Graduate Student Theses

Graduate Student Theses

All links navigate to the thesis on the North Carolina Digital Online Collection of Knowledge and Scholarship (NCDocks), the shared institutional repository of the UNC System.
* denotes Cratis. D. Williams School of Graduate Studies Outstanding Thesis Award recipient

2021

Bagli, Hannah: CAVs - Use, Share, Own? Young Driver Perceptions of Connected and Automated Vehicles

Hart Handwerger, Leah: An Assessment of Social and Physical Vulnerability to Hydroclimate Extremes in Appalachia

Moreno, Camila: Examining Spatiotemporal Trends of Drought in the United States Using Self-Organizing Maps

O'Neill, Alex: Analytical Hierarchical Modeling of Glacial Lake Outburst Flood Potential in the Khumbu Region, Nepal

2020

Harden, Stella: The Impact of Environmental and Social Characteristics on Severe Maternal Morbidity: A Spatiotemporal Analysis in South Carolina *

2019

Bailey, Elizabeth: Wearable Sensors For Personal Temperature Exposure Assessments: A Comparative Study

Bonevac, Abie: Key Informant Perceptions Of Flooding And Landslides In Western North Carolina, USA Following The 2018 Floods And Landslides

Ita Vargas, Tania: Synoptic Patterns Associated With Wet Season Onset In The Tropical High Andes Of Southern Peru And Bolivia

Kaiser, April: Dendroecological Investigation Of Red-Cockaded Woodpecker Cavity Tree Selection In Endangered Longleaf Pine Forests

Kinlaw, Timothy: Warm Season Hydroclimatic Variability And Change In The Appalachian Region Of The Southeastern U.S. From 1950 To 2018

Piercy, Joshua: Life In Azeroth: Examining Place-Making In Virtual Environments

Wilson, Matthew: Internal And External Validation Of Vulnerability Indices: A Case Study Of The Multivariate Nursing Home Vulnerability Index

2018

Andersen, Lauren: An Assessment Of Wildfire Vulnerability In Western North Carolina, USA Following The 2016 Wildfires

Guy, Heather: Identification Of A Regionally Coherent Subseasonal Signal Of Stable Isotopes In Tropical Andean Precipitation *

Jonaitis, Joseph: Spatiotemporal Patterns Of ENSO-Precipitation Relationships In The Tropical Andes Of Southern Peru And Bolivia

McDade, Burke: Impacts Of The Hemlock Woolly Adelgid (Adelges Tsugae) On Headwater Stream Wood Loads In The Southern Appalachian Mountains

Montpellier, Evan: Reconstructing Summer Upper-Level Flow In The Northern Rocky Mountains Using An Alpine Larch (Larix Lyallii) Tree-Ring Chronology

Sanders, James: Chloride Toxicity In The Upper South Fork Of The New River: Implications For Watershed Health And Aquatic Life

Thompson, Laura: Adolescents In Crisis: A Geographic Exploration Of Help-Seeking Behavior Using Data From Crisis Text Line

Vines, David: The Media Frames The Discourse: De Facto State Development, Nagorno-Karabakh, And The Vardenis-Martakert Highway

2017

Andrews, Jesse: A Practium On Uncertainty: Creation Of An HGIS Database

Eck, Montana: Winter Climate Variability In The Southern Appalachian Mountains, 1910-2017

Ely, Christopher: A Geomorphic Characterization Of An Ecuadorian Páramo River

Endries, Jason: Radar-Observed Characteristics Of Precipitation In The Tropical High Andes Of Southern Peru And Bolivia

Maloney, Megan: A Comparison Of Methods For Scaling Field Data For Use In Mapping Dryland Ecosystem Vegetation With Airborne Imaging Spectroscopy

Raynor, Garry: Geographic Variations Of Clandestine Methamphetamine Laboratories In North Carolina

2016

Rose, Levi: Application Of ToxCast To Assess Potential Adverse Biological Effects In An Impacted Watershed

