208E Morrill Hall, Burlington, VT 05405 | 802.656.4695 | Email: Asim.Zia@uvm.edu Courses Taught | View/Download CV (PDF) |
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Dr. Asim Zia is currently serving as a Professor of
Public Policy and Computer Science in the Department of Community
Development and Applied Economics, with a secondary appointment in the
Department of Computer Science, at the University of Vermont (UVM). He
is Director of the Institute for Environmental Diplomacy and Security
(IEDS) and Co-Director of the Social Ecological Gaming and Simulation
(SEGS) lab at the UVM. Dr. Zia is undertaking National Science
Foundation (NSF) funded research with a large interdisciplinary team as
a science leader to develop computational integrated assessment models
that project and quantify high-resolution impacts of global climate
change and land-use land cover change on watershed scale hydrological
systems and lake systems, and their feedbacks on social systems. Since
joining UVM (fall 2008), his scholarship, research and public service
activities have focused on advancing the interdisciplinary fields of
Public Policy, Computational Sciences and Complex Systems. In
this interdisciplinary context, he has developed and tested
theoretically grounded applications in computational policy analysis,
governance network analysis, coupled natural and human systems and
social ecological systems. These activities have focused on
understanding and modeling public policy and governance problems
involving environment, water, air, climate, energy, food, and
sustainable development issues across many regions of the world,
spanning management of Lake Champlain basin in Vermont to conservation
of tropical forests in Peru, Vietnam and Tanzania, and resilience in
large river basins, such as Indus, Mekong and Amazon. Asim Zia has published 41 journal articles, 14 book chapters
and 3 books, totaling 58 peer-reviewed publications. His articles have
appeared in journals such as Environmental Research Letters, Global
Environmental Change, Nature Climate Change, Ecology and Society, Public Understanding of
Science, Journal of Policy and Complex Systems, Public Management
Review, Public Administration Review, Land Use Policy, Mitigation and
Adaptation Strategies for Global Change, AI & Society, Transport
Policy, International Journal of Disaster Risk Science, Policy &
Politics, Energy Policy, Journal of Environmental Psychology, and
Sustainability. He has delivered 94 oral presentations and 10 poster
presentations in peer reviewed national or international conferences
and 18 invited presentations across different universities, think
tanks, government agencies and UN agencies. He has served as a
Principal Investigator, Co-Principal Investigator or Co-Investigator on
sixteen research grants worth more than $55 Million. Grant funds have
been secured from NSF, McArthur Foundation, US-DOT, US-DoD and
USDA. Notable projects funded by NSF include “resilience to
extreme events in social ecological systems of the Lake Champlain
Basin” ($20M 2016-21), “research on adaptation to climate change” ($20M
2011-2016), and “ecological boundary setting in mental and geophysical
models” ($625K 2004-2008); by USDA include “a human behavioral approach
to reducing the impact of livestock pest or disease incursions of
socio-economic importance” ($7.4M 2015-19); by US-DoD “strategic
response to energy-related security threats” ($172K, 2012-14); and by
McArthur Foundation “advancing conservation in social context”
($6M). He served on scientific review committee of national
socio-environmental synthesis center (SESYNC) from 2014-17, acts as an academic
editor for PLOS One since 2013, and associate editor of Complexity, Governance and
Networks . He has reviewed 68 articles in 39 journals and numerous
grant proposals for NSF, Social Science and Humanities Research
Council, and Governments of Romania and Pakistan. He serves as a member
in the Shelburne Planning Commission (2017-19) and a member of advisory
boards for People Empowering & Development Alternatives, SWARM
development group and THINKMD. He has a Ph.D. in Public Policy from the
Georgia Institute of Technology; recipient of 2004-2005 best
dissertation award from the Association for Public Policy Analysis and
Management, a post-doctoral fellowship from the National Center for
Atmospheric Research (2004-2006), a fellow at the Gund Institute for
Ecological Economics and a senior research fellow for the Earth System
Governance project. He has also served in the civil superior services
of Pakistan as part
of 21st common training program (1993-94) and worked for Economic Affairs Division
in the Federal Ministry of Finance and Economic Affairs (1995-2000),
administering bilateral and multilateral developmental assistance
projects from Germany, Asian Development Bank, US-AID and Aus-Aid. PUBLICATIONS Beckage,
Brian, Louis Gross, Katherine Lacasse, Eric Carr, Sara Metcalf,
Jonathan Winter, Peter Howe, Nina Fefferman, Travis Franck, Asim Zia,
Ann Kinzig, and Forrest Hoffman (2018) Linking models of human behavior
and climate alters projected climate change. Nature Climate Change 8:
79-84. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41558-017-0031-7 Asim
Zia, Chris Koliba (2017) Dynamics of Intergovernmental Networks:
Harnessing Agent Based Modeling Simulations for Resilient
Infrastructures. Journal of Policy and Complex Systems 3(2): 49-71. Shang Wu, Asim Zia, Mengyuan Ren, Kent Messer (2017)
Simulating Heterogeneous Farmer Behaviors under Different Policy
Schemes: Integrating Economic Experiments and Agent-Based Modeling.
