Dr. Lauren Ferguson is an Assistant Professor in Recreation Management and Policy at UNH. Her research examines the connection between outdoor recreation, human health, and natural environments through ecosystem services and sustainable protected area conservation and management. Ecosystem services can be defined as the benefits natural ecosystems provide to humans. She studies how different components of ecosystems, such as soundscapes influence human health and the best practices for managing parks and protected areas so that outdoor recreationists and the broader community can obtain various ecosystem services. Outcomes from her research have implications for protected area managers, health practitioners, and conservation policy.
Her teaching, broadly speaking, focuses on experiential learning and human dimensions of natural resources, with additional expertise in nonprofit organizations, grantsmanship, research design, and law. Lauren's approach to teaching emphasizes using hands on learning experiences that are applied, to teach students content and skills which translate into their professional careers.
