Elia Machado
Elia Machado is a nature-society geographer, geospatial scientist, and educator who works towards a better understanding environmental change, reducing its negative impacts, and increasing social mobility and justice.
She is an Associate Professor of Earth, Environmental, and Geospatial Sciences (EEGS) at Lehman College where she directs the Geography, Geographic Information Science (GISc), and internship programs in addition to doctoral faculty in the Earth and Environmental Sciences (EES) and the Ecology, Evolutionary Biology, and Behavior (EEB) subprogram at the Graduate center of CUNY.
She holds a M.A. and Ph.D. in Geography from Clark University and an M.S. and B.S. in Environmental Sciences from the University of Granada in Spain. Prior to joining CUNY, she was a graduate fellow at UC Berkeley and l’École d'Ingénieurs en informatique et environnement (ESAIP, France), and held research appointments at several institutions including the Biogeography lab at UC Santa Barbara, UC Berkeley, and Clark Labs and the Marsh Institute at Clark University.
Dr. Machado's research centers on Global Environmental Change (GEC) and related health and environmental hazards with a focus on the characterization and reduction of vulnerability to their negative impacts integrating geospatial and socio-ecological approaches. More specifically, her interests include: i) development and assessment of composite vulnerability indices to natural and heath hazards; ii) geospatial techniques to support decision-making processes, iii) application and development of remote sensing and spatial methods to monitor GEC and map its impacts; and iv) assessment and identification of mitigation and adaptation strategies for GEC.
She teaches courses on Geographic Information Systems (GIS), mapping, and remote sensing at CUNY, and has instructed GIS and Remote Sensing workshops nationally and internationally.
Current Positions:
- Associate Professor, Department of Earth, Environmental, and Geospatial Sciences (EEGS) & Director of Geography, Geographic Information Science (GISc), and internship programs at Lehman College, CUNY.
- Doctoral faculty, Earth and Environmental Sciences Program (EES) & Ecology, Evolutionary Biology, and Behavior (EEB) Biology subprogram, The Graduate Center (CUNY).
Education
- Ph.D. 2011 Geography Graduate School of Geography, Clark University.
- M.A. 2009 Geography Graduate School of Geography, Clark University.
- M.S. 2002 Environmental Sciences University of Granada, Granada, Spain.
- B.S. 1999 Environmental Sciences University of Granada, Granada, Spain.
Additional Education
- Education Abroad Program Fellow, University of California at Berkeley, Department of Environmental Science, Policy, and Management, 2000-2001.
- Graduate International Technical Studies, Institut Supérieur d’Áction Internationale ét de Production (ISAIP). Angers, France, 1999.
Professional Life
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2023-Present Doctoral faculty, Ecology, Evolutionary Biology, and Behavior (EEB) Biology subprogram, CUNY Graduate Center.
- 2018-Present Associate Professor, Department of Earth, Environmental, and Geospatial Sciences. Lehman College, City University of New York (CUNY).
- 2013-Present Doctoral faculty, Earth and Environmental Sciences Program, CUNY Graduate Center.
- 2011-2018 Assistant Professor, Department of Earth, Environmental, and Geospatial Sciences. Lehman College, City University of New York (CUNY).
- 2010-2013 Project Associate. Urban and Land Use Planning Lab. University of Granada, Spain.
- 2005-2011 Research Assistant. Clark Labs, Clark University.
- 2005-2007 Research Assistant. Marsh Institute, Clark University.
- 2002-2004 Research Assistant/GIS Analyst. University of California at Santa Barbara. Biogeography Lab, Geography Department.
- 2000-2001 Research Assistant. University of California at Berkeley. Department of Environmental Science, Policy and Management and Intern, Geographic Information Science Center.
Click references for full text access when available
Peer-reviewed Journal Articles
- Hirvonen, K., Machado, E.A., Simons, A.M. and Taraz, V., 2022. More than a safety net: Ethiopia’s flagship public works program increases tree cover. Global Environmental Change, 75, p.102549.
- Machado, E.A., Gorokhovich, Y. and Ghahremani, M., 2022. Landslide inventory dataset post Hurricane Stan (2005), Lake Atitlan region, Guatemala. Data in Brief, p.108356.
- Machado, E.A., Purcell, H., Simons, A., and S. Swinehart. 2020. The quest for greener pastures: evaluating the livelihoods impacts of providing vegetation condition maps to pastoralists in Eastern Africa. Ecological Economics.
- Machado, E.A., and S. Ratick. 2018. Implications of indicator aggregation methods for global change vulnerability reduction efforts. Mitigation and Adaptation Strategies for Global Change 1-33.
- Runfola, D.M., Ratick, S., Blue, J., Machado, E.A., Hiremath, N., Giner, N., White, K., and J. Arnold. 2017. A multi-criteria geographic information systems approach for the measurement of vulnerability to climate change. Mitigation and Adaptation Strategies for Global Change 22: 349-368. doi:10.1007/s11027-015-9674-8.
- Gorokhovich, Y., Machado, E.A., Girón-Melgar, L.I., and M. Ghahremani. 2016. Improving landslide hazard and risk mapping in Guatemala using terrain aspect. Natural Hazards 81: 869-886. doi.org/10.1007/s11069-015-2109-8.
- *Eastman, J.R., *Sangermano, F., *Machado E.A., Rogan, J.R., and A. Anyamba. 2013. Global Trends in Seasonality of Normalized Difference Vegetation Index (NDVI), 1982–2011. Remote Sensing 5 (10): 4799-4818. doi:10.3390/rs5104799. *: denotes equal contribution.
- Machado-Machado, E.A. 2012. Empirical mapping of suitability to dengue fever in Mexico using species distribution modeling. Applied Geography 33: 82-93.
