Professor Ed Sadallareceived his Ph.D. from Stanford University, Palo Alto, California, in Psychology specializing in Cognitive Processes and Environmental Perception. He moved to Arizona State University from UCLA in1975 and has served in various capacities including Professor in the Psychology Department, and Director of the Ph.D. program in Environmental Psychology.

Early in his career Dr. Sadalla conducted original work in the area of spatial information processing and in the area of environmental symbolism. The work on the topic of spatial cognition concerned the perception of distance and direction in large-scale environments, focusing on the way in which spatial information was cognitively represented. His work on environmental symbolism concerned way in which environments communicate information about the identity of their users. Using concepts drawn from self-presentational theory, this research program explored the relationship between symbolic features of environments and environmental preferences.

During the past decade Dr. Sadalla’s work has focused on urban environments in the U.S. – Mexico border region, and their impact on the health and quality of life of border residents. He was the Principal Investigator in a study of residential behavior and environmental hazards in marginal communities (colonias) in Nogales, Sonora. This study demonstrated important linkages between the everyday behavior of residents and their perception of risk, their production of environmental pollutants, and the presence of hazards to health. The study suggested that in some instances, living conditions could be as important a source of environmental pollutants as industrial sources.

Dr. Sadalla was also a member of the multi-university research team that conducted the Border + 20 project. This project constructed a dynamical systems model of key areas of the U. S. – Mexico border that allows the exploration of interrelationships between such environmental indicators as air quality, water quality, population demographics, and quality of life indicators such as health. He is the editor of the volume entitled The U.S.-Mexican Border Environment: Dynamics of Human Environment Interactions that reports the results of this multiyear project. He is currently working on the Border Observatory Project, a study of environmental indicators and border residents’ perceptions of their environment and their quality of life.