About

Erica Dowd is a junior from Topsfield, Massachusetts. At Notre Dame, she is majoring in sociology, with minors in both real estate and social entrepreneurship & innovation. Her research interests include sustainability, urban design, and inequality.

From 2023 to 2024, Dowd worked with Professor Dan Miller, whose work focuses primarily on international environmental policy and the various impacts of conservation funding. Alongside Professor Miller, Dowd contributed to multiple projects, namely an inventory of land tenure tools, data collection of global climate commitments in partnership with the Rights and Resources Initiative, and bibliometric analyses of FLARE network publications.

In 2025, she will be working under the direction of Professor Ming Hu, who works in both the Architecture and Engineering departments at Notre Dame. Professor Hu’s current work surrounds carbon in the built environment and innovative sustainable building design for communities. Dowd will collaborate on several projects regarding carbon emissions in the built environment, and efforts to decarbonize the sector. She looks forward to working with Professor Hu and other contributors, continuously motivated by a love for the environment and the social complexities of constructing a more sustainable future.

Adviser
Major(s)
Sociology
Minor(s)
Real Estate
Social Entrepreneurship & Innovation