Hua (James) Qin, Ph.D.

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Qin

I am an environmental and natural resource sociologist with emphasis on human population dynamics and sustainable development. My interdisciplinary training and research experience revolve around analyzing social and cultural aspects of natural resources and environmental systems.

I have a diverse academic background in sociology, demography, environmental studies, and both quantitative and qualitative methodological research. My research interests fall within the broad areas of environmental and resource sociology, population and the environment (climate change), community and natural resource management, and research methods and statistics.

The thrust of my interdisciplinary research on better understanding the relationships between social and ecological systems is to develop problem–solving policy implications to promote sustainable development of urban and rural communities, especially those in the developing world. I am also a firm proponent for the transdisciplinary research perspective which emphasizes collaboration with non–academic stakeholders and the broader community in dealing with real–world problems.

Background

Ph.D. Natural Resources and Environmental Sciences. University of Illinois at Urbana–Champaign, December 2009

M.S. Statistics. University of Illinois at Urbana–Champaign, December 2007

Ph.D. Student. Rural Sociology and Demography. Pennsylvania State University at University Park, August 2005 – May 2006

M.S. Development Sociology. China Agricultural University, July 2003

B.S. International Business. China Agricultural University, July 2000

My dissertation research integrated theories and methods from population and the environment, sustainable rural livelihoods, and community–based natural resource management to investigate the impacts of rural–urban labor migration on rural environment in China. I constructed a synthetic migration and environment model incorporating rural household livelihoods and community development as key intervening factors between rural migration and environmental outcomes. The applicability of this conceptual framework was empirically evaluated in the context of rural–urban labor migration and the rural environment in Chongqing Municipality of Southwest China. This dissertation project was primarily supported by a Doctoral Dissertation Improvement Grant from the NSF Geography and Spatial Sciences Program and graduate research awards from the Worldwide Universities Network, the Rural Sociological Society, and the University of Illinois.

My previous research on the relationship between rural–urban migration and environmental changes is naturally linked to the interdisciplinary research projects in the area of urbanization and climate change at NCAR's Climate Science and Applications Program. I am involved in all activities related to the RESUCCCITIES initiative on cities and climate change and the Data Conservancy project. The best part of my job is working with a diverse team of natural and social scientists on climate change impacts and adaptation in the hopes of applying scientific knowledge to the building of a more sustainable world.

Selected Presentations

Qin, H. "Social Dimensions of Climate-induced Migration." Asian Development Bank Researchers' Workshop and Conference on Climate Change and Migration in Asia and the Pacific, Manila, Philippines, September 14-16, 2011 (invited panel discussion).

Qin, H. P. Romero Lankao, and M. Haeffner. "Displacement or Adaptation? Climate Change and Migration in Mexico." The Nansen Conference on Climate Change and Displacement in the 21st Century, Oslo, Norway, June 5-7, 2011 (invited presentation).

Qin, H. and C.G. Flint. "A Multi-Method Assessment of the Community Context of Human Response to Forest Disturbance by Mountain Pine Beetles in Colorado." International Symposium on Society and Resource Management, Corpus Christi, TX, June 6–10, 2010 (paper presentation)

Qin, H. "Migration-Environment, Rural Livelihoods, and Community in Environmental Conservation: A Synthesis of Concepts." Annual Meeting of the Rural Sociological Society, Madison, WI, July 30–August 2, 2009 (paper presentation)

Qin, H. and C. G. Flint. "Rural Labor Out–migration, Community Development, and Rural Environmental Conservation in Chongqing Municipality, Southwest China." Annual Meeting of the Society for Conservation Biology, Beijing, China, July 11–16, 2009 (paper presentation)

Qin, H. "Rural–Urban Labor Migration and Household Livelihoods in Chongqing, Southwest China: A Comparison of Migrant and Non-migrant Households." Planet U Conference, Urbana, IL, April 8–10, 2009 (poster presentation)

