Dr. Gina Rico Mendez is a Research Assistant Professor and Research Fellow at the Mississippi State University-Social Science Research Center. Prior to her current appointment, she was the Developmental Evaluator of the USAID-funded Complexity-Aware Monitoring and Evaluation (C-AME) of the Reconciliation Activity in Colombia. Her research focuses on the analysis of food systems, rural development, and gender and social inclusion. She has more than ten years of experience working with communities, public organizations, and academic institutions in Latin America, North America, and Africa in areas such as evidence-based Monitoring, Evaluation, and Learning (MEL), policy, and institutional/systems analysis.

Dr. Rico Mendez received a B.A. in Political Science and an M.A. in Habitat (Human Settlement Studies) from Universidad Nacional de Colombia. She completed her Ph.D. in Public Policy and Administration at Mississippi State University under a Fulbright scholarship.

https://orcid.org/0000-0002-8021-6981