Department of Environmental Conservation

Assistant Professor
Office: 210 Holdsworth Hall
(413)545-3749

Email: amilmanamilman(at)eco.umass.edu

Personal Web Page

Primary Research Interests:

I research environmental governance, with a focus on water resources in the context of global change. I am particularly interested in how adaptation to climate change in the water sector is influenced by a) institutional structures 2) the socio-political-cultural lenses used in interpreting information and c) the need to make decisions and act under uncertainty.  My research is itself a form of boundary work, and I am especially interested in connecting those who produce knowledge with stakeholders, policy makers, and government agencies.

Key concepts I study include: environmental governance; climate change adaptation; transboundary water; energy-water nexus; coupled-human environmental systems; collaborative governance; decision-making under uncertainty; environmental policy integration; integrated water resources management.

Current Projects:

• Climate change adaptation and water security in south-western Ethiopia (see CLICO & Summary)
• Determinants of adaptive capacity for transboundary river basins in the  Mediterranean, Middle East, & Sahel (see CLICO)
• Interacting governance of water and energy in the United States

• EnvirSci 213 Environmental Policy (fall semester)
• NRC590TP Adapting to Climate Change (spring semester)

Selected Publications:

Kiparsky, M., Milman, A. & Vicuna, S. (2012) “Climate and Water: Knowledge of Impacts to Action on Adaptation.” Annual Review of Environment and Resources, (37). Accepted, publication date December 2012.

Milman, A. & Ray, I. (2011) “Interpreting the Unknown: Management of Transboundary Groundwater Under Hydrological Uncertainty.” Water International, 36(5): 631-645.

Milman, A. & Scott, C. (2009) “Beneath the Surface: Intra-national Institutions and Management of the United States – Mexico Transboundary Santa Cruz Aquifer,” Environment and Planning C: Government and Policy, 28(3): 528-551.

Milman, A. & Short, A. (2008) “Incorporating Resilience into Sustainability Indicators: An Example for the Urban Water Sector.” Global Environmental Change, 18(4): 758-767.

Kolb de Wilde, C., Milman, A., Flores, Y., Salmeron, J. & Ray, I., (2008) “An Integrated Method for Evaluating Community-Based Safe Water Programmes and an Application in Rural Mexico.” Health Policy Planning, 23(6): 452-64.

Kallis, G., Kiparksy, M., Milman, A. & Ray, I. (2006). “Glossing Over the Complexity of Water.” Science, 314(5804): 1387c-1388. (Letter)

Milman, A. (2006) “Geographic Pollution Mapping of Power Plant Emissions to Inform Ex-ante Environmental Justice Analyses.” Journal of Environmental Planning and Management, (49)4: 587-604.

Jacobson, A., Milman, A. & Kammen, DM. (2005) “Letting the (energy) Gini Out of the Bottle: Lorentz Curves of Cumulative Electricity Consumption and Gini Coefficients as Metrics of Energy Distribution and Equity” Energy Policy, (33)14: 1825-1832.