Michael R. Carter is a distinguished professor of agricultural and resource economics at the University of California, Davis and honorary professor of economics at the University of Cape Town. Carter directs the BASIS MRR Innovation Lab and the Resilience+ Innovation Facility. Author of numerous scientific publications, Carter’s current research projects examine poverty dynamics and productive social safety nets, evaluation of interventions to boost small farm uptake of improved technologies, and feature a suite of projects that design, pilot and evaluate index insurance contracts as mechanisms to alleviate chronic poverty and deepen agricultural and rural financial markets.  Carter is an elected fellow of NBER (the National Bureau of Economic Research), BREAD (Bureau for Research and Economic Analysis of Development) and the American Agricultural Economics Association.  He has won awards for research quality and impact and has served in an editorial capacity with multiple journals devoted to economic development and food security issues.  A past member of the boards of directors of Oxfam America and the Grameen Foundation, he currently serves on multiple scientific advisory panels.