Laura Brown Email & Phone Number

Guelph, On, Ca

Guelph, Ontario, Canada

The Canadian Physical Geography Perspectives on Natural Hazards, Climate Variability and Change, Authors: Laura J. Brown; Jaclyn Cockburn; R. Adam Dastrup; and Steven Earle (https://books.lib.uoguelph.ca/canadiannaturalhazardsclimatechange/) was developed to fill the niche needed for Canadian students studying natural hazards and climate change. Open Educational Resources (OER) are teaching materials that are in the public domain and are free to users. GEOG*1350 Earth Hazards and Climate… Show more The Canadian Physical Geography Perspectives on Natural Hazards, Climate Variability and Change, Authors: Laura J. Brown; Jaclyn Cockburn; R. Adam Dastrup; and Steven Earle (https://books.lib.uoguelph.ca/canadiannaturalhazardsclimatechange/) was developed to fill the niche needed for Canadian students studying natural hazards and climate change. Open Educational Resources (OER) are teaching materials that are in the public domain and are free to users. GEOG*1350 Earth Hazards and Climate Change, has used this resource for the past two years, saving nearly 700 students/year textbook fees of ~$150 each. Show less

Guelph, Ontario

The Guelph Coalition for Active Transport (GCAT) is a non-profit group that advocates for Guelph's citizens to be able to walk and bike around the city safely. We envision a future active transportation network that is inviting, connected and enjoyable for people of all ages and abilities to use in all seasons. I was the Secretary for four years, the Vice President and Chair of the Events and Programming Committee for my last year as a Director. The organization grew to represent more than… Show more The Guelph Coalition for Active Transport (GCAT) is a non-profit group that advocates for Guelph's citizens to be able to walk and bike around the city safely. We envision a future active transportation network that is inviting, connected and enjoyable for people of all ages and abilities to use in all seasons. I was the Secretary for four years, the Vice President and Chair of the Events and Programming Committee for my last year as a Director. The organization grew to represent more than 300 members during my tenure as Director. I ran the membership program and developed and led cycling events and workshops (e.g. Ride the Ward, Bike the Night, Fall Colours Ride, 2 Rivers on 2 Wheels; Winter Cycling Workshop and Know Your Rights Workshop).• I helped to plan and then Chaired five of our AGMs• To better understand safe cycling infrastructure, I attend the Ontario Bike Summit meetings• I collaborated with other Directors to recruit volunteers, create, promote and lead events and workshops https://www.guelphtoday.com/bold/winter-cycling-is-good-for-your-health-and-your-budget-1901051https://www.instagram.com/p/CYKmIYTlx-d/• I have been a delegate at City Council meeting for safer walking and biking infrastructure https://www.guelphmercury.com/news-story/9985516-guelph-council-oks-physical-distancing-initiatives-as-city-starts-to-reopen/• I was part of the strategic planning workshops to map GCAT’s futureI am still part of the Programming and Events Committee and continue to develop and plan community events. Show less

Fergus, Ontario, Canada

Won the 2022 Emergency Management Exemplary Service Award for my work with First Nations on-reserve residents who are more vulnerable to the threat of flooding due to climate change. Virtual sharing circles were used to gather opinions and experiences with flooding and insurance companies from 71 First Nation communities from coast to coast to coast. Participants in these sharing circles answered quantitative polling questions and qualitative in-depth discussion questions.

Brantford

To best prepare for a changing climate and the damage associated with extreme weather events, local communities or municipalities need to know what they can expect in the future. • developed a transferable methodology using open-access downscaled GCM datasets with free NetCDF software to provide two rural communities in Ontario with projections of extreme climate indices. • uploaded a series of tutorial YouTube clips to teach this methodology to stake-holders. The first of these clips… Show more To best prepare for a changing climate and the damage associated with extreme weather events, local communities or municipalities need to know what they can expect in the future. • developed a transferable methodology using open-access downscaled GCM datasets with free NetCDF software to provide two rural communities in Ontario with projections of extreme climate indices. • uploaded a series of tutorial YouTube clips to teach this methodology to stake-holders. The first of these clips is a climate modelling primer designed to help people who know a little bit or nothing at all about Global Circulation Models (GCMs) better known as Climate Change Models. The next videos in the series demonstrate everything from downloading of climate datasets to examples of the analysis of these data. • Using the detailed methodology section, I wrote for the final report and the tutorials in this video series, other municipalities could potentially generate their own climate change analysis. Show less

