• PhD, Natural Resources and Environmental Sciences, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign
• MUPP, Urban Planning and Policy, University of Illinois at Chicago
• BA, Geography, University of Iowa

• Adoption of agricultural practices
• Sustainable transitions
• The role of place-making in conservation
• Environmental governance

I am an environmental social scientist who investigates the effects of culture and social norms on complex conservation issues. Often working in partnership with Indigenous and agricultural communities, I seek to bring to light the complex relationships between culture, place-making, institutional forces, and behavior. I have conducted interdisciplinary work in various settings, including the wilderness of Alaska, inner-city Chicago neighborhoods, and the Midwest's rural farming communities. 

• van Riper, C. J., Foelske, L., Leitschuh, B., Lee, S., Sharma, S., Shin, S., ... & Stewart, W. P. (2024). Understanding the spatial dynamics of values and disvalues in the Kaskaskia River Watershed, USA through a social-ecological lens. Ecosystems and People, 20(1).
• Salcido, E., van Riper, C.J., Stewart, W.P., Leitschuh, B. (2023). Roles for wildlife in the development of place meanings ascribed to an environmental management context. Environmental Management 72, 1072-1085. 
• Leitschuh, B., Stewart, W.P., van Riper, C.J. (2022). Place-making in the Corn Belt: The productivist landscapes of the “good farmer”. Journal of Rural Studies, 92, 415-424.
• Strauser, J., Stewart, W.P., Leitschuh, B. (2022). Producing regions: connecting place-making with farming practices. Society and Natural Resources, 35(9), 1012-1020.
• Eriksson, M., van Riper, C.J., Leitschuh, B., Bentley-Brymer, A., Rawluk, A., Raymond, C., & Kenter, J. (2019). Social learning as a link between the individual and the collective: Evaluating deliberation on social values. Sustainability Science, 14(5), 1323-1332.