Focus Areas:
- Sustainability and Global Environmental Change
- Catastrophes, Conservation, and Conflict
- Geopolitics and the Global Economy
- Medical Geography in Global Health
- Geospatial Analysis and Techniques
Country of Origin: USA
Degree Program: PhD
Entered program: Fall 2018
Expected Graduation: Fall 2025
Dissertation Topic: Land, Livelihoods, and Landscape Change: Socio-Ecological Impacts of Larges-Scale Land Acquisitions and Urbanization in Ethiopia
Research statement: My research examines the complex relationships between people and the environment through the lens of social-ecological systems. I focus on how land change processes, sustainable development strategies, and community-based natural resource management influence both livelihoods and ecosystems.
Methodologically, I integrate remote sensing, geospatial analysis, and big data techniques, including machine learning, to better understand patterns and drivers of change. Substantively, my work engages with global food systems and food security, framed within a coupled human and natural systems perspective that focuses on human-environment interactions.
Much of my research is grounded in tropical conservation and development, with a particular emphasis on the Global South, where challenges and opportunities for innovation are especially pronounced.
Advisor: Dr. Jane Southworth
Educational Background
- MS in Geography, University of Florida
- BA in Anthropology, University of Florida
Recent Publications
Rahaman, M., Southworth, J., Amanambu, A. C., Tefera, B. B., Alruzuq, A. R., Safaei, M., ... & Smith, A. C. (2025). Combining deep learning and machine learning techniques to track air pollution in relation to vegetation cover utilizing remotely sensed data. Journal of Environmental Management, 376, 124323.
Southworth, J., Smith, A. C., Safaei, M., Rahaman, M., Alruzuq, A., Tefera, B. B., ... & Herrero, H. V. (2024). Machine learning versus deep learning in land system science: A decision-making framework for effective land classification. Frontiers in Remote Sensing, 5, 1374862.
Muir, C., Smith, A.C., & Agrawal, A. (2023). Climate change, degradation, and land acquisitions: evaluating inequalities among competing interests for suitable cropland in Ethiopia. Ecology and Society, 28(1).
Ross, A., Mack, E. A., Marcantonio, R., Miller-Graff, L., Pearson, A. L., Smith, A. C., ... & Zimmer, A. (2024). A mediation analysis of the linkages between climate variability, water insecurity, and interpersonal violence. Climate and Development, 16(2), 134-148.
Ozsahin, E., Ozdes, M., Smith, A. C., & Yang, D. (2022). Remote sensing and GIS-based suitability mapping of termite habitat in the African Savanna: A case study of the Lowveld in Kruger national park. Land, 11(6), 803.
Smith, A.C., Merz, L., Borden, J.B., Gulick, C.K., Kshirsagar, A.R., Bruna, E.M. (2021). Assessing the effect of article processing charges on the geographic diversity of authors using Elsevier’s “Mirror Journal” system. Quantitative Science Studies, 2(4), 1123-1143.
Pearson A.L., Mack, E.A., Ross, A., Marcantonio, R., Zimmer, A., Bunting, E.L., Smith A.C., Miller, J.D., Evans, T., & The HWISE Research Coordination Network. (2021). Interpersonal Conflict over Water Is Associated with Household Demographics, Domains of Water Insecurity, and Regional Conflict: Evidence from Nine Sites across Eight Sub-Saharan African Countries. Water, 13(9),1150.