• PhD, Public Policy and Administration, Mississippi State University

• M.A., Habitat (Human Settlement Studies), Universidad Nacional de Colombia

• B.A., Political Science, Universidad Nacional de Colombia

Dr. Gina Rico Mendez is an assistant research professor at the Social Science Research Center at Mississippi State University. She leads applied social science research and evaluation initiatives at the intersection of food systems, governance, and social inclusion. With a systems-thinking approach, her work bridges research and practice to inform policy, support rural development, and advance global food security. She brings over a decade of experience in Monitoring, Evaluation, Research, and Learning across U.S. and international contexts, including work on major donor-funded programs. She is also a Fulbright scholar.

As a social scientist at a land-grant university, Dr. Rico Mendez is committed to applied research that informs both policy and practice. She collaborates with the Mississippi Water Resources Research Institute to examine the interactions between agricultural production, natural resource management, and human behavior—supporting the development of more equitable and sustainable resource use strategies in rural communities.

She has led and supported policy analysis, institutional assessments, and adaptive learning initiatives for programs funded by USAID, USDA, HRSA, and the U.S. Department of State. As the former Research and Learning Manager for the USAID-funded Feed the Future Innovation Lab for Fish, she guided cross-continental research partnerships and supported capacity strengthening for evidence use across Africa and Asia.

Her geographic experience spans Latin America, North America, Africa, and Asia, with research and development efforts in the U.S., Colombia, Bangladesh, Cambodia, Kenya, Nigeria, and Zambia. She previously served as Developmental Evaluator and Interim Project Director for USAID’s Complexity-Aware Monitoring and Evaluation activity in Colombia, applying adaptive learning tools to inform programming in conflict-affected environments.

Dr. Rico Mendez's work is supported in part by MAFES.