Principal Investigators
Dr. Maria Librada Chu, Assistant Professor
Maria Librada Chu is an Assistant Professor in the Agricultural and Biological Engineering (ABE) at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, IL. She is developing the hydrologic and decision analytic models and supervising graduate students associated with this project
Dr. Carena van Riper, Assistant Professor
Carena van Riper is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Natural Resources and Environmental Sciences at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. Her research lab provides insight on how people perceive their surroundings and the reasons why they commit to behaviors that minimize environmental degradation. She is particularly interested in testing psychological theories to understand behavior change and inform management decisions about how best to sustain ecosystems and human well-being tied to natural resource management contexts such as the Kaskaskia River Watershed.
Dr. Cory Suski, Associate Professor
Dr. Suski’s received his MS degree from the University of Illinois, and his PhD from Queen’s University in Canada. Dr. Suski’s research group works to design conservation strategies that protect aquatic ecosystems from environmental and anthropogenic challenges. For example, Dr. Suski and his students have developed novel tools for deterring the movement of invasive fishes, and have generated guidelines for recreational anglers to minimize disturbances for fish. At present, Dr. Suski’s group is asking questions related to why fish strike fishing lures, how to implement restoration activities that minimize energy expenditure for fish, and how to predict future land use changes on aquatic communities.
Dr. Bill Stewart, Professor
Dr. Stewart teaches and conducts research related to community-based conservation and park development. His research facilitates landscape change to improve quality of life and enhance a public sense of place. Along with colleagues and students, his work builds relationships with stakeholders and community leaders to facilitate conservation planning in mixed-use landscapes. He appreciate interdisciplinary scholarship and the need to work with many kinds of experts as part of the research process, including landscape architects, conservation psychologists, agricultural economists, agricultural engineers, fisheries biologists, planners, and ecologists. His research has been funded by the USDA, National Park Service, USGS, and National Institute of Food and Agriculture. He directs the Park and Environmental Behavior Research Lab, and is an affiliated faculty member in both the Department of Natural Resources and Environmental Sciences and Landscape Architecture.
Dr. Jeffrey Stein, Assistant Research Scientist at the Illinois Natural History Survey
The role of the angler is a key component of Dr. Stein’s current research interests. As such, he utilizes a variety of approaches to investigate hypotheses that test the impacts of angling on sport fish populations spanning several species and systems. Ultimately, the goal of this research is to inform meaningful and effective conservation actions that support vibrant, sustainable recreational and commercial fisheries.
Dr. Justin J. Shew, National Great Rivers Research and Education Center (NGRREC) Conservation Program Manager
Dr. Shew is a wildlife ecologist by training with broad interests in applied ecological questions. More specifically his work involves investigations of wildlife and vegetation response to policy-based management practices within a multi-scale context. Through his research and the conservation programs he manages at NGRREC, Shew has gained extensive experience working with federal/state agencies, such as The Natural Resources Conservation Service (NRCS) and Illinois Department of Natural Resources (IDNR), and associated partners (e.g. The Kaskaskia Watershed Association). He brings this network of relationships to the Kaskaskia research team along with his understanding of how private landowners interact with these agencies to improve conservation within the agricultural landscape of Illinois.
Staff and Students
Nathan (Nate) J. Shipley, PhD Student
Nate is a Ph.D. student in the Department of Natural Resources and Environmental Sciences at UIUC working under the advisement of Dr. Carena van Riper. His research concerns the emotional connections that people have towards nature and other meaningful places and how these connections shape behaviors, identity, and well-being. In the context of the Kaskaskia River Watershed, he is interested in understanding compatibility between agricultural production and conservation by assessing the role that emotions (e.g., pride) have in shaping place meanings (e.g., heritage, legacy) and agricultural practices (e.g., plating cover crops).
Ben Leitschuh, PhD Student
Ben Leitschuh is a PhD student working in the Department of Natural Resources and Environmental Sciences. His doctoral research focuses on understanding the individual, social, and cultural components that influence the tolerance of wildlife conflict, particularly around protected areas. Ben has over a decade of experience as a professional urban planner and environmental educator. He holds a Master of Urban Planning and Policy degree from the University of Illinois at Chicago where his research examined the costs and benefits of living with coyotes in the urban environment. Ben earned his BA from the University of Iowa where he concentrated in environmental studies through the Department of Geography. When not working in the van Riper lab, Ben enjoys spending time with his wife and two children as well as traveling the world to document wildlife with his camera.
Juan Sebastian Acero Triana, PhD Student
Juan Sebastian is a Research Assistant in the Department of Agricultural and Biological Engineering at UIUC, advised by Dr. Maria L. Chu. He is one of the environmental modelers working in the Kaskaskia River project, more precisely in the hydrology research group. Two of the most important goals of Juan in this project involve the setup and validation of hydrologic modeling tools and the conceptualization of watershed benefits and threats identified by the social research group. By doing this, he aims to develop and run climate/land use scenarios in the long-term that enhance the decision-making on land and water management considering local community’s knowledge, traditions, and perspectives on the Kaskaskia River Watershed.
Qihong Dai, PhD Student
Qihong Dai is a Ph.D student in the Department of Integrative Biology at the University of Illinois Urbana – Champaign. He joined Dr. Cory Suski’s lab since 2018. In this project, he studies how to use environment data and future climate projection, together with decades of fish sampling records, to better guide the restoration of aquatic environment in Kaskaskia Watershed.
Yen-Hsuan (Kimmy) Chuang, Undergraduate Student
Yen-Hsuan (Kimmy) Chuang is an Undergraduate Research Assistant who under the advisement of Dr. Carena Van Riper through the IGNITE Scholar Program. She is majoring in Environmental Science and Political Science to understand the relationships between humans, the environment, and political institutions. She is also interested in how social ecosystem values can be attributed to physical places which affect human behaviors and values, ultimately revealing the way we treat nature. In the context of the Kaskaskia River Watershed, she is assisting with a spatial analysis of various threats and benefits perceived by local management stakeholders. She is excited to be a part of the Van Riper Research Lab and feels extremely grateful for all that she has learned so far.
Previous and Ongoing Collaborators
- Future Interdisciplinary Research (FIRE)
- USDA National Institute of Food and Agriculture
- National Great Rivers Research and Education