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Eberly College of Arts & Sciences Department of Geology and Geography
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Male with dark brown hair and glasses sits at his desk in front of a bookshelf.

Brent McCusker

Professor of Geography; Department Chair

Contact

brent.mccusker@mail.wvu.edu 330 Brooks Hall

Categorized As

Role: Leadership,
Focus or Research Area: Geography,

International Development and Economic Development Theory — I work in the areas of Applied International Development and Economic Development Theory within geography, serving the Geography BA , the Sustainability Studies BA, and the Geography graduate program.

I work very closely with the US Agency for International Development (USAID) and frequently assist their field offices (Missions) on active development interventions. I am a co-founder of YouthMappers – an international network of university student clubs devoted to the use of open geo-spatial technologies to empower youth to determine and address their own development needs and goals. I am currently the department Chair of Geology and Geography.

Current and ongoing research projects

  • USAID/ Malawi – Real Time Early Warning System – a data system to provide real time shock and hazard data to Mission staff in order to prepare for El Nino disruptions to livelihood systems.
  • Livelihood Analysis and Mapping program – a multi-Mission project at USAID to map shocks to livelihoods and their contributing factors in order to identify sectoral development interventions that promote household-level resilience.

Representative publications

M cCusker, B. forthcoming . Deproletarianization, Development, and the Production of Space. Single authored theoretical book that characterizes changing patterns of development and maps them to changing labor regimes.


McCusker, B. , Ahmed, W., Ramutsindela, M. and Solís, P. 2021. The Routledge Handbook of Development and Environment . New York: Routledge. Synthetic overview of the field of Development and Environment from multi-disciplinary and global south perspectives.

Solís, P., McCusker, B ., Menkiti, N., Cowan, N., & Blevins, C. 2018. Engaging global youth in participatory spatial data creation for the UN sustainable development 2 goals: The case of open mapping for malaria prevention. Applied Geography 98: 143-155.
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