Mark A. Constas (on leave)

Biography

Mark Constas is a professor of applied economics and policy in the Charles H. Dyson School of Applied Economics and Management at Cornell University and an international professor of agriculture and life sciences. He is a fellow of the Tata-Cornell Institute for Agriculture and Nutrition and the Atkinson Center for Sustainability.

Constas’ writing and leadership have helped advance work on how resilience can be defined, measured and evaluated in development assistance and humanitarian aid. His recent research focuses on the measurement challenges of climate resilience for food security. This work includes a collaboration with the Tata-Cornell Institute and the development of a multilateral initiative with the Green Climate Fund, the International Food Policy Research Institute and Oxford University.

In addition to his climate research, Constas has developed a methodology to improve the estimation of global food crisis trends. That work was carried out with the U.N. Food and Agriculture Organization and the Joint Research Centre of the European Union.

Constas regularly serves on expert panels on food security and resilience. He has advised several U.N. organizations and chaired multiple initiatives on resilience. His research has appeared in leading peer-reviewed journals, including Nature, World Development, Global Food Security and the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. His work has also been published by U.N. agencies for policy and development audiences.

Selected Publications

• Blaise, Gloria; Allred, Shorna; Morreale, Stephen; Meredith, Genevieve; Sprenkle-Hyppolite, Starry; et al. "Exploring the Scalability of Community-Based Agroforestry to Achieve Planetary Health Benefits in Haiti’s Lower Artibonite Valley"PLoS Climate. (2024)
• Ampapore, Andrea; Constas, Mark; Fossi, Filippo; Gauny, Josselin; Marsland, Neil; Ulimwengu, John. "The Data in Emergencies (DIEM) Hub for evaluating multiple shock impacts on food security"Nature Food. 4 (2023): 628-629
• Béné, ​Christophe; Frankenberger, Timothy; Nelson, Suzanne; Constas, Mark; Collins, Gregory; et al. "Food system resilience measurement: principles, framework and caveats"Food Security. 15.6 (2023): 1437-1458
• Constas, Mark. "Food security and resilience: The potential for coherence and the reality of fragmented applications in policy and research"Resilience and Food Security - Analysis from a Food System Perspective, Palgrave Studies in Agricultural Economics and Food Policy Series, Ed. Christophe Béné, Ed. Stephen Devereux. Palgrave Macmillan, Cham. (2023): 147-184
• Constas, Mark; d'Errico, Marco; Pietrelli, Rebecca. "Toward Core Indicators for Resilience Analysis: A framework to promote harmonized metrics and empirical coherence"Global Food Security. 35 (2022): 100655
• Constas, Mark; Mattioli, Laura; Russo, Luca. "What does resilience imply for development practice? Tools for more coherent programming and evaluation of resilience"Development Policy Review. 39.4 (2021): 588-603
• Constas, Mark; d'Errico, Marco; Hoddinott, John; Pietrelli, Rebecca. "Resilient food systems – A proposed analytical strategy for empirical applications"Background paper for The State of Food and Agriculture 2021. Food and Agriculture Organization. FAO Agricultural Development Economics Working Paper 21-10 (2021): 46pp
• Jones, Lindsey; Constas, Mark; Mathews, Nathanial; Verkaart, Simone. "Advancing resilience measurement"Nature Sustainability. 4 (2021): 288-289
• Constas, Mark; Wohlgemuth, Max; Ulimwengu, John. "A measurement approach for a health systems-sensitive resilience score: Measuring progress toward the Malabo Declaration goals in the midst of COVID-19"Building resilient African food systems after COVID-19, Ed. John Ulimwengu, Ed. Mark Constas, Ed. Éliane Ubalijoro. AKADEMIYA2063 and International Food Policy Research Institute. (2021): 156-170
• Knippenberg, Erwin; Jensen, Nathaniel; Constas, Mark. "Quantifying household resilience with high frequency data: Temporal dynamics and methodological options"World Development. 121 (2019): 1-15

Academic Degrees

• PhD Cornell University, 1987
• BS Northeastern University, 1983