Sonia N. Aziz

Dean of the School of Business & Economics, Professor of Economics (2008)

Education:

• B.A. & M.Sc., University of Texas at Austin
• Ph.D., University of Maine

Contact:

Email: azizs@moravian.edu 
Office phone: 610-625-7702
Office location: Comenius Hall 215

Areas of Research and/or Expertise:

Sonia Aziz's research and teaching interests include environmental economics, water resources, integrated socio-environmental systems, and the socio-economic value of Earth Science information. She is particularly interested in interdisciplinary approaches to the causes and consequences of coupled human-natural systems, especially work that requires modeling human decision-making, environmental processes and the connections between them. Her most recent research was funded by grants from the NASA Applied Sciences Directorate and focuses on the socio-economic valuation of tracking pathogen contaminated drinking water using remote sensing technology. 

Curriculum Vitae

Recent Activities of Note:

2020 - 2022 

• NASA/RFF Award: 
  Principal Investigator, Quantifying Benefits of Using Satellite Derived Early Warning System to Predict Cholera in Bangladesh. Sponsor: The Valuables Consortium: A cooperative agreement between Resources for the Future and the National Aeronautics and Space Administration. 

2022

• Speaker and moderator, 27th Annual Conference of the European Association of Environmental and Resource Economists on Experimental Evidence in Pandemic Times, Rimini, Italy, Experimental Evidence in Pandemic Times. 28 June - 1 September, 2022.
• Speaker and moderator, 13th European Conference of Health Economists, Health Economics of Sustainable Welfare Systems. Oslo, Norway. Oslo, Norway. 5 - 8 July, 2022.
• Speaker and moderator, American Geophysical Union Annual Meeting. Accelerating Human Agility, Communication and Equity in Shifting Disease Landscapes. Online. 13 - 17 December, 2021.
• Participant, Valuables Consortium, Community of Practice Seminar, 17, December 2021.

2018

• Presenter, NASA Health and Air Quality Applications Program Annual Meetings, 2018, Burlington, Vermont.
• Speaker and moderator, 12th European Conference on Health Economics, 11 - 14 July 2018, MECC Massatricht, the Netherlands.

2016-2019

• NASA Applied Science Program Award: 
  Principal Investigator, Economic Evaluation of "A multi-sensor remote sensing approach to predict cholera" Sponsor: National Aeronautics and Space Administration. 

Selected Publications: 

• Pakhtigian, E. L., Aziz, S. N., Boyle, K. J., Akanda, A. S., and Hanifi, S. M. A. (2024). Early warning systems, mobile technology, and cholera aversion: Evidence from rural Bangladesh. Journal of Environmental Economics and Management, 125, 102966. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jeem.2024.102966. 
• Broyles, L. M. T., Pakhtigian, E. L., Aziz, S. N., Akanda, A. S., and Mejia, A. (2023). Seasonal variation in household water insecurity in rural Bangladesh: A longitudinal analysis. PLoS Water, 2 (7), e0000157. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pwat.0000157 .
• Aziz, S. N., Pakhtigian, E. L., Akanda, A. S., A. Jutla, A. Huq, M. Alam, G. U. Ahsan, and R. R. Colwell (2021), Does Improved Risk Information Increase the Value of Cholera Prevention? Social Science and Medicine. 113716. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.socscimed.2021.113716  
• Akanda, A. S., Aziz, S. N., A. Jutla, A. Huq, M. Alam, G. U. Ahsan, and R. R. Colwell (2018), Satellites and cell phones from a cholera early-warning system, Eos 99, https://doi.org/10.1029/2018EO094839.