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Colin Polsky, Ph.D.

Director of the Florida Center for Environmental Studies Florida Atlantic University

  • Boca Raton FL

Colin Polsky is trained as a geographer, specializing in the human dimensions of global environmental change.

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2 min

The election is on. In fact, it’s as if the campaign of the 2016 election has never come to a finish. U.S. President Donald Trump’s strategy of constant rallies, speeches and campaign stops has essentially meant the Republican incumbent has been on the stump for the better part of almost five years now. On the other side, at one time last year, there were more than two dozen contenders vying for the right to represent the Democrats. That field has been whittled down to about half of that, and it is expected to continue shrinking now that primaries are in play and the financial costs of keeping up will become a reality. So, if there were to be an actual starting point for the November election – this week could be it. On Monday, the Iowa Caucus kicks off what could be months of rigorous and aggressive campaigning for Democrats. The winner Monday will have a huge boost, but after that it’ll be all eyes on New Hampshire, Nevada, South Carolina and then Super Tuesday. Also, this week, the President will deliver the State of the Union. The timing of this speech could be the change of channel the President needs as the clouds of impeachment linger. As well, the speech and the huge audience it gathers could set the tone of what's to come on the campaign trail. For political junkies and journalists – it is going to be a busy nine months. And if you are a reporter covering the primaries, politics and the presidential election – then let our experts help. The team from FAU can help with a variety of topics that will inevitably be part of or influence the policies and platforms of each party and candidate.   Kevin Wagner's research and teaching interests include presidential and judicial politics, political behavior and legislative behavior. He is also a research fellow of the FAU Business and Economics Polling Initiative (BEPI). Robert Rabil is an expert in political Islam, terrorism, U.S. foreign policy, and U.S.-Arab relations. Kelly Shannon specializes in the history of U.S. foreign relations, with particular attention to the Middle East and the 20th century. Colin Polsky is trained as a geographer, specializing in the human dimensions of global environmental change. He also oversees FAU's quarterly environmental poll. All of these experts from Florida Atlantic University are available to help with any of your questions or coverage – simply click on an expert’s icon to arrange an interview today.

Colin Polsky, Ph.D.Kevin Wagner, Ph.D.Robert Rabil, Ph.D.Kelly Shannon, Ph.D.

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Biography

Colin Polsky joined the Florida Atlantic University faculty as professor of geosciences in August 2014. His primary responsibility is to direct the Florida Center for Environmental Studies. CES was founded in 1994 under the superb leadership of Len Berry, who served as director until Polsky joined. Thankfully, Berry remains active in CES as emeritus professor of geosciences.

Under Polsky’s leadership, CES has embraced a new vision that builds on past successes while expanding into new domains. The vision of CES is to improve Florida's sustainability through research, education and outreach on wetlands ecology and coastal resilience.

Polsky is trained as a geographer, specializing in the human dimensions of global environmental change. He has completed four degrees with majors in four disciplines, plus a two-year postdoctoral training in a fifth field. This background in mathematics, humanities, French, geography, and science and international affairs (from the University of Texas, Penn State, and Harvard, respectively) has led to a sustained interest in advancing knowledge of U.S. climate vulnerabilities, in both methodological and applied terms.

As part of several interdisciplinary teams, Polsky has received NSF grants totaling close to $18 million of which $1.7 million has been directed to his stewardship. His publications include 26 peer-reviewed articles, two co-authored books, 17 book chapters, and 11 other reports; he has delivered close to 100 public presentations in eight countries. Polsky has served as co-convening lead author for a chapter in the 2013 National Climate Assessment, served on NRC, NSF, and USGCRP committees, and prepared reviews for several IPCC reports.

Polsky’s administrative experience includes service for eight years as director of a university undergraduate research program, one-and-a-half years as associate dean, and one year on an elected governance board. These experiences have led to significant experience with leadership and program-building, both within and across university departments; fundraising from public and private foundations; staffing of diverse and multigenerational teams; and communicating with varied audiences, for both persuasive and reporting purposes.

Areas of Expertise

U.S. Climate Vulnerabilities
Geography
Humanities
Human Dimensions of Global Environmental Change
Mathematics
French
Science & International Affairs

Accomplishments

Clark U. Hodgkins Award for Research Excellence

2008
One of two junior faculty recipients

Charter Fellow

2012
Colleges of Worcester Consortium Fellows in Academic Leadership Program

Education

The Pennsylvania State University

Ph.D.

Geography

2002

The Pennsylvania State University

M.S.

Geography

1998

The University of Texas at Austin

B.A.

Plan II (Humanities)

1994

Affiliations

  • U.S. Global Change Research Program, U.S. National Climate Assessment : Member, Adaptation and Hazards Indicators Technical Team
  • NEON Urban Ecology Working Group, NSF LTER Program : Member
  • National Academies of Science/National Research Council (NAS/NRC) Committee on Strategic Directions for the Geographical Sciences in the Next Decade : Committee Member

Selected Media Appearances

Sea level rising more rapidly than previously predicted

WPLG TV  online

2022-08-25

“As you go west from the ridge along the railroad and I-95, you lose elevation towards the Everglades, and so yes, the western parts of our counties, Broward and Miami Dade, they should experience some serious effects, as well,” said Dr. Colin Polsky, Director of the Center for Environmental Studies at Florida Atlantic University.

