Dr. Nazia N. Arbab Awarded at National Modeling Symposium

Receiving the award from Dr. Billie L. Turner II. Dr. Billie L. Turner II is the Gilbert F. White Professor of Environment and Society at Arizona State University.

Dr. Nazia N. Arbab won a competitive Professional Enhancement Award at the Agent-Based Model (ABM) 17 Symposium, sponsored by The Complex Human-Environment Systems Group and the Department of Geography at San Diego State University. Dr. Arbab was recognized for her ABM-related work, experience, and knowledge about the application, use and challenges of ABM research.

Group picture with Dr. Steve Manson and other participants during banquet & award announcement. Steven Manson is a professor in the Department of Geography, Environment, and Society at the University of Minnesota.

Dr. Arbab also presented a poster, titled "Impacts of Land Use Conversions on Bird Population Trajectories near Protected Areas in New Jersey", in the ABM 17 symposium. The poster reported the use of a computer model to estimate the impacts of changes in land use on the populations of different types of passerine (perching) birds in Morris County, NJ. The study focused on three types of landscapes – urban, agricultural/grasslands, forests. The model showed that large passerine populations would be especially vulnerable to the conversion of forest to residential land, as opposed to other land-use changes, likely because of the resulting fragmentation in the landscape. Dr. Arbab's Rutgers co-authors include Jeffery Brown (graduate student, Ecology and Evolution), Katherine Fenn (graduate student, Geography) and Julie Lockwood (professor, DEENR).

Group photo of ABM 17 participants

May 2017