Dr. Xorla S. Ocloo (she/her) is an Assistant Professor of African and Black Diaspora Studies and Environmental Sciences and Studies at DePaul. She earned her PhD in Population Biology, Ecology, and Evolution from Emory University, MSc from the University of Michigan Ann-Arbor in Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, and her BSc in Integrative Biology from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign.
Dr. Ocloo is an environmental social scientist who specializes in social-ecological systems in agricultural landscapes. Specifically, her research addresses how environmental and social factors affect food systems in Black communities in the United States and in Africa, and how to achieve more sustainable, resilient, and just food systems. Her lab focuses on addressing these questions using a transdisciplinary approach, leveraging research methods in field ecology, sociology, anthropology, and expertise from community partners.
Her courses at DePaul include: Food Justice in Black Communities, Africa: Peoples, Cultures, Ideas, and Movements, Foundations of Environmental Studies, Environmental Racism, and Urban and Community Agriculture.