopia in the Anthropocene. Anthropology Today 33(1):23-25.
Casagrande, D.G., H. McIlvaine-Newsad, & E.C. Jones. 2015. Social Networks of Help-Seeking in Different Types of Disaster Responses to the 2008 Mississippi River Floods. Human Organization 74(4):351-361.
Larson, K.L., D.G. Casagrande, S. Harlan, & S. Yabiku. 2009. Residents’ yard choices and rationales in a desert city: Social priorities, ecological impacts, and decision tradeoffs. Environmental Management 44 (5): 921-937.
Yabiku, S., D.G. Casagrande & E. Farley-Metzger. 2008. Preferences for landscape choice in a Southwestern desert city. Environment & Behavior 40: 382-400.
Casagrande, D.G., D. Hope, E. Farley-Metzger, W. Cook, S. Yabiku, & C. Redman. 2007. Problem and opportunity: Integrating anthropology, ecology, and policy through adaptive experimentation in the urban American Southwest. Human Organization 66(2):125-139.
Haenn, N., & D.G. Casagrande. 2007. Citizens, Experts, and Anthropologists: Finding Paths in Environmental Policy. Human Organization 66(2):99-102.
Hope, D., C. Gries, D. Casagrande, C. L. Redman, N. B. Grimm, & C. Martin. 2006. Drivers of spatial variation in plant diversity across the Central Arizona-Phoenix ecosystem. Society & Natural Resources 19(2):101-116.
Casagrande, D.G. 2004. Conceptions of primary forest in a Tzeltal Maya community: Implications for conservation. Human Organization 63(2):189-202.
Cook, W., D. Casagrande, D. Hope, P. M. Groffman, & S. L. Collins. 2004. Learning to roll with the punches: Adaptive experimentation in human-dominated systems. Frontiers in Ecology & the Environment 2(9): 467-474.
Stepp, J.R., E.C. Jones, M. Pavao-Zuckerman, D. Casagrande, & R. K. Zarger. 2003. Remarkable properties of human ecosystems. Conservation Ecology 7(3): 11
Casagrande, D.G. 2000. Human taste and cognition in Tzeltal Maya medicinal plant use. Journal of Ecological Anthropology 4: 57-69.
Casagrande, D.G. 1999. Information as verb: Re-conceptualizing information for cognitive and ecological models. Journal of Ecological Anthropology 3:4-13.
Casagrande, D.G. & S. R. Beissinger. 1997. Evaluation of four methods for estimating parrot population size. Condor 99:445-457.
Casagrande, D.G. 1996. A value based policy approach: The case of urban salt marsh restoration. Coastal Management 24:327-337.
Chapters in Edited Volumes
Casagrande, D.G., & C. Matherly. 2024. Lehigh Launch Ecuador: A Case Study for First Semester Experience Abroad. Pp. 236-257 in Promoting Intercultural Agility and Leadership Development at Home and Abroad for First-Year Students, Jon Stauff and Jill E. Blondin (Eds.). Hershey, PA: IGI Global.
Wolf Tice, J., and D.G. Casagrande. 2021. The Sovereignty Paradox: Negotiating Values Amid Tribal Adaptation to Shale Oil Extraction. Chapter 2 in Global Im-Possibilities: Exploring the Paradoxes of Just Sustainabilities, Phoebe Godfrey and Mary Buchanan (Eds.). London: Zed Books.
Cooley, R., and D.G. Casagrande. 2017. Marcellus Shale as Golden Goose: The discourse of development and the marginalization of resistance in Northcentral Pennsylvania. Pp. 46-60 in Extraction: Impacts, Engagements, and Alternative Futures, Kirk Jalbert, Anna Willow, David Casagrande, and Stephanie Paladino (Eds.). New York: Routledge Press.
Jalbert, K., A. Willow, D.G. Casagrande, and S. Paladino. 2017. Introduction: Confronting Extraction, Taking Action. Pp.1-13 in Extraction: Impacts, Engagements, and Alternative Futures, Kirk Jalbert, Anna Willow, David Casagrande, and Stephanie Paladino (Eds.). New York: Routledge Press.
Casagrande, D.G. 2017. Ethnoscientific implications of classification as a socio-cultural process. Pp. 55- 68 in Routledge Handbook of Environmental Anthropology. H. Kopnina & E. Shoreman-Ouimet (Eds.). New York: Routledge Press.
Casagrande, D.G., & C. Peters. 2013. Ecomyopia meets the longue durée: An information ecology of the increasingly arid Southwestern United States. Pp. 97-144 in H. Kopnina & E. Shoreman (Eds.), Environmental Anthropology: Future Directions. New York: Routledge.
