Jennifer Baka

IEE Faculty Member
Titles and Affiliations
Associate Professor and John T. Ryan, Jr. Faculty Fellow, College of Earth & Mineral Sciences
Associate Professor, Geography

Research Summary

Energy geographer interested in understanding the interconnected political and biophysical processes shaping and shaped by systems of energy provision. Motivated by growing up in the former coal region of northeast Pennsylvania, my main research objective is to evaluate the distribution of costs and benefits resulting from energy provision and to design strategies for reducing the all too often unequal distribution of these flows. Long an advocate of interdisciplinary research and mixed method approaches, my research draws upon and helps to advance the fields of political ecology, resource geography, environmental governance, energy studies and industrial ecology. Along with collaborators Dr. Joshua Newell and Joshua Cousins, I’m currently working to establish the field of political-industrial ecology, a sub-field of nature-society geography that seeks to better evaluate the social, political and ecological processes sustaining industrial society. This work is empirically motivated by nearly a decade of research examining the social and environmental impacts of biofuel promotion in India and more recent work evaluating the multi-scalar governance processes of hydraulic fracturing in the US.

In the News

Research Keywords

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Projects

Recent Publications

Just energy imaginaries? Examining realities of solar development on Pennsylvania's farmland

Spangler, K., Smithwick, E., Buechler, S. & Baka, J., Feb 2024, In: Energy Research and Social Science. 108, 103394.

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

Influence in the right-of-way: Assessing landowners’ risk decision-making in negotiating oil and gas pipeline easements

Jalbert, K., Dickinson, K. L., Baka, J. & Florence, N., Jun 2023, In: Extractive Industries and Society. 14, 101276.

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

Regenerative landscape design: an integrative framework to enhance sustainability planning

Smithwick, E. A. H., Baka, J., Bird, D., Blaszscak-Boxe, C., Cole, C. A., Fuentes, J. D., Gergel, S. E., Glenna, L. L., Grady, C., Hunt, C. A., Iulo, L. D., Kaye, J. & Keller, K., Oct 2023, In: Ecology and Society. 28, 4

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

Mining, loss, and despair: Exploring energy transitions and opioid use in an Appalachian coal community

Young, T., Baka, J., He, Z., Bhattacharyya, S. & Lei, Z., May 2023, In: Energy Research and Social Science. 99, 103046.

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

Unruly Mountains: Hydropower assemblages and geological surprises in the Indian Himalayas

Vaishnava, S. & Baka, J., Sep 2022, In: Environment and Planning E: Nature and Space. 5, 3, p. 1123-1145 23 p.

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

Advancing equitable health and well-being across urban–rural sustainable infrastructure systems

Pearsall, H., Gutierrez-Velez, V. H., Gilbert, M. R., Hoque, S., Eakin, H., Brondizio, E. S., Solecki, W., Toran, L., Baka, J. E., Behm, J. E., Brelsford, C., Hinrichs, C., Henry, K. A., Mennis, J., Roman, L. A., Rosan, C., South, E. C. & Valletta, R. D., Dec 2021, In: npj Urban Sustainability. 1, 1, 26.

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

Visualizing water-energy nexus landscapes

Robb, D., Cole, H., Baka, J. & Bakker, K., Nov 1 2021, In: Wiley Interdisciplinary Reviews: Water. 8, 6, e1548.

Research output: Contribution to journalReview articlepeer-review

Disclosing Influence: Hydraulic fracturing, interest groups, and state policy processes in the United States

Baka, J., Hesse, A., Neville, K. J., Weinthal, E. & Bakker, K., Dec 2020, In: Energy Research and Social Science. 70, 101734.

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

The evolving borderland of energy geographies

Baka, J. & Vaishnava, S., Jul 1 2020, In: Geography Compass. 14, 7, e12493.

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

Environmental Knowledge Cartographies: Evaluating Competing Discourses in U.S. Hydraulic Fracturing Rule-Making

Baka, J., Hesse, A., Weinthal, E. & Bakker, K., Nov 2 2019, In: Annals of the American Association of Geographers. 109, 6, p. 1941-1960 20 p.

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

Can shareholder advocacy shape energy governance? The case of the US antifracking movement

Neville, K. J., Cook, J., Baka, J., Bakker, K. & Weinthal, E. S., Jan 2 2019, In: Review of International Political Economy. 26, 1, p. 104-133 30 p.

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

Agenda-Setting at the Energy-Water Nexus: Constructing and Maintaining a Policy Monopoly in U.S. Hydraulic Fracturing Regulation

Baka, J., Neville, K. J., Weinthal, E. & Bakker, K., May 2018, In: Review of Policy Research. 35, 3, p. 439-465 27 p.

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

Making Space for Energy: Wasteland Development, Enclosures, and Energy Dispossessions

Baka, J., Sep 2017, In: Antipode. 49, 4, p. 977-996 20 p.

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

Geographical perspectives on sociotechnical transitions and emerging bio-economies: introduction to a special issue

Calvert, K. E., Kedron, P., Baka, J. & Birch, K., May 28 2017, In: Technology Analysis and Strategic Management. 29, 5, p. 477-485 9 p.

Research output: Contribution to journalEditorialpeer-review

Debating Unconventional Energy: Social, Political, and Economic Implications

Neville, K. J., Baka, J., Gamper-Rabindran, S., Bakker, K., Andreasson, S., Vengosh, A., Lin, A., Singh, J. N. & Weinthal, E., Oct 17 2017, In: Annual Review of Environment and Resources. 42, p. 241-266 26 p.

Research output: Contribution to journalReview articlepeer-review