Shahriar Kibriya
Associate Director, ConDev
Dr. Shahriar Kibriya is an educator, researcher and development professional with expertise on development economics; education and institutional policy reform; social entrepreneurship and technology evaluation; institutional economics; environment and climate sustainability; and quantitative studies in social science. He completed a PhD degree in Agricultural Economics from Texas A&M University in 2011 and joined the Borlaug Institute for International Agriculture as an assistant director/research scientist. Prior to that Dr. Kibriya worked with Texas A&M International Agriculture as a Norman Borlaug Research Fellow. In his current position as the associate director of the Program on Conflict and Development by USAID, he has overseen more than 25 million dollars of grants and contracts; directed 19 projects; taught 2 graduate and undergraduate courses and led research through the Strategic Analytics Laboratory. Dr. Kibriya led teams to evaluate or design development projects in Afghanistan, Mexico, Guatemala, Democratic Republic of Congo and Bangladesh. He has also conducted numerous research evaluations in Ghana, Botswana, Senegal, South Africa, Liberia, Rwanda, Tanzania, South Sudan and Zambia. He has managed and executed institutional contracts from Bilateral Agencies, NGOs, State Sponsored Entities and Private Foundations.
Dr. Kibriya is the Co-Founder and current director of the prestigious USAID Higher Education Solutions Network Laboratory in Texas A&M which emanated from his PhD research. He has led numerous research and development projects on agricultural entrepreneurship, food policy, education reform, agricultural practices, female and youth empowerment through innovation across four continents. His research and policy work has appeared in leading journals as well as United States Agency for International Development’s monographs and practitioner outlets. Dr. Kibriya’s applied research work on efficacy of US foreign interventions related to reducing violence, food security, climate change, local institutions and education reform issues has generated effective policy suggestions for federal and state agencies. A faculty in the Agricultural Economics department, Dr. Kibriya has designed curriculum and taught 2 undergraduate and graduate courses at Texas A&M University. In 2012, while working for the Borlaug Institute for International Agriculture Dr. Kibriya was a part of a team that trained Texas National Guards to be deployed in Iraq and Afghanistan. As the director of the Strategic Analytics Laboratory of Center on Conflict and Development he has counseled and overseen research work of post-docs, post-masteral, graduate and undergraduate students. In recognition of academic and development initiatives Dr. Kibriya has been invited to serve on the boards of numerous federal, state and NGO led initiatives. In these roles, he champions policy advocacy and public service through USAID, Department of Defense of United States, and several other private platforms. His research and development work has been cited by award winning books such as: Forty Chances-Fighting Hope in a Hungry World (NYT Best Seller), From Warfront to Storefront: Americans Rebuilding Trust and Hope in Nations Under Fire as well as special UN reports- INSPIRE: seven strategies for ending violence against children and Ending the Torment: tackling bullying from the school yard to cyberspace.