Faculty Directory

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.