Branda Nowell is an assistant professor in the Department of Public Administration at North Carolina State University. Her research interests focus primarily on the dynamics and structures of multi-stakeholder systems in addressing complex public issues. She has published on systems change, stakeholder dynamics, comprehensive community initiatives, and the influence of social networks in community collaboration. Dr. Nowell received her PhD in Psychology from Michigan State University where she specialized in community and organizational psychology. She is the recipient of the American Psychological Association Society for Community Action and Research 2007 Best Dissertation Award. She also earned a Masters degree from Wayne State University in conflict studies. Prior to that, she worked internationally coordinating community-based development projects in wildlife management areas as a US Peace Corp volunteer in Papua New Guinea.

Dr. Nowell's role on the project will be to assist the project team in the design, implementation, and evaluation of the stakeholder workshops. She will also conduct research in collaboration with Dr. Krause on how participants' awareness of social networks may influence the multi-stakeholder planning process and the extent to which social networks mediate individual stakeholder impacts.