My research and outreach activities focus the conditions, assets and actions that lead to sustainable livelihood strategies in rural communities of the Midwest and around the world. These activities entail collaborating with people and across various disciplines. I draw from household economics, political economics and sociology to study decision making and livelihoods in rural areas of the tropics, especially in the semi-arid highland and sub-humid regions of Latin America and East Africa.

Purpose:

To understand factors that enable individuals, households and communities in rural landscapes to transition to food security and economic growth in a sustainable manner, and to design institutions, technologies and policies that facilitate this process.

Goals:

  • As a scientist in an institution of higher learning—to learn, develop and communicate approaches and methods that enable us to understand, evaluate and identify means through which people can pursue sustainable and secure livelihoods.
  • As an economist—to understand the underlying economic constraints and opportunities to achieving economic security and sustainability.
  • As a social scientist—to incorporate non-economic motivations (e.g. life cycle, gender, institutions) to the research process to understand how decision makers are agents of change.
  • As a principal investigator—to lead collaborative and interdisciplinary participatory research projects that link local with new knowledge in the social and biophysical sciences to address transformational changes, including climate change, immigration, and adoption of innovations, in ways that build long term adaptive capacities.

Current Research:

  • Climatic and socioeconomic drivers of land-cover and land-use change in tropical Andean alpine wetlands, a multidisciplinary project funded by NASA (2016-2018), with Drs. Karina Yager (CoPI)  and Dan Slayback (PI), collaborating with rural communities to understand what is driving change in ecosystems where glacier melting is on-going.
  • Adaptation to climate change in Andean Ecosystems, building on research efforts from a long term research project, funded by USAID Title XII and several partnering institutions in the U.S. and the Andes of Peru and Bolivia. For more information, visit the Sustainable Agriculture and Natural Resource Management Collaborative Research Support Program website, (SANREM CRSP @ MU).
  • Economic and social integration of Latino newcomers to the Midwest, through funding from the National Institute of Food and Agriculture NIFA AFRI. Our on-going funded research (2016-2019) studies Latino Agricultural Entrepreneurship in the Midwest (Missouri, Michigan and Iowa). Also funded by NIFA (2011-2015) is our research on integration in rural communities of Missouri, and on Asset Accumulation Strategies to understand the process of acculturation on newcomers and receiving community members, economic integration and sustainable development. Details about the research are available at the University of Missouri Cambio Center (Cambio Center Research Site).
  • Benefits Risks and Unintended Consequences of GMO Cassava for Food Security through funding from the Templeton Foundation, enabled collaboration with rural communities and the Kenya Agricultural Research Institute (KARI) to learn from local communities about cassava and how best to improve communications about GM technologies.
  • Developing a theory of change for Unmanned Aerial Vehicles Agricultural Remote Sensing (UAV ARSIS) Technologies in East Africa, collaborating with the International Potato Center (CIP) in Lima and Kenya.  For more information read the blog about our first meeting in Nairobi.

Ongoing Collaborative Efforts:

  • Cambio Center, University of Missouri-Columbia—Faculty Fellow leading research on the livelihood strategies of Latino newcomers in rural communities in Missouri, and their economic and social integration to the Midwest.
  • NC 1030: Sustainable Families, Firms and Communities in Times of Change. (2016-2021), focusing on livelihood strategies and the family business in the context of community.
  • The Center for Agroforestry, University of Missouri-Columbia—Affiliated faculty in research on the Human Dimensions of Agroforestry

Past Research in the Andes and Kenya:

Outreach Efforts:

  • Content Co-chair, Cambio de Colores, an annual conference led by MU Cambio Center that addresses issues related to increased immigration to Missouri and the Midwest.
  • Past President (2001 & 2002), MU Voz Latina (formerly known as HLAFSA, The Hispanic and Latin American Faculty & Staff Association).