Research Areas

Environmental policy
Environmental justice
Science and Technology Studies
Ecology
The precautionary principle and risk assessment

I research how science, environmental policy, and politics influence the cleanup of contaminated U.S. military sites. The Department of Defense (DOD) ranks among the top polluters in the U.S., with the department responsible for more than 80 percent of the most contaminated federal sites. With the recent closure of many bases in the U.S. and abroad, new environmental remediation programs have been implemented. The extent of and resulting health and ecological risks from contamination and the appropriate remedial strategies have been highly contested among stakeholders in many sites. I assess how cleanup decisions are made in light of incomplete knowledge and conflicting accounts of environmental and social risks, competing political priorities and resources, and the structure and level of public engagement.

Publications

CenTREAD Working Group (L. Reid, H. Briggs, S. Crandall, J. Eldon, C. Magdahl, J. Ohayon, E. Olimpi, D. Schweizer, G. Tadesse, and Y. Wang). 2012. Tropical Ecology by John Kricher. Quarterly Review of Biology. 

Ohayon, J.L. 2012. “Environmental Remediation.” P. Robbins, D. Mulvaney, and G. Golson, editors. Green Technology. Sage Publications, Thousand Oaks, California.

Ohayon, J.L. 2012. “Desalination Plants”. P. Robbins, D. Mulvaney, G. Golson, editors. Green Technology. Sage Publications, Thousand Oaks, California. 

Ohayon, J.L. 2010. “Bogotá, Colombia.” P. Robbins, N. Cohen, editors. Green Cities. Sage Publications, Thousand Oaks, California.

Ohayon, J.L. and C.A. Stepien. 2007. Genetic and biogeographic relationships of the racer goby Neogobius gymnotrachelus (Gobiidae: Teleostei) from introduced and native Eurasian locations. Journal of Fish Biology 71: 360-370.