Social Scientist
Social Scientist

Biography

Ennea Fairchild is a social scientist working in the Risk and Environmental Assessment group. At Pacific Northwest National Laboratory (PNNL), she works as the work package manager for the Department of Energy Office of Nuclear Energy's consent-based siting process. In this work, she leads a national multi-stakeholder interview effort to understand community stakeholder perceptions of the use of a consent-based process and nuclear waste to help with the siting process. Fairchild has extensive experience in qualitative data collection to understand stakeholder perceptions, using interviews, focus groups, or survey research.

She joined PNNL in March 2022, after being a postdoctoral research associate funded through the University of Colorado Boulder on an National Science Foundation grant examining student retention in the geosciences. Her research has focused on issues intersecting social and environmental issues with conservation-related implications. Other research projects she has been involved with prior to her joining PNNL include: representation in STEM, land use decision-making in agricultural landowner-tenant relationships, and understanding stakeholder perceptions of green stormwater infrastructure technologies. Fairchild holds a PhD in environmental sociology from Utah State University and an MA in natural resource and environmental management from Ball State University.    

Disciplines and Skills

  • Environmental Sociology
  • Environmental Studies
  • Interviewing
  • Interviewing Subject Matter Experts
  • Mixed Methods Research
  • NVivo
  • Qualitative and Quantitative Research Methodologies
  • Qualitative Social Research
  • Sociology
  • Sociology of Natural Resources
  • Survey Design
  • Survey Research

Education

  • PhD in environmental sociology, Utah State University
  • MA in natural resources and environmental management, Ball State University
  • BS in criminal justice, Indiana University - Purdue University Fort Wayne

Publications

2023

  • Fairchild, Ennea, Julie Sexton, Harmony Newman, Krystal Hinerman, Jessica McKay, and Eric Riggs. “A qualitative study of marginalized students' academic, physical, and social self-efficacy in a multiweek geoscience field program.” Journal of Geoscience Education. https://doi.org/10.1080/10899995.2023.2215673 
  •  Horne, Lydia, Amanda Manzanares, Nicholas Babson, Lee Arakawa, Eunice Blavascunas, Lisa Doner, Daniel Druckenbrod, Ennea Fairchild, Meghann Jarchow, Barry Muchnick, Prajjwa Panday, Denielle Perry, Rebecca Thomas, Anne Toomey, Brian Tucker, Camille Washington-Ottombre, Shirley Vincent, Steven Anderson, & Chelsie Romulo. “Alignment among environmental programs in higher education: What Food-Energy-Water Nexus concepts are we covering in introductory courses?” Journal of Geoscience Education. https://doi.org/10.1080/10899995.2023.2187680

2022

  • Fairchild, Ennea, Peggy Petrzelka, Mary Briggs-Ott, Jennifer Filipiak, and Ashley Brucker. “’Way More than a Donut and a PowerPoint’: Women Agricultural Landowner Learning Circles and Conservation Outreach.” Journal of Soil and Water Conservation. 
  • Fairchild, Ennea, Jessica Ulrich-Schad, Peggy Petrzelka, and Zhao Ma. “The Lay of the Land: What We Know about Non-Operating Landowners in the U.S. and Europe.” Journal of Environmental Management. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jenvman.2022.114991
  •  Fairchild, Ennea and Peggy Petrzelka. “Landownership and Power: Reorienting Land Tenure Theory.” Agriculture and Human Values. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10460-022-10300-x

2021

  • Fairchild, Ennea, Harmony Newman, Julie Sexton, Kevin Pugh, and Eric Riggs. ‘“Not to be Stereotypical, but…’. Exclusive and Inclusive Gendered Discourses about Geology Field Experiences.” Journal of Gender Studies. https://doi.org/10.1080/09589236.2021.1924644
  • Sexton, Julie, Ennea Fairchild, Harmony Newman, Krystal Hinerman, and Eric Riggs. “University Title IX Requirements have Chilling Effect on Gender Discrimination Research: A Call for a More Nuanced Approach.” Journal of Interpersonal Violence. https://doi.org/10.1177/08862605211028283  

2020

2019

  • Petrzelka, Peggy, Mary Briggs-Ott, Ennea Fairchild, and Jennifer Filipiak.  “’From a Circle of Introductions’: Adult Learning and Empowerment of Women Agricultural Landowners.”  Environmental Education Research. https://doi.org/10.1080/13504622.2019.1632265

2017