Jessica Gephart

Postdoctoral Fellow

Dr. Jessica Gephart is a faculty member in the Department of Environmental Science at American University. After receiving her PhD in Environmental Science from the University of Virginia, she joined SESYNC as a postdoctoral research fellow. At SESYNC, she worked on globalized food systems and the environment, with an emphasis on seafood systems. Bringing together international trade data and environmental impact analysis, she examined both the impacts of food production on the environment, as well as the impacts of environmental shocks on food production and trade. Today, her work collectively aims to identify opportunities to improve sustainability and resilience within the increasingly globalized food system. Her work falls into three main areas: 1) the environmental impact of seafood production and the role of trade in driving these impacts; 2) risks and resilience of seafood trade to environmental variability; and 3) feedbacks between food systems and the environment. Jessica’s work involves extensive collaborations with interdisciplinary and international teams, which over time have included work at the International Institute for Applied Systems Analysis, the Stockholm Resilience Centre, the National Center for Ecological Analysis and Synthesis, and the Food and Agriculture Organization.

External Links:
https://scholar.google.com/citations?user=FIXvdogAAAAJ&hl=en&authuser=1

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Photo of Jessica Gephart
2016 - 2018
Areas of Expertise
environmental science
marine ecology
trade
Research Interests
global trade
seafood systems (blue foods)
environmental shocks
resilience
Methods of Expertise
dynamical modeling
economic analyses
data science
Bayesian modeling