• PhD, Public Policy and Administration, Mississippi State University
• M.A., Habitat (Human Settlement Studies), Universidad Nacional de Colombia
• B.A., Political Science, Universidad Nacional de Colombia

Dr. Gina Rico Mendez is an Assistant Research Professor and Research Fellow at the Social Science Research Center. Currently, she serves as the Human Outcomes Specialist and Monitoring, Evaluation and Learning (MEL) Specialist for the USAID-funded Feed the Future Innovation Lab for Fish. She also collaborates with the Mississippi Water Resources Research Institute (WRRI), conducting research on the complex interactions between natural resource management for agricultural production and human behavior. Prior to her current appointment at Mississippi State University, she was the Developmental Evaluator and Interim Project Director of the USAID-funded Complexity-Aware Monitoring and Evaluation (C-AME) of the Reconciliation Activity in Colombia. Her research focuses on the analysis of food systems, sustainable adoption and scaling of agricultural innovations, and gender and social inclusion. She has more than ten years of experience working with communities, public organizations, and academic institutions in Latin America, North America, and Africa in areas such as evidence-based MEL, policy, and institutional/systems analysis. Dr. Rico Mendez received a B.A. in Political Science and a M.A. in Habitat (Human Settlement Studies) from Universidad Nacional de Colombia. She completed her PhD in Public Policy and Administration at Mississippi State University under a Fulbright scholarship. ORCID iD https://orcid.org/0000-0002-8021-6981

Dr. Rico Mendez's work is supported in part by MAFES.