Kristopher Young

Kristopher Young is an adjunct instructor at the University of Utah's Sociology Department, currently on the market for researcher, practitioner, and/or instructor career opportunities. Informed by risk, social vulnerability, and environmental justice frames, Young's applied research integrates quantitative spatial analysis with qualitative methods meant to advance policy-relevant, equitable approaches to disaster risk reduction, community resilience, and climate adaptation, with a focus on wildfire in the western United States and sustainable development in post-disaster contexts in the so-called global South. He received a Bachelor of Science in forestry at Utah State University, emphasizing in disturbance ecology, a Master of Arts in sustainable development and disaster management at Prescott College, and a Master of Science and PhD in sociology at the University of Utah. Before spending ten years working with disaster-affected communities on community-driven agricultural and environmental projects in post-tsunami Sri Lanka and post-earthquake Haiti, Young conducted wildland fuels surveys with Indigenous communities on tribal lands throughout the intermountain west, and vaccinated historic urban trees across the five boroughs of New York City, including in Central Park, against Asian Long-horned beetles. In research and practice, Young's work contributes to multidisciplinary efforts spanning sociology, anthropology, geography, environmental science, and policy in relevant and applicable ways.