Qin, H. and C. G. Flint. "Rural–to–Urban Labor Migration, Household Livelihoods, and the Rural Environment in Chongqing Municipality, Southwest China." Annual Meeting of the Association of American Geographers, Las Vegas, NV, March 22–27, 2009 (paper presentation)

Flint, C.G., S. Chi, H. Qin, and A.E. Luloff. "Temporal Changes and Spatial Variations in Local Attitudes on Forest Disturbance by Insects in Alaska." Annual Meeting of the Association of American Geographers, Las Vegas, NV, March 22–27, 2009 (paper presentation)

Qin, H. and C. G. Flint. "Environment and Natural Resources: Toward a Transdisciplinary Environmental Sociology in China." International Symposium on East Asian Environmental Sociology, Tokyo, Japan, October 4–6, 2008 (invited presentation)

Flint, C. G., H. Qin, and J. Ganning. "From the Resort to the Ranch: North Central Colorado Perspectives on Mountain Pine Beetles and Forest Disturbance." International Symposium on Society and Resource Management, Burlington, VT, June 10–14, 2008 (paper presentation)

Qin, H. and C. G. Flint. "Migration, the Community Resource Dimension, and the Environment." Annual Meeting of the Rural Sociological Society, Santa Clara, CA, August 2–5, 2007 (paper presentation)

Qin, H. "Rural–to–Urban Migration and the Rural Environment in China: A Conceptual Framework for the Migration and Environment Research." International Symposium on Society and Resource Management, Park City, UT, June 17–21, 2007 (paper presentation)

Qin, H. "Environmental Impacts of Rural–to–urban Labor Migration in Rural China: A Research Proposal." Environmental Horizons Conference, Urbana, IL, April 25, 2007 (poster presentation)

Peer–reviewed publications

  1. Qin, H. and C. G. Flint. "Integrating Rural Livelihoods and Community-Based Natural Resource Management into Migration and Environment Research." Society & Natural Resources (accepted).
  2. Qin, H. and C. G. Flint. 2011. "The Impacts of Rural Labor Out-migration on Community Interaction in Southwest China and Implications for Rural Environmental Conservation." Human Organization (accepted).
  3. Qin, H. 2011. "Environmental Effects on Rural-to-Urban Migration in China: A Conceptual Framework." Chinese Journal of Population, Resources and Environment (accepted).
  4. Romero Lankao, P. and Qin, H.2011. "Conceptualizing urban vulnerability to global climate and environmental change." Current Opinion in Environmental Sustainability 3(3): 142-149 (available Here)
  5. Qin, H. 2010. "Rural-to-Urban Labor Migration, Household Livelihoods, and the Rural Environment in Chongqing Municipality, Southwest China." Human Ecology 38(5): 675-690 (available Here)
  6. Qin, H. and C. G. Flint. 2010. "Toward a Transdisciplinary Environmental and Resource Sociology in China." Society and Natural Resources 23(11): 1123–1131 (available Here)
  7. Qin, H. and C. G. Flint. 2010. "Capturing the Community Context of Human Response to Forest Disturbance by Insects: A Multi–Method Assessment." Human Ecology 38(4): 567–579 (available Here)
  8. Qin, H. 2010. "The Impacts of Rural–to–Urban Labor Migration on the Rural Environment in Chongqing Municipality, Southwest China." The Rural Sociologist 30(1): 19–24
  9. Liao, T. F. and H. Qin. 2010. "Population Growth, Available Resources, and Quality of Life: China's Post–reform Economic Development." Chinese Journal of Population, Resources and Environment (in press)
  10. Qin, H. and D. Ren. 2009. "Developing Scales for Measuring Public Legal Consciousness: An Analysis Based on Survey Data." Jurists Review 2009(5): 111–119 (in Chinese)
  11. Qin, H. and C. G. Flint. 2009. "A Review of Western Environmental Sociology and Natural Resource Sociology." Social Sciences Abroad, 2009(2): 4–11 (in Chinese; short version reprinted in China Social Sciences Today 2009(15): 9 and in International Social Science Journal (Chinese Edition) 2009(3): 119–121; fully reprinted in English in Chinese Journal of Population, Resources and Environment 7(4): 25–31, available Here )
  12. Qin, H. 2003. "The Sociology of Law Research on the Development of Legal Construction in Rural China." Journal of Shandong Agricultural University (Social Sciences Edition), 2003(1): 67–69 (in Chinese)
  13. Qin, H. 2002. "From Traditional Legal Conception to Modern Legal Consciousness – Modernization of Farmers' Legal Consciousness." Journal of Hunan Agricultural University (Social Sciences Edition), 2002(3): 8–11 (in Chinese)
  14. Qin, H. 2002. "The Urbanization Development in China." Journal of China Agricultural University (Social Sciences Edition), 2002(1): 41–46 (in Chinese)
  15. Zhang, R., D. Ren, H. Qin, and C. Zhu, eds. 2002. The Legal System of Modern Enterprises, Beijing: China Agricultural Press (in Chinese)
  16. Ren, D., C. Zhu, H. Qin, and X. Pan. 2002. "A Review of Studies on the Agricultural Law in the Year 2001." Journal of China Agricultural University (Social Sciences Edition), 2002(2): 76–84 (in Chinese)
  17. Qin, H. 2001. "On the Scientific Definition of Urbanization." Exploration, 2001(6): 76–78 (in Chinese; short version reprinted in Urban and Rural Development, 2001(9): 51–52)

