Jennifer Rasmussen

PhD student in the Anthropology Dept.

Current Graduate Students
Jennifer Rasmussen
Contact
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Research Interests:

Planetary Health, Natural Soundscapes, Acoustic Ecology, Multispecies Ethnography, Sensory Anthropology, Ecospirituality, Community-based Methods, Health and Well-being, Ecological Stewardship

Biography:

Jennifer is a PhD student in the Department of Anthropology at UMass Amherst. A registered nurse with over 14 years of experience in community health and home care, she has brought her clinical background into a deep commitment to planetary health, working as an Environmental Health Nurse Fellow with the Alliance of Nurses for Healthy Environments (2022-2023) and as an Education Fellow with the Planetary Health Alliance (2023-Present). Her work has taken her from Capitol Hill, where she advocated for improved air quality standards, to national and international conferences on the intersection of human health and the environment. She has taught undergraduate students as an adjunct faculty member at Charter Oak State College and developed and taught a short-term course on planetary health at Bates College. She holds a BA from Bates College, a BS in Nursing from Simmons University, and an MPH in Global Health from UMass Amherst. For her doctoral research, she plans to explore how acoustic relationship with natural soundscapes generates an ecology of wonder, including healing, awe, and reciprocity, in more-than-human New England, drawing on multispecies ethnography, sensory anthropology, ecospirituality, and community-based methods.

Publications:

  • Rogers, H. H., Meyers, M. R., Rasmussen, J., & Zychowski, K. E. (2026). Planetary and environmental health. In D. A. Shields, K. M. Avino, T. L. Hoag, & C. E. Ortiz (Eds.), Dossey & Keegan’s holistic nursing: A handbook for practice (9th ed.). Jones & Bartlett Learning.
  • Rasmussen, J. (2023). Nursing strategies to help children cope with eco-anxiety. The American Journal of Maternal Child Nursing, 48(4), 195-199. https://doi.org/10.1097/nmc.0000000000000928
  • Rasmussen, J. (2023). Advancing Environmental Justice through the Integration of Traditional Ecological Knowledge into Environmental Policy. Challenges 14, 1-6. https://doi.org/10.3390/challe14010006
  • Low, K.G., Rasmussen, J., & Roberts, L. (2007). Substance abuse patterns in a sample of non-college bound 18–25-year-olds [Abstract], Annals of Behavioral Medicine, 33, S198.