Sameer Shah

Sameer Shah

  • Assistant Professor
  • John C. Garcia Professor
  • Visit Sameer's website

    • Sameer Shah

    • Assistant Professor
    • John C. Garcia Professor

    Research areas

    Dr. Sameer Shah is a John C. Garcia Professor and Assistant Professor of Climate Adaptation in the School of Environmental & Forest Sciences at the University of Washington. He is also an Affiliate with the UW Center for Studies in Demography in Ecology, Center for Environmental Politics, and Clean Energy Institute. Dr. Shah holds expertise in the human dimensions of climate change vulnerability and adaptation. He aims to understand how systemic marginalization, and climate-related change and disasters interact to create and amplify uneven water, food, and energy insecurities for communities on the frontlines of climate change. In particular, his research develops theoretical, conceptual, and empirical analyses of the equity, justice, and sustainability outcomes of climate adaptation and disaster response at multiple scales. Dr. Shah’s most current research is focused on the causal drivers and impacts associated with “climate maladaptation.” Through research in South/Southeast Asia, the contiguous U.S., and Puerto Rico, he and his collaborators seek to advance interventions that reduce the disproportionately larger climate risks experienced by marginalized groups, and to shape long-term policy strategies that transform the underlying systems that heighten these impacts. Dr. Shah directs the Water, Adaptation & Equity Research Space (WATERS).

    Autumn 2026 Admissions: Dr. Shah is not accepting new graduate students in the 2026–2027 admission cycle. He also does not have any available openings for undergraduate students in his lab at the moment.

    Education

    Ph.D., Resource Management and Environmental Studies, The University of British Columbia

    Courses

    Current sponsored projects

    • Can machine learning applications identify agricultural climate “solutions” that may have unintended negative consequences?

    • How are groundwater patterns changing over time in the American West—an “epicenter” of the U.S. water crisis?

    • Is access to basic drinking water and sanitation improving in countries like India?

    • What is the scale of displacement and patterns of migration observable after recent wildfires in California?

    Selected publications

    Shah, S.H., Rai, P., Nayak, S., Belhekar, V. (2026). Relational geographies of climate maladaptation: Agrarian change and emergent vulnerabilities in rural Maharashtra, India. Climate & Development: 1-13. https://doi.org/ 10.1080/17565529.2026.2711288

    Shah, S.H. (2026). Maladaptation can contribute to aggregated, amplified, compounded, and cascading climate risks. Current Opinion in Environment & Sustainability, 83: 101680. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cosust.2026.101689

    Wilson, N.J. & Shah, S.H. (2026). Contesting “climate solutionism”: Critical perspectives from the water-climate nexus. Global Environmental Change, 99: 103185. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.gloenvcha.2026.103185

    Shah, S.H., Balderas Guzmán, C., Carmack, M., Wettstein, A. (2026). How do adaptation practices become climate maladaptive? A systematic scoping review of empirical scholarship. Wiley Interdisciplinary Reviews (WIREs) Climate Change, 17(3): 1-29. https://doi.org/10.1002/wcc.70074

    Roque, A.D., Painter, M.A., Prudencio, W., Shah, S.H., Quintana, E., Tormos-Aponte, F., de León Colón, K., Cuevas Quintana, F. (2025). Navigating cascading food-energy-water insecurities: A case of com- munity leadership in Puerto Rico. Environmental Science and Policy, 171: 104188. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.envsci.2025.104188

    Shah, S.H., Haverkamp, J., Balderas Guzmán, C., Mills-Novoa, M., Carmack, M. (2025). Be- yond unintentionality: Considering climate maladaptation as cyclical. Climatic Change, 178(77): 1-19. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10584-025-03922-7

    Wilson, N.J., Shah, S.H., Montoya, T., Grasham, C., Korzenevica-Proud, M., Octavianti, T., Vonk, J., Sultana, F. (2024). Climate–water crises: critically engaging relational, spatial, and temporal dimensions. Ecology and Society, 29(4):13. https://doi.org/10.5751/ES-15469-290413

    Shah, S.H., Harris, L.M., Joy, K.J., Birkenholtz, T., Ajibade, I. (2024). Re-conceptualizing climate maladaptation: From social-ecological interactions to relational socionatures. Global Environmental Change, 88: 102910. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.gloenvcha.2024.102910