Casagrande, D.G., & M. Vasquez. 2009. Restoring for cultural-ecological sustainability in Arizona and Connecticut. Pp. 195-209 in Marcus Hall (Ed.), Restoration and History: The Search for a Usable Environmental Past. New York: Routledge.
Rands, G., B. Ribbens, D. Casagrande, & H. McIlvaine-Newsad. 2007. Envisioning an ecologically sustainable society: An ideal type and an application. Pp. 22-59 in S. Sharma, M. Starik & B. Husted (Eds.), Organizations and the Sustainability Mosaic: Crafting Long-Term Ecological and Societal Solutions, Edward Elgar Publishing: Cheltenham, UK.
Casagrande, D.G. 2005. Globalization, migration, and indigenous commodification of medicinal plants in Chiapas, Mexico. Pp. 83-106 in G. Guest (Ed.), Globalization, Health, and the Environment: An Integrated Perspective, AltaMira Press.
Casagrande, D.G. 1997. The full circle: A historical context for urban salt marsh restoration. Pp. 13-40 in D. Casagrande (Ed.), Restoration of an urban salt marsh: An interdisciplinary approach. Bulletin No. 100, Yale School of Forestry & Environmental Studies, New Haven, CT.
Casagrande, D.G. 1997. Values, perceptions and restoration goals. Pp. 62-75 in D. Casagrande (Ed.), Restoration of an urban salt marsh: An interdisciplinary approach. Bulletin No. 100, Yale School of Forestry & Environmental Studies, New Haven, CT.
Lewis, C. & D.G. Casagrande. 1997. Using avian communities to assess salt marsh restoration. Pp. 204- 236 in D. Casagrande (Ed.), Restoration of an urban salt marsh: An interdisciplinary approach. Bulletin No. 100, Yale School of Forestry & Environmental Studies, New Haven, CT. Casagrande, D.G. 1997. The human component of urban wetland restoration. Pp. 254-270 in D.
Casagrande (Ed.), Restoration of an urban salt marsh: An interdisciplinary approach. Bulletin No. 100, Yale School of Forestry & Environmental Studies, New Haven, CT.
Encyclopedia entries
Ribbens, B. A., E. Ribbens, G. Rands, H. McIlvaine-Newsad, & D.G. Casagrande. 2008. “Republic of the Marshall Islands” in The Encyclopedia of Global Warming and Climate Change. S. George Philander (Ed.). Sage Press.
Casagrande, D.G. 2006. “Ethnoecology” in Encyclopedia of Earth. Cutler J. Cleveland (Ed.). Environmental Information Coalition, National Council for Science and the Environment.
Casagrande, D.G. 2005. “Urban Ecology,” “Ethnopharmacology,” “Cybernetic Modeling,” “Steven Pinker,” “Venezuela” in Encyclopedia of Anthropology. H. James Birx (Ed.). Sage Press.
Book reviews
Casagrande, D.G. 2004. Ethnobiology lives! Theory, collaboration, and possibilities for the study of folk biologies. Reviews in Anthropology 33(4):351-370.
Casagrande, D.G. 2002. Animals and Plants of the Ancient Maya: A Guide, by Victoria Schlesinger. Journal of Ecological Anthropology 6(1):91-92
Technical Reports
Amanda A., S. Alnajjar, O. Barz, V. Behe, D. Casagrande, J. Cook, M. David, L. Fosbenner, E. Ginis, K. Kernan, A. Kornberger, B. Letts, N. McCallum, S. Smith, and K. Webb. 2019. Packer Avenue Promenade Project: Sustainability Impact Assessment. Lehigh University: Bethlehem, PA.
Casagrande, D.G. 2014. Ecomyopia and flood adaptation on the Mississippi River. Pp. 41-43 in World Disasters Report 2014. Geneva: International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies.
Casagrande, D. G., & H. McIlvaine-Newsad. 2010. Slow Road to Recovery: Small Rural Community Resilience in Illinois after the Mississippi River Floods of 2008: Preliminary Findings. Dept. of Sociology & Anthropology, Western Illinois University, Macomb, IL.
Casagrande, D.G., B. Ribbens, H. McIlvaine-Newsad & G. Rands. 2007. Acculturation and Environmentalism in the Marshallese Diaspora, Preliminary Findings. Dept. of Sociology & Anthropology, Western Illinois University, Macomb, IL.
RESEARCH GRANTS
Department of Energy Office of Biological & Environmental Research (Co-principal investigator); $919,999 granted in August 2024, to establish a Regional Climate Resilience Center for Water Extremes Adaptation Strategies Implementation
National Science Foundation JST, Humans, Disasters, and the Built Environment Program (Co-principal investigator); $499,271 granted in January 2024, to study an inclusive human-centered risk management modeling framework for flood resilience in New Jersey and Japan.
