Aparna Bamzai-Dodson is the Acting Director of the North Central Climate Adaptation Science Center (NC CASC), one of the nine regional centers that form the National and Regional Climate Adaptation Science Center network.
Aparna Bamzai-Dodson is the USGS Acting Director for the NC CASC. In this role, she undertakes stakeholder and partner engagement to identify strategic science goals, outputs, and objectives. She is also responsible for tracking budget planning and expenditures, organizing the solicitation and review of project proposals, and coordinating efficient and effective communication and collaboration among NC CASC-funded scientists. Aparna has a B.S. in Statistics and Mathematics from Virginia Tech and a Master of Environmental Management from Duke University with a focus on Global Environmental Change and has completed the coursework toward her Ph.D. in Atmospheric Science from the University of California, Berkeley. She completed her Ph.D. through the Department of Geography and Environmental Sustainability at the University of Oklahoma, with a focus on the theory and practice of engaging stakeholders in the creation of actionable science for climate adaptation. This research will provide an opportunity for the NC CASC to learn how to improve its practice of producing usable knowledge to support decision making.
Education and Certifications
PhD in Geography and Environmental Sustainability, University of Oklahoma
MS in Environmental Management, Duke University
BS in Statistics and Mathematics, Virginia Tech
Science and Products
Developing Resources for Tribal Partnership Science
Developing a toolkit for coproducing actionable science to support public land management
Open-Source and Open-Workflow Climate Futures Toolbox for Adaptation Planning
Approaches to Evaluate Actionable Science for Climate Adaptation
Synthesis of CASC-Led Climate Training Activities for Tribes and Indigenous Communities
Critical stakeholder engagement: The road to actionable science Is paved with scientists’ good intentions
Seventy questions of importance to the conservation of the North Central grasslands of the United States in a changing climate
Suggested communication deliverables for coproduced projects
A problem-solving checklist for coproduction
What does coproduction look like in the public lands context?
What level of coproduction makes sense for my project?
How can I coproduce science?
Community for data integration 2019 project report
A research agenda for the science of actionable knowledge: Drawing from a review of the most misguided to the most enlightened claims in the science-policy interface literature
Training and capacity building activities of Climate Adaptation Science Centers for the benefit of Tribal and Indigenous communities, 2010–2019
When do climate services achieve societal impact? Evaluations of actionable climate adaptation science
Murky waters: Divergent ways scientists, practitioners, and landowners evaluate beaver mimicry
Science and Products
- Science
Developing Resources for Tribal Partnership Science
Tribal Partnership Science (TPS) is a rapidly growing field that brings together biophysical and social scientists, federally recognized tribes, and federal land management agencies. TPS is essential for addressing complex environmental challenges facing tribes and their homelands. In recent years, a proliferation of methods, frameworks, and guidance for TPS has emerged from diverse scientific disDeveloping a toolkit for coproducing actionable science to support public land management
Coproduction is a highly collaborative approach to conducting science that focuses on producing actionable products that are used to inform natural resource management decisions. This project will develop an informational toolkit to facilitate coproduction between resource managers and science providers in the context of federal public land management.Open-Source and Open-Workflow Climate Futures Toolbox for Adaptation Planning
Global climate models are a key source of climate information and produce large amounts of spatially explicit data for various physical parameters. However, these projections have substantial uncertainties associated with them, and the datasets themselves can be difficult to work with. The project team created the first version (cst 0.1.0) of the Climate Futures Toolbox, an open source workflow inApproaches to Evaluate Actionable Science for Climate Adaptation
Science produced by the National and Regional Climate Adaptation Science Center (CASC) network must ideally be scientifically sound, relevant to a management decision, fair and respectful of stakeholders’ divergent values, and produced through a process of iterative collaboration between scientists and managers. However, research that aims to produce usable knowledge and collaborative approaches t...Synthesis of CASC-Led Climate Training Activities for Tribes and Indigenous Communities
The Climate Adaptation Science Centers have conducted numerous training and skills development activities to support tribal and indigenous partners as they seek to use scientific information and techniques to understand and respond to climate change impacts. Because these activities were generated in different CASC regions, with different tribal / indigenous stakeholders, climate change contexts, - Multimedia
- Publications
Filter Total Items: 14
Critical stakeholder engagement: The road to actionable science Is paved with scientists’ good intentions
To help stakeholders such as planners, resource managers, policymakers, and decision makers address environmental challenges in the Anthropocene, scientists are increasingly creating actionable science—science that is useful, usable, and used. Critical physical geography encourages the engagement of stakeholders in the creation of scientific knowledge to conduct actionable science and produce outpAuthorsAparna Bamzai-Dodson, Amanda E. Cravens, Renee A. McPhersonSeventy questions of importance to the conservation of the North Central grasslands of the United States in a changing climate
Successful conservation of ecosystems in a changing climate requires actionable research that directly supports the rethinking and revising of management approaches to address changing risks and opportunities. As an important first step toward actionable research, we reviewed and synthesized grassland management-related documents to identify broadly shared questions that, if answered, would help tAuthorsChristine D. Miller Hesed, Heather M. Yocum, Molly S. Cross, Aparna Bamzai-Dodson, Ben Wheeler, Jon P. Beckmann, Marissa Ahlering, Kimberly R. Hall, Emily Boyd-Valandra, Danika Mosher, Brian W. Miller, Sarah JaffeSuggested communication deliverables for coproduced projects
An informational tool provided as part of a toolkit for researchers and practitioners with an interest in coproducing actionable science to support public land managementAuthorsLea B. Selby, Sarah K. Carter, Travis Haby, D. J. A. Wood, Aparna Bamzai-Dodson, Patrick J. Anderson, Jeffrey E. Herrick, Ella M. Samuel, John C. TullA problem-solving checklist for coproduction
An informational tool provided as part of a toolkit for researchers and practitioners with an interest in coproducing actionable science to support public land managementAuthorsLea B. Selby, Sarah K. Carter, Travis Haby, D. J. A. Wood, Aparna Bamzai-Dodson, Patrick J. Anderson, Jeffrey E. Herrick, Ella M. Samuel, John C. TullWhat does coproduction look like in the public lands context?
