- Associate Professor, Earth and Environmental Sciences
Research Interests
- Marine science, limnology, water quality, urban sustainability, social-ecological system resilience
Education
- Ph.D. Oceanography, University of Connecticut, 2008
I began my academic career with an interest in the science of coastal environments and the integration of this science into public policy and resource management. During my Ph.D. training, I expanded these interests into shallow inland waters and human influences on aquatic ecosystem stability. I worked on the coupling between physical and biogeochemical processes in both shallow lakes and estuaries. After a two-year postdoctoral fellowship in Western Australia, I came to Brooklyn College to study the waters of Brooklyn and New York City. My work now connects to the broader concerns of urban sustainability and the resilience of social-ecological systems in an era of climate change and increased urbanization.
Recent Publications:
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Portilla, S.E., B.F. Branco, and J.T. Tanacredi. 2015. Preliminary investigation into the effects of two dietary fatty acids, 20:5n-3 and 22:6n-3, on mortality of juvenile Mercenaria mercenaria during the approach to winter. Aquaculture International, http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/s10499-015-9889-4
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Amy DeFelice, Jennifer D. Adams, Brett Branco, and Pieranna Pieroni 2014. Engaging underrepresented high school students in an urban environmental and geoscience place-based curriculum. Journal of Geoscience Education: February 2014, Vol. 62, No. 1, pp. 49-60. doi: http://dx.doi.org/10.5408/12-400.1
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Branco, B. and K. Lazarus. Analysis of Existing Water Quality Monitoring Programs in Jamaica Bay. 2013. Report submitted to New York City Department of Environmental Protection. April 3.
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Vaudrey, J.M.P, J.N. Kremer, B.F. Branco and F.T. Short. 2010. Eelgrass recovery after nutrient enrichment reversal. Aquatic Botany 93.4, November: 237-43. DOI: 10.1016/j.aquabot.2010.08.005.
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Branco, B.F. and T. Torgersen. 2009. Diurnal sediment resuspension and settling: impact on the coupled physical and biogeochemical dynamics of dissolved oxygen and carbon in a shallow water body."" Marine and Freshwater Research 60: 669-79.