Eric Brannen (PhD student)

About

I grew up in Southern California, but have resided in New Mexico for about two years while I pursue higher education. I enjoy traveling, hiking, and cycling. In the past, I studied and traveled across Europe, and Washington D.C. In the future I hope to travel across Northern Europe and Asia.

Education:

• 2021. Present. Pursuing Philosophical Doctorate, Geography University of New Mexico – Albuquerque, NM
• 2020. Master of Science, Regenerative Studies University of California State Polytechnic University – Pomona, CA Summa Cum Laude
• 2017. Bachelor of Science, Economics University of California State Polytechnic University – Pomona, CA
• 2016. Gottfried Wilhelm Leibniz Universitat Hannover – Hannover, Germany Study Abroad: Hannover International Summer School of Economics and Management (HISSEMA)
• 2015. George Mason University – Washington, D.C. (Summer Internship SBA) Institute on Comparative Political and Economic Systems (ICPES)

Skills or expertise:

Computers:

• Geographic Information System: ArcGIS, ArcMap, Geopandas
• Statistical and Econometrics: R
• Programming: Python, R, C++

Fieldwork Research Methods:

• Survey: Face-to-face interview, Questionnaire
• Data Analysis: Descriptive statistics, Pearson’s r-coefficient, Geographically-weighted regression, Network analysis, Logistic regression, Cluster analysis, Moran’s I

Research:

My research interests involve exploring the influence of the wild-land urban interface (WUI) on home prices. This allows me to quantify the magnitude of this relationship and understand how people value their proximity to nature. Essentially, gaining insight into the patterns of urban sprawl that are seen throughout America. My background lies in economics, sustainability, and geographic information systems (GIS).

Currently, I am a research assistant doing my PhD in Geography while researching health inequities within the Native American community. Specifically, as they relate to travel time and health outcomes for patients with cancer between urban and rural areas. Understanding the influence of environmental and socioeconomic variables on disease is my current goal.

My interests lie in: economics, regression analysis, GIS, geography, urban sprawl, sustainability, policy, autoimmune diseases, cancer, health inequities, and epidemiology.

View CV View Portfolio

Projects

• Interactive Map of Potential Exposure to Abandoned Uranium Mines (AUMs) in Navajo Nation

  Residents of Navajo Nation (Dine Bikeyah), a sovereign Indigenous Tribal nation of the American Southwest, are vulnerable to environmental pollution from various sources such as resource extraction and unregulated solid waste disposal (Kirkemeno et al. 1998; Ong et al. 2014; Lewis et al. 2017). For example, from the 1940s through the 1980s, one of the most sought-after resources was uranium, as evident by the hundreds of abandoned uranium mines (AUMs) across Navajo lands. This legacy of mining and continuing presence of AUMs has caused significant environmental contamination in Navajo Nation (Eichstaedt 1994; Masco 2013; Voyles 2015; Lewis et al. 2017). As a result, understanding the distribution of potential exposure to these AUMs is a significant concern in Navajo communities. Some recent work to model this exposure potential includes a multi-criteria decision analysis (MCDA) (Malczewski 2006) model developed by Lin et al. (2020) to analyze and understand potential exposure within Navajo Nation.

  My Web App

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