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Andrew Reid Bell is the inaugural Schleifer Family Associate Professor in the Sustainability, Global Development Section at Cornell University. His work employs agent-based modeling tools and field behavioral experiments to address complex issues in rural livelihoods and decision-making. He developed the MIDAS (Migration, Intensification, Diversification Adaptive Strategies) modeling framework, which utilizes push-pull-mooring theories to study migration and its impact on livelihood adaptations, particularly in the context of US-Mexico cross-border flows and the effects of sea-level rise on coastal migration in Bangladesh. Currently, he is enhancing MIDAS with theories that consider rural investment capabilities and aspirations, aiming to build rural capacity and influence the long-term aspirations of rural youth, with applications in rural Senegal and Madagascar. Prior to his appointment at Cornell, Bell was an Associate Professor of Earth & Environment at Boston University, where his research focused on sustainability and support for disadvantaged communities. He earned his PhD in Natural Resource Management from the University of Michigan in 2010, and has held postdoctoral and research positions at the Earth Institute at Columbia University and the International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI).
Department of Architecture