Marie Fleming

Marie is pursuing a PhD in Ecology, working with Dr. Hugh Safford and Dr. Beth Rose Middleton. Their multidisciplinary research aims to examine the social-ecological dimensions of natural resource use. They are particularly interested in the use of agroforestry and sustainable agroecological practices to restore degraded lands. Marie’s current research looks at the social, cultural, economic, and ecological factors that influence land use change in the forest and agroecosystems of the SAVA region of Madagascar.  Marie lived in Madagascar during their Peace Corps service and worked on home gardens, maternal and child nutrition, youth environmental education, and helped establish a vanilla farmer’s cooperative. Marie obtained a B.A. from Pitzer College in Environmental Analysis with a minor in Africana Studies, and a master’s from Cornell University in International Agriculture and Rural Development as a Coverdell Fellow.  During their master’s, Marie studied agroforestry-based gender-sensitive value chain development in Kenya as a part of the Cornell Dyson School of Applied Economics & Management multidisciplinary emerging markets research team.