Wilfrid Laurier University

Collaborated with two others to create a cross-disciplinary research team designed to study climate change and its impact on Canada’s maple syrup production. My continuing role as the GIS and earth science expert involves spatial analysis and developing models to project the effects of climate change on future sugar maple habitat and spring sap flow in Canada. The training and fostering of graduate students is one of our goals and I have been co-supervisor for Master’s students GIS based… Show more Collaborated with two others to create a cross-disciplinary research team designed to study climate change and its impact on Canada’s maple syrup production. My continuing role as the GIS and earth science expert involves spatial analysis and developing models to project the effects of climate change on future sugar maple habitat and spring sap flow in Canada. The training and fostering of graduate students is one of our goals and I have been co-supervisor for Master’s students GIS based projects (D. Lamonwah, completed 2011; H. Crawford, currently). As co-applicant for research proposals and grant applications we have been successful in attaining funding for several projects (e.g. SSHRC: Research Development Initiative (2009-2010) and Insight Grants (2012-2017). PublicationsBrown, L. J., Lamhonwah, D., and Murphy, B. L. (2015). Projecting a spatial shift of Ontario's sugar maple habitat in response to climate change: A GIS approach. The Canadian Geographer (in press)Murphy B., Chretien A., Brown L. (2012). Non-Timber Forest Products, Maple Syrup and Climate Change. Journal of Rural and Community Development. 7(3):42-64.Murphy B., Chretien A., Brown L. (2010) How Do We Come to Know? Exploring maple syrup production and climate change in near north Ontario. Environments 37(1): 1-34. Show less

Alberta, Canada

In collaboration with Dr. Pivot and her team developed the curriculum for a unique interactive course in physical geography based on field trip excursions delivered and guided by a mobile app. My role was to develop curriculum, create and map 16 individual 2-day courses along with learning activities and modes of assessment. ● Built course content by travelling to each of the 16 base locations, and then, by researching the area, I found specific features that best illustrated curriculum… Show more In collaboration with Dr. Pivot and her team developed the curriculum for a unique interactive course in physical geography based on field trip excursions delivered and guided by a mobile app. My role was to develop curriculum, create and map 16 individual 2-day courses along with learning activities and modes of assessment. ● Built course content by travelling to each of the 16 base locations, and then, by researching the area, I found specific features that best illustrated curriculum material. These became Stops where I’d then record GPS coordinates, film video clips and take photographs to record field observations of each landscape, landform or plant community. ● I wrote detailed scripts for each Stop with description, explanations, and interactive directives to teach the students about the features and landscapes they were visiting (e.g. Reach out and touch the boulder in front of you. Is it smooth? Did any break off in your hand? This boulder and many others you’ll find on the trail are composed of bits of limestone and other rocks bonded together with grey/brown tufa…)● The students would follow my field trip routes. At each Stop, the app would show video clips and the photographs that, along with the scripted voiceover, would teach them about what they were seeing and guide them through associated learning activities. Show less

Guelph

My PhD research focused on desertification, wind erosion and wind erosion modelling. I developed a wind erosion model (WE_DUST_EM) to identify areas most prone to wind erosion and dust emission. WE_DUST_EM uses GIS and Remotely Sensed data (satellite imagery and aerial photographs) as inputs and the output is then mapped in a GIS to visually represent patterns and locations most prone to wind erosion. I was hired as a consultant to use this model for a 3 year project to identify high risk areas… Show more My PhD research focused on desertification, wind erosion and wind erosion modelling. I developed a wind erosion model (WE_DUST_EM) to identify areas most prone to wind erosion and dust emission. WE_DUST_EM uses GIS and Remotely Sensed data (satellite imagery and aerial photographs) as inputs and the output is then mapped in a GIS to visually represent patterns and locations most prone to wind erosion. I was hired as a consultant to use this model for a 3 year project to identify high risk areas to target mitigation strategies for dust storms in Northern British Colombia. I was brought on as a consultant the wind erosion portion of a desertification project in Jordan, funded by NATO Science for Peace program. I coordinated the research, data collection and trained members of the Jordanian group to use WE_DUST_EM to identify areas most at risk of soil degradation due to wind erosion. Part of this project was knowledge transfer and to meet this objective I developed and ran a 2 day workshop in Jordan open to various stakeholders on wind erosion and modelling in October 2012.Publications and ReportsAl-Barkin, J., Nickling, W., Brown, L., Suleiman, A., Salahat, M., Saoub, H., Gedalof, Z., and Berg, A. (2014). Mapping desertification risk in northwestern Jordan from remote sensing and climate data. Geomatics, Natural Hazards and Risk. doi: DOI:10.1080/19475705.2014.945102. W.G. Nickling, J.A.Gillies, A. Berg, and Brown, L. J. (2010). A feasibility study for the development of a RADARSAT-2 dust prediction system. 2009 final report. Report to BC Hydro on Williston Dust Soil Mapping year 1.W.G. Nickling, J.A.Gillies, L.J. Brown, and J.Trant (2011). A feasibility study for the development of a RADARSAT-2 dust prediction system: 2010 final report. Report to BC Hydro on Williston Dust Soil Mapping year 2. Show less

