May 1, 2021

Nepali Academics in America (NACA) Volume 1, Issue 2

df NACA NEWSFLASH News and Events for the Friends of NACA

INSIDE THIS ISSUE: NACANACA NEWSFLASHInagural Conference News and Under Events the broad fortheme the of Friends of NACA NACA Inagural Conference ...... 1 Collaboration for Knowledge Members Spotlight ...... 2 Production, the Nepali Academics in America (NACA) organized a Recent Peer-reviewed NACA Inagural Conference Publication ...... 4 two-day virtual inaugural conference on April 16 and 17, Job Opportunities ...... 5 2021. The conference was a great Corner ...... 5 success in bringing together over Introduction of NACA Council ... 6 100 participants representing academia, non-profit, industry, education policy, scientific forestry, and think tanks from different migration, innovation and adoption parts of the world. Aimed at of agricultural technologies, tourism, showcasing the intellectual social entrepreneurship, human diversity and scholarly depth, the health, and food security. The conference featured a range of interactive paper sessions focused on scholarship amongst Nepali research conducted in Nepal. The academics. Through panel topics included: natural resource discussions and pre-recorded governance, indigenous knowledge, paper presentations, academics glacial disaster, environmental [email protected] from the U.S., Nepal, Australia, change in the , and food, Thailand, Canada, and Europe www.nepaliacademics.org energy and . All 23 interactive shared their research, discussed, presentations were pre-recorded, and were made aware of emerging which provided time for dialogue intellectual issues related to Nepal among presenters and the and the Nepali communities. participants. Still, most participants

indicated future events will have to The conference with eight panels allocate time for more in-depth and and 23 paper sessions allowed a engaging interactions. All abstracts large number of submissions to be will be published in the conference showcased within the two days of proceedings, and will be made the conference. Moderated available through NACA’s website. panels consisted of a short presentation by panel members followed by Q&A from the audience. The themes included Under the broad theme of Collaboration for Knowledge Production, the Nepali Academics in America (NACA) organized a two-day virtual inaugural conference on April

Page 2 NACA Newsflash

Members Spotlight Page 2 NACA Newsflash

Dr. Alok Bohara Nepali (NRN) organization for his effort in giving

back to Nepal, his country of birth. He is also a recipient of a Tribhuvan University-wide Members Spotlight Chancellor's Medal award for his M.Sc. degree in Statistics.

He is passionately engaged in nurturing the applied economics and social science network for the development of the Himalayan region through Himalayan Applied Economics and Policy Association (HAEPA), Nepal Study Center, Annual Himalayan Policy Research Conference (HPRC), and Center for Sustainability, which is an international research hub in Lumbini Province of Nepal. As a founding director of the Nepal Study Center at UNM, Dr. Bohara's research projects

and initiatives have been impactful both for the Dr. Alok Bohara is a Professor of Economics at the training of graduate students as well as the communities in Nepal through field research and University of New Mexico (UNM). He received an M.Sc. in Statistics from Tribhuvan University in the implementation of creative ideas and 1979, and a Ph.D. in Economics from the interventions dealing with the community-level real-world problems. University of Colorado in 1986. His research focuses on the intersection of environment, health, and sustainable development, covering In collaboration with the local partners in Nepal, he is involved in developing new initiatives such environmental pollution, public health, waste management, urban , riparian systems, as Women in STEM, WASHPlus in schools, and citizen science, gender hygiene, WASH, and civic Youth Leadership Academy with a focus on women and marginalized communities. Dr. empowerment. As an advisor/co-advisor and mentor to about thirty Ph.D. students and several Bohara is on the NACA's Advisory Board and other Masters and Honors students, Dr. Bohara regularly provides input and shares his experiences to advance the organization's has received various mentoring awards from the UNM. As a pioneer in the development of a mission. Dr. Bohara and the team of economists knowledge platform for the advancement of and social scientists in his network would be interested in finding ways to collaborate with diaspora intellectual pool in North America through the Nepal Study Center, an institution NACA. within UNM established to do research activities in Nepal, and organize the annual conferences, Dr. Bohara was recognized by the Non-resident

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NACA Newsflash Members Spotlight Page 3 Dr. Kalpana Khanal Journal of Economics, Journal of Economic Issues, Review of Political Economy, The Kathmandu

Post, Worcester Telegram and Gazette.

