Research Group Members
| Alison Eagle | Alicia Entem | Hyun No Kim | Orsolya Perger | Curtis Rollins | Stephanie Simpson | Catalina Solano Rivera | Scott Wilson |
Alison Eagle
I am a Research Associate with the Institute for Land Use Innovation at the University of Alberta. With an interdisciplinary background in soil science and agricultural economics and policy, my work focuses on economic and policy issues related to agricultural land management, primarily addressing interactions between agriculture and the environment. My current research involves the study of policy and economic instruments that can be used to increase the provision of ecosystem services such as biodiversity and water quality.
Raised on a farm in Alberta, I gained an early interest in agriculture through farm-work and 4-H participation, continuing through university studies into research and related employment. I studied soil nutrient dynamics in California rice fields where residue management adjustments were required to protect air quality. Then, I cooperated with California dairy producers and others in developing and demonstrating improved manure management practices for water resource protection. My subsequent research shifted into agricultural economics, addressing diverse topics such as climate change, invasive species, and farmland protection at the rural-urban fringe. My recent work (at Duke University) involved the gathering, interpreting, and synthesizing of scientific information on the greenhouse gas mitigation potential of agricultural activities. The intersection of agronomic sciences and economics in that research are necessary to ensure verifiable environmental impacts and ready application in policy or private markets. I hold a PhD from Wageningen University (Netherlands) in agricultural economics and rural policy, a MS from the University of California-Davis, and a BSc from the University of Alberta.
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Alicia Entem
I am currently completing a MSc. in Agricultural and Natural Resource Economics at the University of Alberta. My thesis investigates the potential efficiency-gains achieved by including multiple species at risk in cost-effective habitat protection plans within Saskatchewan’s agricultural landscape. The biological background gained from my undergraduate degree – a BSc. in Environmental Conservation Sciences, Major in Conservation Biology, University of Alberta (2008) – facilitated a deeper understanding of the ecological components of the project. My overall research interests include the addition of spatial (GIS) aspects to resource economic questions, how biological and economic research can intersect to improve policy design, behavioural economics, and economic policy applications.
I have participated in several ecological projects with the University of Alberta (Department of Agriculture, Food and Nutrition Sciences) and the Canadian Wildlife Service (2008 - 2010) including projects on fescue grassland restoration, feral horse habitat selection in Alberta’s foothills, prairie songbird research, and grassland health monitoring. As a research assistant in the Department of Resource Economics and Environmental Sociology (REES) at the University of Alberta (2007 - 2009), I worked on projects focusing on a variety of topics including food security, species at risk valuation, ecological goods and services, and experimental economics. I am currently working with members of the REES department to determine Saskatchewan residents’ willingness to pay for the protection of species at risk. I am also teaching a 400-level course on economic impact analysis (January – April, 2012) as a sessional instructor.
I am an avid backpacker and cross-country skier, and have recently begun to discover mountain biking, downhill skiing and alpine touring. I like to run the odd road race and have participated in the Banff-Jasper Relay for the past two summers. I also love to garden and often return to the family farm in the summers.
Hyun No Kim
I completed my master’s and bachelor’s degree at Kangwon National University in South Korea. My master’s thesis was associated with an analysis of risk-averting behavior to secure the safety of multi-purpose dam. Before enrolled in Ph. D program in the department of Resource Economics and Environmental Sociology (REES) at U of A, I worked as a researcher in the Korea Rural Economic Institute (KREI).
The current research project that I am currently working on aims to demonstrate the value of ecosystem goods and services (EGS) provided by the infrastructure that was established for some other purpose-irrigation. This particular piece of irrigation infrastructure yields positive externalities for the residents living along it and any visitors. In my research, various non-market valuation methods are used to understand the economic value of ecosystem services generated by this infrastructure, which involve hedonic property methods, housing choice methods based on revealed data, and attribute based state choice methods (ABSCM). By placing this economic value in the appropriate policy context, my research expects to highlight how much of this increased value has been captured by the agency that generated these values.
I mostly enjoy cooking, exercising, and traveling in my free time.
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Orsolya Perger
Currently I am working on my dissertation as a Doctoral student at the Department of Resource Economics and Environmental Sociology (REES) at the University of Alberta. My thesis focuses on how conservation auctions can be incorporated into government policy to reduce the environmental footprint of the Agriculture sector.
I hold a BSc and MSc in Computer Science from Budapest, Hungary and I worked for several years as a Software Developer in Hungary and in Finland. After coming to Canada in 2001, I went back to school studying business management and earned a BMgt at the University of Lethbridge. My interests in economic research started to develop when I was working as a research assistant on a project that calculated the potential health care savings due to food consumption changes induced by government policy. I received further economic policy training while studying for my MA in Economics at the Department of Economics at the University of Calgary. There, my Master's thesis investigated how commercial forest practices can be altered to achieve spatial and temporal environmental goals without compromising economic objectives.
