Research Interests
Dr. Samantha Lindgren is an Assistant Professor whose work focuses on Sustainability Education, defined broadly to include multiple global traditions including Education for Sustainable Development, Environmental and Climate Change Education, and Entrepreneurship Education, as a way to address the polycrisis and improve human and planetary flourishing. Her recent projects have examined youth and feminist approaches to energy, agricultural, and entrepreneurial education in Namibia, Cambodia, and Bangladesh. Domestically, she is engaged in nonformal sustainability education for youth and their households, and climate change education for teachers and educators. Dr. Lindgren is affiliated faculty in the Center for the Study of Global Gender Equity, the Technology Entrepreneurship Center in the Grainger College of Engineering, the ADM Institute for the Prevention of Postharvest Loss, and the Center for Culturally Responsive Evaluation and Assessment.
Education
Agricultural and Biological Engineering, PhD, University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign
Physics Teaching and Learning, M.Ed., University of Minnesota Twin Cities
Astrophysics, B.S., University of Minnesota Twin Cities
Additional Campus Affiliations
Assistant Professor, Education Policy, Organization and Leadership
Assistant Professor, Center for the Study of Global Gender Equity
External Links
Recent Publications
Lindgren, S. A., Aigul Rakisheva, & Carine Verschueren (2026). Climate Change Education and AI in the Classroom: Illinois Teachersʼ Perceptions, Practice, and Readiness. In Sustainable Futures Lab (pp. 1) https://publish.illinois.edu/sustainablefutures/climate-change-and-ai-in-illinois-k-12-classrooms-a-statewide-survey-of-teachers/
Lindgren, S. A., & Alrawashdeh, G. (2026). Sustainable Agricultural Education and Career Aspirations:(Re) engaging Cambodia’s Rural Youth in Agricultural Innovation. Journal of Education for Sustainable Development, 20, 1. https://doi.org/10.1177/0169796X251407167
Mozumdar, L., Lindgren, S., & Nishat, N. (2025). Modern agrotechnology, women's empowerment and poverty reduction nexus: Mediation of farm performance; empirical evidence on BAU-STR dryer. World Development Perspectives, 37, Article 100673. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.wdp.2025.100673
Lawson-Bulten, E., Lindgren, S., & Witmer, A. P. (2024). The Influence of Personal Experience and Identity on Design: Teaching Positionality to Engineers. ASEE Annual Conference and Exposition, Conference Proceedings. https://doi.org/10.18260/1-2--48114
Lindgren, S. (2024). Sociocultural determinants of electric cooking in rural Namibia: Recommendations for youth and educational approaches to implementation strategy and policy. Energy Policy, 187, Article 114015. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.enpol.2024.114015