Nicole Peterson

Associate professor
Department of Anthropology
University of North Carolina at Charlotte

I’m an applied environmental and economic anthropologist who studies how communities respond to changes in resource availability and how to improve adaptation and resource management. My current research is on Charlotte area food security (State of the Plate 2019-2024) and health inequities (Women’s Health Equity Institute).

I have a book coming out in 2025, Net Values: Environmental, Economic, and Social Entanglements in the Gulf of California, based on my research with Mexican fishing communities and marine protected areas.

Brief bio: After receiving a Ph.D. from UC San Diego for work focusing on decisions about resource management and economic development around a Mexican marine protected area, Dr. Peterson joined the  on Environmental Decisions at Columbia University to study decision-making under uncertainty, including climate change adaptation in Ethiopian and Argentinian agriculture. In 2015-2016, they held a AAAS Science and Technology Policy Fellowship. Dr. Peterson now focuses on Charlotte area food security, collaborating with the Jamil Niner Student Pantry and administrators at UNC Charlotte to understand how to reduce student food insecurity, and also with the Charlotte-Mecklenburg Food Policy Council and other organizations as part of the State of the Plate food system assessment effort. They also have engaged with organizations like Community Dream Builders and Women’s Health Equity Institute to address experiences with neighborhood change and health inequities, respectively.

She was also a leader of the Integrated Network for Social Sustainability, a diverse and open community focused on the value of understanding social aspects of sustainability for planning and practice.

Homepage for the Integrated Network for Social Sustainability (INSS) (inactive)