- Machado-Machado, E.A., N. Neeti, J. R. Eastman, and H. Chen. 2011. Implications of space-time orientation for Principal Components Analysis of Earth observation image time series. Earth Science Informatics 4 (3): 117-124.
- Eastman, J. R., Sangermano, F., Ghimire, B., Zhu, H., Chen, H., Neeti, N., Cai, Y., Machado, E.A., and S. Crema. 2009. Seasonal Trend Analysis of Image Time Series. International Journal of Remote Sensing 30 (10):2721-2726.
- Machado, E.A., Davis, F.W., D.M. Stoms, and J. Kreitler. 2006. Prioritizing farmland preservation cost-effectively for multiple objectives. Journal of Soil and Water Conservation 61 (6): 250-258.
- Stoms, D.M., Davis, F.W, Costello, C.J., Machado, E.A., and J. Metz. 2004. A framework to extend gap analysis to multi objective conservation planning. Gap analysis program annual bulletin 12.
Book Chapters
- Machado, E.A. 2023. Towards More Actionable Vulnerability Indices for Global Environmental Change in Actionable Science for Global Environmental Change, Ziheng Sun (Ed.). Springer. Pre-print available at SSRN: https://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=4425794
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Machado, E.A. 2011. Vulnerability in the European Program for Food Aid and Food Security: knowledge gaps, obstacles and opportunities across the science-practice interface. In Integrating science and policy: Vulnerability and resilience in global environmental change, eds. R.E. Kasperson and M. Berberian, 416. London, UK: Earthscan.
Maps, Mapping Tools, Datasets
- Machado, E.A., Gorokhovich, Y., and M. Ghahremani. Landslides post Hurricane Stan (2005), Lake Atitlan region, Guatemala (dataset). Shapefiles and additional information available through OSF.
- Malmay, T., Tooher E., Machado E.A., A. Jerolleman, et al. 2019. Web mapping tool for coordination and planning of disaster response and preparation, including instructional materials. CWS/DHA Advisory Group. Prepared for and in collaboration with Church World Service (CWS).
- Machado, E.A. 2011. Map of the Japan Tsunami affected areas: Onagawamachi, Miyagi Prefecture. Rapid mapping assessment for the International Charter Space and Major Disasters (www.disasterscharter.org), Clark Labs, Clark University, Worcester, MA.
- Gallo, J., Studarus, J., Machado, E.A., and G. Helms. 2005. Southern California Regional Conservation Guide. Conception Coast Project. 158pp.
- Machado, E.A. and K. Lundberg. 2002. Map Appendix (74 illustrated maps). In: John Volmar (ed.), Wildlife and Rare Plant Ecology of Eastern Merced County’s Vernal Pools Grasslands. Book Report for the California Department of Fish and Game (CDFG) and the County of Merced. 76pp.
Encyclopedia Entries
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Machado, E.A. 2013. El Niño-Southern Oscillation. In Climate Change: An Encyclopedia of Science and History, ed. B. Black. Vol. 2: 459-467. Santa Barbara, CA. ABC-CLIO.
This video of an invited talk at The Cary Institute of Ecosystem Studies (Scientific Seminar Series) shows an overview of my research.
Lehman College, CUNY Graduate Center, and broader CUNY
- GEP 204/504 - Basic Mapping: Applications and Analysis (course redesigned)
- GEP 321/621 - Introduction to Remote Sensing (new course developed)
- GEP 470/GEP 670 - GISc Internship Seminar
- GEP 606/3060 - Advanced Raster Analysis (new course developed)
- GEP 690 - Workshop in GISc Research
- GEP 691 - Independent Study in Geography
- GEH 101 - Introduction to Geography
- GEH 235/613 - Environmental Conservation
- GEH 490 Honors in Geography
- EES Introduction to GIS: methods and applications (CUNY Graduate Center).
Professional Development Seminars
- Machado, E.A. Map It! Integrating Mapping in the Classroom and Beyond. CUNY Professional conference. Virtual. 2021.
- Professional Development Seminar for Earth Science teachers (and conference talk): Natural hazards and disasters: mapping preparedness of New York City to hurricanes using schools. 39th Annual SCONYC (Science Council of New York City) conference, April 8, 2017. Stuyvesant High School, New York City, NY. 2017.
- Professional Development Seminar for Earth Science teachers, with support from NYC Department of Education. Remote Sensing Data for the Visualization of the Water Cycle in the Current Climate System. Lehman College (CUNY), May 14th, 2014.
- Professional Development Seminar for Earth Science teachers, with support from NYC Department of Education. Conducting Earth/Environmental Science Research: Crowd Sourcing Data for Hurricane Emergency Preparedness. Lehman College, CUNY, May 27th, 2014.
Intensive training courses and semester long courses at other institutions
- Using Idrisi Land Change Modeler for Ecological Sustainability, 50 Hrs. (2011). Universidad Javeriana and Instituto Geográfico Agustín Codazi, (IGAC), Bogotá, Colombia, 2011.
- Using Idrisi Land Change Modeler for Ecological Sustainability, 56 Hrs. Universidad Nacional de Costa Rica, Heredia, Costa Rica, 2006.
- GEOG 190, Introduction to GIS. Clark University, Graduate School of Geography, Worcester, MA, 2009.
The best way to reach me is via email: elia.machado@lehman.cuny.edu
Dr. Elia Machado
Department of Earth, Environmental, and Geospatial Sciences (EEGS)
Lehman College, The City University of New York
323 Gillet Hall, 250 Bedford Park Blvd. West, Bronx, NY 10468
Phone: 718-960-1103
Fax: 718-960-8584
