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.

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. .
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. .
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.
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://.