Expertise

Professor in Environmental and Natural Resources and Economics

Associate Director of URI Coastal Institute

Uchida’s research seeks to understand how communities and individuals decide to use natural resources, and how those decisions are shaped by nudges, incentives and policies. In a recent study, she conducted a field experiment among residents in southern New England to examine the effectiveness of green nudges on adopting green-certified lawn care services with less impact on water quality. Uchida has led interdisciplinary research teams to study ecosystem services from rural and urban landscapes, forests, and coastal ecosystems. She conducts research in Asia, Africa, and the U.S., and utilizes household surveys, field experiments, spatial data and applied econometrics. Uchida’s Ph.D. is in Agricultural and Resource Economics from University of California, Davis and a Master of Environmental Management from Duke University.