Cascade P. Tuholske

Cascade is a human-environment geographer studying the nexus of climate change and urbanization. As an Earth Institute Postdoctoral Fellow, he is working with Robert Chen and Alex de Sherbinin at the Center for International Earth Science Information Network (CIESIN) to construct a globally extensive, longitudinal, and fine-scale synthesis of the intersection of extreme heat events, urban population growth, and the urban heat island effect. Their goal is to inform adaptation strategies that reduce the harmful and inequitable impacts of urban exposure to extreme heat. He also contributes to NASA's Human Planet Project, analyzing the use of gridded population datasets to measure and map progress towards the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals. 

Cascade received his PhD in Geography from the University of California, Santa Barbara. His dissertation focused on the intersection of urbanization, climate change, and food security in Africa. He published research assessing continental-scale urban population dynamics, as well as case-studies on household-level urban food security dynamics in large African cities. Other research projects included leveraging machine learning algorithms to classify satellite imagery to measure mangrove deforestation in Roatán, Honduras, designing a global-scale assessment of wastewater impacts on coastal ecosystems, and working with medical researchers to track the 2015 Zika outbreak.