Brock Ternes

Many of my academic plans investigate the demand for natural resources and the relevant structures and institutions that shape resource management within socio-ecological systems. I see modernity through the prism and distribution of infrastructure, and I aspire to understand how modern perceptions of nature have been shaped by the specific technological spaces of drinking water supplies. My doctoral research analyzed environmental awareness and watering routines among Kansas well owners, a key social group whose water conservation is pivotal to extending the High Plains aquifer. By establishing how hydrologic infrastructure organizes citizens’ relationships with water, I demonstrate how material assemblages have the potential to transform social, political, and environmental dispositions. My work contributes to the sociology of water use by advancing my ideas of groundwater citizenship and hydrologic habitus, which frame well owners as a distinct community defined by their stewardship of aquifers and prioritization of water policies. I find that water supplies contour the boundaries of citizenship, and even though well owners have not been closely studied in the social sciences, they represent a citizenry that manages natural resources with their daily routines. Through this research, I continue to identify the importance of water provision, which adds nuance to investigations of rural communities, health outcomes, social practices, policymaking, and resilience-building in the Anthropocene. Aquifers have stylized my perception of society for the past several years, and I look forward to studying water, climate change, and pro-environmental behaviors at UNCW for many years to come.

Education

B.S. in Sociology, Emporia State University (2008)
M.A. in Sociology, University of Kansas (2010)
Ph.D. in Sociology, University of Kansas (2016)

Specialization in Teaching

Courses Recently Taught:
Methods of Social Research (CRM/SOC 300)
Sociological Data Analysis and Interpretation (CRM/SOC 301)
Environmental Sociology (SOC 385)
Sociological Theory (SOC 360)
Modern Social Problems (SOC 215)
Senior Seminar (SOC 495)
Evaluation Methods and Policy (CRM/SOC 502)
Special Topics Graduate Seminar: Environmental Sociology (SOC 592)

Research Interests

Areas of Specialization: Environmental sociology, the sociology of water use, pro-environmental behaviors, climate change, water quality, sociological theory, citizenship, survey research, planned missing data designs, environmental policy, drought, infrastructure

Some of my peer-reviewed scholarship appears in the journals Rural Sociology, Environmental Sociology, Sustainability, Great Plains Research, Nature & Culture, and Water. My first book, Groundwater Citizenship, was published in 2022 and is now available through Lexington Books. I served as a contributing author for the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change’s Sixth Report and collaboratively analyzed recent water adaptation studies from around the planet. To survey well owners’ concerns about drinking water quality, I led a collaboration with epidemiologists and other researchers as a postdoctoral research fellow for the Kansas Department of Health and Environment.