Marie Carmen is an environmental sociologist studying how communities navigate inequitable access to the most fundamental resources: food, water, and shelter. She uses applied, participatory methods to ask rigorous academic questions and co-create practical solutions designed by and for the people they are meant to serve. Her work draws on an intentionally interdisciplinary foundation: a PhD in Sociology from Michigan State University, a Master’s in Animals and Public Policy from Tufts University, and a Bachelor’s in Psychology from Ohio Wesleyan University.

During her PhD, she partnered with DigDeep and the U.S. Water Alliance to address inequities in water access experienced across the United States. She also worked with the Ashraya Initiative for Children and other local stakeholders in Pune, India to understand how power and social networks shape access to urban space and resources for both slum residents and street dogs. Most recently, she completed a postdoctoral research fellowship with the National Wildlife Federation’s Sustainable Agriculture team. In this postdoc, she evaluated the reach and impact of their flagship Grow More program, supported watershed management research in the Quad Cities region, and partnered with the Michigan Department of Agriculture to sharpen their sustainable agriculture strategy.

At CIAS, she is bringing her systems-level lens and sustainable agriculture experience to the regional grain economy through two grant-funded projects: defining grainsheds and developing an oat roadmap to better understand the opportunities and challenges facing diversified food-grade grain farmers.