people

Cascade Tuholske

Cascade Tuholske
Department of Geography
UC Santa Barbara
Assistant Professor of Human-Environment Geography, Dept. of Earth Sciences, Montana State University

I am a PhD student in Geography at UCSB curious to understand human-environment dynamics in the developing world. Through the lens of improving development policy, my research leverages a combination of remote sensed imagery analysis, structured and semi-structured interviews, government datasets, and statistical modeling. My dissertation measures and maps the environmental and socioeconomic determinants of inter-urban food security within Accra, Ghana. This research couples remote-sensing with household surveys and qualitative research methods. By investigating urbanization, poverty, and food security, I seek to advance our scientific understanding of these links to ultimately build policies that ensure food security across West Africa, and around the world.

I recently completed an applied remote sensing study of land use-cover change in Roatán, Honduras, between 1985 and 2015. Specially, I compare the effects of recent hyper urbanization and tourism development to Hurricane Mitch on mangrove deforestation. This study is a part of broader, integrated public health, epidemiological, medical and environmental research, led by UCSF, in Roatán. My preliminary results were featured on Nasa's Earth Observatory website (see link below). 

I grew up in Missoula, Montana, and attended The George Washington University's Elliott School of International Affairs. My prior work experience is global in perspective, ranging from Montana to Washington, D.C. to Ghana to Eastern Europe, a mix of volunteer and paid positions with international NGOs, on Capitol Hill and for political campaigns. In 2011, I received a Fulbright Scholarship to teach and conduct research in Sliven, Bulgaria.

Grants, Awards and Distinctions:

UCSB President’s Dissertation Year Fellowship. $24,500.
UCSB Faculty Senate Graduate Travel Fellowship. $1,350.
Jack & Laura Dangermond Geography Travel Scholarship. $1,000.
UCSB Dept. of Geography Graduate Summer Research Funding. $2,400.  
Earth Research Institute Graduate Fellowship - 2017. $1,500.00 
U.S. Borlaug Fellow in Global Food Security - 2016. $23,835.00
Broom Center Graduate Research and Travel Grant - 2015, 2016, 2017
Fulbright Scholar - Sliven, Bulgaria 2011-2012.

cascade.tuholske1@montana.edu
http://www.tuholske.com

Publications

Tuholske, C., Andam, K., Blekking, J., Evans, T., & Caylor, K. 2020.
"Comparing measures of urban food security in Accra, Ghana. "
Food Security, 1-15.
Research Themes:
Population Health and Environment
Blekking, J., Waldman, K., Tuholske, C., & Evans, T. 2020. 
"Formal/informal employment and urban food security in Sub-Saharan Africa. "
Applied Geography, 114, 102131.
Research Themes:
Population Health and Environment
Zimmer, A., Guido, Z., Tuholske, C., Pakalniskis, A., Lopus, S., Caylor, K., & Evans, T. 2020. 
"Dynamics of population growth in secondary cities across southern Africa. "
Landscape Ecology, 1-16.
Research Themes:
Population Health and Environment
Verdin, A., Chris Funk, C., Peterson, P., Landsfeld, M., Tuholske, C., & Grace, K. 2019. 
"Development and validation of the CHIRTS-daily quasi-global high-resolution daily temperature data set. "
Scientific Data. 
Research Themes:
Population Health and Environment
Tuholske, C., Caylor, K., Evans, T., & Avery, R. 2019. 
"Variability in urban population distributions across Africa."
Environmental Research Letters.    
Research Themes:
Population Health and Environment
Tuholske, C., Andam, K. S., Blekking, J., Evans, T., & Caylor, K. 2018. 
"Measures and Determinants of Urban Food Security: Evidence from Accra, Ghana. "
(Vol. 50). Intl Food Policy Res Inst.
Research Themes:
Population Health and Environment
In Press. Ervin D., Tuholske, C., and D. López-Carr. 2018.
"The Geography of Malnutrition."
Food and Place: A Critical Exploration, edited by Pascale Joassart-Marcelli and Fernando Bosco. Washington, DC: Rowman and Littlefield
Research Themes:
Population Health and Environment
Brissett, D. I., Tuholske, C., Allen, I. E., Larios, N. S., Mendoza, D. J., Murillo, A. G., & Bloch, E. M. 2018. 
"Zika Virus: Knowledge Assessment of Residents and Health-Care Providers in Roatán, Honduras, following an Outbreak."
The American journal of tropical medicine and hygiene. https://doi.org/10.4269/ajtmh.18-0014
Research Themes:
Population Health and Environment
Ervin, Daniel, Cascade Tuholske, and David López-Carr. 2017 in press.
"Hunger: poverty, inequality, and vulnerability."
Food and Place: A Critical Exploration, edited by Pascale Joassart-Marcelli and Fernando Bosco. Washington, DC: Rowman and Littlefield. 
Research Themes:
Population Health and Environment
Tuholske, C., Tane, Z., López-Carr, D., Roberts, D., & Cassels, S. 2017.
"Thirty Years of Land Use/Cover Change in the Caribbean: Assessing the Relationship between Urbanization and Mangrove Loss in Roatán, Honduras"
Applied Geography, 88, 84-93.
Blekking, J., Tuholske, C., & Evans, T. 2017. 
"Adaptive Governance and Market Heterogeneity: An Institutional Analysis of an Urban Food System in Sub-Saharan Africa."
Sustainability, 9(12), 2191.http://dx.doi.org/10.3390/su9122191
Research Themes:
Population Health and Environment
Brooks, T., Roy-Burman Bloch, A., Tuholske, C, Busch, M., Bakkour, S., Stone, M., Linnen, J. M., Gao, K., Coleman, J., & Bloch, E. 2017.
"Real-Time Evolution of Zika Virus Disease Outbreak, Roatán, Honduras."
Emerging Infectious Disease-CDC, 23(8).
Research Themes:
Population Health and Environment
Ervin D., Tuholske, C., and D. López-Carr. 2017. 
"Global Hunger."
Food and Place: A Critical Exploration, edited by Pascale Joassart-Marcelli and Fernando Bosco. Washington, DC: Rowman and Littlefield.
Research Themes:
Population Health and Environment
Tuholske C., López-Carr D., and D. Roberts. In press. 
"Anthropogenic impacts on Roatán, Honduras: 30 Years of Land-Cover and Land-Use Change."
Plurimondi. An International Forum for Research and Debate on Human Settlements: Special Issue: Proceedings of The XIX European Colloquium in Theoretical and Quantitative Geography (ECTQG2015).
Research Themes:
Population Health and Environment