Nicholas joined IFPRI in 2010 as a postdoctoral fellow. His current and previous research spans the areas of technology adoption, climate change adaptation, sustainable agriculture and natural resource use, drought and pest risk, imperfect markets and property rights, and food security. He received his Ph.D. in Agricultural and Resource Economics from the University of California-Davis in 2010, and also holds a B.S. in Biology from University of Wisconsin-Madison and M.S. in Agricultural Economics from Colorado State University. While completing his degree he concurrently worked on food security issues in the Middle East and North Africa region for the World Bank. He has done field work in India and Morocco.