After graduation, I joined the Sustainable Forest Management Network and the Rural Economy Department at the University of Alberta as a Research Associate. I have played a key role in establishing behavioral experiment based research at the department, which became a major focus of our research group. My research involved exploring different market based instruments such as eco-permit trading, biodiversity offsets and conservation auctions. These novel tools can contribute to the improvement of environmental outcomes of future economic policies in agriculture, forestry, and other natural resource management related fields.
Curtis Rollins
I completed my BSc. in Agricultural and Resource Economics from the University of Alberta in 2011. During my undergraduate education, I conducted research focused on the impact of post-secondary education on individuals’ pro-environmental behaviour. Since April 2011, I have been working as a research assistant for the Department of Resource Economics and Environmental Sociology, where I have been working on projects relating to agri-environmental issues. In particular, I have been involved in running economic lab experiments, and I am currently conducting a statistical analysis on the determinants of farmers adopting environmentally beneficial practices. As of January 2012, I am pursuing a MSc. in Agricultural and Resource Economics at the University of Alberta.
My main area of research interest is behavioural economics. Particularly, I’m interested in understanding how psychological factors affect economic decision-making, and how to incorporate psychological variables into economic models. Outside of the research realm, I can be found cooking, dancing wildly in living rooms, and riding my bicycle to small Alberta towns to visit their obscure hotel pubs.
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Stephanie Simpson
Before joining Peter’s research group, I completed my Bachelor of Arts degree at the University of Alberta, where I majored in Psychology and Classical Studies. I got my first taste for research during my time as an undergraduate student, serving as a Research Assistant in an avian cognition lab. My research there investigated the impact of stimulus-preceding time intervals on the accuracy of pigeons’ memory for paired visual stimuli. Following the completion of my degree, I also served as a Resident Advisor for the University of Alberta’s Women in Scholarship, Engineering, Science and Technology Summer Research Program, where I supervised out-of-town student researchers.
Currently, I serve as a Research Assistant in the Department of Resource Economics and Environmental Sociology (REES), and as a Researcher with the University of Alberta’s Institute for Land Use Innovation (ILUI). My work in REES has allowed me to contribute to projects relating to water markets, motivational crowding out, public preferences for species-at-risk management, and experimental economics. As a Researcher with the ILUI, I am leading a project evaluating the success of an agri-environmental extension program in encouraging farmers to adopt beneficial management practices aimed at improving on-farm biodiversity and wildlife habitat.
My research interests lie in the intersection between food, agriculture and the environment. In particular, I’m interested in understanding the determinants of different agricultural and environmental attitudes and behaviors. Outside of my research, I enjoy cooking, photography, and adventuring. Always thinking about food, I lend a hand to the University of Alberta’s Campus Food Bank, and run a blog focused on making tasty food accessible.
Catalina Solano Rivera
I completed a B.A. and a M.A. in Economics at the Pontificia Universidad Javeriana of Bogota, Colombia. As part of the M.A. program, I wrote a thesis about alternative measurement techniques of total factor productivity in the Colombian manufacturing sector using parametric (econometric) and non-parametric techniques. After two years working in rural organizations in Colombia I moved to Edmonton to complete a MSc. in Environmental Economics at the University of Alberta. My thesis research involved the measurement of economic and environmental benefits of substituting spring wheat crop areas in the Canadian Prairie Provinces with winter wheat plantations. This research was based on a mathematical bio-economic model that included the production costs and benefits of wheat production and its relation with Mallard duck populations that nest in these agricultural areas.
After finishing my second masters I worked with the Sustainable Forest Management Network and with the Renewable Resources Department (U of A) as a Knowledge Exchange Specialist. During this time I edited and published a number of Knowledge Extension publications on forest and water management, economic and sociological studies. I also organized a number of events with the objective of promoting knowledge transfer between researchers and knowledge users. Currently I divide my time working as a Research Assistant with the Department of Resource Economics and Environmental Sociology (U of A), as a contractor with the Department of Fisheries and Oceans, and as the Administrator of the LEARN Network. My main professional interests are doing research and knowledge transfer about environmental issues and resource management, especially related to wildlife.
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Scott Wilson
I completed two undergraduate degrees at the University of Alberta. The first was a Bachelor of Arts in Economics with a minor in Psychology. Later, in that degree, I developed a strong interest in environmental economics and a desire to better understand the science and policy that drives that field. I then earned a Bachelor of Science in Environmental Economics and Policy in order to fulfill that desire. I am currently a student working on my Master’s degree in Agricultural and Resource Economics at UofA under the supervision of Dr. Peter Boxall. My research involves conducting conservation auction experiments with students at the University of Alberta. We intend on incorporating risk preferences as a variable into the bid function on conservation auctions. Experimental research on students will be conducted to learn about the effects of risk on bidding behaviour. A survey to better understand how the producers in the research area view risk, BMPs and conservation auctions will also be conducted. I would like to add more realism to the research surrounding conservation auctions in order to further develop their applicability to the real world.
Outside of academic ventures, I volunteer for the Resource Economics and Environmental Sociology Students Association, where I have acted as President since the spring of 2011. Outside school I enjoy hiking, camping, birding, and fishing all year round. Hockey also occupies a great deal of my time.