Brantford/Waterloo

Introduction to Physical Geography, a first year course taught both in class and the online learning versions of this course. For this course I developed a delivered lectures and tutorials with hands on assignments. These assignments focused on map reading and interpretation, weather map and satellite image interpretation, and self-lead field hikes to make observations and interpretations of the natural environment based on material covered in class.

Waterloo, Ontario

Climatic change will affect forest ecosystems throughout the world but the impact of these effects will not be uniform and will vary by region. As such Geography Information Systems (GIS) are an important tool to project these impacts at a regional level. In this study regional climate change data (generated by the CanRCM4-AR5) are used to model the effect of changing spring temperature patterns on sugar maple sap flow in Ontario. Sap collection is limited to a few weeks each spring season when… Show more Climatic change will affect forest ecosystems throughout the world but the impact of these effects will not be uniform and will vary by region. As such Geography Information Systems (GIS) are an important tool to project these impacts at a regional level. In this study regional climate change data (generated by the CanRCM4-AR5) are used to model the effect of changing spring temperature patterns on sugar maple sap flow in Ontario. Sap collection is limited to a few weeks each spring season when the night temperatures are approximately -5°C and day time temperatures are around 5°C. My approach utilizes the new GCMs (AR5) climate projections for spring diurnal temps to project the following future time periods: length of sap flow season throughout Ontario and the number of optimum sap run days. This sap flow model was developed using GIS software (ArcGIS and QGIS) along with scripting to import the NetCDF formatted CanRCM4 daily climate projections and develop the algorithms to project future sap flow up to 2100.Conference PresentationClimate Change and Future Maple Sap Flow: Working with NetCDF data and GIS (2014), Brown, L.J. Canadian Association of Geographers Annual Meeting, Brock University, St. Catharines, ON, 26-30 May. Show less

Guelph, Ontario, Canada

Redeveloped and updated the curriculum from a first-year physical geography correspondence course to create an online distance education course.• Worked with a Distance Education Instructor to create an instructional design plan with end goals, content summary, evaluation methods and overarching course structure • Learned the capabilities of their courseware’s tools that allowed me to expand my teaching by applying new learning technologies of time (like graded discussion groups, and… Show more Redeveloped and updated the curriculum from a first-year physical geography correspondence course to create an online distance education course.• Worked with a Distance Education Instructor to create an instructional design plan with end goals, content summary, evaluation methods and overarching course structure • Learned the capabilities of their courseware’s tools that allowed me to expand my teaching by applying new learning technologies of time (like graded discussion groups, and online quizzes so the students could self assess their understanding of the material)• Built the course content and learning activities (like a self-guided field trip) to engage students• Developed extra support material, like instructional videos, to teach necessary Excel skills needed for class assignments or demonstrational videos on how to measure streamflow.Taught the course for two semesters after it went live in May 2009.Taught Wilfrid Laurier Univesity's version of this first-year physical geography course in 2014 Show less

Department Of Geography

As the physical geographer of our cross-disciplinary research group studying climate change and its impact on Canada's maple syrup industry I attained Adjunct Professor status. During this time I was co-supervisor for graduate students research projects and co-instructor for a directed study course at the graduate level (2010). Our application for the SSHRC: Aboriginal Research Pilot funding, Kijiga: Learning from Each Other About Maple Syrup, was given 4a status (meaning the project was… Show more As the physical geographer of our cross-disciplinary research group studying climate change and its impact on Canada's maple syrup industry I attained Adjunct Professor status. During this time I was co-supervisor for graduate students research projects and co-instructor for a directed study course at the graduate level (2010). Our application for the SSHRC: Aboriginal Research Pilot funding, Kijiga: Learning from Each Other About Maple Syrup, was given 4a status (meaning the project was approved but there was insufficient funds to support the work). Show less

