Dr. Deja Perkins
Birds, Community, and Environmental Change
Rooted Landscapes & Environmental Change Lab
Closing the gaps in data, trust and access in rural and urban landscapes
Our research sits at the intersection of urban ecology, geospatial analytics, and community-engaged environmental science. Data is only useful if the communities who need it most can trust it, access it, understand it, and use it to act on the most pressing environmental issues in their neighborhoods. Our methods are built around closing the gaps in the data itself, restoring the public's trust in science and data, and reframing the idea of who gets to participate in producing it.
Our Approach
Within the Rooted Landscapes & Environmental Change Lab, we study the forests people live with and within — not just the forests on a map.
We partner with communities to co-create knowledge on how forests, green spaces, and coastal ecosystems can support biodiversity, mitigate extreme weather impacts, and promote community health by leveraging participatory science and geospatial tools to drive equitable conservation and environmental resilience. Our lab prioritizes GIS, machine learning, low-cost sensors, and participatory science to understand how environmental change is experienced and can be addressed across the Black Belt region and beyond.
Our Framework
My lab is organized around three guiding questions:
1. Sensing the Gaps:
Where is environmental data missing, biased or inaccessible, and who is affected by that absence? We map data deserts across rural and urban landscapes using open-sourced geospatial tools and participatory science datasets.
2. Sensing the Fear:
What keeps communities from trusting or engaging with natural spaces, extra-curricular science, and the institutions behind it? We study barriers to participation and design methods that meet people where they are.
3. Sensing the Value:
How do different communities define and experience the value in their landscapes? We center local knowledge and lived experiences alongside remote sensing and spatial analysis.
4. Sensing the Stress
How are communities experiencing extreme weather and how does this influence their ability to stay rooted in their communities & livelihood? We study extreme weather events (heat, floods, wind, fire) through mapping social media data in combination with sensor and human experiences.
Our Values
RCLEC is guided by community IDEAS. We aim for every project to be co-created with the communities it aims to serve and designed as an experiential learning opportunity for the students who work on it.
1) Open Access:
Our lab values and prioritizes open access, meaning we don't believe data or science should be behind a paywall. Members of our lab learn how to use open-source data and tools so the science can never be ripped away. Our students learn how to build from the ground up.
2) Public Science & Community Engagement:
Our lab values community and works with communities to ensure their needs and priorities are met within the scientific process. Science shouldn't exist in a bubble. Our students learn the principles of ethical engagement with vulnerable communities and learn how to communicate science to the public using a variety of mediums.
3) Visualization & Storytelling:
Our lab values and teaches creative visualization and storytelling principles to help communicate science in the best way possible.
4) Community IDEAS:
Our lab values the intersection of our identities, and believes every lived experience provides valuable insight into how to solve the world's most pressing problems. We believe in equitable access to natural spaces, a clean environment, and the fulfilment of basic needs at all scales.
.jpg)
