Nupur Joshi (Geography) received an SBSRI dissertation award for her research on how small scale private water sellers operate and the roles that Nairobi's municipal water governance play in these private operations. Her dissertation research is a story of water's urbanization in low-income settlements of Nairobi, and the everyday struggles of the urban poor to secure water.

Lauren Fritzsche (Geography) received an SBSRI pre-doctoral research grant for her project entitled "Geographies of belonging and exclusion: Refugee resettlement in the United States." This research examines themes of identity, belonging, race, and national security amidst changes to the U.S. refugee resettlement program. This project will take place in two communities, Missoula, MT and Baton Rouge, LA, to assess local policies and narratives of refugee resettlement, communities responses to and practices of resettlement, and the experiences of refugees.

Congratulations to Jeff Banister (Southwest Center & Geography) and Vicki Gaubeca (Southern Border Communities Coalition) on their recent Haury Partnering grant. The grant allows them to create a framework for collaboration between researchers and community partners working to protect, extend, and communicate the innovative ways that human and non-human communities in the Sonoran Desert have resisted, restored, and flourished in the context of US-Mexico border militarization.

Xiran Chen (Government and Public Policy) is an awardee of an SBSRI Pre-Doctoral Grant for his project “Motivation and Capacity: Explaining the Frequency of Government Pre-election Violence.” The project examines how economic growth and party cohesion shape the frequency of government pre-election violence. This project draws insights from several Sub-Saharan African cases, and evaluates the implications in a broader context. (Photo Credit: Pixabay)

Eden Kinkaid (Geography) received an SBSRI dissertation research grant and a Fulbright Hays Doctoral Dissertation Research Abroad fellowship to support their dissertation research entitled “Becoming an organic state: Changing forms of agricultural governance in Uttarakhand, India.” This research examines how the promotion and institutionalization of organic agriculture in the state of Uttarakhand is impacting farmers’ agricultural knowledge and practice, changing farmers’ livelihoods, and informing farmers’ identities as rural citizens.

Carson Scholars Program awards several SBS students! Awardees include Julia Davies (Geography), Ziya Kaya (Anthropology), and Amanda Lee (Anthropology). Davies’ (left) research interests include urban food security, poverty, and climate change in sub-Saharan Africa. Kaya’s (center) research focuses on transformations of rural livelihoods due to environmental and technological change. And Lee (right) examines the social, economic, and political factors that affect clinical care for environmental exposure-related illnesses in Tucson. 

Congratulations to SBS NSF Graduate Research Fellowship awardees, Alison Elder (Geography) and Annalise Gardella (LAS)! Alison will use the fellowship to pursue a PhD in Geography at the UA. Her proposed research examines the effects of environmental change and development processes on livelihoods in the developing world. Annalise is graduating from the Latin American Studies MA program this spring. She will use the fellowship to pursue a PhD in Anthropology at the University of Oregon, continuing her research on gender social movements in El Salvador.

David Pietz (History) is an awardee of an SBSRI Faculty Small grant for his project entitled “An Extinction Story: The Yangtze River Baiji Dolphin."  The project explores the history of the extinction of the Baiji Dolphin, the first instance of an extinction of a large mammal species in over 50 years, and the first extinction of an entire family of mammals. (Photo Credit: Pietz (Left) & Chinese Academy of Sciences (Right))