Title: Assistant Professor
Institution: Utah State University
Address: 5215 Old Main Hill, Logan, Utah 84322
Email: catrin.edgeley@usu.edu
Phone: (435) 797-9539
Visit Catrin’s Research Website
Research Interests: wildfire social science, disaster recovery, environmental policy; fire adapted communities; risk perceptions;
Biographical Sketch:
Cat Edgeley is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Environment and Society at Utah State University. As a wildfire social scientist, she researches how human communities adapt to fire across different social and ecological contexts. Cat interested in several related topics, including but not limited to:
- Fire adapted communities (FACs), including how different approaches to FACs are being translated into management and policy, efforts to scale up fire adaptation efforts, and how adaptive capacity varies across socially diverse communities.
- Post-fire recovery, including social impacts related to wildfires, cross-boundary collaboration for federal land rehabilitation in burned areas, and community experiences with post-fire flood risk.
- Wildfire evacuation planning and behavior, including public support and understanding of the Ready, Set, Go! notification system and influences on intended behaviors during fire events.
- Public support for forest management, including understanding varying community support for fuel treatments, citizen-agency conflict, and cross-boundary collaboration.
- Health impacts associated with fire, including studies on wellbeing after wildfire, mental health during wildfire recovery, and behavioral adaptation to wildfire and prescribed fire smoke impacts.
Education:
BSc in Geography from Durham University (Durham, United Kingdom), granted 2013
MSc in Risk and Environmental Hazards from Durham University (Durham, United Kingdom), granted 2014
Ph.D. in Natural Resources from the University of Idaho (Moscow, ID), granted 2018