Karen Bailey, Ph.D.

Karen Bailey, Ph.D. is an Assistant Professor of Environmental Studies at the University of Colorado at Boulder and sits on the NAS’ standing committee on the use of emerging science for environmental health decisions. She is a systems researcher interested in understanding how human-environment interactions impact human health and well-being and natural resource management. She is an interdisciplinary environmental social scientist and combines social science research with environmental and ecological data to understand feedbacks between communities and their environments, how we can build resilience to climate change, and how to support landscapes that meet human needs and sustainability goals. Her current projects focus on climate adaptation in southern Africa, human health and well-being in east Africa, barriers to entry in natural resource fields, just and equitable climate change research, and urban communities and environmental engagement. She also has an emphasis on justice, equity, diversity, and inclusion in environmental fields and STEM more broadly and is committed to research that supports, amplifies and engages the most vulnerable among us. Dr. Bailey completed her Ph.D. in 2018 in the School of Natural Resources and the Environment at the University of Florida.