2015

Balcomb, James: Structure-from-Motion based Vegetation Modeling and Shade Estimation *

Cooper, Courtney: Human Systems in Watershed Modeling: A Literature Review of Integrated Watershed Models in the United States

Davis, Monica: Flood Modeling and the Influence of Digital Terrain Models: A Case Study of the Swannanoa River in North Carolina

2014

Hutchins, Maya: The Finer Things in Life: Comparing High-Resolution Fossil Fuel Carbon Dioxide Emissions Inventories 

Swinson, Bobbie Jo: To Restore or Not to Restore? Assessing Pre-Project Conditions of a Habitat Restoration Project on the New River, North Carolina   

2013

Brown, Reese: Oak Regeneration Patterns and Stand Dynamics in Burned and Unburned Forest Stands in Shawnee State Forest, Ohio, USA

Carlyle, Cameron: The Influence of Impervious Surface Location on Water Quality in the Headwaters of the Southern Appalachian Mountains

French, Jeffrey: GIS Analysis of Impacts of TVA Dams on Upstream Residential Property Values in Eastern Tennessee

Hale, Robin: The Role of Perception on Water Allocation and Conservation Management in Western North Carolina

Martin, Daniel: Snowfall Event Characteristics From A High-Elevation Site in the Southern Appalachian Mountain

Sugg, Johnathan: Satellite Perspectives on the Spatial Extent of New Snowfall in the Southern Appalachian Mountains *

2012

Anthony, Matthew: Energy Policy and Social Network Analysis of the Clean Energy Economy in Western North Carolina: A Geographic Perspective on Sustainable Economic Development 

Austin, David: Vegetation Dynamics of a Carolina Hemlock Community at Bluff Mountain, North Carolina, USA

Bartlett, May: The Levee Boards of the Yazoo Mississippi Delta: A Fight to Control the River and Region *

2011

Coffey, Christopher: Effects of Impervious Surfaces and Forests on Water Quality in a Southern Appalachian Headwater Catchment: A Geospatial Modeling Approach *

Gray, Carla: Factors Influencing Restoration Success of Abandoned Agricultural Fields on the Lower San Pedro River Terraces, Southeastern Arizona

Hagevik, Cheryl.: Mapping Bolivia's Socio-Political Climate: Evaluation of Multivariate Design Strategies

Kelly, Ginger: Aerosol-Precipitation Interactions in the Southern Appalachian Mountains *

Roberts, Amanda: On the Road to Healthy Communities: Cyclists' Perceptions of the Environment

2010

Bowman, Lucas: Clifford Joel Sweeney's Role in the Northern Migration of the Traditional Southern Black Banjo: An HGIS Approach

Kaase, Christopher: The Effects of Stream Restoration on Woody Riparian Vegetation in the Northwestern North Carolina Mountain Region: A Comparative Study of Restored, Degraded, and Reference Sites

Renwick, Kelly Ann: Indigenous Conservations: An Alternative to the Displacement of Forest Swelling Indigenous and Tribal Populations?

Saunders, Brandon: Assessing Impacts of Rural Gentrification on an Appalachian Community in Watauga County, NC 

Smith, Stephanie: Contribution of Rural Land Use to Biodiversity; a Multi-Scale Study of Organic Farms and Subdivisions in the Southern Appalachians

Turner, Jacob: A Geographic Ontology and GIS Model For Carolina Bays

Waynick, James: Spatial Analysis of Surveyed Perceptions of Safety, Crime, and Lighting: A College Campus Case Study *

White, Philip: Decadel-Scale Trends in Forest Succession and Climatic Sensitivity in a Red Spruce-Fraser Fir Forest at Roan Mountain, Pisgah and Cherokee National Forests

Ziegler, Sandra Kathleen: The Development of Bridging and Bonding Social Capital Among Sudanese Refugees in Guilford County, North Carolina