About
Dr. Allison Morrill Chatrchyan is the Director of Stakeholder Engagement for the NSF/NIFA-funded AI-LEAF Institute (AI for Land, Economy, Agriculture & Forestry), and a Research Associate with the School of Integrative Plant Sciences at Cornell University. She is also an Adjunct Professor of Environmental and International Environmental Law at Cornell Law School. As an environmental social scientist, she focuses on the interactions between social, legal, environmental, and agricultural systems. Dr. Chatrchyan facilitates interdisciplinary research and education teams and works to develop resources, tools, and training programs that integrate climate science, impacts, adaptation, and mitigation - and infusing Artificial Intelligence (AI) into tools for land, economies, environment, agriculture and food systems.
Dr. Chatrchyan's research is focused on assessing climate change impacts and adaptation gaps, stakeholder views and actions on climate change solutions and AI, and polycentric climate change governance (including laws, policies, institutions, and non-state actions at multiple levels). She worked with the Northeast Regional Climate Center at Cornell to develop the Cornell Climate Smart Farming Program, and has collaborated on projects with the USDA NE Climate Hub since 2017. Governor Hochul appointed her to co-chair the Agriculture Chapter of the New York State Climate Impacts Assessment, published in 2024. Dr Chatrchyan led the development of the Cornell Climate Stewards Program, training cooperative extension educators and volunteer stewards from across New York. She teaches Environmental Law and Policy and International Environmental Law at the Cornell Law School, and has led the Cornell Delegations to the annual Conference of Parties (COP) of the UNFCCC since COP21 in Paris, serving on the Party Delegation of the Republic of Armenia since COP23.
Before coming to Cornell, Dr. Chatrchyan worked for Cornell Cooperative Extension, the Bard Center for Environmental Policy, the University of Maryland, the United Nations Environment Programme in Paris, France, and the Environmental Policy Center in Washington, DC. A native of Hamilton, NY, she received her Ph.D. and M.A. from the University of Maryland College Park in International Environmental Politics and her B.A. with Honors from Colby College in Waterville, ME, in Government and Environmental Studies.
Media Highlights
Activities
Areas of Expertise
Climate Change Impacts and Adaptation; Artificial Intelligence and Climate Tools for Agriculture and Forestry; International Environmental Law; Environmental Law and Policy; Climate-Smart Agriculture; Multi-Level Governance; Climate Change Education; Climate Equity and Justice; Interdisciplinary Stakeholder Engagement; Social Science Methodology
Education
- Doctorate, University of Maryland, 2003
- Master's Degree, University of Maryland, 1999
- Bachelor of Arts, Colby College, 1992
