Sonia Aziz
Dean of the School of Business & Economics, Associate Professor of Economics (2008)
Education:
- B.A. & M.Sc., University of Texas at Austin
- Ph.D., University of Maine
Contact:
Email: aziz@moravian.edu
Phone: 610-625-7702
Office: Comenius Hall, Room 210
Areas of Research and/or Expertise:
Dr. Aziz's most recent research involves work under the aegis of NASA’s Science Mission Directorate in Applied Earth Sciences. She is co-principal investigator of the NASA funded multi-year project “Socio-economic evaluation of multi-sensor remote sensing approach to predict cholera” which is ongoing through April 2018 under collaborative agreements with West Virginia University and the University of Maryland at College Park. Dr. Aziz joined Moravian University in 2008 as an assistant professor and was granted tenure in 2015. She is currently an associate professor, and, as Co-Director of the Poverty & Inequality Center of Investigation at Moravian University, she coordinates multiple interdisciplinary research initiatives related to environmental and health issues. Her most recent research involves valuation of pathogen contaminated drinking water in urban and rural Bangladesh, and her previous work involves valuation of arsenic in drinking water in rural Bangladesh. Her scholarship primarily involves Environmental Economics with a focus on Health Economics. Dr. Aziz's research focuses on valuation of health and other non-market goods (environmental goods) by looking at human behavior in response to potential health and environmental risks, and the impact of that behavior on the outcomes experienced. She is particularly interested in risk mitigating actions taken by individuals in highly resource constrained economies and most of her field work is based in developing countries.
Recent Activities of Note:
2016
- Awarded NASA Applied Science Program funding:
Sonia Aziz is leading the investigation on Economic Evaluation of “A multi-sensor remote sensing approach to predict cholera”Investigators: Sonia Aziz, Rita Colwell, Anwar Huq and Antarpreet Jutla. Sponsor: National Aeronautics and Space Administration.
2015
- Sonia Aziz was an invited speaker and moderator at the 21st International Research Conference on Economics and Social Sciences. She presented her work on “Environmental Factors Affecting Domestic Worker Retention in urban Bangladesh” at IRC-2015, U.A.E., 29-30 December, 2015.
2012
- Dr. Sonia Aziz was an invited speaker at the Thirteenth Asian Conference on Diarrheal Disease, held January 2012 in the Philippines. During conference proceedings, the Rotavirus vaccine milestone was achieved, as Philippines became the first South-East Asian nation to implement the World Health Organization’s (WHO) 2009 recommendation to introduce life-saving rotavirus vaccines through its national immunization program.
2011
- Dr. Aziz recently negotiated a five-year, renewable collaborative agreement with ICDDR, B. The agreement allows students and faculty to pursue research opportunities in the developing world. Dedicated to saving lives, ICDDR, B is an international health research organization located in Bangladesh. Through translation of research into treatment, training and policy advocacy ICDDR, B addresses critical health concerns facing the global south.
2009
- Sonia Aziz, assistant professor of economics, was an invited speaker at the Twelfth Asian Conference on Diarrheal Disease, held May 2009 in Yogyakarta, Indonesia. She also chaired and moderated a session on "Avoiding Waterborne Disease." The conference, in accordance with the United Nations' first Millennium Development Goal, focuses on improving sanitation and providing safe water for highly populated and poverty stricken communities in Asia.
- In July 2009, Sonia Aziz spoke at the Seventh World Congress of the International Health Economics Association (IHEA), held in Beijing. She also was chair and moderator for a session on children's health outcomes and presented a paper, "Valuation of Avoiding Arsenic in Drinking Water in Rural Bangladesh: An Averting Behavior Analysis."