Conservation Social Science Research and Outreach

Dr. Allred's research and outreach programs at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill focuses on understanding human attitudes, motivations, and behavior related to natural resource conservation and management. Her main interests center on how social science can facilitate community-based approaches to planning and management while enhancing the resilience and sustainability of communities both locally and abroad. 
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Curriculum Vitae
"The course of one's life"
​Here is the latest copy of Dr. Allred's CV. 
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Select Research Projects

Rust to Green Collaborative Evaluation Project 
R2G CEP is a 2-year project (2018-20) seeking to learn how university students and the Utica and Binghamton, NY communities have experienced and been affected by participating in Rust2Green. It is a systematic, intentional inquiry being collaboratively led and undertaken by a team of Cornell and R2G Utica and R2G Binghamton representatives. Guided by mutually agreed upon university and community goals, R2G CEP is using approaches - including theory of change pathway modeling and concept mapping, for example–that invite and broaden inclusion and participation, and that also further and strengthen R2G’s relationships across university-community and Binghamton-Utica geographies. Overall, in keeping with R2G’s underlying approach, R2G CEP is participant-driven and grounded in inquiry and reflection. Learn more about the R2G Collaborative Evaluation Project and Leadership. Funded by Faculty Research on Engagement Grant from Engaged Cornell). 

Integrating Climate, Crop, and Cloud Computing Data in the Caribbean to Improve Drought Resilience
Drought in the Caribbean, like in many other parts of the world, can trigger a collision of demands on water resources. For example, food and energy production both rely largely on rain-fed water supplies; municipalities and tourist resorts—which sustain a large portion of many local economies—depend on both surface and groundwater supplies. In the near future, rising sea levels will mean that existing aquifers will face increased rates of saltwater intrusion. This threat to the groundwater supply is exacerbated further during times of drought when aquifers are pumped more aggressively to meet freshwater demand. Adding to these challenges, global climate model simulations tend to agree that even low levels of global temperature increase will prompt circulation changes that reduce precipitation and increase evapotranspiration rates in the Caribbean.  A changing climate will require a constellation of adaptation strategies to be implemented across the Caribbean, and many other parts of the Majority World. These strategies will include changes in the types of crops that are planted and the time of year when they are grown, governmental and intergovernmental policies to ensure a reliable and nutritious food supply will be available for future generations, and technological innovations to improve resilience. (Funded by grant from the Cornell Atkinson Center for Sustainability with Toby Ault-PI, Allison Chatrchyan, Danielle Eiseman, and Dimitris Herrera).

Indigenous Resilience in Borneo

This collaborative project examines the cultural resilience of the Penan in Long Lamai around issues of environmental protection, sustainable development, and indigenous people. Cultural resilience work focuses on the threatened aspects of culture such as language, beliefs and knowledge of indigenous and tribal peoples and considers how cultural background (i.e., culture, cultural values, language, customs, norms) helps individuals and communities overcome adversity.  In January 2018, we utilized copies of 217 photos from the Hedda Morrison collection in Cornell’s Rare and Manuscript Collection (RMC) to conduct ethnographic interviews with the Penan in Long Lamai.  The Hedda Morrison photos were taken in the 1950’s and depict features of the nomadic life such as hunting, preparing sago, making baskets from rattan, making of blowpipes and poison darts which were used in hunting, and huts that the Penan constructed in the forest.  This rich collection of photos was a way for us to collect stories of the nomadic life and document the traditional ecological and cultural knowledge that is being lost.  The goal of the research is to use the photos to 1) preserve and document traditional knowledge and culture of the Penan, 2) learn how the core values of the Penan can be furthered through preserving indigenous knowledge and 3) Explore opportunities for community-based technological solutions to enhance cultural resilience.  We are working with the Cornell Library to digitize the historical photographs and create a digital portal that would provide worldwide access to high quality digital copies of the Penans of Sarawak photos and metadata, organized along a timeline of significant cultural shifts.  The digital portal will allow us to collate the ethnographic metadata we have collected for researcher access and also for outreach and education with classes and those seeking to learn about the Penan.  (Funded by grants from Engaged Cornell and Cornell University Library with support from Universiti of Malaysia Sarawak). 

Place-Based Oral Histories of Resilience in Uniontown

This project explores environmental justice in America through the lens of structural inequality. A partnership between Black Belt Citizens Fighting for Health and Justice (BBC) and Cornell University opens up a pathway for student learning about the histories and structures that gave birth to the environmental injustices of today. Every community has a right to clean air, land, and water, yet poor communities and communities of color disproportionally bear the weight of environmental pollutants. This project investigates the root causes of environmental injustice by examining history, policy, and the environment.  Teaching and outreach activities involve a documentary film screening, community discussions facilitated by BBC, a new environmental justice course, and service-learning trip that Cornell students will work alongside community organizers in Alabama’s Black Belt region to promote both learning and action. The research activities focus on documenting the history of community organizing through the historical perspectives of community members, exploring place-based narratives of environmental justice and culture in Uniontown, and utilizing stories as a way to help build community power and resilience. (Funded by grant from Engaged Cornell). 

Understanding and Informing Family Forest Owner Decisions of Intergenerational Land Transfer to Ensure Working Forested Landscapes
In January 2015, the Family Forest Resource Center was awarded a $499,380 grant (PI, Paul Catanzaro, UMass) from the Agriculture Economics and Rural Communities program of the USDA National Institute of Food and Agriculture to understand and inform family forest owner decisions of land transfer.  This four-year grant is centered on the Northeast U.S. and comprised of four northeast universities:  University of Massachusetts, University of Maine, University of Vermont, and Cornell University. Due to an aging landowner population, in the coming years, almost half of the family forest owners (FFOs) in the U.S. will be deciding the future of their land.  In other words, they will be deciding to convert it to another use, parcelize it, conserve it, etc.  These decisions will be the most important determinants of the viability of working forests, because forest cover loss and parcel size reductions eliminate or lessen forest management opportunities.  Stabilizing the forest land base by stemming the tide of conversion and parcelization is critical to ensuring a future of viable and competitive working forested landscapes.  This integrated grant involves both research and extension.  Research is based on landowner interviews and mail surveys to better understand how family forest owners make decisions about the future of their land.  The findings from this research will inform regional extension programs that use peer network and train-the-trainers approaches to help inform family forest owner decisions.  By working to stabilize the land base in this way, this project will assist in maintaining a viable forest industry, and, ultimately, vibrant rural communities.

Research Highlights
Dr. Allred's 2021 publications are highlighted in the Center for Conservation Social Sciences 2021 Annual Report.  Ph.D. student Aalayna Green's research is also featured in the article on "Environmental Justice in Conservation Practice." 
2021 CCSS Annual Report
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 Dr. Allred's 2020 publications are highlighted in the Center for Conservation Social Sciences 2020 Annual Report.  Ph.D. student Gloria Blaise's research on "Supporting Reforestation in Haiti" is also featured. 
2020 CCSS Annual Report
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​Dr. Allred's Community-Based Research Methods course and research highlighted in the Southeast Asia Program Spring 2019 Bulletin. Full PDF below!
SEAP Bulletin Spring 2019
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 Dr. Allred's 2019 publications are highlighted in the Center for Conservation Social Sciences 2019 Annual Report.  
2019 CCSS Annual Report
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Dr. Allred's 2018 publications highlighted in the Center for Conservation Social Sciences 2018 Annual Report.
2018 CCSS Annual Report
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