Journal of Policy and Complex Systems 3(2): 164-188. Rachel Schattman, Ernesto Mendez, Scott Merrill, Asim Zia
(2017) A mixed methods approach to understanding farmer and technical
service provider perceptions of climate change and adaptation in
Vermont, United States. Agroecology and Sustainable Food Systems.
Online first: http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/21683565.2017.1357667 Sarah Coleman, Stephanie Hurley, Christopher Koliba, Asim Zia
(2017) Crowdsourced delphis: Designing solutions to complex
environmental problems with broad stakeholder participation. Global
Environmental Change 45: 111-123. Steve
Scheinert, Asim Zia, Christopher Koliba, and Scott Merrill (2017)
Growing Collaborations: Forecasting Changes in Partnership Networks
using a Bottom-Up Approach. Journal of Policy and Complex Systems 3(1)
doi: 10.18278/jpcs.3.1.1 A.R. Egan, W.S. Keeton, C.M. Danks, I. Soloviy, A. Zia (2017)
Forest carbon projects in the Ukrainian Carpathians: an assessment of
potential community impacts and benefits. Annals of Forest Research
60(1) Zia, Asim, Arne Bomblies, Andrew W. Schroth, Christopher
Koliba, Peter D.F. Isles, Yushiou Tsai, Ibrahim N. Mohammed, Gabriela
Bucini, Patrick Clemins, Scott Turnbull, Morgan Rodgers, Ahmed Hamed,
Brian Beckage, Jonathan Winter, Carol Adair, Gillian L. Galford, Donna
Rizzo and Judith Van Houten (2016) Coupled impacts of climate and land
use change across a river-lake continuum: insights from an integrated
assessment model of Lake Champlain’s Missisquoi Basin, 2000-2040.
Environmental Research Letters 11, Number 11. Available online at
http://iopscience.iop.org/article/10.1088/1748-9326/11/11/114026 Conner, D., Miller, J., Zia, A., Wang, Q., and Darby, H. (2016) Conjoint Analysis of Farmers’ Response to Conservation Incentives. Sustainability 8: 684; doi 10.3390/su8070684 Ali, Saleem; Asim Zia (2016) Trans-boundary Data Sharing and Resilience Scenarios: Harnessing the Role of Regional Organizations for Environmental Security. In Zafar Adeel, Robert Wirsing (Ed.) Imagining Industan: Overcoming Water Insecurity in the Indus Basin. Heidelberg, Springer. Koliba, C., Wiltshire, S., Scheinert, S., Turner, D., Zia, A., Campbell, E. (2016) The critical role of information sharing to the value proposition of a food systems network. Public Management Review. Online First. DOI: 10.1080/14719037.2016.1209235 James, T. A., Kreiger, L. M., Zia, A., Gaalema, D., Jones, C., (2016) A Practical Framework for Incentive-Based Cancer Prevention. Population Health Management. April 2016 ahead of print. doi:10.1089/pop.2016.0007 Schulz, Anna, Asim Zia, Christopher Koliba (2015) Adapting Bridge Infrastructure to Climate Change: Institutionalizing Resilience in Intergovernmental Transportation Planning Processes in the Northeastern United States. Mitigation and Adaptation Strategies for Global Change. Online First DOI 10.1007/s11027-015-9672-x Littenberg, B., Bonnell, L. N., LeBruin, A. S., Lubetkin, D. A., Troy, A. R., & Zia, A. (2015). The Relationship Between Access to Natural Environmental Amenities and Obesity. Cureus, 7(11). Tsai, Yushiou, Asim Zia, Christopher Koliba, Justin Guilbert, Gabriela Bucini, Brian Beckage (2015). An Interactive Land Use Transition Agent-Based Model (ILUTABM): Endogenizing Human-Environment Interactions at Watershed Scales. Land Use Policy 49: 161-176. Zia, A., Koliba, C. (2015) The Emergence of Attractors Under Multi-level Institutional Designs: Agent-Based Modeling of Intergovernmental Decision Making for Funding Transportation Projects. AI & Society: Knowledge, Culture and Communication: 30: 315-331. DOI 10.1007/s00146-013-0527-2 Hamed, Ahmed; Alexa Ayer; Eric Clark; Erin Irons; Grant Taylor; Asim