Faculty Directory

Praveen Kumar

Associate Professor

Profile

Dr. Kumar’s research examines economic, social, and behavioral responses to environmental changes that impact well-being of poor communities in South Asia and Sub-Saharan Africa. His scholarship at the intersections of environment and development has two interrelated tracts: 1) impact of clean energy interventions on the well-being of vulnerable poor households; and 2) economic, social, and behavioral challenges that perpetuate energy poverty. His research is informed by and responds to the UN Sustainable Development Goal 7 (modern, clean, and affordable energy) and Goal 13 (climate action). Dr. Kumar uses quantitative methods, and system sciences such as community based system dynamics and ego-network analysis for his transdisciplinary research. Currently, he is exploring determinants of sustained adoption of cleaner cooking systems in rural India and in Rwanda in two separate NIH funded studies. He is also collaborating with the Indian Institute of Technology, Bombay to investigate the impact of dissemination of solar lamps on the well-being of poor households in India.

selected grants

2018-present
Co-Investigator, Principal Investigator: Anita Shankar, PhD
“Integration of System Science Approaches to Enhance Understanding of Adoption and Sustained Use of Clean Cookstoves in Humanitarian Settings in Rwanda
Funded by: National Institutes of Health

2016-present   
Co-PI, Principal Investigator: Gautam N. Yadama, PhD
Understanding household, network, organizational drivers of cleaner cooking fuels in rural India
Funded by: National Institutes of Health

selected appointments & awards

2016: Helen Ette Park Fellow, Washington University in St. Louis

2012-2017: McDonnell International Scholar, Washington University in St. Louis

2015: Summer Research Fellow – Global Alliance for Clean Cookstoves, United Nations Foundation

2011: KPMG Encore Kudos Award

clinical experience

Management Consultant, International Development Services, KPMG (India)