Mikhail Blinnikov

Areas of Expertise

Geography
Politics of Russia, Ukraine, and other countries of the former Soviet Union
Politics of Eastern Europe

Publications & Accomplishments

Principal Investigator. SCSU Research Grant 2021 Paleo Altay: Uncovering Past Environmental Changes at the Heart of Eurasia.(Mongolia and Russian Altay)
Principal Investigator. SCSU Research Grant 2019 Unearthing a Town before the Great Migrations, Middle Volga region of Russia
Presenter at Sertoma Club of St. Cloud and Rotary Club of St. Cloud regarding the conflict in Ukraine (two engagements – May and June of 2022)
Interview on The Morning News with Vineeta Sawkar – WCCO News Talk 830 – How Russian people in Minnesota feel about Ukraine?
Multiple presentations at SCSU about current events in Eurasia

Blinikov, M., Hoffman, B., Salova, Yu. 2021. Modern analog assemblages of phytoliths under various plant communities of the Middle Volga and their applications to archaeological reconstructions. Povolzhskaya Arkheologiya 4.
Olonova, N., Gudkova, P., Shiposha, V., Kriuchkova, E., Mezina, N., Blinnikov, M. 2021. Phytoliths from some grasses (Poaceae) in arid lands of Xinjiang, China. Acta Biologica Siberica 7: 345–361. doi: 10.3897/abs.7.e76105.
Naskar, M., Ghosh, R., Bera, S., Blinnikov, M. 2021. A diagnostic phytolith morphotype found in Porteresia coarctata (Roxb.) Takeoka indicates coastal swampy mangrove environments: A case study from the Indian east coast. Flora 282: 151884.
Dubynin, A., Selyutina, I., Egorova, A., Blinnikov M. 2021. A new important natural area with rare Orchid family (Orchidaceae) species and recommendations for its preservation (Novosibirsk Region, Russia). Acta Biologica Sibirica 7: 21–38. doi: 10.3897/abs.7.e63131
Blinnikov, M.S. 2021. A Geography of Russia and Its Neighbors. 2^nd edition. The Guilford Press, New York, NY.
Blinnikov, M. and Volkova, L. 2020. Green to gray: political ecology of paving over green spaces in Moscow, Russia. International Journal of Geospatial and Environmental Research 7 (2), Article 2.
Gearman, M and Blinnikov, M. 2019. Mapping the potential distribution of oak wilt (Ceratocystis fagacearum) in East Central and Southeast Minnesota Using Maxent. Journal of Forestry 117 (6), 579-591.
Bohannon, R. and Blinnikov, M. 2019. Habitat Fragmentation and Breeding Bird Populations in Western North Dakota after the Introduction of Hydraulic Fracturing. Annals of the American Association of Geographers.
Vyazov, L. A., Ershova, E. G., Ponomarenko, E. V., Gajewski, K., Blinnikov, M. S., Sitdikov A. G. 2019. Demographic changes, trade routes, and the formation of anthropogenic landscapes in the Middle-Volga region in the past 2000 years. In: Socio-Environmental Dynamics along the Historical Silk Road (L.E. Yang, H.-R. Bork, X. Fang and Mischke, S. Eds.). Springer: Dordrecht.
Solomonova M. Y., Blinnikov M. S., Silantyeva M. M., Speranskaja N. Y. 2019. Influence of moisture and temperature regimes on the phytolith assemblage composition of mountain ecosystems of the mid latitudes: a case study from the Altay Mountains. Frontiers in Ecology and Evolution 7:2. DOI=10.3389/fevo.2019.00002.

Education

Ph.D. from University of Oregon in 1999

Biography

Mikhail S. Blinnikov, PhD, is Professor of Geography and Graduate Coordinator and a former director of Global Studies interdisciplinary program. A native of Moscow, Russia, he has traveled extensively in Russia and surrounding countries, including doing field work on the White, Baltic, and Black Seas; in Central Russia; on the Volga; in the Caucasus and the Altay. Besides his work in Russia, he has visited Ukraine, Belarus, Latvia, Lithuania, Georgia, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Finland, and Mongolia on extended field trips.

Dr. Blinnikov’s research focuses on the late-Pleistocene biogeography of grasslands; phytolith analysis; remote sensing and geographic information systems; protected natural areas and green spaces in and near cities; young naturalist movements; and Orthodox religious landscapes. He has worked with the Biodiversity Conservation Center, the Center for Russian Nature Conservation, Nearby Nature, The Nature Conservancy, and the World Wildlife Fund, among others. Dr. Blinnikov has also worked as an interpreter and translator for Russian–American exchanges and has written the major textbook on regional geography of Russia for Guilford Press. He is the treasurer of the International Phytolith Society and a board member of the Eurasian Specialty Group of the American Association of Geographers.