Molly Brown

Gund Affiliate - Research Professor, University of Maryland

mbrown52@umd.edu
mbrown52@umd.edu
University of Maryland webpage
Alma mater(s)
  • PhD, Department of Geographical Sciences, University of Maryland College Park
  • MA, Department of Geographical Sciences, University of Maryland College Park
  • BS, Biology and Environmental Studies, Tufts University

BIO

My research focuses on the nature-society interface, where environmental variability and change affects food security, nutrition outcomes, agricultural development and other aspects of society.  I use satellite remote sensing to understand environmental dynamics, and use social and economic datasets that allow for exploration of the impact of these dynamics on communities at a broad scale. 

I conduct research in four areas: using long term data records in vegetation and rainfall to understand environmental change, particularly in Africa; research to develop new methods for ensuring the use of new and existing satellite remote sensing in applications with societal benefit; use of satellite data with demographic and nutrition household surveys to measure the impact of environmental shocks on human health outcomes; and the development of models and methods that enable the quantification of the impact of environmental and international food price shocks on local food prices.

Ongoing projects include:

  • Developing new methods to integrate remote sensing data into econometric, nutrition, and food security models to improve our understanding of the effect of weather and climate on society;
  • Exploring the use of long term records of vegetation, rainfall, soil moisture and evaporative stress in agriculture insurance programs in Africa;
  • Working with local, national and international organizations to incorporate Earth science data and models to improve hazard early warning and understand of the threats of climate change;
  • Understand the value of satellite remote sensing data in decision making communities; and
  • Engaging with decision makers across the agriculture value chain in tropical countries.

I recently have begun working with 6th Grain Corporation as their Chief Science Officer. 6th Grain is a highly innovative and agile digital agriculture technology company with solutions being used by leading input suppliers and other AG holding companies in both low and high-income country settings. 6th Grain provides high quality, actionable intelligence that will guide focused marketing and infrastructure investments by agricultural companies in Europe, Africa and Asia.

Area(s) of expertise

Remote sensing of vegetation, private sector agriculture, food security, Africa food prices, technology applications

Bio

My research focuses on the nature-society interface, where environmental variability and change affects food security, nutrition outcomes, agricultural development and other aspects of society.  I use satellite remote sensing to understand environmental dynamics, and use social and economic datasets that allow for exploration of the impact of these dynamics on communities at a broad scale. 

I conduct research in four areas: using long term data records in vegetation and rainfall to understand environmental change, particularly in Africa; research to develop new methods for ensuring the use of new and existing satellite remote sensing in applications with societal benefit; use of satellite data with demographic and nutrition household surveys to measure the impact of environmental shocks on human health outcomes; and the development of models and methods that enable the quantification of the impact of environmental and international food price shocks on local food prices.

Ongoing projects include:

  • Developing new methods to integrate remote sensing data into econometric, nutrition, and food security models to improve our understanding of the effect of weather and climate on society;
  • Exploring the use of long term records of vegetation, rainfall, soil moisture and evaporative stress in agriculture insurance programs in Africa;
  • Working with local, national and international organizations to incorporate Earth science data and models to improve hazard early warning and understand of the threats of climate change;
  • Understand the value of satellite remote sensing data in decision making communities; and
  • Engaging with decision makers across the agriculture value chain in tropical countries.

I recently have begun working with 6th Grain Corporation as their Chief Science Officer. 6th Grain is a highly innovative and agile digital agriculture technology company with solutions being used by leading input suppliers and other AG holding companies in both low and high-income country settings. 6th Grain provides high quality, actionable intelligence that will guide focused marketing and infrastructure investments by agricultural companies in Europe, Africa and Asia.

Areas of Expertise

Remote sensing of vegetation, private sector agriculture, food security, Africa food prices, technology applications

Publications

  • K. Zhao, M. Wulder, T. Hu, R. Bright, Q. Wu, H. Qin, Y. Li; E. Toman, B. Mallick, X. Zhang, M.E. Brown (2019) Detect change-point, trend, and seasonality in satellite time series data to track abrupt changes and nonlinear dynamics: A Bayesian ensemble algorithm. Remote Sensing of Environment. In press.
  • M.E. Brown, V.M. Escobar (2019) NASA’s Early Adopter Program Links Satellite Data to Decision Making. Remote Sensing Journal. 11:4, 406; doi: 10.3390/rs11040406
  • Osgood, Daniel; Powell, Bristol; Diro, Rahel; Farah, Carlos; Enenkel, Markus; Brown, Molly E; Husak, Gregory; Blakeley, S. Lucille; Hoffman, Laura and McCarty, Jessica (2019) Farmer Perception, Recollection, and Remote Sensing in Weather Index Insurance for Agriculture in the Developing World: an Ethiopia Case Study. Remote Sensing Journal 10: 12, 1887; doi: 10.3390/rs10121887
  • T. Iizumi, M. Kotoku, P.C. West, J.S. Gerber, W. Kim and M.E. Brown (2018) Uncertainties of potentials and recent changes in global yields of major crops resulting from census- and satellite-based yield datasets at multiple resolutions. PLoS One 13: 9, e0203809. Doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0203809
  • Enenkel, M., D. Osgood, M. Anderson, B. Powell, J. McCarty, C. Neigh, M. Carroll, M. Wooten, G. Husak, C. Hain, M.E. Brown (2018) Exploiting the convergence of evidence in satellite data for advanced weather index insurance design. Weather, Climate and Society 11: 1 doi: 10.1175/WCAS-D-17-0111.1
  • Niles, M. and M.E. Brown (2017) A multi-country assessment of factors related to smallholder food security in varying rainfall conditions. Scientific Reports. 7: 16277, doi: 10.1038/s41598-017-16282-9.
  • D. Davies, M.E. Brown, K. Murphy, N. Stavros, B. Zavodsky, M. Carroll (2017) NASA Data for Time-Sensitive Applications: A Workshop Summary.  IEEE Geoscience and Remote Sensing Magazine. Doi: 10.1109/MGRS.2017.2729278
  • M.E. Brown, Funk, C.C., Pedreros, D., Korecha, D., Lemma, M., Rowland, J.D., Williams, E., Verdin, J.P., 2017. A Climate Trend Analysis of Ethiopia—Examining Subseasonal Climate Impacts on Crops and Pasture Conditions. Climatic Change 142(1-2): 169-182. doi:
  • 10.1007/s10584-017-1948-6
  • M.E. Brown, E.R. Carr, K. Grace, K. Wiebe, C. Funk, W. Attavanich, P. Backlund, L. Buja (2017) Do markets and trade help or hurt the global food system adapt to climate change? Food Policy Journal. 68 pp154–159. doi: 10.1016/j.foodpol.2017.02.004

Associations and Affiliations