Dr. Nick Williams
Dr. Nick Williams
Dr. Williams' Areas of Focus
Socio-ecological Systems · Rural Development · Political Ecology · Climate Change Adaptation · Agro-biodiversity Conservation
About Dr. Nick Williams
Nick is an environmental anthropologist who integrates qualitative and quantitative research methods to examine the ways in which sociopolitical, economic, and ecological changes influence human-environmental relationships, with a particular interest in food systems. He has applied this research approach in collaborations with researchers and policymakers in Latin America and South Asia, project-based teaching, and experiential learning programs in southwest Africa and the Caribbean. Nick received a PhD in Anthropology from the University of California, Santa Barbara and was a postdoctoral fellow in the Environmental Studies Program at the University of Colorado Boulder. He was formerly an assistant teaching professor at Worcester Polytechnic Institute. At Cal Poly, Nick draws on his research and student mentoring experiences to teach courses that introduce students to the dynamics of socio-ecological systems and help them to better understand issues relating to sustainable development and natural resource management.
Selected Publications
Carrico, Amanda R., Heather B. Truelove, Nicholas E. Williams. 2019. Social capital and resilience to drought among smallholding farmers. Climatic Change 115(2):195-213.
Williams, Nicholas E. and Daniel B. Kramer. 2019. Agricultural biodiversity maintenance in a coastal socio-ecological system. Human Ecology 47(1): 111-120.
Burchfield, Emily, Nicholas E. Williams, and Amanda R. Carrico. 2018. Assessing the expansion of a traditional drought adaptation strategy among rice farmers in Sri Lanka's Dry Zone. Regional Environmental Change 18(8): 2495-2503.
Williams, Nicholas E., Amanda R. Carrico, Indika Edirisinghe, and P.A. Jayamini Champika. 2018. Assessing the impacts of agrobiodiversity maintenance on food security among farming households in Sri Lanka's dry zone. Economic Botany 72(2): 196-206.
Kramer, Daniel B., Kara Stevens, Nicholas E. Williams, Seeta A. Sistla, Adam B. Roddy, and Gerald Urquhart. 2017. Livelihood transitions between land and sea in a region undergoing rapid globalization. PLoS ONE 12(10): e0186683.
Williams, Nicholas E. and Amanda R. Carrico. 2017. Examining adaptations to water stress among farming households in Sri Lanka's Dry Zone. Ambio 46(5): 532-542.
Sistla, Seeta A., Adam B. Roddy, Nicholas E. Williams, Daniel B. Kramer, Kara Stevens, and Steven D. Allison. 2016. Agroforestry practices promote biodiversity and natural resource diversity in Atlantic Nicaragua. PLoS One 11(9): e0162529.
Williams, Nicholas E. 2016. The political ecology of ‘ethnic’ agricultural biodiversity maintenance in Atlantic Nicaragua. Journal of Political Ecology 23: 223-245.
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