Dr. Christian Brannstrom
  • Senior Associate Dean for Undergraduate Education
  • David Bullock Harris Professor of Geosciences
  • Professor of Geography

Administrative Contact

Emily Schultz

emily.schultz@tamu.edu

979-458-6970

Biography

Dr. Christian Brannstrom is a professor of geography and a 2022-2023 Fulbright Scholar. He serves as Senior Associate Dean for Undergraduate Education in the College of Arts and Sciences. He holds respective A.B. and Ph.D. degrees in international relations and geography. Dr. Brannstrom joined the Texas A&M faculty in 2003 as a member of the Department of Geography, where his research focuses on social and political aspects of renewable energy and unconventional fossil fuels in Texas and also analyzes host community responses to wind energy in northeastern Brazil. Dr. Brannstrom has published three edited books and more than 100 scholarly articles and book chapters in the fields of energy, land-change science and historical-environmental geography. His work is supported by the National Science Foundation, National Geographic Society, Texas Sea Grant and Melbern G. Glasscock Center for Humanities Research. Dr. Brannstrom has served as associate dean for academic affairs in the College of Geosciences (2016-2022), where he implemented a new probation system and helped launch an online master’s degree, as well as graduate director in Geography and director of Environmental Studies and Environmental Geosciences. His commitment to teaching and experiential learning has been recognized with two university-level and one college-level teaching awards.

Educational Background

  • Ph.D. Geography, University of Wisconsin-Madison (1998)

Awards & Honors

  • Distinguished Achievement Award (Teaching), Texas A&M University and Association of Former Students (2017)
  • Outstanding Service to CLAG, Conference of Latin Americanist Geographers (2017)
  • Bush Excellence Award for Faculty in International Teaching, Texas A&M University (2016)
  • Distinguished Achievement Award College Level (teaching), College of Geosciences and Association of Former Students, Texas A&M University (2013)

Selected Publications

  • Gorayeb, A., C. Brannstrom, T. Xavier, M. O. Soares, C. E. P. Teixeira, A. M. F. Santos, R. G. Carvalho (2024) “Emerging challenges of offshore wind energy in the Global South: Perspectives from Brazil,” Energy Research & Social Science 113: 103524

    Seghezzo, L., G. Sneegas, W. Jepson, C. Brannstrom, S. Beckner, K. Lee (2023) “The use and potential of Q method in environmental planning and management,” Journal of Environmental Planning and Management 67(12): 2721-47

    Brannstrom, C., W. Jepson, S. Beckner, G. Sneegas, L. Seghezzo (2022) “Not a silver bullet: Social perspectives on water desalination and reuse in Texas,” Urban Water Journal 19(10): 1025-37

    Brannstrom, C., M. Ewers, P. Schwarz (2022) “Will peak talent arrive before peak oil or peak demand?: Exploring whether career choices of highly skilled workers will accelerate the transition to renewable energy,” Energy Research and Social Science 93: 102834

    Brannstrom, C., A. Gorayeb (2022) “Geographical implications of Brazil’s emerging green hydrogen sector,” Journal of Latin American Geography 21(1): 185-194

    Brannstrom, C., N. S. Leite, A. Lavoie, A. Gorayeb (2022) “What explains the community acceptance of wind energy? Exploring benefits, consultation, and livelihoods in coastal Brazil,” Energy Research & Social Science 83: 102344

    Huaranca, L. L., M. A. Iribarnegaray, F. Albesa, J. N. Volante, C. Brannstrom, L. Seghezzo (2019) “Social perspectives on deforestation, land use change, and economic development in an expanding agricultural frontier in northern Argentina,” Ecological Economics 165, 106424 DOI 10.1016/j.ecolecon.2019.106424

    Gorayeb, A., C. Brannstrom, A. J. A. Meireles (eds), Impactos socioambientais da implantação dos parques de energia eólica no Brasil (Fortaleza: Coleção de Estudos Geográficos da UFC, 2019) ISBN 978-85-7282-771-3

    Beckner, S., W. Jepson, C. Brannstrom, and J. Tracy (2019) “‘The San Antonio River doesn’t start in San Antonio, it now starts in Burleson County’: Stakeholder perspectives on a groundwater transfer project in central Texas,” Society and Natural Resources 32(11): 1222-1238 DOI: 10.1080/08941920.2019.1648709

    Frate, C. A., C. Brannstrom, M. V. G. de Morais, A. A. Caldeira-Pires (2019) “Procedural and distributive justice inform subjectivity regarding wind power: A case from Rio Grande do Norte, Brazil,” Energy Policy 132: 185-195 DOI 10.1016/j.enpol.2019.05.027

    Lavoie, A., and C. Brannstrom (2019) “Assembling a marine extractive reserve: The case of the Cassurubá RESEX in Brazil,” Journal of Latin American Geography 18(2): 120-151 DOI: 10.1353/lag.0.0112