Anne Chin

Ph.D. • Professor
Department of Geography & Environmental Sciences

Mailing Address:
Dept. of Geography & Environmental Sciences
Campus Box 172
P.O. Box 173364
Denver, CO 80217-3364

Physical Location:
Auraria Campus
North Classroom Building
Room 3522

Expertise Areas:
coupled human-landscape dynamics, fluvial processes, watershed management, interdisciplinary education, the "Anthropocene"

PhD, Geography (fluvial geomorphology), Arizona State University, 1994
BA, Geography, University of California, Los Angeles, 1983

Anne Chin is a fluvial geomorphologist whose interdisciplinary research focuses on interactions and feedbacks among geomorphological, ecological, and human processes. Her work on coupled human-landscape dynamics also concerns societal responses to landscape change, with implications and applications for environmental management and policy. Dr. Chin joined the University of Colorado Denver in 2010, after serving on the faculty at Texas A&M University for 13 years. She is the founding Editor-in-Chief of Anthropocene (Elsevier; since 2013), an international and interdisciplinary journal focused on advancing research on human interactions with Earth systems. She was also an editor of Earth Science Reviews from 2011-2013, and Director of the Geography and Spatial Sciences Program of the National Science Foundation in 2006-2007. Her awards include appointment as Fellow of the Leopold Leadership Program of Stanford University; the G.K. Gilbert Award for Excellence in Geomorphological Research from the American Association of Geographers (AAG); and from Texas A&M, the Distinguished Achievement Award in Teaching and Montague Scholar Award. Dr. Chin is a Fellow of the Geological Society of America and chaired its Quaternary Geology and Geomorphology Division in 2015-2016. She is also a Fellow of the AAG and member of the American Geophysical Union.

Chin A, Solverson AP, O’Dowd AP, Florsheim JL, Kinoshita AM, Nourbakhshbeidokhti S, Sellers SM, Tyner L, Gidley R, 2019. Interacting geomorphic and ecological response of step-pool streams after wildfire. Geological Society of America Bulletin 131:1480-1500.

Gregory KJ, Chin A, 2018. Evaluation of the imprint of urban channel adjustment and management. Geographical Journal 184:269-282.    

Chin A, Gidley R, Tyner L, Gregory KJ, 2017. Adjustment of dryland stream channels over four decades of urbanization. Anthropocene 20:24-36.

Florsheim JL, Chin A, Kinoshita AM, Nourbakhshbeidokhti S, 2017. Effect of storms during drought on post-wildfire recovery of channel sediment dynamics and habitat in the southern California chaparral. Earth Surfaces Processes and Landforms doi: 10.1002/esp.4117.

Chin A, Gillson L, Nelson D, Squiring S, Taylor MP, Vanacker V, Lovegrove D, 2016. An evolving Anthropocene for science and society. Anthropocene 13:1-3.

O’Dowd AP, Chin A, 2016. Do bio-physical attributes of steps and pools differ in high-gradient mountain streams? Hydrobiologia 776(1):67-83.

Chin A, An L, Florsheim JF, Laurencio LR, Marston RA, Solverson AP, Simon GL, Stinson E, Wohl E, 2016. Investigating feedbacks in human-landscape systems: lessons following a wildfire in Colorado, USA. Geomorphology 252:40-50.  

Florsheim JF, Chin A, O’Hirok LS, Storesund R, 2016. Short-term post-wildfire dry ravel processes in a chaparral fluvial system. Geomorphology 252:32-39.

Chin A, Laurencio LR, Wohl E, Daniels MD, Urban MA, Boyer KL, Butt A, Piegay H, Gregory KJ, 2014. The significance of perceptions and feedbacks for effectively managing wood in rivers. River Research and Applications 30:98-111.

Chin A, Florsheim JL, Wohl E, Collins BD, 2014. Feedbacks in human-landscape systems. Environmental Management 53(1):28-41.

Harden CP, Chin A, English MR, Fu R, Galvin K, Gerlak AK, McDowell PF, McNamara DE, Peterson JM, Poff NL, Rosa EA, Solecki W, Wohl E, 2014. Understanding human-landscape interactions in the “Anthropocene.” Environmental Management 53(1):4-13.

Chin A, Laurencio LR, Wohl E, Daniels MD, Urban MA, Boyer KL, Butt A, Piegay H, Gregory KJ, 2014. The significance of perceptions and feedbacks for effectively managing wood in rivers. River Research and Applications 30:98-111.

Florshiem JL, Chin A, Gaffney K, Slota D, 2013.  Thresholds of stability in incised “Anthropocene” landscapes. Anthropocene 2:27-41.

Chin A, Purcell AH, Quan JW, Resh VH, 2009. Assessing geomorphological and ecological responses in restored step-pool systems. Geological Society of America Special Paper 451: 197-214.

Chin A, Anderson S, Collison A, Ellis-Sugai B, Haltiner J, Hogervorst J, Kondolf GM, O'Hirok LS, Purcell AH, Riley AL, Wohl E, 2009. Linking theory and practice for restoration of step-pool streams. Environmental Management 43(4):645-661.

Chin A, Daniels MD, Urban MA, Piegay H, Gregory KJ, Bigler W, Butt A, Grable J, Gregory SV, Lafrenz M, Laurencio LR, Wohl E, 2008. Perceptions of wood in rivers and challenges for stream restoration in the United States. Environmental Management 41:893-903.

Chin,A, Phillips JD, 2007. The self-organization of step-pools in mountain streams. Geomorphology 83:346-358.

Chin A, 2006. Urban transformation of river landscapes in a global context. Geomorphology 79:460-487.

Introduction to Physical Geography
Environmental Hydrology
Fluvial Geomorphology
Earth Environments and Human Impacts
Synthesis for Interdisciplinary Science
Seminar in Environmental Science