Dr. Rebecca Petersen-Rockney鈥檚 Work on Climate Change, Food Security, and Rural Communities
Dr. Rebecca Petersen-Rockney brings expertise in climate change, food security, and rural communities to the IDS program at UM. Her research highlights how the politics of climate adaptation in the U.S.—including the social risks rural residents face in acknowledging climate change—resonate with global challenges. She also leads a major multi-year project on Hmong agrarian diasporas, exploring migration, land access, and resilience strategies across the U.S. and Laos.
Through publications on climate risk perception and research on biodiversity in working landscapes, Petersen-Rockney advances international development scholarship while giving students practical frameworks to understand inequality and civic responsibility. In her classes, she challenges narratives like “feeding the world,” showing instead how structural inequality drives food insecurity. By integrating research with teaching, she equips IDS students to think critically, engage civically, and connect local and global issues—skills that strengthen both the program and the university’s impact.