Clark Gray

Homepage of Clark Gray

I am a geographer and postdoctoral researcher at Duke University with research interests in population, development and the environment. As described below, my current and past research have focused on tsunami-related displacement in Indonesia, migration and the environment in the Ecuadorian Andes, land use change in the Ecuadorian Amazon, and demographic and statistical methods.

Click here for my CV

Tsunami-related Displacement in Indonesia

For my postdoc I am collaborating with Elizabeth Frankenberg and Duncan Thomas of Duke University on their Study of the Tsunami Aftermath and Recovery in Sumatra, Indonesia. This project has collected a unique longitudinal survey dataset on 40,000 individuals who were interviewed prior to the tsunami and each year since. I am using this dataset to investigate human displacement, return migration and changes in economic well-being in the wake of the tsunami. This position was initially funded through an NIA training grant to the Carolina Population Center (CPC) and subsequently by my K99 Pathway to Independence award from NICHD.

Clark Gray, Elizabeth Frankenberg, Thomas Gillepsie, Cecep Sumantri and Duncan Thomas. 2009. Tsunami-induced Displacement in Sumatra, Indonesia. Paper presented to the Carolina Population Center, the Association of American Geographers, the Population Association of America, and the International Union for the Scientific Study of Population. Chapel Hill, February 27; Las Vegas, March 22-27; Detroit, April 30-May 2; Marrakech, September 27-October 2.

Clark Gray, Elizabeth Frankenberg and Duncan Thomas. Return Migration after the Tsunami in Sumatra, Indonesia. Work in progress.

Clark Gray, Elizabeth Frankenberg and Duncan Thomas. Consequences of Post-tsunami Displacement for Health and Economic Well-being in Indonesia. Work in progress.

Migration and the Environment in the Ecuadorian Andes

This was the topic of my doctoral dissertation in the UNC Department of Geography under advisor Thomas Whitmore and is the subject of a larger ongoing project with Richard Bilsborrow. Towards the dissertation I conducted a structured household and community survey in the southern Ecuadorian Andes and used these data in multivariate analyses of the drivers and effects of out-migration, with a focus on connections to the environment, rural livelihoods and gender. This project was funded by an NSF Doctoral Dissertation Improvement Grant and a Research Residency from the CPC. The ongoing project with Bilsborrow, funded by an NIH R21, extends this approach to include three additional study areas, a larger sample and additional environmental data sources.

Clark Gray and Richard Bilsborrow. 2010. Environmental Influences on Out-Migration in Rural Ecuador. Paper to be presented to the Population Association of America, Dallas, April 15-17.

Clark Gray. 2010. Gender and Rural Out-Migration in the Southern Ecuadorian Andes. In press for Environment and Planning A.

Clark Gray. 2009. Environment, Land and Rural Out-Migration in the Southern Ecuadorian Andes. World Development 37(2): 457.468.

[Winner of student paper awards from the Population (2007), Latin Americanist (2007), and Cultural & Political Ecology (2008) Specialty Groups of the Association of American Geographers.]

Clark Gray. 2009. Rural Out-Migration and Smallholder Agriculture in the Southern Ecuadorian Andes. Population and Environment 30(4): 193.217.

Clark Gray. 2008. Environmentally-induced migrants: a beginning and a way forward. Panel Contribution to the Population-Environment Research Network Cyberseminar on Environmentally Induced Population Displacements, August 2008.

Clark Gray. 2008. Out-Migration and Rural Livelihoods in the Southern Ecuadorian Andes. Dissertation for the UNC Department of Geography.

Clark Gray and Richard Bilsborrow. Consequences of Out-migration for Land Use and Livelihoods in Rural Ecuador. Work in progress.

Clark Gray and Richard Bilsborrow. Contextual Influences on Livelihood Diversification in Rural Ecuador. Work in progress.

Land Use and Livelihoods in the Ecuadorian Amazon

Beginning during my predoctoral traineeship with the CPC Ecuador Amazon Projects, I used household survey data from five indigenous populations in the Ecuadorian Amazon to investigate the drivers of household land use and livelihood strategies. Drawing on this research, I have also contributed to collaborative papers with other investigators from the Ecuador Projects and the CPC.

Flora Lu, Clark Gray, Richard Bilsborrow, Carlos Mena, Jason Bremner, Alisson Barbieri, Christine Erlien, and Stephen Walsh. Contrasting Colonist and Indigenous Impacts on Amazonian Forests. In press for Conservation Biology.

Clark Gray, Richard Bilsborrow, Jason Bremner, and Flora Lu. 2008. Indigenous Land Use in the Ecuadorian Amazon: A Cross-Cultural and Multilevel Analysis. Human Ecology 36(1): 97.109.

[Fourth most downloaded paper from Human Ecology, January-May 2008.]

Ronald Rindfuss, Barbara Entwisle, Stephen Walsh, Carlos Mena, Chris Erlien, and Clark Gray. 2007. Frontier Land Use: Synthesis, Challenges, and Next Steps. The Annals of the Association of American Geographers 97(4): 739.754.

Demographic and Statistical Methods

My primary methodological expertise is in survey data collection and statistical analysis, including complex sampling designs, life history approaches, and event history and multilevel models. As part of this interest I have collaborated with researchers at the Environmental Protection Agency to construct multilevel models for data from laboratory experiments in toxicology.

Andrew Hotckiss, Cynthia Rider, Chad Blystone, Vickie Wilson, Phillip Hartig, Gerald Ankley, Paul Foster, Clark Gray and L. Earl Gray. 2008. Fifteen years after Wingspread- Environmental endocrine disrupters and human and wildlife health: Where we are today and where we need to go. Toxicological Sciences 102(2): 371.382.

L. Earl Gray, Norman Barlow, Kembra Howdeshell, Joseph Otsby, Jonathan Furr and Clark Gray. Transgenerational effects of di(2-ethylhexyl) pthalate in the male CRL:CD(SD) rat: Added value of assessing multiple offspring per litter. Toxicological Sciences 110(2): 411.425.