Robert Hersh

Biography

Education: BA Sussex University MA University of Michigan MA Tufts University Before coming to WPI in 2004, Bob worked for a number of years as a Fellow at Resources for the Future, a non-profit organization in Washington, DC that conducts research and policy analysis on environmental quality and natural resources, and as the Brownfields Director at the Center for Public Environmental Oversight (CPEO). His broad substantive interests include regional food systems, contaminated site cleanup and revitalization, community participation in environmental decision-making, ethnographic filmmaking, and more recently, development projects in squatter settlements in Southern Africa. His research has been sponsored by foundations, thinks tanks, and federal agencies.At WPI, Bob directs the Sustainable Food Systems Project Center, advises off campus projects in Africa, and teaches a research methods course that prepares students for project work when they go abroad. He enjoys the collegiality of his IGSD colleagues and admires their commitment to student learning. In his own teaching and project advising, he enjoys working with students and seeing them progress as they become more engaged in the social, cultural, and intellectual demands of their projects.

Research Interest

Food systems; Participatory video; Brownfields revitalization; Shack settlement upgrading