Zia (2015) Measuring Climate Change on Twitter Using Google's Algorithm: Perception and Events. International Journal of Web Information Systems: 11(4). http://dx.doi.org/10.1108/IJWIS-08-2015-0025 Fernandez, Luca, Chris Koliba, Asim Zia, Katherine Cheung, Richard Solomon, Chris Jones (2015) System Dynamics Modeling can be Leveraged to Predict Critical Care Pathways and Costs for End Stage Renal Disease (ESRD): US Population to 2020. Journal of Health Economics and Outcomes Research, 3(1): 24-33 Scheinert, Steve, Christopher Koliba, Stephanie Hurly, Sarah Coleman, and Asim Zia (2015) The Shape of Watershed Governance: Locating Network Boundaries within Multiplex Networks. Complexity, Governance and Networks, 2(1): 65-82. DOI 10.7564 15-CGN25 Novak, David, Chris Koliba, Asim Zia, Matt Tucker (2015) Evaluating the outcomes associated with an innovative change in a state-level transportation project prioritization process: A case study of Vermont. Transport Policy 42: 130-143 Zia, Asim, Courtney Hammond Wagner (2015) Mainstreaming Early Warning Systems in Development and Planning Processes: Multi-level implementation of Sendai Framework in Indus and Sahel. International Journal of Disaster Risk Science 6(2): 189-199. DOI 10.1007/s13753-015-0048-3 Zia, Asim, Christopher Koliba, Jack Meek, Anna Schulz (2015) Scale and Intensity of Collaboration as Determinants of Performance Management Gaps in Polycentric Governance Networks: Evidence from a National Survey of MPOs. Policy & Politics: Advancing Knowledge in Public and Social Policy 43(3): 367-390 Hamed, Ahmed Abdeen; Asim Zia (2015) Mining Climate Change Awareness on Twitter: A PageRank Network Analysis Method. In Computational Science and Its Applications – ICCSA 2015 Volume 9155 of the series Lecture Notes in Computer Science (pp. 16-31). Heidelberg, Springer. [Online: http://link.springer.com/chapter/10.1007%2F978-3-319-21404-7_2] Koliba, Chris; Asim Zia (2015) Educating Public Managers and Policy Analysts in an Era of Informatics. In Marijn Janssen, Maria A. Wimmer, Ameneh Deljoo (Ed.) Policy Practice and Digital Science: Integrating Complex Systems, Social Simulation and Public Administration in Policy Research (pp. 15-34). Heidelberg, Springer. Schattman, R., Mendez, V. E., Westdijk, K., Caswell, M., Conner, D., Koliba, C., Zia, A., Hurley, S., Adair, E.C., Berlin, L., & Darby, H. (2015). Vermont agricultural resilience in a changing climate: A transdisciplinary and participatory action research (PAR) process. In N. Benkeblia (Ed.), Agroecology, ecosystems, and sustainability (pp. 326–346). Boca Raton, FL: CRC Press/Taylor & Francis. Zia, A., Kelman, I., Glantz, M. (2015) Arctic Melting Tests the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea. In Diplomacy on Ice: Energy and the Environment in the Arctic and Antarctic. Editors: S. Ali and R. Pincus. Yale University Press, New Haven CT, Pages 128-140 Koliba, C., Zia, A. (2015) Governance Informatics: Using computer simulation models to deepen situational awareness and governance design considerations. In Governance in the Information Era: Theory and Practice of Policy Informatics. Editor: E. Johnston. Rutledge Press, London UK, Pages 189-212 Zia, Asim, Paul Hirsch, Hoang Van Thang, Tran Chi Trung, Sheila O’Connor, Thomas McShane, Pete Brosius, Bryan Norton (2015) Eliciting Inter-Temporal Value Trade-Offs: A Deliberative Multi-Criteria Analysis of Vietnam’s Bai Tu Long National Park Management Scenarios. IAFOR Journal of Sustainability, Energy and the Environment: 2(1): 41-62. http://iafor.org/archives/journals/sustain-journal/v2n1/IJSEEv2n1a3.pdf Koliba, C., Berman, M., Brune, N., Zia, A. (2014) The Salience and Complexity of Building, Regulating, and Governing the Smart Grid: Lessons from a Statewide Public-Private Partnership. Energy Policy 74: 243-252 doi:10.1016/j.enpol.2014.09.013 Koliba, C., Reynolds, A., Zia, A., and Scheinert, S. (2014). Isomorphic Properties of Network Governance: Comparing Two Watershed Governance Initiatives in the Lake Champlain Basin Using Institutional Network Analysis. Complexity, Governance and Networks. 