Michael R. Meuser, MA, PhD (abd)
Environmental Sociologist
meuser@mapcruzin.com
Update:
This page needs some serious updating! I'll try to get to it soon. In the meantime, here's a little blurb. Over the last couple of years I have spent more time on the website creating maps and tutorials as well as a 2 volume Right-To-Know Atlas (a Homeland Security Atlas is in the works). Recently I took a break from the web work to create a Yurok Plank House project for the Clarke Memorial Museum in Eureka, California. It was great fun as it combined so many of my skills and interests. I'll try to do the official update of this page soon. -- Mike
Dissertation:
Publications:Michael is completing his Ph.D. dissertation, Right-To-Know or Left-To-Wonder? Public Disclosure of Environmental Information in the Information Age.
Presentations and Participation at Professional Meetings:Unintended; Inexorable: The Production of Environmental Inequalities in Santa Clara County, CA, with Dr. Andrew Szasz, American Behavioral Scientist, Special Issue: Advances in Environmental Justice: Research, Theory, and Methodology, Volume 43(4) (January 2000), pp. 602-632.
Environmental Inequalities: Literature Review and Proposals for New Directions in Research and Theory, with Dr. Andrew Szasz, Current Sociology, Volume 45(3) (July 1997), pp. 99-120.
Public Participation in the Cleanup of Contaminated Military Facilities: Democratization or Anticipatory Cooptation? with Dr. Andrew Szasz, International Journal of Contemporary Sociology, Volume 34(2) (October 1997), pp. 211-234.
Environmental Inequality Bibliography, with Dr. Andrew Szasz, 1996.
Stakeholder Participation in the Toxic Cleanup of Military Facilities and its Relationship to the Prospects for Economic Reuse: The Case of Fort Ord, California, Report prepared for the Economic Development Administration, US Department of Commerce, with Dr. Andrew Szasz, 1995.
The Demographics of Proximity to Toxic Releases: The Case of Los Angeles County, with Dr. Andrew Szasz, Hal Aronson and Dr. Hiroshi Fukurai, published electronically on the Internet at (1) RTK-Network, Washington, DC; and, (2) IGC Networks, San Francisco, CA, 1994.
Environmental Inequalities in Silicon Valley: Lessons for Regional Development at the Global Networks, Innovation an Development Strategy: The Informational Region as a Development Strategy Conference, University of California, Santa Cruz, November 1999.Participant in the Community Research Network Annual Conference, What Works, What Doesn't?: Community-Based Research and Strategies for Change, University of Massachusetts at Amherst (Loka Institute), June 1999.
Incorporating Spatial, Temporal, and Demographic Factor into Environmental Justice Research at the Annual Meeting of the American Sociological Association, August 1998, San Francisco, CA.
Participant in the Western Governor's Association (WGA) "Forum on Stakeholder Participation in the Environmental Restoration of Tribal and Federal Lands," January 1996, Reno, Nevada.
Improving Civilian Stakeholders' Participation in the Toxic Cleanup of Military Facilities at the Annual Meeting of the American Sociological Association, August 1995, Washington D.C.
Demographics of Proximity to Toxic Releases: the Case of Los Angeles County was presented at the following four meetings and conferences.
April 1994, Twentieth Annual Southwest labor Studies Conference, University of California, Santa Cruz, California.
November 1993, meeting of the University of California Toxic Substances Research and Teaching Program, University of California, Santa Cruz, California.
August 1993, meeting of the American Sociological Association's Environment and Technology Section, Miami, Florida.
November 1992, meeting of the University of California Toxic Substances Research and Teaching Program, University of California, Santa Barbara, California.
Participant in the Working Group On Community Right-To-Know's workshop, The Right-To-Know-More, January 1991, Washington, D.C.
Community and Research Affiliations:
- Californians for Alternatives to Toxics (CATs)
- Center for Global, International and Regional Studies, UCSC
- Fort Ord Toxics Project (FOTP)
- Institute for Science and Interdisciplinary Studies (ISIS)
- LOKA Institute Community Research Network (CRN)
- Monterey Bay Regional Research program (MBRS)
- Silicon Valley Toxics Coalition (SVTC)
- University of California Toxic Substances Research and Teaching Program, UCD
- Working Group on the Community Right-To-Know
Professional Affiliations:
- National Environmental Health Association (NEHA)
- American Society for Environmental History (ASEH)
- American Sociological Association (ASA)
- Association for Science in the Public Interest (ASIPI)
- Pacific Sociological Association (PSA)
- Rural Sociological Society (RSS)
Academic Research on the WWW:
University of California, Davis, Toxics Substances Research and Teaching Program - Research assistant for Dr. Andrew Szasz on our project, "An Historical Analysis of Environmental Inequality: The Case of Santa Clara County." Job duties include gathering environmental and demographic data, performing statistical analysis, and creating maps. We also maintain an Environmental Justice Bibliography. This work-in-progress and the bibliography are on the WWW at http://www.mapcruzin.com/EI.
