FACULTY AND STAFF

Dan Childers
Faculty, Ph.D.

Dan Childers is a Professor in the School of Sustainability and member of the Executive Committee of the Central Arizona-Phoenix Long-Term Ecological Research Program (CAP LTER) at Arizona State University.  His research focuses on systems ecology (primarily in wetland, aquatic, and urban ecosystems) and sustainability science.  His ecosystems ecology research has recently expanded to include urban wetlands and “ciénega” systems of arid southwestern streams—and in many different freshwater and estuarine systems around the world.   Prior to his arrival and starting the WEEL lab at ASU in August 2008, Dan spent nearly 15 years at Florida International University in Miami where he was Director of the Florida Coastal Everglades Long-Term Ecological Research (FCE LTER) Program. Dan has published more than 80 peer-reviewed articles, won grants that have totaled over $15 million, and advised more than two dozen Ph.D. and M.S. students.

To learn more about Dr. Dan Childers, please visit his School of Sustainability faculty website and read his CV: Childers_CV_Spring2017

Chris Sanchez
Lab Manager, Ph.D. Student

Chris Sanchez is a Research Specialist in the Julie Ann Wrigley Global Institute of Sustainability at Arizona State University who has been working with WEEL since 2011, initially as an NSF-funded undergraduate student researcher and now as the lab's manager. His current research with WEEL is focused on understanding the unique hydrological conditions that affect and drive ecosystem services in the Tres Rios constructed wastewater treatment wetland. Before assuming his current position at ASU, he worked for 3 years as an interpretive program leader and coordinator for the Miami-Dade County Parks, Recreation and Opens Spaces department while earning a double-B.A. from the University of Miami. He studied wetland ecology for many years in the Florida Everglades at the Florida Coastal Everglades (FCE) LTER site, where his work was focused on reconstructing historic hydrology patterns and understanding carbon dynamics in coastal mangrove forests.

Chris is currently enrolled in the ASU School of Sustainability Ph.D. program.

GRADUATE STUDENTS

Nicholas Weller
Ph.D. Student

I am interested in policy, science, democracy, and design, particularly around sustainability and environmental issues. More specifically, I study ways the general public contributes to science and policy and what decision makers do with such input. With a group of practitioners and researchers from the Institute for the Future of Innovation in Society, I examine large-scale public forums exploring what people think cities should do to respond to hazards like droughts or floods. I compare these forums to others methods of participation in decision making and science, including participatory design.
​
As an undergraduate research assistant in WEEL, I studied plant mediated nitrogen uptake at Tres Rios and urban stormwater dynamics. More recently, I worked with the School of Sustainability's Sustainability Science for Sustainable Schools program to develop and implement sustainability curriculum and programming for local K-12 schools. 

Eric Vahid
Ph.D. Student

Eric Vahid is a Ph.D. student in the School of Sustainability at Arizona State University. His focus is on Urban Ecology/Ecosystems and Sustainability Science. His current research focuses on nutrient cycling in urban environments. He received his Master's Degree in Sustainable Solutions through the School of Sustainability at ASU. He completed his B.S. in Earth System Science at the University of California, Irvine, where he worked in a wetland ecology lab focusing on underground water flow and soil analysis, specifically phytolith analysis. 

VISTING SCHOLARS

Yanying Yang
Ph.D. Candidate, Chinese Academy of Sciences

Yanying is a Ph. D. student in Urban Ecology at the Research Center for Eco-environmental Sciences (RCEES), Chinese Academy of Sciences. Her research interests include ecosystem services evaluation and management, urban ecosystem, eco-city planning and management. 

UNDERGRADUATE STUDENTS

Brick Cummins
B.S.

I am a junior at ASU studying Biological Sciences.  I am also minoring in Anthropology and am interested 
in the areas of ecology and animal physiology. After college, I hope to pursue a career in one of these 
fields.

I am a junior at ASU studying Biological Sciences.  I am also minoring in Anthropology and am interested 
in the areas of ecology and animal physiology. After college, I hope to pursue a career in one of these 
fields.

Bill Clem
B.S.