Biography

Dr. Furman is an environmental anthropologist at the University of Georgia. She started at UGA in 2008 working with the Southeast Climate Consortium (SECC) on multi-disciplinary projects with the aim of fostering stakeholder adaptive capacity by assessing the relevance, accessibility, and usefulness of climate-based decision support tools and information through sustained community engagement. Dr. Furman conducted research with key stakeholder groups, including extension agents and row-crop producers, as part of a USDA National Institute of Food and Agriculture (NIFA) grant. She also spearheaded research and outreach funded by the USDA Risk Management Agency and NOAA Sectoral Application Research Program with organic and African American producers. In 2014, Dr. Furman was principal investigator of a USDA funded project that investigated producer experiences with food hubs in Georgia. Research examined whether and how different food hub models contribute to the expansion of sustainable food systems, rural development and farmers’ quality of life. She has continued researching local food supply chains with Georgia Organics for the purpose of facilitating market relations between local farmers, distributors, and Early Care Centers. Currently, she is part of the Floridan Aquifer Collaborative Engagement for Sustainability (FACETS) team that brings scientists and stakeholders together in a participatory process to develop knowledge needed to explore tradeoffs between the regional agricultural economy and environmental quality. She has published in Climatic Change, Agriculture and Human Values, Climate Risk Management, among others.