Firooza Pavri
Office
Contact Information
Firooza is Associate Professor of Geography and joined USM in 2004. Prior to joining USM, Firooza lived in the Midwest and received her M.A. and Ph.D. degrees at the University of Toledo and Ohio State University respectively. She is originally from India and research and family take her back there frequently.
Education
Ohio State University, Geography, Ph.D.
University of Toledo, Ohio, Geography and Planning, M.A.
University of Bombay, Geography, B.A.
Courses Taught at USM
EYE 102J/I: Sustainability, Culture, Environment
GEO 103J: Human-Environmental Geography
GEO 104J: World Regional Geography
GEO 209: Land Use Planning
GEO 305/605: Remote Sensing
GEO 308/608: Geographic Information Systems Applications I
GEO 320: Conservation of Natural Resources
GEO 350: Geography of International Development
Select Grants
CoPI, NSF – Sustainability Solutions Initiative, Decision tools to support water resources sustainability of managed lake systems, 2009-current.
PI, NASA, Developing distance courses in remote sensing to enhance Maine’s capacity in NASA’s space-based imaging technologies, 2009-10.
PI, NASA, Characterizing Maine's coastal wetlands using field data and NASA's Advanced Spaceborne Thermal Emission and Reflection Radiometer (ASTER), 2008-09.
Co-PI, Massachusetts Office of Coastal Zone Management, Image processing and analysis for salt marsh plant community and habitat remote sensing, 2006-07.
Research Interests
Firooza’s research considers human vulnerability and adaptation to environmental change and uses remote sensing technology to aid these investigations. Her research projects have focused on examining change within forest, wetland and urban systems in India and the US. Recent projects in India have included examining sustainable forest management in India’s Western Ghats and using satellite data to model sea-level rise vulnerability and map urban expansion patterns for Mumbai (Bombay), India. She has worked within wetland ecosystems at the Cheyenne Bottoms of Kansas, the Plum Island estuary of northeastern coastal Massachusetts, and the Rachel Carson National Wildlife Refuge in Wells, Maine. Each of these projects used satellite imagery or aerial photography to monitor the configuration of wetland marsh ecosystems and were funded by NASA and other agencies. NASA support has also enabled Firooza to collaborate with Geography-Anthropology students through fellowships, research assistantships, and summer internships at NASA Stennis Space Center.
Recent Publications
Aber, J., F. Pavri, and S. Aber. 2012. Wetland Environments: A Global Perspective. Wiley-Blackwell, p. 437.
Pavri, F., A. Dailey and V. Valentine. 2011. Integrating multispectral ASTER and LiDAR data to characterize coastal wetland landscapes in the northeastern United States. Geocarto International (special issue on Remote Sensing of Coastal System Dynamics), V26 (8): 647-661.
Pavri, F. and T. Lynch. 2011. Assessing land use and riparian buffers along Maine’s Presumpscot watershed using Landsat Thematic Mapper. Northeastern Geographer, V3: 22-34.
Pavri, F. 2011. Institutional contexts, forest resources, and local communities in western India: a gendered analysis. Journal of Resources, Energy and Development (special issue on Forests of South Asia), V8 (2): 101-112.
Pavri, F. 2010. Urban expansion and sea-level rise related flood vulnerability for Mumbai (Bombay) India using remotely sensed data, in Geospatial Techniques in Urban Hazard and Disaster Analysis, edited by P. Showalter and Y. Lu, Springer-Verlag.
Pavri, F. and V. Valentine. 2009. Characterizing Maine’s coastal wetlands using field data and NASA’s Advanced Spaceborne Thermal Emission and Reflection Radiometer (ASTER). Final Report for NASA MSGC.
Pavri, F. and V. Valentine. 2008. Image Processing and Analysis for Salt Marsh Plant Community and Habitat Mapping: Plum Island Estuary, MA. Final Report for MA Office of Coastal Zone Management, p. 65.
Pavri, F. 2007. Re-mapping land use: remote sensing, institutional approaches and landscape boundaries, in Nature’s Edge: Boundary Explorations in Ecological Theory and Practice edited by T. Toadvine and C. Brown, SUNY Press, p. 133-43.
Aber, J., S. Aber, F. Pavri, E. Volkova, R. Penner. 2006. Changes in water and wetland vegetation in Cheyenne Bottoms, Kansas, 2002-2005, Transactions of the Academy of Sciences, Kansas, V109(1/2), p. 47-57.
Pavri, F. and J. Aber. 2004. Characterizing wetland landscapes: a spatio-temporal analysis of remotely sensed data at Cheyenne Bottoms, Kansas, Physical Geography (special issue on Wetlands), V25(1): 86-104.
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