Avik BasuUniversity of Michigan | U-M · School of Environment and Sustainability
Avik Basu
PhD, Environmental Psychology
About
14
Publications
3,715
Reads
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160
Citations
Citations since 2017
Introduction
I tackle sustainability challenges through the lens of human cognition, emotion, behavior, and information processing. I study differences between experts and laypeople in environmental decision-making, the role environments play in depleting and restoring our capacity to pay attention, and designing environments that simultaneously enhance individual and communal well-being.
Additional affiliations
January 2013 - December 2014
Position
- Research Consultant
Description
- Developed an iOS application to process Heart Rate Variability data from an ultra-miniature earlobe-mounted heart rate sensor.
January 2013 - December 2015
Position
- Research Consultant
Description
- Served as Co-PI on a multi-disciplinary team to study public perception, expertise, and decision-making issues about Great Lakes sustainability, specifically regarding the impact of cladophora on beachfronts.
January 2013 - present
Position
- Lecturer
Description
- Courses: -NRE 641: Research Methods in Environment and Behavior -NRE 677: The Reasonable Person Model as a framework for Envt. Communication -NRE 701/888: Master Project Planning Course -NRE 501/158: Seminar on the UNFCCC
Education
September 2004 - August 2009
September 2000 - April 2002
September 1995 - April 1999
Publications
Publications (14)
To avoid repetition of the unifying framework across the chapters, this introductory chapter provides an overview of the Reasonable Person Model (RPM) and its unique features. For each of the three domains of informational needs, the chapter explains the key concepts and includes some ways to support those needs. The chapter also offers a road map...
We humans are difficult animals. We are the source of environmental degradation, the culprits of resource decline. We are reluctant to trust and easily angered. However, we are also the source of inspiration, compassion, and creative solutions. What brings out the reasonable side of our capacity?
The Reasonable Person Model (RPM) offers a simple f...
Soft fascination is a key but underexamined element of Attention Restoration Theory (ART). According to ART, attending to softly fascinating stimuli not only requires little effort but also leaves mental space for reflection. We propose that soft fascination can be characterized as the interaction of both attentional effort and mental bandwidth and...
This project shows the importance of conducting semi-structured visits to communities when engaging in community sustainable development. These visits, which we call “discovery trips”, allow researchers and practitioners to lay a foundation of trust and to identify the needs that community members truly want addressed. Through these two factors, fu...
The Delphi technique is a means of facilitating discussion among experts in order to develop consensus, and can be used for policy formulation. This article describes a modified Delphi approach in which 27 multi-disciplinary academics and 22 stakeholders from Ghana and North America were polled about ways to address negative effects of small-scale...
While public participation in resource management decisions is desirable, it can also be extremely challenging to implement. Experts and citizens can understand management decisions very differently, and their inability to appreciate different points of view can lead to frustration and mistrust on both sides. In Bay City, Michigan, beach “muck” (pr...
Indispensible amino acids (IAAs) are used by the body in different proportions. Most animal-based foods provide these IAAs in roughly the needed proportions, but many plant-based foods provide different proportions of IAAs. To explore how these plant-based foods can be better used in human nutrition, we have created the computational tool vProtein...
Continuing current low density patterns of housing development would have significant environmental impact. The urgency of adopting higher-density patterns, however, runs counter to what is acceptable to the public, especially in rural areas. Though it is widely assumed that the opposition is to density, the concerns may be about a wide range of fa...
Payload G-093, also known as the VOrtex Ring Transit EXperiment (VORTEX), was flown on Shuttle missions STS-89 in January 1998 and again on STS-88 in December 1998. VORTEX was flown to answer some basic questions about fluid atomization—the process whereby a liquid is converted into small droplets. VORTEX investigated the propagation of a vortex ri...
Projects
Projects (2)
1. Evaluate the positive and negative “spillover” effects of green spaces and urban nature (both intentional and unintentional) for direct users and indirect exposures (i.e., neighbors, passersby).
2. Focus on marginalized populations in low income communities, and hypothesized associations (positive and negative) with substance use, drug markets, and violence.
3. Develop flexible combination of measures and methods to capture the dynamic relationship between individual, social and environmental change across distinct but comparable geographic areas.