Members Spotlight Dr. Khanal is passionate about teaching and mentoring students. She teaches principles of micro and macroeconomics, money and banking, and international finance (honors) on a regular basis. She has been involving her undergraduate students in research projects and some of her students have successfully presented at national and international conferences. She is excited about a forthcoming collaborative work with her students titled, “Will COVID-19 Worsen the Racial Wealth Gap in the ?” which will be published in the June 2021 issue of Journal of

Economic Issues. Dr. Kalpana Khanal is an Associate Professor of Economics at Nichols College, Dudley, She incorporates experiential learning and Massachusetts. She received her interdisciplinary project-based learning in her courses. One of her Ph.D. in Economics and Social Science Consortium fond memories with her Nichols College students from the University of Missouri Kansas City includes a cultural immersion trip to Prague, (UMKC) in 2014. Czech Republic in the Spring semester of 2018. At the crossroads of so many significant Dr. Khanal’s research interests include public world events, Prague offered students an policy, feminist economics, political economy and excellent opportunity to gain a deeper institutional economics. Her research approach understanding of how societies and economies follows a mix of qualitative and quantitative evolve. methods based on historical and institutional foundations. She follows an interdisciplinary Dr. Khanal serves on the executive board of approach to research, which requires going Association of Institutional Thought as a outside of economics and finance and drawing on treasurer, and she is the joint secretary of Asta-Ja literature emanating from sociology, history, USA. She is a member of the Association for political science, anthropology and other Evolutionary Economics, International disciplines. Dr. Khanal has presented her research Association of Feministic Economics, and the at several national and international conferences. Association of Social Economics. She is also a life Among others, her research papers, book member of Omicron Delta Epsilon (International reviews, book chapters, abstracts and op-ed Honor Society in Economics) and UMKC Women’s articles have been published in Oeconomicus, The Council.

Dr. Kalpana Khanal

Page 4 NACA Newsflash

Recent Peer-reviewed Publication Page 4 NACA Newsflash

Climate Change, Resiliency, and Development

Byers,Recent A. C., Gustafsson, Peer- T.,reviewed Shrestha, M., , Publication N. (2020). A Sustainable Solid Waste Management Plan for Sagarmatha (Mt Everest) National Park and Buffer Zone, Nepal. Mountain Research and Development, 40(3):A1-A9 (2020).

https://doi.org/10.1659/MRD-JOURNAL-D-20-00018.1

Paudel, J. (2021). Short-run environmental effects of COVID-19: Evidence from forest fires. World Development, 137, 105120.

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.worlddev.2020.105120

Paudel, J. (2021). Bus ridership and service reliability: The case of public transportation in Western Massachusetts. Transport Policy, 100, 98-107.

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.tranpol.2020.10.010

Paudel, J. & Crago, C.L. (2021). Environmental externalities from : Evidence from Water Quality in the United States. American Journal of

Agricultural Economics, 103, 185-210. https://doi.org/10.1111/ajae.12130

Poudyal, N. C., Joshi, O., Hodges, D. G., Bhandari, H., & Bhattarai, P. (2020). Climate change, risk perception, and protection motivation among high-altitude

residents of the Mt. Everest region in Nepal. Ambio, 50(2), 505–518. https://doi.org/10.1007/s13280-020-01369-x

Tesfaye, K., Takele, R., Sapkota, T. B., Khatri-Chhetri, A., Solomon, D., Stirling, C.,

& Albanito, F. (2021). Model comparison and quantification of nitrous oxide

emission and mitigation potential from maize and wheat fields at a global scale. Science of The Total Environment, 782, 146696. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.scitotenv.2021.146696

Popular News Media/Op-Eds Puckett, E.S., & Baniya, S. (2021, April 2). Exhibit showcases student work in bringing digital to rural Nepal. Virginia Tech Daily. https://vtnews.vt.edu/articles/2021/04/univlib-code-for-nepal-exhibit.html

Climate Change, Resiliency, and Development

NACA Newsflash Page 5

Job Opportunities Page 5 NACAPostdoctoral Newsflash Researcher – Land Systems Science the project is seeking a postdoctoral associate in

and Agricultural Land Protection, Boise State the field of environmental governance for a one- University year position in the Department of Forest Building on American Farmland Trust’s "Farms Resources at the University of Minnesota, with UnderJob Threat"Opportunities project, the post-doc will use spatial the possibility of renewal for an additional year econometric and causal identification strategies to to work as part of two projects: A. NSF Urban evaluate a) the drivers of farmland loss, b) the MSP LTER project exploring urban environmental impact of policies on the rates and patterns of governance, and B. Changing Urban Socio- farmland loss, and c) policy leakage across multiple ecological Systems project exploring low-input scales and for different agricultural production and pollinator-friendly vegetation advocacy. systems. https://www.boisestate.edu/hes/student Questions should be directed to Drs. Kristen C. s/postdoctoral-researcher-land-systems-science/ Nelson [email protected] and Forrest Fleischman [email protected]. Postdoctoral Position in Urban Socio-Ecological To apply, visit Governance for the MSP LTER at University of https://hr.myu.umn.edu/jobs/ext/340182 Minnesota For the new Minneapolis-St. Paul (MSP) Urban Long Term Ecological Research (LTER) project, funded by the National Science Foundation (NSF),

