Brinda Athreya
About
Dr. Brinda Athreya brings to PPA experience in data management and analysis, including spatial analysis, participant recruitment, and community engagement.
Dr. Athreya excels in spatial analysis, storytelling using maps, and cartography. Her areas of specialization are food policy, food sovereignty, agriculture, human geography, environmental justice, and qualitative methods.
Prior to joining PPA, Dr. Athreya worked on research projects related to food and food distribution, including for the Open Food Network. Through a USDA grant, she helped to create a course on Canvas that helped people to create farmers market hubs to support local communities facing food insecurity. As a geospatial data analyst for Our Sci, LLC, she stratified data from various organizations and offered customer support with technical details for the web application. At the University of Toledo, she surveyed farmers of Monroe County, Michigan, developed an ArcGIS online help book for students, and trained 20 high school students in geospatial technology. In her work as a research associate for the School of FreshWATER Sciences, she collaborated with teachers to set up the Aquaponics moving library, which included information about sustainable food systems.
Clients benefit from Dr. Athreya’s attention to detail, strong communication and facilitation skills, and her ability to synthesize findings from various research methods into actionable recommendations.
Education
Dr. Athreya received her doctorate in spatially integrated social sciences from the University of Toledo, Ohio and has a master’s degree in urban planning from the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee.
