Rate My Professor Paul Lariso

Paul Lariso is Professor and Chair of the Department of Geography at California State University, Long Beach (CSULB). He holds a Ph.D. in Geography from Clark University (2002), an M.S. in Environmental Studies from San Jose State University, and a B.S. in Mechanical Engineering from the University of California, Los Angeles. A Returned Peace Corps Volunteer who served in Mali from 1987 to 1990, Lariso has dedicated his career to understanding human-environment interactions, particularly in fire-prone ecosystems. His professional appointments include serving as Chair of the Geography Department and Director of Environmental Science and Policy at CSULB since 2013. He teaches courses such as International Environmental Issues, Humans as Agents of Environmental Change, Biogeography, Field Methods of Landscape Analysis, Landscape Restoration, and History of Geographic Thought.

Lariso's research specializations encompass savanna ecology, fire ecology, political ecology, biogeography, remote sensing of fire, and restoration ecology. He has conducted extensive fieldwork in the savannas of Mali, the rangelands of Tierra del Fuego, and local California environments including chaparral, coastal sage scrub, and oak woodlands. His influential publications include 'Burning the Seasonal Mosaic: Preventative Burning Strategies in the Wooded Savanna of Southern Mali' (Human Ecology, 2002), 'Good, bad or “necessary evil?”: reinterpreting the colonial burning experiments in the savanna landscapes of West Africa' (Geographical Journal, 2006), 'Humanizing savanna biogeography: linking human practices with ecological patterns in a frequently burned savanna of southern Mali' (Annals of the Association of American Geographers, 2011), 'Buffering the savanna: fire regimes and disequilibrium ecology in West Africa' (Plant Ecology, 2016), and 'The Pyrogeography of Methane Emissions from Seasonal Mosaic Burning Regimes in a West African Landscape' (2023). With 47 publications and over 1,535 citations, Lariso's work has advanced knowledge on anthropogenic fire regimes, vegetation dynamics, methane emissions, and conservation strategies in working landscapes. He has received SCAC Assigned Time Awards at CSULB and mentors graduate students in environmental research.