Ryan E. Emanuel

Ryan E. Emanuel is an ecohydrologist who studies environmental processes in natural and human-impacted ecosystems, specifically the dynamic role that water plays as it travels through watersheds. He is an Associate Professor and University Faculty Scholar in the Department of Forestry and Environmental Resources at North Carolina State University. He is also a member of the Lumbee Tribe, and an outspoken advocate for indigenous rights and environmental justice.^[1][2]

Early life and education

Emanuel grew up in North Carolina. From a young age he had developed a love for nature that inspired him to pursue a career that would take into the outdoors.^[3]

After Emanuel finished up high school, he worked for the US Geological Survey as a hydrologic aide from 1995 to 1998. While working for them Emanuel developed an interest in the environmental sciences which he went on to study while at Duke University, where he earned his B.S. in Geology in 1999.^[3][4]

While still an undergrad Emanuel continued his worked with the US Geological Survey on a number of water related projects which introduced him to hydrology which synthesized his love of the outdoors with his studies in science.^[3]

He earned his M.S. (2003) and Ph.D. (2007) in Environmental Sciences from University of Virginia.^[1][4] Emanuel worked with Professor Paolo D’Odorico and Professor Howard Epstein who were his Ph.D. co-advisors, on his dissertation^[5], Vegetation water stress and its impact on land-atmosphere interaction, which focused on modeling vegetation stressors and limited soil nutrients by measuring leaf and canopy growth in sites in Virginia and the Rocky Mountains.^[6]

Career and research

At Appalachian State University, Emanuel worked as an assistant professor of Geology from 2007 to 2010. Since 2010 he has worked at North Carolina State University, as an Associate Professor. He earned tenure in 2015.^[4] Emanuel is head of the ecohydrology and watershed science research group.^[1]

Emanuel does research in the interdisciplinary field of ecohydrology which combines hydrology and ecology to study how plants, organisms, and landscapes interact with the water cycle and measuring how changes to things like stream flow affect the whole ecosystem.

He studies the dynamic role of water in ecosystems, and how it is affected by land-use and climate change. He has studied water and carbon cycling in the Rocky Mountains, rainfall and streamflow in the Appalachians, salinization of North Carolina's coastal environments, and the impacts of climate change on the Lumbee River which has special significance to Emanuel as a member of the Lumbee Tribe.^[1][2]

Emanuel also studies environmental justice and indigenous rights. Emanuel has partnered with Dr. Louis Rivers, an assistant professor also at North Carolina State University, to study the methods that regulators use to identify minority and marginalized populations as part of environmental impact statements. They built computer models that simulate populations in the southeastern United States and imputed US pipeline project data from 2015 to 2017. They then ran millions of simulations to test the effectiveness of current environmental justice tests. They found that current environmental justice analysis tests are designed poorly and often fail to identify large minority populations. These tests can lead to inaccurate Environmental Impact Reports, which can mislead the groups conducting the test into believing that no environmental justice issues exist with their plans. Emanuel claims that these poorly designed tests, which follow EPA guidelines, often fail to detect Native American populations in particular and can lead to future conflict since the tests fail to warn a project's decision makers to environmental justice issues. ^[7][8]

Advocacy Work

Emanuel has used his position as a scientist and a scholar to advocate for the importance of indigenous rights, knowledge, voices, and involvement in decision-making processes on development projects that affect American Indians and indigenous connections to landscapes in North Carolina.^[3][7]

Emanuel was asked to join North Carolina's Commission of Indian Affairs' new Environmental Justice Committee around 2015. When he joined this committee he became more aware of issues that affect American Indian communities.^[9]

Since then, Emanuel became an active advocate for indigenous rights and environmental justice and has worked with tribal communities in North Carolina who oppose the Atlantic Coast Pipeline, a proposed 600 mile long natural gas pipeline that Emanuel claims passes through land that has important cultural significance to American Indians. He also claims that the regulators of the pipeline project failed to consult or include tribal governments or communities in the information gathering/decision-making process or the environmental impact statement of the proposed pipeline even though it potentially impacts 30,000 American Indians who live along the proposed route. He also claims that tribal governments were ignored even when they attempted to reach out to federal regulators of the project. Emanuel has stated that because the project's environmental impact statement does not mention the large population of American Indians, enough research hasn't been done on the proposed pipelines potential impact on indigenous communities, especially impacts to their cultural connection to the landscapes that the pipeline is proposed to cross. ^[9][1][8]

Emanuel uses the EPA's definition of environmental justice:

"Environmental Justice is the fair treatment and meaningful involvement of all people regardless of race, color, national origin, or income, with respect to the development, implementation, and enforcement of environmental laws, regulations, and policies."^[9][10]

With this definition in mind Emanuel states that if the Atlantic Coast Pipeline project moves forward it will be inconsistent with federal environmental justice policy and international policy from Executive Order 12898 and the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples, article 18, respectively.^[11][12]

Awards and Honors

Emanuel has received national attention for his advocacy work and research on environmental justice and indigenous rights and has received the following awards.^[1]

• North Carolina State University's Sustainability Award.^[1]
• American Indian Science and Engineering Society's Community Service Award.^[1]

Notable Publications

To see more of Ryan E. Emanuel's publications go to his Google Scholar Site.

• Ryan E. Emanuel, Water in the Lumbee World: A River and Its People in a Time of Change, Environmental History, https://doi.org/10.1093/envhis/emy129
• Diego A Riveros‐Iregui, Ryan E Emanuel, Daniel J Muth, Brian L McGlynn, Howard E Epstein, Daniel L Welsch, Vincent J Pacific, Jon M Wraith, Diurnal hysteresis between soil CO2 and soil temperature is controlled by soil water content, Geophysical Research Letters, https://doi.org/10.1029/2007GL030938.
• Fabian Nippgen, Brian L McGlynn, Lucy A Marshall, Ryan E Emanuel, Landscape structure and climate influences on hydrologic response, American Geophysical Union, , https://doi.org/10.1029/2011WR011161
• Ryan E Emanuel, Howard E Epstein, Brian L McGlynn, Daniel L Welsch, Daniel J Muth, Paolo D'Odorico, Spatial and temporal controls on watershed ecohydrology in the northern Rocky Mountains, Water Resources Research https://doi.org/10.1029/2009WR008890
• Ryan E Emanuel, Anna G Hazen, Brian L McGlynn, Kelsey G Jencso, Vegetation and topographic influences on the connectivity of shallow groundwater between hillslopes and streams, Ecohydrology 2014, https://doi.org/10.1002/eco.1409
• Fabian Nippgen, Brian L McGlynn, Ryan E Emanuel, The spatial and temporal evolution of contributing areas, Water Resources Research, https://doi.org/10.1002/2014WR016719
  

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