Gardiner Brown

Gardiner is a third-year doctoral candidate working at the intersection of human geography and the environmental humanities. His research examines inequities in the United States’ emergency management system and their relations to environmental and social injustices. In particular, he studies the ways in which disability, the body, and vulnerability are framed in emergency management policy and how these frames shape practice. His dissertation research is focused on extreme heat adaptation policy in Oregon. Gardiner’s research seeks to understand the politics embedded within the practice of keeping cool in a warming world. 

Admittance Semester/Year and Program

Fall 2023, PhD in Environmental Science, Policy, and Management

Education

BA, Hampshire College, Amherst, MA, 2015

MS, Environmental Humanities, The University of Utah, Salt Lake City, UT, 2021

Research Lab

Disabled Ecologies Lab  

Selected Publications

• Brown, Gardiner A., and Kristin Dobbin. “Consolidation Case Study Library.” University of California, Berkeley and UC Agriculture and Natural Resources (2025). (Also available in Spanish)

• Brown, Gardiner A. “Vulnerable Populations/Responsible Individuals: Disability and Hurricane Harvey.” Natural Hazards Center (2024).

• Brown, Gardiner A. “The Queer Ecology of Steven Universe.” Edge Effects (2020).

Selected Presentations

• “The Role of Natural Hazards in Water System Consolidations Decision-Making.” The American Association of Geographers. San Francisco, 2026.

• “The Thermal Vision of Disaster: Envisioning Heat as Hazard in Heatwave! (1974).” The Association for the Study of Literature & Environment. College Park, 2025.

• “Vulnerable Populations/Responsible Individuals: Disability and Hurricane Harvey.” The Natural Hazards Research and Applications Workshop. Broomfield, 2024.

Selected Honors and Awards

• Sterling Graduate Research Fellowship in Pacific Northwest History (January 2025)

• Annual Hazards and Disasters Graduate Student Paper Competition (March 2024)