Doctoral Dissertation Research: Comparing Computational Environmental Modeling Practices

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Modeling, the creation of simplified representations of complex systems, has always been a part of how people understand and interact with their environments. Recently, computers have supported the development of computational modeling to study complexity through computer simulation. Computational modeling has become important in environmental research and policy-making. This new and increasingly prevalent modeling practice raises a number of questions about model use and model choice. Do computational models mediate our relationships to the environmental systems they are made to represent? Are these effects different from those of other kinds of models? To address these questions and explore the roles and effects of computational modeling more generally, University of Maryland doctoral student Jeremy Trombley, advised by Dr. Michael J. Paolisso, will undertake research in the Chesapeake Bay region. Trombley's research has three focal components: 1) an examination of the role that a particular set of hydrodynamic models -- the Chesapeake Bay Modeling System -- plays in the Chesapeake Bay socio-ecological system; 2) documenting the socio-ecological effects of producing and using these models; and 3) the comparative effects of an alternative computational modeling practice on the same socio-environmental system. Trombley will collect data from scientists, policy makers, environmental managers, and farmers using a combination of social science methodologies, including social network analysis, participant observation, semi-structured interviews, and structured survey. Understanding critical transitions, transformations, and change, including the effects of anthropogenic processes and the impacts of new technologies, is a research emphasis area in the NSF Cultural Anthropology Program's project portfolio. Findings from this project will contribute to that Program focus.