Dr. Amy Richmond

Amy Krakowka Richmond focuses on the interactions between environmental resources and human populations. Her current research in the Sub-Saharan Africa region develops an interdisciplinary framework investigating the relationship between environmental processes and human wellbeing to generate models adaptable to any geographic location. Based on the use and availability of open-source data, interviews, and Geographic Information Systems, the methodology advanced has the capacity to examine household-level drivers of vulnerability that are rarely accounted for in regional and global indices. Recent work published in academic journals is focused on modeling environmental security and household vulnerability in Sub-Saharan Africa. Amy is the editor of the book “Understanding Africa: A Geographic Approach”. She is also the winner of the 2013 “Best Paper Award” for her work in the Journal of Geography. Most recently (2016), her case study on using socio-ecological synthesis to understand drivers of vulnerability in Sub-Saharan Africa was selected by Socio-Environmental Synthesis Center (SESNYC) as “an exemplary case study” for use in a classroom. Amy earned a PhD. in Geography (2005) from Boston University, focusing on the links between environmental resources and economic growth. She has a M.A. (2002) from Boston University in Energy and Environmental Studies and a B.S. (Magna Cum Laude) from SUNY College of Environmental Science and Forestry where she focused on Systems Ecology.