Andrew Gerard

Andrew Gerard is a Ph.D. candidate in the Department of Community Sustainability at Michigan State University, with a doctoral major in Environmental Science and Policy. His research focuses on institutional and economic issues related to sustainable international development, with a focus on agriculture and food systems. Much of his research centers on improving policies for coffee productivity and increased farmer income in Rwanda and Burundi, where he has worked with the U.S. Agency for International Development-funded Africa Great Lakes Region Coffee Support Program. He is currently a research assistant on the Identifying Leverage Points for Transformation in Urban Food Systems project in Flint, Michigan, which is funded by the Foundation for Food and Agriculture Research.

Prior to coming to pursuing his Ph.D., Andrew was a Senior Program Officer at the Global Knowledge Initiative, a non-profit international development organization based in Washington, DC. There he built collaborative research networks and supported science and technology policy projects in East and Southern Africa. Andrew has a Bachelor of Science in Behavioral Sciences from Andrews University, and a Master of Public Policy from Georgetown University.