How do developers decide what land to convert from farmland into residential property? Eastern Mennonite University alum, Matt Gnagey, earned a 2011 Agricultural, Environmental and Development Economics Best Doctoral Research Manuscript award for his work on this question and related issues.
Gnagy researched development patterns in rural Maryland for his dissertation at Ohio State University. "If we can understand how communities have grown in the past we can encourage economic growth and preserve the environment and natural resources for the future,” Gnagy remarked. He hopes his work will lead to better community planning.
Read the full story in the November 7, 2011 Augusta Free Press.