Geography ETDs

Publication Date

Spring 5-16-2026

Abstract

Hard rock mining and solid waste management are major sources of environmental contamination, with disproportionate burdens borne by underserved, rural, and Indigenous communities. This dissertation examines contamination and human exposure in the United States as a multi-scale spatial process shaped by environmental and political-economic forces. I argue that environmental exposure is a cross-scale spatial process that cannot be fully understood or addressed from any single scale. Using community-engaged methods, I investigate exposure at regional, community, and individual scales through remote sensing, Internet of Things (IoT) sensing, personal exposure assessment, and geospatial interpolation. At each scale of analysis, I applied these methods, showing how the exposure phenomenon looks different and identifying what is missed. Collectively, this cross-scalar analysis demonstrates a need for broadening the spatial understanding of waste-related environmental contamination distributions and for enhancing collaborative health science strategies for research with communities impacted by the mining and waste management industries.

Degree Name

Geography

Department Name

Geography

Level of Degree

Doctoral

First Committee Member (Chair)

Miriam Gay-Antaki

Second Committee Member

Yan Lin

Third Committee Member

Joseph H. Hoover

Fourth Committee Member

Michaela Buenemann

Fifth Committee Member

Tamar Ginossar

Document Type

Dissertation

Keywords

scale, geospatial data science, environmental health, particulate matter (PM), remote sensing, Internet of Things (IoT)

Download

Available for download on Tuesday, May 16, 2028

Share

COinS