National Science Foundation, IUCRC (Co-principal investigator); $20,000 awarded January 2024 for planning a multi-institutional Catastrophe Modeling Center.
Lehigh University, Research Futures Program (Co-Principal Investigator); $600,000 granted in October 2022 to create a Catastrophe Modeling Center to study infrastructure resilience against disasters, preparedness against epidemics, and increased insurance social equity.
Lehigh University, Collaborative Research Opportunity Grant (Co-Principal Investigator); $58,950 granted in 2020 to study the interaction of public perceptions and decisions in response to the COVID-19 pandemic.
Social Science Extreme Events Research (SSEER) network and the CONVERGE facility at the Natural Hazards Center at the University of Colorado Boulder (Principal Investigator); $1000 granted in 2020 to establish a working group on Cultural Perceptions of Risk, Behavioral Responses, and Community Resilience in the COVID-19 Pandemic.
Lehigh University, Collaborative Research Opportunity Grant (Co-Principal Investigator); $59,600 granted in 2019 to study how the interaction of perceptions and decisions made during disaster recovery influence long-term community resiliency in North Carolina.
Lehigh University, Faculty Research Grant (Principal Investigator); $5,089 granted in 2019 to study cultural models of rising sea level in the Chesapeake Bay region.
Japan Foundation, Center for Global Partnership (Co-Director); $60,000 granted in 2018 to study managed retreat as a tool for disaster resilience in the US and Japan.
Lehigh University, Collaborative Research Opportunity Grant (Principal Investigator); $53,073 granted in 2013 for modeling the effects of hydraulic fracturing for natural gas in Pennsylvania on human quality of life.
National Science Foundation, Infrastructure Management and Extreme Events Program (Principal Investigator); $60,313 granted in 2012 for geospatial modeling of pro-active flood mitigation in the rural Midwest.
National Science Foundation, Small Grants for Exploratory Research (Principal investigator); $19,699 granted in 2008 to research the resiliency of rural communities in the wake of the 2008 Mississippi River floods.
National Science Foundation, Research Experience for Undergraduates supplemental program (Principal investigator); $3,944 granted in 2010 for undergraduate research on the effects of identity and quality of life on relocation decisions after the 2008 Mississippi River floods.
National Science Foundation, Long-Term Ecological Research Program (Co-Principal Investigator); $1,027,985 granted in 2010 to study urban sustainability in the dynamic environment of central Arizona.
Western Illinois University, University Research Council (Principal investigator); $5,000 granted in 2006 to study environmental values and ecological sustainability among migrants from the Marshall Islands
National Science Foundation, Decision Making under Uncertainty Program (Senior Personnel); $7,503,929 granted in 2004 to create a “Decision Center for a Desert City” in Phoenix AZ; research to include human perceptions and the science and policy of climate uncertainty.
Arizona State University, College of Liberal Arts and Sciences Multi-Investigator Proposal Development Grant (Co-Principal Investigator with S. Yabiku); $11,820 granted 2004 to study cognitive perception of landscapes, habitat conservation and water scarcity in Metropolitan Phoenix, Arizona.
National Science Foundation Doctoral Dissertation Improvement award (Principal investigator); $11,855 granted in 2000 to research the ecology, cognition and cultural transmission of medicinal plant knowledge in Chiapas, Mexico.
National Science Foundation Ethnographic Research Training Grant (Principal investigator); $1,817 awarded 1998 to study ethnobiology and cultural models of primary-forest in Chiapas, Mexico. Center for Latin American and Caribbean Studies Dissertation Travel Award (Principal investigator),
University of Georgia; $1,174 granted 1999 to research Tzeltal Maya taste classification and medicinal plant use in Chiapas, Mexico.
Connecticut Sea Grant College Program (Principal investigator); $14,000 awarded 1995 to survey environmental values of coastal resources.
Tropical Resources Institute (Principal investigator), Yale University; $2,500 awarded 1994 to evaluate methods for estimating parrot populations in Venezuela.
Center for Tropical Bird Studies (Principal investigator); $300 awarded 1994 to evaluate methods for estimating parrot populations in Venezuela.
EDUCATIONAL GRANTS
Collaborator
U.S. Dept. of Education, Fund for the Improvement of Postsecondary Education (Collaborator); $ 220,000 granted 2008 to create a Brazilian-U.S. student exchange program fostering socially, environmentally, and economically sustainable entrepreneurship.
Teaching
Introduction to Environmental Studies
Socio-cultural Foundations of Environmental Policy
Indigenous Cultures of Latin America
Religion, Witchcraft, and Shamanism
Ethnobotany: People and Plants
Environment and Culture
Urban Permaculture