FAMU Professor Receives $400K Grant, Named Innovator by the National Center for Atmospheric Research
A Florida A&M University (FAMU) professor was recently selected as a 2021 Innovator in the National Center for Atmospheric Research (NCAR) Innovator Program.
Michée A. Lachaud, Ph.D., assistant professor for the agribusiness program in the College of Agriculture and Food Sciences (CAFS), also received a two-year $400,000 research grant to develop economic and climate models that capture short-term and long-term climate-change related impacts on U.S. agricultural production.
He will investigate the efficacy of adaptation strategies in minimizing those effects by combining computer-simulated data with real-world evidence of farmers’ adaptation behaviors using field data. His NCAR research project, titled “Climate Change, Adaptation, and Welfare Implications: A Study of US Agriculture,” is funded by the National Science Foundation (NSF).
A primary goal of the Innovator Program is to address complex research problems by building partnerships between NCAR scientists and early career faculty.
“I am very excited and truly honored to receive this grant, because it would improve our understanding of, and ability to predict, agricultural impacts of climate change – especially by strengthening a critical link (currently a weaker link) in the climate-agricultural, production-food security causal chain–farmer adaptation behavior,” said Lachaud. “Winning this grant would not have been possible without the motivation and inspiration of my colleagues, the support of Florida A&M University, CAFS, and especially my family.”
An assistant professor at FAMU since 2017, Lachaud was a research assistant and professor at the University of Connecticut where he earned his Ph.D., in Agricultural and Resource Economics on a Fulbright Scholarship.
Lachaud also received the 2019 Outstanding Young Professional Award from the Agricultural and Applied Economics Association (AAEA) in recognition of early career contributions to teaching, research, and service in agricultural economics and agribusiness.