Academic Employment and Fellowships:
1998 -
1999Fellow, University of California, Santa Cruz, Monterey Bay Regional Studies program. 1998 Fellow, University of California, Davis UC Toxic Substance Research and Teaching Program administered by the Marine Science Institute at the University of California, Santa Barbara. 1994 -
1998University of California, Santa Cruz - Candidate for the Ph.D. in Sociology with a focus on environmental sociology. Summer 1996 -
Summer 1997University of California, Davis, Toxics Substances Research and Teaching Program. Employed as a researcher to assist Dr. Andrew Szasz with our project, an historical analysis of environmental inequality in Santa Clara County. Contact: Dr. Andrew Szasz, szasz@cats.ucsc.edu, 831-457-2579.
Fall 1995 -
Spring 1996Independent research in collaboration with Dr. Andrew Szasz on the history of environmental inequality in Silicon Valley. Research tasks included gathering Toxics Release Inventory (TRI); US Census data and producing GIS maps of census tracts for each decade from 1960 through 1990 for the region; and compiling an environmental justice bibliography. The WWW site, http://www.mapcruzin.com/EI was established during this period to encourage other researchers to learn from our work and to share their work and ideas with us. The WWW site includes demographic and toxic maps and an environmental justice bibliography. Research for the publication, Environmental Inequalities: Literature Review and Proposals for New Directions in Research and Theory, by Dr. Andrew Szasz and Michael Meuser, Current Sociology , Volume 45(3) (July 1997), was conducted during this period.
Fall 1994 -
Spring 1995Independent research in collaboration with Dr. Andrew Szasz on the conversion and environmental restoration of Fort Ord, Monterey, CA. Research tasks included library research; on-line research and communication; participant observation; attendance at related meetings in Monterey and San Francisco, CA; and Reno, NV. Research for the report Stakeholder Participation in the Toxic Cleanup of Military Facilities and its Relationship to the Prospects for Economic Reuse: The Case of Fort Ord, California (prepared for the Economic Development Administration, US Department of Commerce) by Dr. Andrew Szasz and Michael Meuser and the article, Public Participation in the Cleanup of Contaminated Military Facilities: Democratization or Anticipatory Cooptation? by Dr. Andrew Szasz and Michael Meuser, International Journal of Contemporary Sociology (forthcoming), 1997, was conducted during this period.
Winter 1995 Dr. Walter Goldfrank, UCSC. Employed as researcher to perform statistical analysis for Dr. Goldfrank's project on worker exposure to pesticides in Chile.
Contact: Dr. Walter Goldfrank, wally@cats.ucsc.edu, 831-459-2453
Summer 1994 UCSC Center for Global Transformation. Employed as a researcher to assist Dr. Andrew Szasz. Tasks included library research, field research, and participant observation as preparation for grant proposals to provide funding for further research on the conversion and environmental restoration of Fort Ord, Monterey, CA. Contact: Dr. Andrew Szasz, szasz@cats.ucsc.edu, 831-457-2579
June 1994 M.A in Sociology, University of California, Santa Cruz Summer 1993 Ms. Patricia Allen, Center for Agroecology UCSC. Employed as a programmer to develop a bibliographic retrieval database program.
Contact: Patricia Allen, rats@cats.ucsc.edu, 831-459-4243.
Fall 1992 -
Spring 1993Independent research in collaboration with Dr. Andrew Szasz, Dr. Hiroshi Fukurai, and Hal Aronson on environmental inequality in Los Angeles County. Research tasks included gathering toxics release inventory (TRI) data; dbase programming; SAS statistical programming; statistical output in the form of maps, charts, and reports; report writing; and the use of a GIS system to produce maps.
Summer 1992 University of California, Davis, Toxics Substances Research and Teaching Program. Employed as a researcher to assist Dr. Andrew Szasz on our project, The Demographics of Proximity to Toxic Releases: The Case of Los Angeles County ; Research tasks included gathering toxics release inventory (TRI) data; dbase programming; SAS statistical programming; statistical output in the form of maps, charts, and reports; report writing; and the use of a GIS system to produce maps.
Contact: Dr. Andrew Szasz, szasz@cats.ucsc.edu, 831-457-2579
June 1992 B.A. in Sociology with honors, B.A. in Environmental Studies with honors, University of California, Santa Cruz Fall 1991 -
Spring 1992Independent research in collaboration with Dr. Andrew Szasz, Dr. Hiroshi Fukurai, and Hal Aronson on environmental inequality in Los Angeles County. Research tasks included gathering toxics release inventory (TRI) data; dbase programming; SAS statistical programming; statistical output in the form of maps, charts, and reports; report writing; and the use of a GIS system to produce maps.
1986 -
1991Independent Computer Consultant. Developed computer database programs that allowed facilities to track their inventories of toxic materials and produce the required government reports Contact: Dr. Andrew Szasz, szasz@cats.ucsc.edu, 831-457-2579.
Contact Information:
meuser@mapcruzin.com
Phone: (831) 458-4245
