Educational Background
Ph.D. (2003). Geography, Clark University.
M.S. (1996). Conservation Ecology and Sustainable Development, University of Georgia.
B.A. (1994). Computer Science and Environmental Science, Wellesley College.

Affiliations
Society for Conservation Biology
Association of American Geographers
Center for Ecosystem Science and Policy, University of Miami
Center for Latin American Studies, University of Miami
Observatory on Structures and Institutions of Inequality in Latin America, University of Miami
Florida Coastal Everglades-Long Term Ecological Research

Research Interest
Dr. Roy Chowdhury conducts research on the driving forces and consequences of land cover/land use change in tropical forest/agricultural mosaics, analyzing multiple dimensions of social and ecological system vulnerability using field research and modeling techniques. Her primary research site lies in the southern Yucatan peninsular region of Mexico. She focuses on the interactions of household decision-making and broader institutions and policy as they affect ecosystems, tracing the impacts of management on landscape structure, species diversity and nutrient cycling. Her work is informed by theoretical and conceptual frameworks from the human dimensions of global environmental change, cultural and political ecology, and smallholder agricultural economics. She utilizes remote sensing, GIS and field survey methods from the social and ecological sciences in her research.

Representative Publications
Roy Chowdhury, R. 2007. Household Land Management and Biodiversity: Secondary Succession in a Forest-Agriculture Mosaic in Southern Mexico. Ecology and Society 12 (2): 31. [online] URL: http://www.ecologyandsociety.org/vol12/iss2/art31/

Roy Chowdhury, R. 2006. Driving forces of tropical deforestation: The role of remote sensing and spatial models. Singapore Journal of Tropical Geography 27(1): 82-101.

Roy Chowdhury, R. 2006. Landscape change in the Calakmul Biosphere Reserve, Mexico: Modeling the driving forces of smallholder deforestation in land parcels. Applied Geography 26(2): 129-152.

Roy Chowdhury, R. and B. L. Turner II. 2006. Reconciling agency and structure in empirical analysis: Smallholder land use in the southern Yucatán, Mexico. Annals of the Association of American Geographers 96(2): 302-322.

Keys, E. and R. Roy Chowdhury. 2006. Cash crops, smallholder decision making and institutional interactions in a closing frontier, Calakmul, Campeche, Mexico. Journal of Latin American Geography 5(2): 75-90.

Fuller, D.O and R. Roy Chowdhury. 2006. Monitoring and modelling tropical deforestation: Introduction to the special issue. Singapore Journal of Tropical Geography 27(1): 1-3

Sader, S. A., R. Roy Chowdhury, L. C. Schneider and B. L. Turner II. 2004. Forest change and human driving forces in Central America. In Garik Gutman, Anthony Janetos, Christopher Justice, Emilio Moran, John Mustard, Ronald Rindfuss, David Skole, and B. L. Turner II, eds. Land Change Science: Observing, Monitoring, and Understanding Trajectories of Change on the Earth's Surface. Dordrecht, NL: Kluwer, pp. 57-96.

Roy Chowdhury, R. and L. C. Schneider. 2004. Land-cover/use in the southern Yucatán peninsular region, Mexico: Classification and change analysis. In B. L. Turner II, J. Geoghegan and D. Foster, eds. Integrated Land-Change Science and Tropical Deforestation in the Southern Yucatán: Final Frontiers. Oxford: Clarendon Press/Oxford U.P., pp. 105-141.

Klepeis, P. and R. Roy Chowdhury. 2004. Institutions, policy and land change: Complexity within and beyond the ejido. In B. L. Turner II, J. Geoghegan and D. Foster, eds. Integrated Land-Change Science and Tropical Deforestation in the Southern Yucatán: Final Frontiers. Oxford: Clarendon Press/Oxford U.P., pp. 145-169.

Turner II, B. L., S. Cortina-Villar, D. Foster, J. Geoghegan, E. Keys, P. Klepeis, D. Lawrence, P. Macario-Mendoza, S. Manson, Y. Ogneva-Himmelberger, A.B. Plotkin, D. Pérez-Salicrup, R. Roy Chowdhury, B. Savitsky, L. Schneider, B. Schmook and C. Vance. 2001. Deforestation in the southern Yucatán peninsular region: an integrative approach. Forest Ecology and Management 154(3): 353-370.

Geoghegan, J., S. Cortina-Villar, P. Klepeis, P. Macario-Mendoza, Y. Ogneva-Himmelberger, R. Roy Chowdhury, B. L. Turner II and C. Vance. 2001. Modeling tropical deforestation in the southern Yucatán peninsular region: comparing survey and satellite data. Agriculture, Ecosystems and Environment 85: 25-46.

Roy Chowdhury, R. 1999. Agroforestry: Systems of diversity or divestiture? Revista Geográfica 125: 99-112.

Geoghegan, J., L. Pritchard, Jr., Y. Ogneva-Himmelberger, R. Roy Chowdhury, S. Sanderson and B. L. Turner II. 1998. Socializing the pixel and pixelizing the social in land-use/cover change. In D. Liverman, E.F. Moran, R.R. Rindfuss and P.C. Stern, eds. People and Pixels: Linking Remote Sensing and Social Science. Committee on the Human Dimensions of Global Environmental Change, National Research Council. National Academy Press, Washington, D.C. pp. 51-69.

Courses Taught
GEG 199/545: Introduction to Geographic Information Systems
GEG 391/591: Intermediate Geographic Information Systems
ECS 302/ GEG 545: Perspectives on Environmental Decisions
GEG 515: Human Dimensions of Global Environmental Change
GEG 603: Research Design