Matt Bethel
Assistant Director of Research, Louisiana Sea Grant Louisiana State University
- Baton Rouge LA
Dr. Bethel has 20+ years of experience in the application of geospatial technology for trans-disciplinary studies.
Biography
Areas of Expertise
Research Focus
Participatory Geospatial Science & Coastal Community Resilience
Dr. Bethel’s research focuses on participatory geospatial science, traditional ecological knowledge, and coastal community resilience across the Gulf Coast. He combines community-based mapping, tribe-led hazard-adaptation projects, and social–ecological decision-support models to steer coastal restoration design and policy.
Education
University of New Orleans
Ph.D.
Engineering and Applied Science
2010
Murray State University
M.S.
Geography
1999
The University of Tennessee
B.S.
Geography
1994
Media Appearances
LSU Awarded $780K From National Academies to Help Louisiana Tribe Protect Coastal Land
Houma Times online
2024-01-09
Since 2022, LSU has been working with PACIT to protect the tribe’s ancestral lands using nature-based solutions. Matthew Bethel, associate executive director of research at Louisiana Sea Grant, has been leading the project, converting the success of an initial $100,000 planning grant into a full-fledged $780,000 design project funded by the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine’s Gulf Research Program.
“We lead this work by learning from the Tribe’s perspective and factoring in traditional ecological knowledge and priorities from the Tribe,” Bethel said. “At a larger scale, our collaborative can be adopted, adapted, and applied by researchers working with almost any community on local issues.”
Pilot project builds Tribal climate and disaster resilience in Louisiana
National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration online
2022-11-21
“I am excited about this opportunity to connect the Tribe to NOAA’s climate data, tools and services in support of their effort to develop a comprehensive community-based strategy to become more resilient to future storms and other coastal hazards,” said Matthew Bethel, Louisiana Sea Grant associate executive director of research. “This project leverages ongoing collaborative efforts with the PACIT such as the development of the T-CRI, and is part of Louisiana Sea Grant’s continued partnership with NOAA on critical work to help address climate adaptation and resilience priorities for coastal communities across the region.”
Articles
Mapping risk factors to climate change impacts using traditional ecological knowledge to support adaptation planning with a Native American Tribe in Louisiana
Journal of Environmental Management2022
Indigenous communities are often on the front-lines of climate change, and for tribes such as the Pointe-au-Chien Indian Tribe (PACIT) that make their homes and livelihoods in the dynamic landscapes of Coastal Louisiana (USA), sea-level rise, subsidence, and land loss are very real reminders of why they must continue to hone their adaptive capacity that has evolved over many generations and continues to evolve as the pace of change quickens. PACIT members have an inherited wisdom about their surrounding environment and continue to build on that body of observational knowledge that is passed from generation to generation to sustain themselves in this dynamic landscape. This knowledge is woven through their culture and is sometimes referred to as traditional ecological knowledge (TEK). The PACIT and other Indigenous communities around the world are using creative strategies to adapt to the impacts of climate change that include partnering with researchers to combine their TEK with science in approaches to enhance strategies dealing with climate change impacts, mitigation, and adaptation.
