Overview

Elizabeth Fussell, Professor of Population Studies and Environment and Society, is a sociologist and demographer whose research focuses on societal and environmental causes of migration and population change.

Fussell is currently engaged in research on population change in New Orleans after Hurricane Katrina and the effects of hurricanes on population in the US. In New Orleans, she has investigated the arrival and reception of the Latino immigrants who formed the rapid response construction labor force (Fussell 2007; 2009; 2011), the impact of displacement on the health of vulnerable low-income mothers (Paxson, Fussell, Rhodes & Waters 2012; Fussell & Lowe 2014), and differentials in return migration of displaced New Orleans residents (Fussell, Sastry & VanLandingham 2010). She also investigates the effects of extreme weather events on migration systems (Fussell, Curtis and DeWaard 2014) and county-level population change in the US (Fussell, et al 2017). In general, she is interested in using new data and methods to investigate the population impacts of climate (Fussell, Hunter & Gray 2014). She is the Editor-in-Chief of Population and Environment, an interdisciplinary social science journal that publishes research on environmental aspects of population processes. 

Fussell’s research has been supported by the National Institutes of Health, the MacArthur Foundation, and the Russell Sage Foundation.

Brown Affiliations

• Epidemiology
• Population Studies & Training Center