Suraj Upadhaya

Suraj Upadhaya is an assistant professor of sustainable systems at the School of Agriculture, Health, and Natural Resources, Kentucky State University. He conducts research and teaches in the areas of socio-ecological sustainable systems and human dimensions of natural resource management.

His academic and professional goals are to explore the dynamic relationship between natural resources and people, ensure the sustainability of natural resources in developed and developing countries, and channel his research to benefit the underprivileged population. He believes that emerging challenges associated with environmental change on multiple scales span disciplinary boundaries and necessitate interdisciplinary approaches to better our understanding of social-ecological dimensions.

His expertise lies in ecosystem services, natural resource management and policy, land-use change modeling, water resource conservation and management, and the social-ecological system (SES), coupled with experience in human dimensions and sustainability of natural resources. Suraj's academic research has trained him to integrate theories from social and natural sciences and use intensive fieldwork with complex modeling approaches to produce comprehensive research on social-ecological sustainability.

“The most exciting change he sees is land use combined with community and conservation-friendly solutions that allow us to be productive and rejuvenate areas where we see bounties of biodiversity.”