Seminar: Linking Local-Level Aspirations & Perceptions of Well-Being to Land Cover Change: Lessons from Mozambique

Speaker Bio:

Dr. Silva's research investigates the regional effects of globalization on poverty, inequality, and social exclusion in both advanced and developing countries. She has conducted research on these topics in the U.S. and southern Africa. Using quantitative and qualitative methods, she addresses questions about uneven development between people and between places. She also examines different theoretical approaches to inequality and poverty, which range from mainstream economic theories to human rights and global justice perspectives. She has authored or co-authored papers on these topics in Economic Geography, Environmental Science & Policy, Geographical Journal, Growth and Change, Professional Geographer, Journal of Environment & Development, and Regional Studies. Prior to beginning her graduate studies, she worked in the private sector using public participatory GIS to evaluate children and family service organizations and served as a Peace Corps volunteer in Gabon. Her dissertation won the AAG Economic Geography Specialty Group Dissertation Award in 2006. She received the J. Warren Nystrom Award from the Association of American Geographers in 2007 and a Faculty Early Career Development (CAREER) Award from the U.S. National Science Foundation, Geography and Spatial Sciences Program in 2008.