Dr. Alia Dietsch, PhD

Dr. Alia Dietsch, PhD
Assistant Professor in Parks, Protected Areas, Natural Resources Management
Office: 
320E Kottman Hall
Phone: 
614-292-8654
Biography: 

My research primarily focuses on applying social science theories and methodologies to 1) conservation decision-making and 2) natural resource, parks and protected area management. The majority of my work to-date has been closely aligned with state and federal natural resource agencies in the interest of informing planning, management and communication efforts.

In particular, I employ a social psychological approach to understand the influence of human cognition on individual behaviors across various contexts. A few example research questions I have investigated include: how does human thought affect public support (or lack thereof) for management actions? How does demographic shift affect the composition of values across time and space, and what can that tell us about the future of conservation decision-making? Increasingly, I am using multilevel/hierarchical modeling to explore both individual-level and group-level dynamics inherent to a world of complexity.

Specific research interests include:

  • Human cognition (e.g., values, attitudes) and behavior
  • Urbanization and demographic change
  • Public trust in governing authorities
  • Climate change
  • Human-wildlife conflict, particularly carnivores
  • Noncompliance
  • Methods (e.g., multilevel modeling, survey/sampling, geospatial)
  • Exotic pet ownership

Links to associated lab or research web sites