Faculty Mentors
Mercy Chepkwony
Mercy Chepkwony is a visiting scholar at ÍřĆŘłÔąĎ and a Ph.D. candidate at Penn State University, where she is pursuing a dual-title degree in Recreation, Park, and Tourism Management and Transdisciplinary Research on Environment and Society. Her research focuses on the human dimensions of conservation, with particular attention to community livelihoods, wellbeing, and human–wildlife coexistence around protected areas. Mercy’s dissertation explores conservation behavior and community engagement in Kenya’s Maasai Mara National Reserve, examining how local perspectives intersect with conservation policy and practice.
Beyond her dissertation, Mercy investigates how conservation incentive programs and nature-based tourism can create sustainable benefits for communities living near wildlife reserves while advancing biodiversity conservation goals. She earned her M.S. in Community Resources and Development from Arizona State University and a B.Sc. in Hospitality and Tourism Management from Pwani University, Kenya. Her interdisciplinary background reflects a deep commitment to bridging local knowledge, conservation practice, and research for more equitable and effective environmental outcomes.
Dr. Donald Akanga
Environmental Geography, GIS, and Remote Sensing
Dr. Akanga uses GIS and remote sensing to explore how land use, climate variability, and livelihoods are changing in Montana and around the world. His teaching and research draw on geographic concepts and spatial technologies to help us understand and respond to real world challenges—revealing patterns in human–environment systems that inform decision making across sectors such as natural resource management, public health, and sustainable livelihoods. In addition to his work in Montana, Dr. Akanga conducts collaborative research in East Africa—especially in Kenya’s Mau Forest region—using GIS and remote sensing to examine agricultural expansion, landcover change, and their implications for livelihoods and environmental sustainability.
Working closely with students in GIS labs, internships, and capstone projects, Dr. Akanga emphasizes geographic and spatial thinking as a bridge between data, place, and environmental change. He directly involves undergraduates in his ongoing research, including a Yellowstone River water quality project where students collect and analyze samples, map nutrient patterns, and identify emerging hotspots. Many have presented their findings at professional conferences, gaining valuable research and networking experience.
“The Environmental Studies program at MSU Billings is ideal if you’re curious about how people and places shape one another and want to develop the knowledge, analytical skills, and real world experience needed to address today’s environmental challenges.” —Dr. Akanga
Courses Taught: Principles of GIS; Spatial Sciences & Technology; Mapping Techniques; Environmental Studies Capstone; GIS internships.
Student Engagement: Dr. Akanga actively creates and supports high impact‑ opportunities for students, from collaborative GIS research to field‑ and lab ‑based projects tied to ongoing grants and community needs. He regularly supervises internships with partners working on water, land use, and sustainability, and is known for helping students turn classroom skills into real ‑world experience, conference presentations, and strong preparation for professional geospatial and environmental work.
Dr. Elizabeth (Beth) Nelson
Environmental and Resource Geography, Energy, and Human–Environment Systems
Dr. Nelson is an environmental geographer whose work focuses on how migration and energy shape environmental change in places ranging from Europe, North Africa, and the American Southwest. In the classroom, she links climate anomalies, energy transitions, and water stress to the communities where students live and work, using maps and spatial data to connect big picture debates to specific landscapes in Montana and beyond. Her research on immigrant communities and integration practices in Paris now feeds into a broader agenda on climate and energy driven mobility between North Africa and Europe, tracing how families and communities respond to shifting environmental and economic conditions across regions.
Building on this foundation, Dr. Nelson’s current projects trace environmental and social dynamics across Algeria, from the Sahel frontier to its coastal cities and deep into the Sahara desert. In 2026, she is beginning extended fieldwork with Bedouin and migrant communities in southern Algeria to understand how climate shocks, prolonged drought, and rising numbers of extremely hot days are reshaping livelihoods, energy use, and decisions about whether to move or stay. In parallel, her comparative work on the slow solar transitions in Arizona and Algeria analyzes why two sun-rich regions with similar physical potential have adopted renewables in such different ways, emphasizing the role of policy choices, infrastructure, and local priorities rather than simple technological determinism. Taken together, these projects form a coherent human–environment geography agenda, linking physical, social, and environmental questions in a way that ties global energy transitions to the everyday lives and decisions of the communities she studies.
“I believe our small but mighty student cohort are learning to make the hard choices that life and leadership demand—and to become thoughtful stewards of our environment for generations to come.” — Dr. Nelson
Courses Taught: Introduction to Environmental Studies; Human Geography; World Regional Geography; Geography of Energy Resources; Environmental Policy Analysis; Geography of Migration; Geography of North Africa and the Maghreb, Water and Society.
Student Engagement: Mentoring on research and independent studies; supporting internships and community engaged projects; helping students connect geographic, environmental, and GIS skills to future careers and graduate pathways, while encouraging them to understand how local places are connected to broader regional and global ‑systems.