Dr. Klasic is an interdisciplinary environmental governance scientist who examines social-ecological systems across the United States to understand how decisions are made, who is involved in decision-making, and what are the social and ecological outcomes of those decisions. Dr. Klasic also studies human behavior, values, and perceptions to assist decision-makers with developing policies and programs that meet their intended communities’ needs, while also protecting and restoring the environment. Most recently, Dr. Klasic’s work focuses on the Great Lakes Region and topics of fishing and consumption behaviors, community impacts and benefits of environmental protection and restoration, and the complex network of people with the lands and waters they call home. In her spare time, Dr. Klasic is a self-proclaimed policy wonk and can often be found reading up on Congressional bills and court cases. Dr. Klasic employs mixed methods in her research including quantitative and qualitative approaches like social(-ecological) network analysis, text analysis, interviews, surveys, and statistical modeling. Dr. Klasic has a Ph.D. in Geography with a designated emphasis in computation social science from University of California—Davis, a M.S. in Environmental Planning and Management from Johns Hopkins University, and a B.S. in Environmental Science from Dickinson College. Dr. Klasic lives in Duluth, MN with her husband, Andrew, and their rescue Great Dane, Tobias.
Education History
- B.S., Environmental Science [Focus: Aquatics], Dickinson College
- M.S., Environmental Planning and Management, Johns Hopkins University
- Ph.D., Geography [DE Computational Social Science], University of California, Davis
Work Experience
Adjunct Faculty, JHU Whiting School of Engineering, Engineering for Professionals
Publications
Klasic, M.R., Williams, K.C., Hollenhorst, T., Josephs, J., Wick, M.J., and J. Witts. 2025. “Leveraging mixed methods in social-ecological systems: A plan for measuring community impacts of environmental clean-up.” Journal of Environmental Management 127509.
Baumann, M.D., Williams, K.C., Eisenhauer, E., Farrell, D., Hartley, J.M., Klasic, M.R., Matsler, A.M., May, C.K., Sharpe, L.M., Sullivan, A., Takasaki, K., Torso, K., and D.H.Z. Williamson. 2025. “Recognizing, reinforcing, and strengthening community capacity through research-community partnerships: Insights from EPA researchers’ engagements with communities in four US waterscapes.” Socio-Ecological Practice Research 1-21.
Villeneuve, D.L., Banerji, A., Brown, H., Edwards, S., Engebretson, J., Hess, A., Hollenhorst, T., Jicha, T., Klasic, M., Lepak, R., Trebitz, A., Vitense, K., Williams, K., Yarnes, C., and D.J. Hoff. 2025. “A blueprint and vision for aquatic ecosystem research at the US EPA Center for Computational Toxicology and Exposure.” BioScience biaf165.
Klasic, M.R., Nelson, K.C., Fleischman, F., and C. Lister. 2024. “City Limits: Urban nature rules and the role of civic engagement in Minneapolis-St. Paul Metro Area, USA.” Society & Natural Resources 37(10) 1471-90.
Arnold, G., Klasic, M., Wu, C., Schomburg, M., and A. York. “ Finding, distinguishing, and understanding overlooked policy entrepreneurs.” Policy Sciences 1-31.
Klasic, M., Fencl, A., Ekstrom, J., and A. Ford. 2022. “Adapting to extreme events: Small drinking water system manager perspectives on the 2012-2016 California Drought.” Climatic Change 170(26).
Klasic, M., Gottlieb Schomburg, M., Arnold, G., York, A., Baum, M., Cherin, M., Cliff, S., Kavousi, P., Jordan, A., Miller, T., Shajari, D., Wang, Y., and L. Zialcita. “A review of community impacts of boom-bust cycles in unconventional oil and gas development.” Energy Research and Social Science.
Arnold, G., Klasic, M., Gottlieb Schomburg, M., and York, A, Baum, M., Cherin, M., Cliff, S., Kavousi, P., Miller, T., Jordan, A., Shajari, D., Wang, Y., and L. Zialcita. 2022. “Boom, Bust,
Action! How communities can cope with boom-bust cycles in unconventional oil and gas development.” Review of Policy Research 39(541–69).
Klasic, M. and Lubell, M. 2020. “Collaborative governance: from simple partnerships to complex systems.” Handbook of US Environmental Policy, edited by David Konisky. Elgar Publishing.
Ekstrom, J., Klasic, M., Fencl, A., Lubell, M., Baker, E., and Einterz, F. 2018. “Drought management and climate adaptation of small, self-sufficient drinking water systems in California.” California’s 4th Climate Assessment.
Honors and Awards
- Excellence in Environmental Research, U.S. EPA (2025)
- Excellence in Environmental Research, U.S. EPA (2024)
- Dissertation Writing Block Grant, UC Davis (2021)
- UC Davis Geography Internal Fellowship (2020)
- Nominee, Teaching Award for Public Lands Management (2020)
- Public Scholarship and Engagement Award, UC Davis (2020)
- Geography Fellowship, UC Davis (2020)
- Selected to Participate in UC Davis Professors for the Future Program (2019)
- Inducted into Nu Iota Chapter of Gamma Theta Upsilon International Geography Honor Society (2019)
- UC Davis Geography Internal Fellowship (2019)
- International Association of Great Lakes Graduate Fellowship (2019)
- Inducted into Phi Kappa Phi Honor Society (top 10% of Graduate Students) (2018)
- CUAHSI Pathfinder Fellowship (2018)
- Henry A. Jastro Research Award for Geography (2018)
- Co-PI of Socio-Environmental Synthesis Center (SESYNC) Graduate Student Pursuit, “Moving beyond random acts of restoration to robust adaptive resilience” (2017)
- Henry A. Jastro Research Award for Geography (2017)
- Bronze Medal, Clean Water Act Section 319 Programmatic Guidelines, U.S. EPA (2014)
- Bronze Medal, Asset Management and Capacity Building, U.S. EPA (2011)
Professional Organizations
Association of American Geographers
International Association for Great Lakes Research (IAGRL)
Association of American Geographers- Human Dimensions of Global Change
Midwest Political Science Association
International Association of Society and Natural Resources
National Science Foundation