Ph.D. Candidate, Pardee RAND Graduate School, and Assistant Policy Researcher, RAND
Karishma V. Patel is a Ph.D. candidate and assistant policy researcher specializing in international trade, economics, sustainable development, and green finance. Her research focuses on fostering low-carbon development strategies in global trade and development.
Her doctoral work explores the real-world impacts of sustainability practices among multinational corporations. Combining quantitative and qualitative approaches, she evaluates the effectiveness of corporate climate mitigation policies in driving national climate goals. Patel is also developing new methods in supply chain analysis, tackling critical issues such as sanctions enforcement, forced labor mitigation, and broader ESG risks.
Patel has extensive experience merging data-driven insights with practical policy development and implementation, particularly in complex, global settings. She has expertise in designing measurement frameworks, modeling future climate impacts, conducting risk analyses, and evaluating programs and processes with strong proficiencies in data science, econometrics, and geospatial analysis, as well as applying community participatory methods.
She began her career leading community-driven water infrastructure projects in remote villages along the Guyanese Amazon as a Peace Corps Volunteer. She has since contributed to high-impact initiatives with organizations such as the World Bank, the Red Cross and Crescent Society, NASA, USAID, and other federal agencies with experience in countries across Asia, Africa, and Latin America. Notably, she was a contributing author to the IPCC 6th Assessment Cycle Working Group II.
M.Phil. in policy analysis, Pardee RAND Graduate School; M.P.A. in public administration, Harvard University; B.A. in economics; international studies, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill
