Faculty Spotlight- Mark Lubell
Dr. Mark Lubell is the Faculty Chair for the Graduate Program in Environmental Policy and Management (EPM) and co-director of the UC Davis Center for Environmental Policy and Behavior. Mark earned his PhD in Political Science from State University of New York at Stony Brook.
What class do you teach and why is it important to the EPM curriculum?
I teach ENV200C: Environmental Governance, which was formerly called social-ecological systems. Environmental governance focuses on the institutions and processes through which environmental policy decisions are made, including equity and effectiveness. I believe it is crucial for students to understand different conceptual models of governance, since they will be working every day in the context of governance arrangements. I also teach ESP172: Public Lands Management and ESP169: Water Policy and Politics, both of which cover topics of interest to EPM students.
What are your research interests and what types of projects are you currently working on?
I study cooperation problems in the context of environmental governance. In my opinion, cooperation challenges are at the heart of all environmental problems for example when people cannot cooperate to reduce groundwater overdraft or other types of common-pool resource issues. Currently I’m doing a lot of work on sea-level rise adaptation, science governance, urban forest climate adaptation, agricultural nutrient management, and sustainable groundwater management. Almost all of my work is in California, which has opportunities to study almost all environmental issues.
What drew you to participate in the EPM program?
I think it is important to train the next generation of environmental professionals to have the scientific, leadership, technical skills, and substantive knowledge necessary to make good environmental decisions. I also enjoy the diversity of student backgrounds and professional experiences. I’m always learning new things about environmental policy from EPM students!
If you could give incoming students one piece of career advice, what would it be?
Take as many technical classes as you can while you’re at UC Davis, such as GIS, data science, statistics, and other classes relevant to your career path. This is the time in your career development where your time and learning rate for technical material is the highest. Also, network, network network—EPM provides you many opportunities to grow your professional community. Take advantage of all of them!
What is a fun fact about you?
Students are often surprised that professors have lives outside of the classroom. We are not just stored in the hall closet awaiting activation for each class. In my case, students are often surprised that I play guitar in various types of bands, and I have gigged throughout the Sacramento region. For example, one of my recent bands called Cherry Pocket Jones even played at the Mondavi Center. Here is one example: CHERRY POCKET JONES - LIKE LOVERS DO - YouTube