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SIPA Faculty
John Colin Mutter
International Affairs Building, Room 1433
Professor of International and Public Affairs; Director of Graduate Studies, PhD in Sustainable Development; Professor, Earth & Environmental Sciences
Phone: 212-854-0716
john.mutter@sipa.columbia.edu
jcm7@columbia.edu
Biography:
Professor Mutter's work has several dimensions. He conducts research and teaching in sustainable development. He created and teaches the core course "Environmental Science for Sustainable Development" which provides the basis of understanding Earth systems behavior needed to study sustainable development. He also created and teaches a seminar course in "Climate Change, Development and Human Rights." His specific field of research is in the role of natural disasters in reducing development opportunities for poor societies. How much of the global inequality in development status can be attributed to the particular burden that the poorest people face from natural extremes such as hurricanes and earthquakes? Meteorological extremes are expected to increase as a result of human-induced climate change, and his work attempts to assess who are the most vulnerable to horrific natural disasters like Hurricane Katrina. Mutter also examines these questions through the lens of human rights, asking whether rights attainment can predict disaster outcomes, such as the response to Cyclone Nagris in Myanmar, and how the norms and principals of human rights can provide guidance for climate adaptation strategies. The general theme of his research follows the relationship between natural systems and human well-being, with particular focus on the vulnerability of poor societies to natural variations and extreme environmental conditions, as this could inform an understanding of the human response to natural changes at all scales and intensity. Mutter also leads the Earth Institute's partnership with the UNEP's Post-Conflict and Disaster Management Branch, researching environmental degradation as both an outcome and driver of disasters and conflicts.
Mutter's original research interests are in the natural sciences, with a focus on the use of marine seismology technologies to study processes in the formation of the earth's crust and mantle at mid-ocean ridge and continental rift settings. He has studied active rifting in the Woodlark Basin off Papua New Guinea and recently, as mentioned above, he spent most of the summer of 2008 as chief scientist aboard Columbia's research vessel, the Marcus G. Langseth, conducting the first 3-D seismic imaging experiment of seafloor spreading at the East Pacific Rise. This study will reveal how magma rises from deep in the earth's interior to create new crust and controls the distribution of biological communities at hydrothermal vent systems.
Mutter is also one of the principal investigators on the Earth Institute's National Science Foundation-funded ADVANCE program, which is designed to create institutional change that will improve the opportunities for women in earth science and engineering at Columbia.
One of Mutter's other current innovative projects is an Earth Clinic-funded collaborative, the Bamboo Bikes initiative that addresses the need for a new type of bicycle for Africans living in remote and poor villages who must utilize bicycles for a variety of uses. The bamboo frames are significantly tougher than people realize and actually dampen vibrations from unpaved road. Mutter and his team hope that the bikes can aid in Africa's use of sustainable transportation and economic development, since they are locally manufactured.