Students

Adriana Abreu

Ph.D. Candidate, Anthropology

Email:

agabreu@iu.edu

Adriana Abreu is the current lab manager for CASEL. Adriana is a Ph.D. Candidate in Anthropology and an Amazonian environmental anthropologist whose work centers on natural resource community-based management, local communities, conservation, gender equity, development, and socioenvironmental challenges in the Brazilian Amazônia. She has spent the past decade engaged in activist-scholarship examining socioenvironmental conflicts and the resilience of rural communities. A former grantee of the Amazon Rainforest Fund, she contributed to the Pulitzer Center–supported project “Quilombolas, Invisible Protectors of the Forest, in Sight of COVID-19.” Her current research explores how formal rules and social norms intersect in community-based arapaima fisheries management as part of the NSF project “Integrating Cross-scale Socio-Ecological Feedbacks in Freshwater Fisheries,” a project co-led by Professor Eduardo Brondizio.

Thuy Ho

PhD candidate in Geography

Email:

thuyho@iu.edu

Website:

https://geography.indiana.edu/about/graduate-students/ho-thuy.html

Thuy Ho is a PhD candidate in the Department of Geography at Indiana University Bloomington. She holds a master’s in International development studies and a master’s in Environmental studies from Ohio University. She was also a Fulbright scholar from 2014-2016. Thuy Ho was involved in different agriculture sustainability projects with NGOs and the IFC/World Bank in her previous work. Thuy Ho’s interests are the geography of rural development, critical agrarian change, climate adaptation, and gender issues. She has professional experience in sustainable agricultural development and community-based development works.   Recent publications: Ho, T., & Shattuck, A. (2025). Environmental precarity, the state and contract farming in the Mekong Delta. The Journal of Peasant Studies, 52(6), 1160–1185. https://doi.org/10.1080/03066150.2025.2460207 Ho, T. (2025), Body, Mind, and Emotion: Multi-Sited Labour of Social Reproduction and Gendered Experiences of Rural Migrants from the Mekong Delta. Antipode. https://doi.org/10.1111/anti.70080 Leaving the Rice Field. A peer-reviewed article and documentary film Directed by Thuy Ho. Available to stream from Weather Matters: https://www.weathermatters.net/thuy-ho and American Association of Geographers AAG Shorts2025: https://www.filmgeographies.com/aag-shorts-2025/ 

Beatriz Lima Ribeiro

Ph.D. Candidate, Anthropology

Email:

blimarib@iu.edu

Beatriz earned a B.A. in Social Sciences and a M.A. in Social Anthropology at the University of Brasília, Brazil. She is currently a PhD Candidate in the Department of Anthropology at IU. Her background is in sociocultural anthropology with focus on the study of politics, institutions and rights related to land and land-use. Beatriz's current research involves the study of environmental governance, with special focus on the history of Indigenous Peoples participation and representation at international governance arenas, including the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) and the United Nations Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD). Beatriz is a Fulbright Scholar and has served as a consultant to the Ministry of Indigenous Peoples of Brazil in preparation for the 30th session of the UNFCCC Conference of the Parties.

Rachel Seymour

Ph.D. Candidate, Anthropology

Email:

rseymou@iu.edu

Website:

http://www.rachelaseymour.com

Rachel Seymour is a Ph.D. Candidate in Social-Cultural Anthropology at Indiana University, Bloomington with master’s degrees in American Studies and Anthropology. Her research engages in ethnographic and community-based methods to understand aging and caregiving practices. Rachel’s current research focuses on low-income, working class, older adults in the American Midwest, particularly those living on state borders who navigate complex health care systems. Recent Publication: Seymour, R. & Andres U.M. (April 2025). SOAR food security research brief: "Food security and resilience among older adults in Central Indiana." State of Aging Report in Central Indiana. https://centralindiana.stateofaging.org/2025/04/01/food-security-and-resilience-among-older-adults-in-central-indiana/ 

Homa Taheri

PhD Candidate of Economics

Email:

homataheri1@gmail.com

Website:

http://homataheri.com/

Homa's research sits at the intersection of development and public economics, with a focus on crop insurance, and policy design. She frequently uses GIS tools in her research. Recent publications: Kramer, B., Braun, M., Smith Ruiz, P., Taheri, H., Murage, P., Mwai, Z., & Kimani, M. (2025). Integrating Gender in Cost-Benefit Analysis of Climate Interventions: Institute for Meteorological Training and Research WMO Regional Training Center Training Guide.

Mahdi Taraghi

PhD Student in Environmental Science

Email:

mtaraghi@iu.edu

Website:

https://www.linkedin.com/in/mahdi-taraghi/

Mahdi Taraghi is a PhD student in Environmental Science at the O’Neill School of Public and Environmental Affairs, Indiana University Bloomington. He holds an M.S. in Water Resources Engineering, and his research focuses on complex socio-environmental systems. Using agent-based modeling, he studies how decision-making, social dynamics, and biophysical processes interact to shape environmental outcomes. Recent Publications: 1. Taraghi, M., & Yoder, L. (2025). Integrating the theory of planned behavior in agent-based models: A systematic review of applications of pro-environmental behaviors. Ecological Modelling, 508, 111231. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ecolmodel.2025.111231 2. Taraghi, M., Yoder, L., Brondizio, E. S., Ghorbanpour, A. K., Mianabadi, H., & Hessari, B. (2025). From abundance to aridity: The institutional drivers behind Lake Urmia’s decline. Environmental Development, 55, 101205. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.envdev.2025.101205  

Yogesh Upadhyay

Ph.D. Student in Geography

Email:

yogupad@iu.edu

Website:

https://geography.indiana.edu/about/graduate-students/upadhyay-yogesh.html

I am a PhD student in the Department of Geography at Indiana University. My research interests lie at the intersection of development politics, environmentalisms, and intersectionality. Previously, I have worked with grassroots research-action organizations, building awareness of and examining the socio-economic and environmental impacts of hydroelectric projects and inland waterways in the Ganga River Basin.

Parisa Yousefi

PhD student in Geography

Email:

pyousefi@iu.edu

Parisa is a PhD student in Geography focused on GIS, remote sensing, ecohydrology, and vegetation phenology. She holds an M.S. in Water Resources Engineering and has four years of private engineering consulting experience in hydrology, water planning, and water quality monitoring.

Nikolina Zenović

Ph.D. Candidate in Linguistic Anthropology

Email:

nzenovic@iu.edu

Nikolina Zenović is a Ph.D. Candidate in Linguistic Anthropology with a minor in the Russian and East European Institute (REEI). Her research considers the interconnections between discourses of sustainability, language and materiality, and soundscapes in Greece.  Topical Interests: Linguistic Anthropology. Circulation of discourses; semiotics; sustainability; sustainable development; feminist political ecology; environmental humanities; sound studies.  Geographic Areas of Specialization: Greece, the Balkans, Former Yugoslavia, the Mediterranean