Nepal Corner Postdoctoral Researcher – Land Systems Science Nepal's recently updated Nationally Determined Nonand AgriculturalResident Nepali Land Association Protection, has Boise State esUniversitytablished Nepal Development Fund Contribution (NDC) under the Paris Agreement and included Climate-Smart Village Program as an https://thehimalayantimes.com/business/nrnBuilding on American Farmland Trust’s "Farms- approachNepal of scaling Corner climate change adaptation and nepalUnder-development Threat" project-fund, the-established post-doc will use spatial econometric and causal identification mitigation actions in agriculture and allied sectors. For more info visit here Humanstrategies wildlife to evaluate conflict a) escalating the drivers in of Nepal farmland https://www4.unfccc.int/sites/ndcstaging/Publishe https:/loss, b)/kathmandupost.com/climate the impact of policies on the -rates and environment/2021/04/24/dozenspatterns of farmland loss, and c) policy-killed leakage-in- dDocuments/Nepal%20Second/Second%20Nation ally%20Determined%20Contribution%20(NDC)%20 wildlifeacross multiple-attacks- acrossscales -andthe- forcountry different -%202020.pdf agricultural production systems. https://www.boisestate.edu/hes/stude

Rhino population increased by more than hundred Tribhuvannts/postdoctoral University-researcher decides-land to postpone-systems -all in the past six years in Nepal. examsscience until/ further notice https://thehimalayantimes.com/nepal/tribhuv https://thehimalayantimes.com/nepal/rhino- population-grows-by-more-than-hundred-in- anPostdoctoral-university- decidesPosition-to in- postponeUrban Socio-all-examsEcological- conservation-boost untilGovernance-further- noticefor the MSP LTER at University of Minnesota For the new Minneapolis-St. Paul (MSP) Urban Long Term Ecological Research (LTER) project, funded by the National Science Foundation (NSF), the project is seeking a postdoctoral associate in the field of environmental governance for a one-year position in the Nepal's recently updated Nationally Department of Forest Resources at the University Determined Contribution (NDC) under the

Page 6 NACA Newsflash

Introduction of NACA Council PageEditorial 6 Team NACA Newsflash Executive Council:

Dr. Gyan Nyaupane President: Udaya Wagle, Director and Professor, School of Public Affairs and

Administration, Western Michigan University Dr. Rajan Parajuli

Dr. Bhuwan Thapa ViceIntroduction President: Gyan Nyaupane, of NACA Associate Dean Council and Professor, Watts College of Public Service and Community Solutions, Arizona State University Dr. Arun Khatri-Chhetri

Treasurer: Krishna Paudel, Gilbert Durbin Endowed Professor, Department of Dr. Nilesh Timilsina Agriculture Economics & Agribusiness, Louisiana State University

Dr. Bishwa S. Koirala Secretary: Milan Shrestha, Senior Lecturer, School of Sustainability, Arizona

E-mail: State University [email protected] Member: Netra Chhetri: Associate Professor, School for Future and

Website: Innovation, Arizona State University www.nepaliacademics.org Member: Dinesh Paudel, Associate Professor, Sustainable Development Living Learning Center, Appalachian State University

Member: Neelam Poudyal, Associate Professor, Department of Forestry, CONNECT WITH US SOCIAL MEDIA Wildlife & Fisheries, University of Tennessee /nepaliacademics Member: Brijesh Thapa, Professor and Head, School of Hospitality and Tourism Management, Oklahoma State University

Advisory Board:

Alok Bohara, Professor, Department of Economics, Director, Nepal Studies Center, The University of New Mexico

Devi Gnyawali, Department Head and R. B. Pamplin Professor, Department of Management, Pamplin College of Business,Virginia Tech.

NACA Newsflash

NACA invites you to share your news updates, announcements, and events for future issues of Newsflash through google form, which we send out every month.Executive For feedback Council: or comments, email us at [email protected]. President: Udaya Wagle, Director and Professor, School of Public Affairs and ToAdministration, subscribe to the Western newsletter, Michigan plea Universityse click here .

Vice President: Gyan Nyaupane, Associate Dean and Professor, Watts College NACAof Public invites Service you andto share Community your news Solutions, updates, Arizona announcements, State University and events for future issues of Newsflash through google form, which we send out every month.Treasurer For: Krishnafeedback P aorudel, comments, Gilbert Durbin email usEndowed at [email protected]. Professor, Department of