Chhaya Kolavalli, Ph.D.

Dr. Chhaya Kolavalli is a senior research science officer for the Ewing Marion Kauffman Foundation, where she facilitates operationalizing research-related initiatives and knowledge generation that amplifies the Foundation’s thought leadership and community impact by emphasizing evidence-based, actionable, and practical research that can inform policy and programmatic strategies for the Foundation and the communities it serves.

Prior to joining the Kauffman Foundation, Dr. Kolavalli was an assistant director at the University of Kentucky Center for Equality and Social Justice, where she developed programming that supports collaborative social justice research, which helps researchers think about their work in more community-engaged and policy-relevant ways. Earlier, Dr. Kolavalli was an editorial assistant with Human Organization, where she managed the manuscript review process for the flagship journal in applied anthropology. Dr. Kolavalli is the author of the book, “Well-Intentioned Whiteness: Green Urban Development and Black Resistance in Kansas City” with the University of Georgia press. Her work can be found in other publications, as well, such as Gastronomica, Human Organization, and Journal of Agriculture, Food Systems, and Community Development.

Dr. Kolavalli has a Ph.D. in applied anthropology specializing in equitable city development, race and racism, and urban agriculture from the University of Kentucky, and a Master of Arts in cultural anthropology and Bachelor of Arts in anthropology from the University of Kansas.