Heather Randell is an assistant professor in the global policy area at the Humphrey School of Public Affairs, and a faculty affiliate of the Minnesota Population Center. 

Randell is a sociologist and demographer with interests in understanding how climate change and dam building impact the health and well-being of marginalized populations. Her research uses quantitative and qualitative methods to investigate linkages between climate change and food security, child health, and education; examine the social consequences of dam construction; and explore the relationship between environmental stressors and migration. This work is international in scope, with a particular focus on Brazil and East Africa. 

Randell’s research has been published in journals including Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, Environmental Research Letters, World Development, and Social Science & Medicine.

Prior to joining the Humphrey School, Randell was an assistant professor of Rural Sociology and Demography at Penn State, and completed postdoctoral fellowships at the National Socio-Environmental Synthesis Center (SESYNC) and the Maryland Institute for Applied Environmental Health at the University of Maryland. 

Climate change; demography; energy and environment; international development; public health; sustainable development