Department of Geography and Planning

Education

Ph.D. Geography, West Virginia University, 2019
M.S. Earth and Quaternary Sciences, Indiana State University, 2012
B.A. Geography, Kennesaw State University, 2010

Biography

I am a broadly trained physical geographer with an instructional background in geography, environmental science and ethics, biology, and ecology. I am particularly dedicated to delivering experiential outdoor education opportunities in local ecosystems. I specialize in dendrochronology, using tree rings to understand human-environment interactions over time. I have two areas of interest within the discipline of dendrochronology: ecology and archaeology. My dendroecological background includes reconstructions of extreme climate events, fire history, insect defoliation events, and land-use history in North America. My dendroarchaeological background includes the dating of historic log and timber-frame buildings in North America. I work predominantly in the central Appalachian region, including West Virginia, Virginia, and North Carolina. From these research activities, I developed an interest in understanding how tree-ring records from historic log buildings oTer complementary ecological and climatological information to spatially limited, old-growth forest records in eastern North America. My current research integrates my ecological and archaeological interests to explore past forest conditions and patterns of human activity using tree-ring records contained within historic buildings. I aim to address gaps in spatial and temporal live-tree data across the central Appalachian region and explore the applications of tree-ring data from these historical archives.

If you have a historic log or timber frame building in North Carolina, or the central Appalachian region, and you are curious about its age, feel free to contact me!

Publications

de Graauw, K, Rochner, M, van de Gevel, S, et al. (2024) Comparing the impact of live-tree vs. historic-timber data on paleoenvironmental inferences in tree-ring science, eastern North America. The Holocene 34(1), 3-13.

de Graauw, KK, Hessl, AE (2020) Do historic log buildings provide evidence of reforestation following depopulation of Indigenous Peoples? Journal of Biogeography 47(3), 630-642.

de Graauw, K (2017) Historic log structures as ecological archives: a case study from eastern North America. Dendrochronologia 45, 23-34.

Cockrell, SW, de Graauw, KK, Ziegler, AM, Hessl, AE (2017) Precision dating of Cook’s Mill, a Civil War Era Structure in West Virginia. Dendrochronologia 43, 20-26.

de Graauw, KK, Towner, RH, Grissino-Mayer, HD, Kessler, NV et al. (2014) Historical Dendroarchaeology of Two Log Structures in the Valles Caldera National Preserve, New Mexico, USA. Dendrochronologia 32, 336-342.

Grissino-Mayer, HD, Maxwell, JT, Harley, GL, Garland, NA, ... de Graauw, KK et al. (2013) Dendrochronology reveals the construction history of an early 19th century farm settlement, southwestern Virginia, USA. Journal of Archaeological Science 40, 481-489.