An informational tool provided as part of a toolkit for researchers and practitioners with an interest in coproducing actionable science to support public land managementAuthorsLea B. Selby, Sarah K. Carter, Travis Haby, D. J. A. Wood, Aparna Bamzai-Dodson, Patrick J. Anderson, Jeffrey E. Herrick, Ella M. Samuel, John C. TullWhat level of coproduction makes sense for my project?
An informational tool provided as part of a toolkit for researchers and practitioners with an interest in coproducing actionable science to support public land managementAuthorsLea B. Selby, Sarah K. Carter, Travis Haby, D. J. A. Wood, Aparna Bamzai-Dodson, Patrick J. Anderson, Jeffrey E. Herrick, Ella M. Samuel, John C. TullHow can I coproduce science?
An information sheet provided as part of a toolkit for researchers and practitioners with an interest in coproducing actionable science to support public land managementAuthorsLea B. Selby, Sarah K. Carter, Travis Haby, D. J. A. Wood, Aparna Bamzai-Dodson, Patrick J. Anderson, Jeffrey E. Herrick, Ella Samuel, John C. TullCommunity for data integration 2019 project report
The U.S. Geological Survey Community for Data Integration annually supports small projects focusing on data integration for interdisciplinary research, innovative data management, and demonstration of new technologies. This report provides a summary of the 14 projects supported in fiscal year 2019 and outlines their goals, activities, and accomplishments. Proposals in 2019 were encouraged to addreAuthorsAmanda N. Liford, Caitlin M. Andrews, Aparna Bamzai, Joseph A. Bard, David S. Blehert, John B. Bradford, Wesley M. Daniel, Sara L. Caldwell Eldridge, Frank Engel, Jason A. Ferrante, Amy K. Gilmer, Margaret E. Hunter, Jeanne M. Jones, Benjamin Letcher, Frances L. Lightsom, Richard R. McDonald, Leah E. Morgan, Sasha C. Reed, Leslie HsuByEcosystems Mission Area, Water Resources Mission Area, Science Analytics and Synthesis (SAS) Program, Volcano Hazards Program, Community for Data Integration (CDI), Geology, Geophysics, and Geochemistry Science Center, Geosciences and Environmental Change Science Center, National Wildlife Health Center, Oklahoma-Texas Water Science Center, Southwest Biological Science Center, Volcano Science Center, Western Geographic Science Center, Wetland and Aquatic Research Center , Woods Hole Coastal and Marine Science Center, Science Data ManagementA research agenda for the science of actionable knowledge: Drawing from a review of the most misguided to the most enlightened claims in the science-policy interface literature
Linking science with action affords a prime opportunity to leverage greater societal impact from research and increase the use of evidence in decision-making. Success in these areas depends critically upon processes of producing and mobilizing knowledge, as well as supporting and making decisions. For decades, scholars have idealized and described these social processes in different ways, resultinAuthorsKripa Jagannathan, Geniffer Emmanuel, James Arnott, Katharine Mach, Aparna Bamzai-Dodson, Kristen Goodrich, Ryan Meyer, Mark Neff, Dana Sjostrom, Kristin Timm, Esther Turnhout, Gabrielle Wong-Parodi, Angela Bednarek, Alison Meadow, Art Dewulf, Christine J. Kirchhoff, Richard C. Moss, Leah Nichols, Eliza Oldach, Maria Carmen Lemos, Nicole KlenkTraining and capacity building activities of Climate Adaptation Science Centers for the benefit of Tribal and Indigenous communities, 2010–2019
Tribal nations and Indigenous communities are key collaborators on adaptation work within the Climate Adaptation Science Center (CASC) network. The centers have partnered with numerous Tribal and Indigenous communities on projects or activities to better understand the communities’ specific knowledge of and exposure to impacts of climate change, to increase or assist with capacity to support adaptAuthorsTori Pfaeffle, Robin O'Malley, Aparna Bamzai, Stefan TangenWhen do climate services achieve societal impact? Evaluations of actionable climate adaptation science
To cope with complex environmental impacts in a changing climate, researchers are increasingly being asked to produce science that can directly support policy and decision making. To achieve such societal impact, scientists are using climate services to engage directly with stakeholders to better understand their needs and inform knowledge production. However, the wide variety of climate-servicesAuthorsAparna Bamzai, Renee A. McPhersonMurky waters: Divergent ways scientists, practitioners, and landowners evaluate beaver mimicry
Beaver mimicry is a fast-growing conservation technique to restore streams and manage water that is gaining popularity within the natural resource management community because of a wide variety of claimed socio-environmental benefits. Despite a growing number of projects, many questions and concerns about beaver mimicry remain. This study draws on qualitative data from 49 interviews with scientistAuthorsTori Pfaeffle, Megan A. Moore, Amanda E. Cravens, Jamie McEvoy, Aparna Bamzai - News