About me

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I am an associate professor in the Food and Resource Economics Department within the Institute of Food and Agricultural Sciences (IFAS) at the University of Florida. Prior to joining the University of Florida, I was faculty with the iMEP Program (Master of Environmental Policy) at Duke Kunshan University (DKU) in Kunshan, Jiangsu province, China, and a research fellow in the Environment and Production Technology Division at the International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI), first in New Delhi, India and later in Washington, DC. My primary research interests center around sustainable development, with a particular emphasis on developing country agriculture. Having been based in the South Asia region for four years (2012-2016), I have extensive experience conducting research throughout the region (Bangladesh, India, Nepal, Pakistan). In addition, I have also led or contributed to research on agricultural or development issues in China, Malawi, and Kenya. My current research portfolio includes projects on agricultural risk management (including insurance and other financial products as well as stress-tolerant staple crop cultivars), soil fertility management and soil conservation, inclusive development of rural agricultural machinery markets, and water resource management. I am especially interested in how insights from behavioral economics and cognitive psychology can be used to inform policies and interventions to address environmental and natural resource management challenges.

I hold a Ph.D. in Agricultural Economics with a specialization in International Development from Purdue University (USA). Prior to joining IFPRI, I spent a short period of time as a visiting researcher with the International Center for Climate Governance (ICCG) in Venice, Italy.