Meha Jain

Meha Jain is a Postdoctoral Fellow in the Department of Environmental Earth System Science. She is working with David Lobell and Ram Fishman (at George Washington University) to identify the most effective ways to introduce new wheat varieties to help farmers in India adapt to warming temperatures. Her work draws from the disciplines of Geography, Economics, and Ecology, and combines methods including remote sensing, structured household surveys, randomized controlled trials, and crop modeling. Her postdoctoral research is funded by a National Science Foundation SEES (Science, Engineering, and Education for Sustainability) Fellowship.

More broadly, Meha’s research examines current weather impacts on agricultural production and the ability of farmers to adapt to changing weather patterns. Understanding farmers’ abilities to adapt is crucial for accurately estimating climate impacts on food security and identifying which populations may be the most vulnerable to future changes in climate. Her previous research has developed automated methods to map agricultural production of smallholder farms using MODIS satellite imagery, examined the ability of farmers to adapt to current weather variability in India, and quantified the sustainability of current adaptation strategies by examining impacts on soil and water quality. Meha received a B.A. in Ecology and Evolutionary Biology from Princeton University, and a Ph.D. in Ecology, Evolution, and Environmental Biology from Columbia University.