Sameer Shah

Sameer Shah

  • Assistant Professor
  • John C. Garcia Professor
  • Visit Sameer's website

    • Sameer Shah

    • Assistant Professor
    • John C. Garcia Professor

    Research areas

    Dr. Sameer Shah (he / him) is a John C. Garcia Professor and Assistant Professor of Climate Adaptation in the School of Environmental & Forest Sciences (SEFS) at the University of Washington. He is also an Affiliate with the UW Center for Studies in Demography in Ecology, Center for Environmental Politics, and Clean Energy Institute. Dr. Shah holds expertise in the human dimensions of climate change vulnerability and adaptation. He aims to understand how systemic marginalization, and climate-related change and disasters interact to create and amplify uneven water, food, and energy insecurities for communities on the frontlines of climate change. In particular, his research develops theoretical, conceptual, and empirical analyses of the equity, justice, and sustainability outcomes of climate adaptation and disaster response at multiple scales. Through research in South/Southeast Asia, the contiguous U.S., and Puerto Rico, he and his collaborators seek to advance interventions that reduce the disproportionately larger climate risks experienced by marginalized groups, and to shape long-term policy strategies that transform the underlying systems that heighten these impacts. At SEFS, Dr. Shah directs the WATERS Research Collaborative (Water, Adaptation & Transformation: Equity, Resilience and Sustainability). He is also a co-founder of the SOLVER (Social Vulnerability and Resilience) Research Laboratory.

    Autumn 2024: Dr. Shah may be accepting graduate students and welcomes interested applicants to contact him with their CV, and a brief research proposal that includes a description of how it relates to his areas of expertise.

    Education

    Ph.D., Resource Management and Environmental Studies, The University of British Columbia

    Courses

    Current sponsored projects

    • Climate maladaptation and environmental injustice in drought-hit Maharashtra: From 2014-2019, the Government of Maharashtra spent $1.3B USD on 630,000 village-scale water conservation and harvesting projects to transition 25,000 “drought-hit” villages into “drought-free” ones.

    • Pathways for household water security and environmental justice in the American West: The American West is at the epicenter of recurrent and compounding climate crises, including multi-decadal drought, raging wildfires, and unprecedented water shortages.

    • Social Capital, Community Health Resilience, and Compounding Hazards in Puerto Rico: Compounding climate (e.g., extreme storms) and non-climatic (e.g., COVID-19 pandemic) hazards result in significant risks and impacts to food, energy, and water systems, and consequently, community public health.

    Selected publications

    Painter, M.A., Shah, S.H., Damestoit, G.C., Khalid, F., Prudencio, W., Chisty, M.A., Tormos-Aponte, F., Wilhelmi, O. (2024). A systematic scoping review of the Social Vulnerability Index as applied to natural hazards. Natural Hazards.

    Workman, C.L., Miller, J.D., Shah, S.H., Maes, K., Tesfaye, Y., Mapunda, K.M. (2024). Frequency and perceived difficulty of household water experiences in Morogoro, Tanzania: Evidence of the psychosocial burden of water insecurity. Social Science & Medicine – Mental Health. 

    Roque, A.D., Wutich, A., Shah, S.H., Workman, C., Méndez-Barrientos, L.E., Choueiri, Y., Belury, L., Mitchell, C. (2023). Justice and Injustice in “Modular, Adaptive and Decentralized” (MAD) Water Systems. Water Security, 20: 100151.

    Shah, S.H., O’Lenick, C.R., Wan, J.S., Ramos-Valle, A., Ash, K.D., Wilhelmi, O.V., Edgeley, C.M., Molina, M.J., Moulite, J., Pizarro, C.A.C., Emard, K., Cameron, O., Done, J., Hazard, C.W., Hopson, T.M., Jones, M., Lacey, F., Lachaud, M.A., Lombardozzi, D., Méndez, M., Morss, R., Ricke, K., Tormos-Aponte, F., Wieder, W., Williams, C.L. (2023). Connecting Physical and Social Science Datasets: Challenges and Pathways Forward. Environmental Research Communications: 1-16.

    Shah, S.H., Harris, L.M., Menghwani, V., Stoler, J., Brewis, A., Miller, J.D., Workman, C.L., Adams, E.A., Pearson, A.L., Hagaman, A., Wutich, A., Young, S.L. and HWISE-RCN. Variations in household water affordability and water insecurity: An intersectional perspective from 18 low- and middle-income countries. Environment and Planning F: Philosophy, Theory, Models, Methods, and Practice, 1-30.

    Workman, C.L. & Shah, S.H. (2023). Water infrastructure as intrusion: Race, exclusion, and nostalgic futures in North Carolina. Annals of the American Association of Geographers (2023 Special Issue on Race, Nature and the Environment): 1-13.

    Méndez-Barrientos, L.E., Fencl, A., Workman, C.L., and Shah, S.H. (2022). Race, citizenship, and belonging in the pursuit of water and climate justice in California. Environment and Planning E: Nature and Space: 1-22.

    Shah, S.H. & Harris, L.M. (2022). Beyond local case studies in political-ecology: Spatializing agricultural water infrastructure in Maharashtra using a critical, multi-methods, and multi-scalar approach. Annals of the American Association of Geographers, 112(4), 988-1007.

    Sanga, U., Park, H., Wagner, C.H., Shah, S.H. & Ligmann-Zielinska, A. (2021). How do farmers adapt to agricultural risks in northern India? An agent-based exploration of alternate theories of decision-making. Journal of Environmental Management, 298, 113353.

    Shah, S.H. (2021). How is water security conceptualized and practiced for rural livelihoods in the global South? A systematic scoping review. Water Policy, 23(5), 1129-1152.

    Shah, S.H., Harris, L.M., Johnson, M.S. & Wittman, H. (2021). A “drought-free” Maharashtra? Politicising water conservation for rain-dependent agriculture. Water Alternatives, 14(2), 573-596.

    Angeles, L.C. & Shah, S.H. (2019). Re-scaling and re-contextualizing agriculture-industry synergies for rural development: The case of an urbanizing rurality in the Philippines. The Journal of Peasant Studies, 48(5), 1033-1053.

    Shah, S.H., Wagner, C.H., Sanga, U., Park, H., Demange, L.H., Gueiros, C. & Niles, M.T. (2019). Does household capital mediate the uptake of agricultural land, crop, and livestock adaptations? Evidence from the Indo-Gangetic Plains (India). Frontiers in Sustainable Food Systems, 3(1), 1-16.

    Shah, S.H., Rodina, L., Burt, J.M, Gregr, E.J., Chapman, M., Williams, S., Wilson, N.J. & McDowell, G. (2018). Unpacking social-ecological transformations: Conceptual, ethical and methodological insights. The Anthropocene Review, 5(3), 250-265.

    Jepson, W., Budds, J., Eichelberger, L., Harris, L., Norman, E., O’Reilly, K., Pearson, A., Shah, S.H., Shinn, J., Staddon, C., Stoler, J., Wutich, A. & Young, S.L. (2017). Advancing human capabilities for water security: A relational approach. Water Security, 1, 46-52.

    Shah, S.H. & Zerriffi, H. (2017). Urban water demand, climatic variation, and irrigation water insecurity: Interactive stressors and lessons for water governance from the Angat River Basin (Philippines). Water International, 42(5), 543-567.

    Shah, S.H., Angeles, L.C. & Harris, L.M. (2017). Worlding the intangibility of resilience: The case of rice farmers and water-related risk in the Philippines. World Development, 98, 400-412.