1(2): 99-118. DOI: 10.7564/14-CGN12 Zia, A., Kauffman, S., Koliba, C., Beckage, B., Vattay, G., Bomblies, A. (2014) From the Habit of Control to Institutional Enablement: Re-envisioning the Governance of Social-Ecological Systems from the Perspective of Complexity Sciences. Complexity, Governance and Networks. 1(1): 79-88. DOI: 10.7564/14-CGN4 Zia, Asim, Bryan Norton, Sara Metcalf, Paul Hirsch, Bruce Hannon (2014) Spatial Discounting, Place Attachment and Environmental Concern: Toward an Ambit-Based Theory of Sense of Place. Journal of Environmental Psychology. 40: 283-295. DOI: 10.1016/j.jenvp.2014.08.001 Zia, A., Hameed, K. (2014) Politics of Conflict in Pakistan’s Tribal Areas: Vulnerability Reduction in Violence-Prone Complex Adaptive Systems. In Middle East Conflicts & Reforms, edited by Mohammed M. Aman and M. J. Parker Aman. Washington, DC: Policy Studies Organization/Westphalia Press, Pages 223-236. ISBN-13:978-1941472002 Zia, A. (2013) Post-Kyoto Climate Governance: Confronting the Politics of Scale, Ideology and Knowledge. Rutledge, London UK Beckage, B., Kauffman, S., Zia, A., Koliba, C. and Gross, L. J. (2013) More complex complexity: exploring the nature of computational irreducibility across physical, biological, and human social systems . In Irreducibility and Computational Equivalence: Wolfram Science 10 Years After the Publication of A New Kind of Science. Hirsch, Paul, Pete Brosius, Sheila O’Connor, Asim Zia, Meredith Welch-Devine, Juan Luis Dammert, Jennifer L. Rice, Zachary R. Anderson, Sarah Hitchner, John Schelhas, Thomas O. McShane (2013) Navigating Complex Trade-Offs in Conservation and Development: An Integrative Framework. Issues in Integrative Studies 31: 99-122 Zia, A., Kauffman, S., Niiranen, S. (2012) The Prospects and Limits of Algorithms in Simulating Creative Decision Making. Emergence: Complexity and Organization (E:CO) – An International Transdisciplinary Journal of Complex Social Systems 14 (3): 89-109. Zia, A. (2012) Land Use Adaptation to Climate Change: Economic Damages from Land-Falling Hurricanes in the Atlantic and Gulf States of the USA, 1900-2005. Sustainability 4: 917-932. Zia, A., Koliba, C., Tian, Y.(2012). Governance Network Analysis: Experimental Simulations of Alternate Institutional Designs for Intergovernmental Project Prioritization Processes. In L. Gerrits & P.K. Marks (Eds.), COMPACT I: Public Administration in Complexity. Litchfield Park: Emergent Publications. Pages 144-165. Koliba, C., Zia, A., (2012) “Complexity Friendly” Meso-Level Public Administration and Policy Studies Frameworks for Modeling Complex Governance Systems: Challenges and Opportunities for a Meta-Theoretical Research Program. In L. Gerrits & P.K. Marks (Eds.), COMPACT I: Public Administration in Complexity. Litchfield Park: Emergent Publications. Pages 119-136. Zia, A., and Glantz, M. (2012) Risk Zones: Comparative Lesson Drawing and Policy Learning from Flood Insurance Programs. Journal of Comparative Policy Analysis: Research and Practice 14(2): 143-159. Zia, A., Paul Hirsch, Alexander N. Songorwa, David R. Mutekanga, Sheila O’Connor, Thomas McShane, Pete Brosius, Bryan Norton (2011) Cross-Scale Value Trade-Offs in Managing Social-Ecological Systems: The Politics of Scale in Ruaha National Park, Tanzania. Ecology and Society 16(4):7. http://dx.doi.org/10.5751/ES-04375-160407 Zia, A., and Koliba, C. (2011) Accountable Climate Governance: Dilemmas of Performance Management Across Complex Governance Networks. Journal of Comparative Policy Analysis: Research and Practice 13(5): 479-497. Koliba, C., Mills, and Zia, A. (2011) Accountability in Governance Networks: An Assessment of Public, Private, and Nonprofit Emergency Management Practices Following Hurricane Katrina. Public Administration Review 71(2): 210-220. Hirsch, P. D., Adams, B., Brosius, J. P., Zia, A., Bariola, N., and Dammert, J. L. (2011) Acknowledging Conservation Trade-offs and Embracing Complexity. Conservation Biology 25: 259-264. Koliba, C., Campbell, E. and Zia, A. (2011) Performance Measurement Considerations in Congestion Management Networks: Aligning Data and Network Accountability. Public Performance Management Review. 34(4): 520-548. Koliba, C., Zia, A., and Lee, B. H.Y. (2011) Governance Informatics: Managing the Performance of Inter-Organizational Governance Networks. The Innovation Journal 16(1), Article 3. Koliba, C., Meek, J., and Zia, A (2010) Governance Networks in Public Administration and Public Policy. CRC Press, Boca Raton FL Koliba, C., Meek, J., and Zia, A. (2010) Gordian Knot or Integrated Theory? Critical Conceptual Considerations for Governance Network Analysis. In The Future of Governance: Selected Papers from the Fifth Transatlantic Dialogue on Public Administration. Taco Brandsen and Marc Holzer (Editors). Published by National Center for Public Performance (NCPP), Newark NJ. Pages 277-300. Zia, A., Todd, A. M. (2010) Evaluating the Effects of Ideology on Public Understanding of Climate Change Science: How to Improve Communication Across Ideological Divides? Public Understanding of Science 19(6): 743-761. Koliba, C., and Zia, A. (2009) Dispelling the Myth of the Invisible Hand: An Argument for Democratically Legitimate Inter-Organizational Governance Networks. Administrative Theory & Praxis 31(2): 417-423 Zia, A., B. G. Norton, D. S. Noonan, M. O. Rodgers, and L. DeHart-Davis (2006) A Quasi-Experimental Evaluation of High Emitter Non-Compliance and its Impact on Vehicular Tailpipe Emissions in Atlanta, 1997-2001. Transportation Research Part D: Transport and Environment 11(1): 77-96 Zia, A. (2006) Cooperative and Non-Cooperative Decision Behaviors in Response to the Inspection and Maintenance Program in the Atlanta Airshed, 1997-2001: The APPAM Ph.D. Dissertation Award. Journal of Policy Analysis and Management 25(3): 773-775 Zia, A. (1999) Can Beggars Be Choosers: a Critique of Pak-German Developmental Cooperation. Heinrich Boell Foundation. Lahore, Pakistan/ Berlin, Germany
Policy Analysis of Complex SystemsEcological boundary setting in mental and geophysical modelsAgent-based modeling of land-use change and watershed systems The analysis of complex governance system dynamics Adaptive Decision Making and Adaptive ManagementComplexity and meta-decision modelsCooperative and non-cooperative decision behaviors Value of forecast information and communication of uncertain forecasts Climate Change Mitigation and Adaptation Policy EvaluationPublic understanding of climate change scienceAdaptation policy and risk zoning International negotiation of climate change mitigation policy Diffusion of renewable energy and energy efficient systems International Development and Environmental SustainabilityTrade-offs between conservation and developmentInternational development policy Environmental education, service-learning and capacity building Transportation, Air Quality and Land-Use PlanningSmog control and policy complianceRegulations and environmental justice Activity-based transportation models |