Program Leaders

Dr. Britt Crow-Miller is a Senior Lecturer in the Departments of Environmental Conservation and Geosciences at UMass Amherst. Her academic research is focused on environmental politics, sustainability, global development, and water resource management in China and cities of the Western U.S. In 2018, Britt founded CityWild, a nonprofit organization with the mission of inspiring curiosity about nature through fun, exploration, and hands-on learning for kids and families, including those in underserved communities. The foundation of CityWild was laid in Portland, Oregon, and the organization relocated with Britt to New England in 2020. She received her Ph.D. in Geography from UCLA and holds an M.A. from Harvard University and a B.A. from Bard College.

 

Eric Thomas

Assistant Graduate Program Director, MS in Sustainability Science
Lecturer, Department of Environmental Conservation and Department of Geosciences

Dr. Eric Thomas is a Lecturer in the Departments of Environmental Conservation and Geosciences.  Dr. Thomas is an environmental anthropologist whose research applies a critical development perspective to contemporary state and capitalist projects along remote resource frontiers.  For the past five years, he has conducted ethnographic fieldwork on the coast of Chilean Patagonia, where a series of harmful algal blooms have resulted in the closure of fisheries and mass mortality events at local salmon farms.  Conducted in the wake of these disasters, his work examines the relationship between industrial aquaculture and artisanal fishing in remote coastal communities as well as the long-term sustainability of these and other sectors of the coastal economy.  His research methods include participant observation, career history surveys, participatory mapping, and semi-structured interviews.  He is originally from mid-coast Maine and received his Ph.D. in Anthropology from the University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill.