Currently, I am principle investigator of a three-year (2008-2011) research project that is studying the social and ecological effects of an earthquake/tsunami that hit the western Solomon Islands. See the project website for more information about this project funded by the NSF Human and Social Dynamics Program.

I research, write, and teach about population, environmental change, indigenous rights, and conservation issues in Latin America and Oceania. My recent research has involved the micro-ecology of coastal and marine resource use; the human dimensions of marine protected areas; participatory remote sensing, GIS, and mapping; resilience and vulnerability of coastal communities to climate change and natural disasters; and community-based resource management and development. In addition to my position in the Department of Anthropology, I am the co-director and undergraduate adviser of the Sustainability Program. I am also affiliated with the Center for Latin American Studies, and I run the Environmental Anthropology Lab (EAL) here at SDSU. More recently I have joined the Artisanal Fisheries Research Network based at Scripps Institution of Oceanography.

See these links for more information about my research in the Solomon Islands and Venezuela, my past development work as a Peace Corps volunteer, the courses I teach, and my current CV.

Recent publications:

Lauer, Matthew. (in press) "Oral traditions or situated practices? Understanding how indigenous communities respond to environmental disasters." Human Organization 71(2):xx-xx

Lauer, Matthew, and Shankar Aswani. (2010) "Indigenous knowledge and long-term ecological change: Detection, interpretation, and responses to changing ecological conditions in Pacific Island communities." Environmental Management 45(5):985-997 (download)

Lauer, Matthew, and Shankar Aswani. (2009) "Indigenous ecological knowledge as situated practices: Understanding fishers’ knowledge in the western Solomon Islands." American Anthropologist 111(3):317-329. (download)

Lauer, Matthew, and Shankar Aswani. (2008) "Integrating indigenous ecological knowledge and multi-spectral image classification for marine habitat mapping in Oceania." Ocean & Coastal Management 51(6):495-504. (download)

Articles about my research in the popular press:

San Diego Union-Tribune (2010) Article. 1, Article. 2