Thomas Ptak
Assistant Professor
Ph.D., Geography, University of Oregon, 2016
Office: ELA 366
Phone: 512.245.3202
Email: sqt10@txstate.edu
Vita HB2504 Information
Research Interests: energy transitions & society, climate change & sustainability, water resources & hydropower, borders
Courses Taught:
GEO 2310 Global Environmental Change
GEO 3333 East Asia
GEO 3321 Energy Resource Management
Publications
2022. Ptak, T., Radil, S. Democratic Divergence and the Landscape of Community Solar in the United States, In Democratizing Energy,
Insecurities, Risks, Transitions, Nadesan, Pasqualetti & Keahey eds. Elsevier
2022. Ptak, T., Crootof, A., Harlan, T., Kelly, S. Critically Evaluating the Purported Global “Boom” in Small Hydropower Development
through Spatial and Temporal Analysis, Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, 163, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.rser.2022.112490
2021. Crootof A, Shrestha R, Albrecht T, Ptak T., Scott CA. Sacrificing the local to support the national: Politics, sustainability, and
governance in Nepal’s hydropower paradox. Energy Research and Social Science, 80, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.erss.2021.102206
2021. Ptak, T., Konrad, V. Crossing the River by Feeling the Stones: How Borders, Energy Development and Ongoing Experimentation Shape
the Dynamic Transformation of Yunnan Province, Journal of Borderland Studies https://doi.org/10.1080/08865655.2021.1924074
2021. Haltinner, K., Sarathchandra, D., Ptak, T. Climate Change as a Conspiracy Affects Skeptics’ Environmental Attitudes and Behaviors,
Environment: Science and Policy for Sustainable Development https://doi.org/10.1080/00139157.2021.1898900
2021. Nagel, A. Ptak, T. Approaching obsolescence? A multi-criteria analysis of high-risk dams in the United States Pacific Northwest,
International Journal of Water Resources Development https://doi.org/10.1080/07900627.2020.1856050
2021. Ptak, T. Small Hydropower for Electricity and Modernity: Impacts on the Everyday Lives of Minority Communities in Yunnan’s Nu River
Valley, in The Political Economy of Hydropower in Southwest China and beyond, Palgrave Macmillan, J.F. Rousseau & S.
Habich-Sobiegalla eds http://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-59361-2
2020. Abatzoglou, J., Smith, C., Swain, D., Ptak, T., Kolden, C. Population exposure to pre-emptive de-energization aimed at averting wildfires in
Northern California. Environmental Research Letters https://iopscience.iop.org/article/10.1088/1748-9326/aba135/meta
2020. Radil, S., Castan Pinos, J., Ptak, T. Borders resurgent: towards a post Covid-19 border regime? Space and Polity
http://doi.org/10.1080/13562576.2020.1773254