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As state combats sea level rise, new survey shows belief in climate change up in Florida

ABC Action News - WFTS Tampa Bay  online

2021-12-09

OLDSMAR, Fla. — Dr. Colin Polsky had a hunch, and a new survey by his Center for Environmental Studies at Florida Atlantic University seems to prove it — climate change is becoming a bipartisan issue in Florida.

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Florida spending millions to adapt to potentially catastrophic sea level rise

CBS12  online

2021-05-14

Environmental experts like Dr. Colin Polsky warn that, even before coastal communities see the devastating impact of things like higher floods, they could see serious economic issues. Rising sea level, Polsky explains, could tank some property values and even injure businesses.

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Selected Articles

Continental-scale homogenization of residential lawn plant communities

Landscape and Urban Planning

Megan M Wheeler, Christopher Neill, Peter M Groffman, Meghan Avolio, Neil Bettez, Jeannine Cavender-Bares, Rinku Roy Chowdhury, Lindsay Darling, J Morgan Grove, Sharon J Hall, James B Heffernan, Sarah E Hobbie, Kelli L Larson, Jennifer L Morse, Kristen C Nelson, Laura A Ogden, Jarlath O’Neil-Dunne, Diane E Pataki, Colin Polsky, Meredith Steele, Tara LE Trammell

2017

Residential lawns are highly managed ecosystems that occur in urbanized landscapes across the United States. Because they are ubiquitous, lawns are good systems in which to study the potential homogenizing effects of urban land use and management together with the continental-scale effects of climate on ecosystem structure and functioning. We hypothesized that similar homeowner preferences and management in residential areas across the United States would lead to low plant species diversity in lawns and relatively homogeneous vegetation across broad geographical regions. We also hypothesized that lawn plant species richness would increase with regional temperature and precipitation due to the presence of spontaneous, weedy vegetation, but would decrease with household income and fertilizer use. To test these predictions, we compared plant species composition and richness in residential lawns in seven U.S. metropolitan regions. We also compared species composition in lawns with understory vegetation in minimally-managed reference areas in each city. As expected, the composition of cultivated turfgrasses was more similar among lawns than among reference areas, but this pattern also held among spontaneous species. Plant species richness and diversity varied more among lawns than among reference areas, and more diverse lawns occurred in metropolitan areas with higher precipitation. Native forb diversity increased with precipitation and decreased with income, driving overall lawn diversity trends with these predictors as well. Our results showed that both management and regional climate shaped lawn species composition, but the overall homogeneity of species regardless of regional context strongly suggested that management was a more important driver.

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Shrinking suburbs in a time of crisis

The Routledge Companion to the Suburbs

Justin B. Hollander, Colin Polsky, Dan Zinder, Dan Runfola

2018

In recent years, increased scholarly attention has been paid to the fall-out from the 2008 subprime lending debacle, a national collapse of the housing market that resulted in massive foreclosures and widespread housing vacancy throughout the United States. In this chapter, we seek to understand the physical impacts of economic contraction on housing occupancy patterns before and after the Great Recession. Additionally, we ask whether or not different census-defined density-determined regions – urbanized areas, metropolitan statistical areas, and rural areas – were affected uniformly during economic contraction.

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A multi-city comparison of front and backyard differences in plant species diversity and nitrogen cycling in residential landscapes

Landscape and Urban Planning

Dexter H Locke, Meghan Avolio, Tara Trammel, Rinku Roy Chowdhury, J Morgan Grove, John Rogan, Deborah G Martin, Neil Bettez, Jeannine Cavender-Bares, Peter M Groffman, Sharon J Hall, James B Heffernan, Sarah E Hobbie, Kelli L Larson, Jennifer L Morse, Christopher Neill, Laura A Ogden, Jarlath PM O'Neil-Dunne, Diane Pataki, William D Pearse, Colin Polsky, Megan M Wheeler

2018

We hypothesize that lower public visibility of residential backyards reduces households’ desire for social conformity, which alters residential land management and produces differences in ecological composition and function between front and backyards. Using lawn vegetation plots (7 cities) and soil cores (6 cities), we examine plant species richness and evenness and nitrogen cycling of lawns in Boston, Baltimore, Miami, Minneapolis-St. Paul, Phoenix, Los Angeles (LA), and Salt Lake City (SLC). Seven soil nitrogen measures were compared because different irrigation and fertilization practices may vary between front and backyards, which may alter nitrogen cycling in soils. In addition to lawn-only measurements, we collected and analyzed plant species richness for entire yards—cultivated (intentionally planted) and spontaneous (self-regenerating)—for front and backyards in just two cities: LA and SLC. Lawn plant species and soils were not different between front and backyards in our multi-city comparisons. However, entire-yard plant analyses in LA and SLC revealed that frontyards had significantly fewer species than backyards for both cultivated and spontaneous species. These results suggest that there is a need for a more rich and social-ecologically nuanced understanding of potential residential, household behaviors and their ecological consequences.

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