Lawani

Abdelaziz Lawani听
Assistant Professor
Agribusiness Management and Entrepreneurship听
Department of Agricultural and Environmental Sciences
College of Agriculture 听
3500 John A. Merritt Boulevard, Nashville, TN

Contact Information
Office Location: 202K Farrell-Westbrook Complex
Email: alawani@tnstate.edu
Telephone: (615) 963-1839
Twitter: @abdelawani听

Education
Ph.D. Agricultural Economics, University of Kentucky
M.S. 听Economics, North Carolina State University听
B.S. 听 Agronomy, University of Abomey-Calavi, Benin

Research Areas
Dr. Lawani's research and extension programs are at the intersection of agribusiness management, applied economics, entrepreneurship, and machine learning. His training gives him a strong multidisciplinary background that allows him to work on a variety of topics and facilitate a variety of interdisciplinary collaborations. He is currently working on using machine learning, remote sensing (drones and satellite data), social networks, and consumer-generated content online (reviews, commentaries) to infer economic agents鈥� behavior. One of his current research projects is using behavioral economics to analyze the demand for plant-based meat and the halo effects of eco-labels. He is also using publicly available big data, such as Airbnb, to measure economic activity at the local level, the impact of Covid, and policy responses. 听听
In Extension, his current outreach programs include financial aspects of successful farm management such as farm business analysis, enterprise budgeting, and analysis, whole-farm planning, investment analysis, etc.听
Dr. Lawani is also a serial digital entrepreneur. He has developed among others precision agriculture solutions using drones and a direct marketing app that connects small-scale farmers and consumers.听

Publications听
Lawani, A. G. Owusu. 2020. Youth-oriented packaging and the demand for e-liquids: Evidence from Amazon.听
Lawani, A. 2020. Modeling the demand for plant-based meat on online platforms.
Lawani, A., M. Reed., T. Mark, and Y. Zheng. 2019. Impact of Reviews on Price: Evidence from Sentiment Analysis of Airbnb Reviews in Boston.
Lawani, A. 2019. Determinants of the impacts of drones鈥� services on farmers鈥� productivity.
Lawani, A. 2018. Beer quality and preferences: sensory analysis of reviews scrapped from beeradvocates.com.
Lawani, A. 2018. Textual analysis and omitted variable bias in hedonic price models applied to short-term apartment rental market
Lawani, A. 2014. The Enterprise Development Matrix: A toolkit to start and develop successful businesses

Current Teaching
AGSC 4080 鈥� Experimental Design and Analysis

Previously Taught听
Agricultural Economics; Agricultural Marketing; Agricultural Policy; Global Food Systems; Introduction to Unmanned Aerial Systems (UAS); Application of UAS in Agriculture; Principles of Agribusiness Management; Agribusiness Records and Analysis; Agricultural Financing; Determinants of Food Obesity in the U.S.

Awards, Honors, and Grants
United Nations Population Funds (UNFPA) (multiple grants) 2020-2021
Perkins Leadership Grant, 2020
ENABEL (Belgium Development Agency) (multiple grants), 2019-2021
ACP-EU Technical Centre for Agricultural and Rural Co-operation (CTA) (multiple grants), 2015-2020听
Clinton Foundation (multiple grants and honors), 2015-2018
Future Leaders Forum of the Association for International Agriculture and Rural Development, 2017听
AWF Species Protection Grant, 2016
University of Kentucky Research Activity Award, 2016-2017听
U.S. Embassy in Benin Public Affairs, 2016听
Agence universitaire de la Francophonie, 35 under 35 innovator, (2016)
Norman E. Borlaug Leadership Enhancement in Agriculture Program, 2016听
U.S. Department of State (multiple grants), 2013-2015
Fulbright Scholar, 2010-2013

Date joined staff: 听2022