Jessica L'Roe

Jessica L'Roe is an Assistant Professor of Geography at Middlebury College. Her research focuses on human-environment relationships in forest landscapes undergoing rapid change, with emphasis on conservation and development initiatives, land access, inequality, and livelihood transitions. She conducts fieldwork in the Amazon Basin, East Africa, and collaborates with organizations globally. She holds a Ph.D. in Geography from the University of Wisconsin-Madison, alongside an M.A. in Agricultural and Applied Economics, an M.Sc. in Conservation Biology and Sustainable Development, and an undergraduate degree in Environmental Science from the University of North Carolina.

Her teaching portfolio includes courses on natural history, land and livelihoods, environmental change in Latin America, and place-based data analysis. She actively involves students in data science projects, such as analyzing disaster vulnerability through social media data and exploring historical race-land connections using U.S. agricultural census data. Her courses emphasize fieldwork, statistical analysis, and critical engagement with global environmental challenges.

L'Roe's research spans topics like deforestation dynamics in the Amazon, well-being indices in DRC forests, and land competition in Uganda. She combines quantitative and qualitative methods, often using spatial data tools like R and GeoDa. Her work bridges academic inquiry with applied solutions for sustainable development challenges.

Outside academia, she enjoys natural history, gardening, and raising a family, reflecting her commitment to connecting human and environmental well-being.