About

Proper Pronounciation

Milan: Mi·la·n

Shrestha: shreh · stuh

Biosketch

Milan Shrestha is a Full Teaching Professor and Senior Global Futures Scientist at Arizona State University. With a background in environmental anthropology, international development, and geospatial analysis, his research investigates how shared cultural knowledge and social norms influence human decision-making—especially around livelihoods, disaster risk, food systems, and other sustainability challenges.

His current research is driven by a central question: how can we protect people from the disaster risks like the ones posed by melting glaciers and glacial lake outburst flooding (GLOF) in a climate-stressed world? His research explores this question through the agriculture–water–climate nexus, including glacier retreat and glacial lakes outburst flood in the Himalayan region, climate adaptation in Nepal’s Gandaki River Basin, and the urban transformation of farmland in Phoenix and other fast-growing cities. He has led several interdisciplinary projects, including an NSF funded grant to investigate people's perception and responses to GLOF risks near Mt. Everest and a study focusing on the socio-ecological impacts of rapid urbanization in Phoenix and Kathmandu.

Since joining ASU in 2009, Milan has evolved beyond disciplinary boundaries, applying anthropological insights and social science methods to address transdisciplinary sustainability issues. He collaborates with other social scientists, ecologists, engineers, and geophysical scientists, and is one of the few social scientists working at the nexus of cryospheric change, glacial disasters, and socio-cultural systems.

At ASU, he has also developed and taught large-enrollment courses on the social dimensions of sustainability, including SOS 110: Building a Sustainable World, SOS 320: Society & Sustainability, and SOS 444/544: Climate Change, Society & Sustainability. His teaching emphasizes empathy, critical thinking, and skillset development needed to become sustainability 

Outside academia, Milan enjoys visual design & story telling, experimenting in the kitchen, and photography of nature and culture intersections in places like Arizona’s deserts and high mountains.

Short Version (within 100 words)

Milan Shrestha is a Full Teaching Professor and Global Futures Scientist at ASU specializing in environmental anthropology and sustainability. His research addresses how cultural knowledge shapes decisions on climate adaptation, glacier hazards, and urban transformations. He has led several research projects in the Himalaya and Phoenix, collaborates across disciplines, and teaches courses on sustainability and climate change. Outside of academia, Milan explores photography, culinary experimentation, and mountain societies around the world.