Manuscripts in progress

  1. Flint, C. G., Qin, H, and J. Ganning. "Linking Local Perceptions to the Biophysical and Amenity Context of Forest Disturbance in Colorado." Revised and resubmitted to Environmental Management.
  2. Davis, L., Qin, H, J. D'Ignazio, P. Romero Lankao, M. Mayernik, and P. Alston. "Getting from Concepts to Data and Back: 'Variables as Currency' Linking Meta-analysis Research and Data Paths in Sciences." Submitted to the 7th International Digital Curation Conference.
  3. Romero Lankao, P., Qin, H, and K. Dickinson. "Exploring Urban Vulnerability to Climate Change through Meta-analysis: Application to Temperature-mortality Relationships." In preparation.

Other publications

  1. Qin, H. 2011. "Collectif Argos: Climate Refugees (Singapore: The MIT Press 2010)." Human Ecology (book review; in press, See Here
  2. Qin, H. 2010. "Karim-Aly S. Kassam: Biocultural Diversity and Indigenous Ways of Knowing: Human Ecology in the Arctic (Calgary, Alberta: University of Calgary Press 2009)." Human Ecology 39(2): 233-234 . See Here
  3. Flint, C. G., H. Qin, and Michael Daab. 2008. Mountain Pine Beetles and Invasive Plant Species: Findings from a Survey of Colorado Community Residents. Community Response to Forest Disturbance by Bark Beetles in Colorado Project, USDA Forest Service, Pacific Northwest Research Station. See Here
  4. Qin, H. and C. G. Flint. 2007. Southern Illinois Farming Survey Report. Southern Illinois Regional Assessment Project, College of Agricultural, Consumer, and Environmental Sciences, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. See Here
  5. Qin, H. and C. G. Flint. 2007. Southern Illinois Agriculture Report. Southern Illinois Regional Assessment Project, College of Agricultural, Consumer, and Environmental Sciences, University of Illinois at Urbana–Champaign. See Here
  6. Qin, H. and C. G. Flint. 2007. Southern Illinois Land Use Report. Southern Illinois Regional Assessment Project, College of Agricultural, Consumer, and Environmental Sciences, University of Illinois at Urbana–Champaign. See Here

Hua (James) Qin, Ph.D.
Climate Science and Applications Program RAL/ISP
National Center for Atmospheric Research
PO Box 3000
Boulder, Colorado USA 80307
Tel: 303-497- 2759
Fax: 303-497-8401
Email: huaqin at ucar.edu