Research 

Carmel Price's research thematically falls into two categories: food insecurity and environmental justice. Themes of inequality related to socio-economic class, gender, and race/ethnicity are laced throughout her work. In addition, as a sociologist and former social worker, she values public sociology and community-based participatory research. 

Carmel actively engages undergraduate students in her projects, including publishing. For example, since joining the University of Michigan - Dearborn in September 2014, Carmel has co-authored manuscripts with 12 undergraduate students and 11 community partners. Carmel has also co-published 4 public-facing white papers/ policy reports with additional undergraduate students and community partners. 

Carmel co-founded the Environmental Health Research-to-Action (EHRA) research team at the University of Michigan-Dearborn. EHRA is a community-academic partnership focused on building skills and intergenerational knowledge in environmental health, community science, and policy advocacy to address cumulative environmental exposures in Dearborn and nearby communities.

For more information on this research team, visit the EHRA website: https://ehra.umd.umich.edu/home. 

Carmel co-founded the College and University Pantries (CUP) research team at the University of Michigan - Dearborn. CUP aims to understand the challenges and opportunities of operating food pantries on college campuses and the relationship between campus pantries and student success. This work is grounded in the reality that college often exacerbates inequality, widening the gap between the rich and the poor.

For more on this research team, visit the CUP website: https://sites.google.com/umich.edu/cupresearch.

Select Publications: Food Insecurity

Feminist action research can instigate community, organizational, and policy changes to address social issues. We describe how we considered inclusion, participation, action, social change, and researcher reflexivity, as well as researcher positionality, in design and implementation of the 2016 Michigan College Campuses Food Pantry Summit. Specifically, in this case study, we describe ways we used these principles to plan this event around concept mapping, an interactive, collaborative research approach. Our event led to the formation of a regional community of practitioners, enabled an exchange of institutional best practices among campus pantries, and informed federal policy on food access for college students. 

As of June 2018, over 640 college campuses were registered with the College and University Food Bank Alliance, an organization that supports campuses currently operating or interested in opening a pantry. However, a dearth of research exists that examine how campus pantries function: what unique challenges do campus pantries face and how do pantry staff creatively address these challenges? In October 2016, researchers collected qualitative data during a problem-solving workshop at a daylong summit of 28 pantry representatives from 16 Michigan college campuses. Pantry staff documented their biggest challenges and then collectively brainstormed solutions. Researchers used consensus qualitative research coding procedures to generate common themes. Four overarching themes, and 11 sub-themes, emerged out of the 51 challenges and 117 solutions generated by participants: (1) infrastructure and resources, (2) operating within university systems, (3) building and sustaining partnerships, and (4) data, research, and assessment. The challenges and solutions generated by participants reflect the distinctiveness of campus pantry work relative to community-based pantries and underscore challenges and potential best practices of operating a pantry within a university system. These findings help campus administrators and pantry staff anticipate and address food security as an increasingly necessary strategy for student success and educational equity.

There is increased awareness of hunger and food insecurity on college campuses. Recent estimates suggest that food insecurity affects as many as 4 out of 10 college students. As a result, over 650 US colleges have established campus food pantries. The College and University Pantries (CUP) research team at the University of Michigan–Dearborn has worked to create a community of practice in Michigan among campus pantry directors by hosting 2 summits designed around networking, problem-solving, and sharing best practices. This article describes the Michigan community of practice as an example for other regions doing similar work.

The first known university food pantry started at Michigan State University in 1993. Since then, campus food pantries are more widespread, although little is known about them. The current study examined how college pantries best serve students and foster their success. Twenty-eight food pantry directors and staff from across sixteen Michigan college campuses engaged in concept mapping, a technique used to examine the interrelationships among concepts understood by stakeholders. Analyses identified six concepts, examined importance of each concept as assigned by participants, and evaluated variation among institutions. Implications for findings and future research directions are discussed.


Maternal employment is associated with child overweight/obesity, but the mechanisms influencing this relationship are not clear among diverse populations. We examined the effects of employment and parenting variables on child overweight/obesity among low-income Black and Latino families. Using longitudinal data from the Three-City Study, we analyzed the effects of maternal employment and nonstandard work schedule on child overweight/obesity and examined time away from children, parenting stress, and parenting practices as potential mediators. Mothers who increased their work hours during preschool years had children with approximately 2.6 times the odds of overweight/obesity compared to mothers who did not change their work status. Time away from children partially mediated the association between employment and child overweight/obesity. More consistent family routines were associated with a 61% decline in odds of child overweight/obesity. Early increases in maternal employment elevated the odds of child overweight/obesity, but regular family routines reduced the odds of overweight/obesity among school-age children in low-income Black and Latino families.

