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About

Sara Hughes is a postdoctoral fellow at the National Center for Atmospheric Research through the Advanced Studies and Integrated Science programs. Beginning in November, 2013 she will be working with the Air, Climate and Energy division of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency.

Sara’s research focuses broadly on the role of political institutions in environmental policy, using climate change, water resources management, and urban sustainability as entry points. 

Sara received her Ph.D. from the Bren School of Environmental Science and Management at the University of California, Santa Barbara in June 2011. Her specialization areas were political institutions, science in policy, and water resources management. Sara’s dissertation was supported by fellowships from the Australian –American Fulbright Commission and the CALFED pre-doctoral science program. Sara received an M.S. in 2006 and a B.S. in 2004 from the Fisheries and Wildlife department at Michigan State University. She has a master’s degree specialization in Gender, Justice, and Environmental Change and her master’s thesis examined a new model of collaboration in policy making for groundwater resources in Michigan.

Additional websites:

https://staff.ucar.edu/users/shughes

http://urbanability.wordpress.com

Publications

Refereed Articles

Hughes, Sara and Stephanie Pincetl (forthcoming). “Evaluating Collaborative Institutions in Context: The case of regional water management in southern California,” Environment and 
    Planning C: Government and Policy. 

Hughes, Sara (forthcoming). “Justice in Urban Climate Change Adaptation: Criteria and 
Application to Delhi,” Ecology and Society, Special Issue on Governing Adaptation.

Romero Lankao, Patricia, Sara Hughes, Angelica Rosas Huerta, Roxana Burquez, and Melissa Haeffner.(forthcoming) “Institutional Capacity for Climate Change Responses: An 
examination of construction and pathways in Mexico City and Santiago,” Environment and 
    Planning C: Government and Policy 

Hughes, Sara. 2013. “Authority Structures and Service Reform in Multilevel Urban Governance: The case of wastewater recycling in California and Australia,” Urban Affairs Review 49(3): 
    381-407.

Hughes, Sara, Stephanie Pincetl and Christopher Boone. 2013. “Understanding Major Urban Transitions: Drivers and Dynamics in the City of Los Angeles,” Cities: The International 
    Journal of Urban Policy and Planning 32: 51-59

Hughes, Sara. 2012. “Voluntary Environmental Programs in the Public Sector: Evaluation of an Urban Water Conservation Program in California,” Policy Studies Journal 40(4): 650-673

Pincetl, Stephanie, Guido Franco, Terri Hogue, Sara Hughes, Eric Pardyjak. 2012. “Urban Areas,” in Assessment of Climate Change in the Southwest United States: A Technical Report Prepared for the U.S. National Climate Assessment. Tucson, AZ: Southwest Climate Alliance.

Hughes, Sara, Annie Yau, Lisa Max, Nada Petrovic, Frank Davenport, Michael Marshall, Timothy R. McClanahan, Joshua C.  Cinner, Edward H. Allison. 2012. “Assessing National Level Vulnerability to Coral Reef Fisheries Decline from a Food Security Perspective,” Environmental Science and Policy. 23, 95-108.

Braden, John, Jeffrey Dozier, Patricia Gober, Sara Hughes, David R. Maidment, Sandra L. Schneider, P. Wesley Schultz, James S. Shortle, Stephen K. Swallow, and Carol M. Werner. 2009. “Social Science in a Water Observing System,” Water Resources Research Vol. 45, W11301.  

Hughes, Sara, Lena Partszch, and Joanne Gaskell. 2007. “Virtual Water: A critical link for integrating global water, energy, and development goals,” Sustainable Development Law and Policy, 7, 58-62.

Book Chapters

Hughes, Sara (forthcoming). “The urban future of fisheries,” in Future of Fisheries: 
    Perspectives for Emerging Professionals, eds. William Taylor, Abigail Lynch, and Nancy 
    Leonard: Bethesda, MD: American Fisheries Society Press.

Romero Lankao, Patricia, Hua Qin, Sara Hughes, Melissa Haeffner and Mercy Borbo-Cordova. 2012. “Urban vulnerability and adaptation to the health impacts of air pollution and climate 
extremes in Latin American cities,” in Research in Urban Sociology, ed. William G. Holt, Bingley, UK: Emerald Press. 

Hughes, Sara and Joan Rose. 2011. “Governing Global Aquaculture for Human Security,” with Joan Rose, in Sustainable Fisheries: Multi-Level Approaches to a Global Problem, eds. Michael Schechter, Abigail Lynch, and William Taylor: Bethesda, MD: American Fisheries Society Press. 

Hughes, Sara and Jennifer McKay. 2010. “The Contribution of Actors to Achieving Sustainability in Australia through Water Policy Transitions,” in Policy Entrepreneurs: A research companion to water transitions around the world, eds. Dave Huitema and Sander Meijerink, Cheltenham, UK: Edward Elgar Press.

Partszch, Lena and Sara Hughes. 2010. “Food versus Fuel: Governance Potential for Water Rivalry,” in Food Ethics, eds. Franz-Theo Gottwald, Hans Werner Ingensiep and Marc Meinhardt, New York, NY: Springer Publishers. 

Hughes, Sara and Lena Partszch. 2009. “Greening the Streams: US and EU Water Foreign Policy,” in Environmental Change and Foreign Policy, ed. Paul G. Harris, London, UK: Routledge Press.  

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