Elizabeth M. Cook

Elizabeth M. Cook is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Environmental Science at Barnard College. She is an urban ecosystem scientist with interdisciplinary expertise spanning ecology, cultural geography, and sustainability sciences. Her research advances understanding of cities through transdisciplinary frameworks, mixed methods, and comparative analysis of urban systems in Latin and North America.

Professor Cook earned her PhD in Plant Biology from Arizona State University as an NSF-funded IGERT Fellow, following a BA from Wellesley College. She held a Chilean CONICYT Postdoctoral Fellowship at Universidad Austral de Chile and served as a Postdoctoral Fellow in Urban Ecology at The New School before joining Barnard College.

Her research focuses on urban ecosystem ecology, sustainability and resilience of urban social-ecological-technological systems, and participatory future visioning for urban climate governance. She examines urban ecosystem services, ecosystem responses to urban pollutants, urban forest restoration, and climate justice in urban communities through cross-city comparisons across the Americas.

• Urban ecosystem ecology
• Social-ecological-technological systems
• Transdisciplinary methods
• Participatory scenario development
• Urban climate governance
• Urban ecosystem services

Professor Cook's recent publications demonstrate her focus on transdisciplinary urban ecology approaches, cultural ecosystem services assessment, and frameworks for urban sustainability transformations. Her work integrates ecological science with social science perspectives to address complex urban environmental challenges.

• Civic Liberal Arts Program Teaching Award, The Mellon Foundation (2018)
• Chilean CONICYT Postdoctoral Fellowship (2014-2017)
• NSF IGERT Fellowship in Urban Ecology (2007-2014)
• Multiple Best poster awards at CAP LTER meetings (2012-2014)

Professor Cook leads multiple active research projects including the NSF-funded Urban Resilience to Extreme Weather Events (UREx SRN) as Scenarios Working Group co-lead, Sustainable Future Scenarios Project, Carbon-Nitrogen Deposition Project, and international collaborations on urban ecosystem services in Valdivia, Chile. She teaches courses in Data Analysis, Urban Ecosystems, and Senior Thesis Seminar, and maintains affiliations with the Urban Systems Lab at The New School and the Cary Institute of Ecosystem Studies.