Maaz Gardezi

Dr. Maaz Gardezi is an associate professor in the School of Public and International Affairs at Virginia Tech, where he studies how societies design, govern, and adapt to environmental and technological change. His interdisciplinary research bridges environmental sociology, participatory design, and computational social sciences to better understand and reimagine sustainable futures for rural and urban systems.

As the founder and director of the Technology–Environment–Society Lab (TES Lab), Dr. Gardezi leads projects that integrate social science with design-driven and data-intensive methods to address pressing questions at the intersection of climate resilience, future of work and workforce, and technological innovation. Much of his current work focuses on living labs—collaborative, real-world spaces where communities, designers, and researchers co-create solutions for sustainable and socially just transitions. His participatory research brings together stakeholders to co-design and evaluate private and public spaces, and governance models that balance innovation with public interest.

Dr. Gardezi is the Principal Investigator of several multi-year projects funded by the National Science Foundation (NSF) and the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s National Institute of Food and Agriculture (NIFA). These projects investigate the social and political dimensions of emerging approaches to digital and precision agriculture. Increasingly, his research integrates computational social science tools, such as machine learning, with community-driven and qualitative insights to produce actionable and policy-relevant knowledge.

Beyond his U.S.-based work, Dr. Gardezi conducts research on climate adaptation and vulnerability in the Global South, especially in South Asia. There, he collaborates with local organizations and communities to examine how climate-smart and regenerative practices intersect with power, equity, and knowledge production, innovating frameworks and methodologies for studying sustainability transitions in contexts of high environmental and social vulnerability.

Before joining Virginia Tech, Dr. Gardezi was an assistant professor of sociology and rural studies, with a joint appointment in natural resource management, at South Dakota State University. He holds a B.A. in Economics from the University of Bath (UK), an M.S. in Environmental Policy from the University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, and a Ph.D. in Sociology and Sustainable Agriculture from Iowa State University. He has also worked in the private sector (Porsche Cars Great Britain), nonprofit organizations (World Wildlife Fund – Washington, D.C.), and as a consultant to various government agencies on sustainability and climate policy.

At Virginia Tech, Dr. Gardezi teaches undergraduate and graduate courses on urban analytics, public policy, sustainability and design, and research methods. He also contributes to the Science, Technology, and Engineering in Policy (STEP) graduate certificate program, preparing students to critically engage with policy, governance, and innovation across diverse social and environmental contexts.