Development and implementation of a multifaceted research approach in collaboration with government agencies, conservation authorities, local farmers and aggregate and construction industries to identify the sources of atmospheric phosphorus within the Lake Simcoe Airshed. This work involved in situ data collection of dust emission data from various activities including agricultural activities, construction and aggregate industries. I developed a GIS based methodology for spatial… Show more Development and implementation of a multifaceted research approach in collaboration with government agencies, conservation authorities, local farmers and aggregate and construction industries to identify the sources of atmospheric phosphorus within the Lake Simcoe Airshed. This work involved in situ data collection of dust emission data from various activities including agricultural activities, construction and aggregate industries. I developed a GIS based methodology for spatial distribution of remotely sensed precipitation data and atmospheric disposition of phosphorous into Lake Simcoe.Publication and PresentationsBrown L.J., Taleban V., Gharabaghi B., Weiss, L. (2011) Seasonal and Spatial Distribution Patterns of Atmospheric Phosphorous Disposition to Lake Simcoe, ON. Journal of Great Lakes Research 37(3): 15-25. Atmospheric Deposition of Phosphorus to Lake Simcoe (2009), Brown L. J., Taleban V. Gharabaghi B. Lake Simcoe Synthesis Meeting, 21-22 April.Potential risk of dust emission and atmospheric phosphorus of agricultural soils (2009), Brown L.J., Gharabaghi B., Taleban V., Winter J.G. Lake Simcoe Synthesis Meeting, Ontario Ministry of Environment, 21-22 April. (poster) Show less

In-field project manager supervising field studies of wind erosion and dust emission and reporting to the principal investigator who was not on site. We had several research contracts and conducted wind tunnel based data collection in Nevada, Texas, New Mexico and Owens (dry) Lake, California. In preparation for this field work I hired research assistants, ordered and calibrated instrumentation, and worked with a programmer to develop software to control instruments and facilitate the… Show more In-field project manager supervising field studies of wind erosion and dust emission and reporting to the principal investigator who was not on site. We had several research contracts and conducted wind tunnel based data collection in Nevada, Texas, New Mexico and Owens (dry) Lake, California. In preparation for this field work I hired research assistants, ordered and calibrated instrumentation, and worked with a programmer to develop software to control instruments and facilitate the collection and processing of data. For each contract processing, analysis and delivery of data and writing of progress and summary reports were required.Reports Nickling, W.G., Brown, L.J. (2001). PM10 Dust Emissions at Owens Lake, CA (2001), Report to the Great Basin Unified Air Pollution Control District, Bishop, California.75p.Nickling, W.G., Crawley, D.M., Luttmer, C., Brown, L.J., Gillies, J.A., and Lancaster, N. (2001) Use of Irwin Sensors for the Measurement of Potential PM10 Emissions in vegetated communities: A Field Study July 2001. Report to Great Basin Unified Air Pollution Control District, Bishop, CA. 61p. Show less

Kwazulu-Natal

In collaboration with the Department of Hydrology at the University of Zululand designed a Decision Support System for the reallocation of water resources in post-apartheid South Africa. My role was to assess the availability of input data, the applicability and ultimately suitability of a hydrologic model for rapid deployment in African sites. During this time I developed and implemented the research approaches for the collection of field/GIS input data sets and ground-truthing of… Show more In collaboration with the Department of Hydrology at the University of Zululand designed a Decision Support System for the reallocation of water resources in post-apartheid South Africa. My role was to assess the availability of input data, the applicability and ultimately suitability of a hydrologic model for rapid deployment in African sites. During this time I developed and implemented the research approaches for the collection of field/GIS input data sets and ground-truthing of satellite data.Snyman, N., Kelbe, B., Kostaschuk, R., and Brown, L.J. (1999) The development of a hydrological decision support system for the Mhlatuze River catchment area in KwaZulu/Natal. In: Advances in Planning and Management of Watersheds and Wetlands in Eastern and Southern Africa, John E. FitzGibbon (ed.). 25p. Show less

Phd, Wind Erosion And Physical Geography

Wind Erosion in Sparsely Vegetated Rangelands • developed a computational wind erosion model (WE_DUST_EM) which uses GIS and remotely.

Physical Geography

: Hydrologic Modelling of the Mfuli Watershed, KwaZulu Natal South Africa

Bachelor Of Science (Bsc) Honours, Physical Geography