Rate My Professor Donald Akanga

Dr. Donald Akanga serves as Assistant Professor of Environmental Studies in the Department of Social Sciences and Cultural Studies at Montana State University Billings. He earned his Ph.D. in Geography, Environment, and Spatial Sciences from Michigan State University in 2023, along with a Graduate Certificate in Spatial Ecology from the same institution in 2021. Previously, he completed an M.S. in Geospatial Science at the University of North Alabama in 2018 and a B.S. in Environmental Studies and Community Development from Kenyatta University in Kenya in 2013. Akanga has extensive teaching experience, having served as Instructor of Record for courses including ISS 310 (People and the Environment), GEO 221 (Introduction to Geographic Information Systems), and GEO 221L at Michigan State University during summers 2020-2022. He also worked as a Graduate Teaching Assistant and Research Assistant there, contributing to NASA Carbon Cycle Science projects involving Earth system models and remote sensing data. Earlier professional roles include GIS Intern at Lawrenceburg Utility Systems in 2018, various positions at Komaza in Kenya from 2013-2016 such as Project Management Associate and Interim Nursery Manager, and Eco-rating Intern at Ecotourism Kenya in 2012.

Akanga's research interests encompass climate change and livelihoods sustainability, human-environment interactions, community engagement for development, and remote sensing with geospatial applications to natural resources management. His dissertation examined spatio-temporal land cover change, socio-ecological status, and interconnections with livelihoods in Kenya's Greater Mau Forest Complex. Key publications include "Accelerating agricultural expansion in the Greater Mau Forest Complex Ecosystem, Kenya" (Remote Sensing Applications: Society and Environment, 2022), "Will land use land cover change drive atmospheric conditions to become more conducive to wildfires in the United States?" (International Journal of Climatology, 2021), and "Challenging a global land surface model in a local socio-environmental system" (Land, 2020). He has presented at conferences such as AGU Fall Meetings (2022, 2021), AAG (2018), and SEDAAG (2018). Akanga has received awards including the Michael A. Graff Dissertation Completion Award ($2,000, 2022), multiple research and travel fellowships totaling over $19,000, Michigan State University Cloud Computing Fellowship (2019), and Phi Kappa Phi recognition. At MSU Billings, he organizes GIS Day events and contributes to international GIS training for conservation professionals in Africa.