Outstanding Faculty Award

Lori Leonard

Lori Leonard is professor and chair in the Department of Global Development (GDEV) in CALS and the House Professor Dean at Carl Becker House on West Campus. For more than a decade, her research has focused on sustainable development and environmental themes, motivated in part by her work in Chad, one of the countries most impacted by climate change and extreme heat. She conducted a 12-year field study of an oil and gas pipeline project in Chad, based on following families living in the oilfields, and has written books and articles on the impacts of fossil fuel production on social and economic life and on Chad’s development prospects.

Currently, she is preoccupied with waste and is working on a number of projects to promote more circular societies. These include a research project on used car markets and the regulation and repair of ‘junkers’ in West Africa and a project that explores possibilities for diverting food waste to animal feed in upstate New York in the wake of legislation banning commercial generators from sending food to landfills. With colleagues in GDEV, she has also started a circular economy initiative at Cornell (CE@CU) that includes new courses and engaged learning opportunities for students.

She has more interests than time, but she also likes to restore old houses and furniture, watch true crime shows, and grow things.

Prior Recipients

Prior CALS Alumni Association Outstanding Faculty/Staff Award Recipients