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Meha Jain
Assistant Professor
Geospatial Data Sciences
Sustainability and Development
Food Systems
Office
3540 Dana
About
Assistant Professor Jain's research examines the impacts of environmental change on agricultural production, and strategies that farmers may adopt to reduce negative impacts. She does this by combining remote sensing and geospatial analyses with household-level and census datasets to examine farmer decision-making and behavior across large spatial and temporal scales. To date her work has focused on the impacts of weather variability and groundwater depletion on agricultural production in India, and whether farmers are able to adapt their cropping practices to mitigate these impacts.
Publications
- Jain, M., P. Mondal, G.L. Galford, G. Fiske, R.S. DeFries (In Press). An Automated Approach to Mapping Cropped Area of Smallholder Farms Across Large Scales. Remote Sensing.
- Jain, M., A. Srivastava, B. Singh, A. McDonald, K. Royal, M.C. Lisaius, D.B. Lobell (2016). Mapping Smallholder Wheat Yields and Sow Dates Using Microsatellite Data. Remote Sensing. 8(10): 860.
- Feola, G., A.M. Lerner, M. Jain, M.J.F. Montefrio, K.A. Nicholas (2015). Understanding Farmer Behavior in Climate Change Adaptation and Sustainable Agriculture: Lessons Learned From Five Case Studies. Journal of Rural Studies. 35: 74-84.
- Jain, M., S. Naeem, B. Orlove, V. Modi, R.S. DeFries (2015). Understanding the Causes and Consequences of Differential Decision-Making in Adaptation Research: Adapting to a Delayed Monsoon Onset in Gujarat, India. Global Environmental Change. 31: 98-109.
- Jain, M., P. Mondal, R.S. DeFries, C. Small, G.L. Galford (2013). Mapping cropping intensity of smallholder farms – a comparison of methods using multiple sensors. Remote Sensing of Environment. 134: 210-223.
Read more publications here.
Research
- 2017-20: (PI) NASA Land Use Land Cover Change (LCLUC) Program ($751,707)
- 2016-19: (PI) NASA New Investigator Program (NIP) in Earth Sciences. ($262,612)
- 2014-18: (PI) National Science Foundation Sustainability Postdoctoral Fellowship (SEES; $487,020).
- 2014-15: (Co-PI) Google Earth Engine Research Award ($62,867). (PIs: G. Galford, R.S. DeFries)
- 2013-15: (PI) National Science Foundation Doctoral Dissertation Improvement Grant (DDIG; $14,488).
- 2009-12: (PI) National Science Foundation Graduate Research Fellowship (NSF GRF; $150,000).
- 2011: (PI) National Geographic Young Explorers Grant ($5,000).
Education
PhD, Columbia University (ecology, evolutionary and environmental biology)
BA, Princeton University (ecology and evolutionary biology)
Websites