Select Publications: Environmental Justice

The Clean Air Act’s Title V program offers opportunities for the public to participate in permit-related decision-making in a handful of ways, but this process rarely leads to substantive changes that prioritize environmental justice (EJ) in overburdened communities. Efforts to increase the use of plain language may be one strategy for improving public participation—as a tool for improving access to the process but also to increase transparency and accountability. We conducted a content review and thematic analysis of Title V public notices across 20 states representing all 10 EPA regions. Our analysis considered the following variables: accessibility and navigability; audience and purpose; overall design and organization; and language and word choice. We also coded for themes related to the actionability of public participation processes and ways documents addressed environmental health and justice. We learned that public notices were often written poorly and, on average, for readers with a college reading level. Little to no attention was given to writing strategies that could improve understanding, such as minimizing jargon, utilizing basic information design principles, and communicating clear processes and timelines. References to specific pollutants were largely lacking, with no acknowledgement of public health and cumulative impacts. With these lessons, we provide specific suggestions to improve public notices. Plain language is needed to bring public participation processes into alignment with increased agency efforts to work in earnest towards EJ. Although political, legal, and organizational barriers may persist, U.S. environmental agencies at all levels must begin working towards becoming environmental health literate organizations. 

Background: Infrastructure, land use, zoning, and permitting decisions have long perpetuated patterns of environmental racism in the United States. These decisions and their underlying public participation processes often place undue demands on overburdened and historically excluded or disinvested communities who must repeatedly mobilize and engage to protect their well-being. Materials and Methods: In 2020, the Environmental Health Research-to-Action (EHRA) team joined with Literacy Work's Clear Language Lab (CLL) and staff at the Michigan Department of Environment, Great Lakes, and Energy (EGLE) to identify opportunities for increasing plain language in environmental decision-making processes. This entailed (1) CLL-led content review of sample documents (e.g., public notices), (2) EHRA-led focus groups with environmental justice leaders and legal advocates, and (3) CLL-led focus groups with adult English learners. Results: Themes from focus group analysis suggested that documents were perceived as intentionally biased, unnecessarily technical, and without clear directions on how and why to participate. The content review revealed opportunities for improving plain language in documents with regard to (1) audience and content, (2) organization and cohesion, (3) accessibility, (4) literacy, (5) language, and (6) process. Discussion: New versions of existing documents were generated. Many EGLE staff have worked toward plain language in public communications, providing models for colleagues and other agencies nationwide. Conclusion: Decades of grassroots mobilization has led to a recent increase in state- and federal-level resources and capacity to address environmental racism in the United States. Plain language can make decision-making processes transparent, and should be inherent in all agency-led public participation opportunities.

Background: Environmental Health Research-to-Action (EHRA) is a community–academic partnership focused on building skills and intergenerational knowledge in environmental health, community science, and policy advocacy to address cumulative exposures in Dearborn, Michigan and nearby communities, primarily through a youth academy. Objectives: This article outlines our EHRA Youth Academy curriculum with sample recruitment materials, and we describe its beginnings, steering committee (SC), learning objectives, design, implementation, and recommendations from ongoing program evaluation and reflections of the SC. Methods: In 2018 and 2019, we piloted the EHRA Academy with a total of forty-five fellows (16–18 years old), primarily Arab youth living in or near frontline communities. Fellows participated in a 2-week academy of interactive sessions, including a tour of local industry, participatory mapping, practice using handheld monitors to measure air pollution, and a policy advocacy 101 training. Applying lessons in accessing secondary data and environmental health literacy, fellows then created scientifically-informed materials including infographics and oral presentations for varied audiences. They completed a pre-survey, brief daily surveys, and a post-survey, and reported increased likelihood of advocacy behaviors and knowledge related to all content areas. Conclusions: In Southeast Dearborn, Michigan, threats to environmental health are constant, and intergenerational community mobilization remains necessary to reduce their adverse effects. Grounded in the principles of community based participatory research (CBPR) and using high-impact active learning strategies, the EHRA Academy may provide one effective model for centering youth to build community capacity towards environmental justice (EJ). 

Women typically report greater concern for the environment, including climate change, than men. The eco-mom theory—the belief that women have greater environmental concern than men because mothers primarily care about the health and safety of their children, while fathers primarily care about the economic support of their household—is often proffered as an explanation for this difference. Researchers who have previously tested the eco-mom theory have narrowly operationalized parenthood; we are skeptical of this theory and believe it needs additional testing. We look at fertility in relation to concern for climate change using the 2010 General Social Survey. Modeling parenthood like previous studies, we find no differences in concern for climate change between women who have children and those who do not. Modeling fertility, we find that having more children is associated with less concern for climate change for women but not men. Additionally, we find no gender difference in concern for climate change for those with many children, but these findings are complicated by education. Overall, we refute the eco-mom theory and call for new climate change survey data that better capture gender roles and identity as well as more qualitative inquiries into public concern for climate change.

Recurrent inland urban flooding is an understudied phenomenon that warrants greater attention, particularly in post-industrial cities where aging infrastructure, disinvestment, and climate change threaten public health. We conducted semi-structured interviews in 2017–2018 with 18 Detroit residents experiencing recurrent household flooding. We used standard qualitative coding analysis to generate 30 theoretically- and in vivo- derived themes related to flood experience, socioeconomic and health factors, and household, community, and policy interventions for reducing environmental exposures before, during, and after flood events. Snowball sampling yielded interviewees across both high- and low-risk areas for flood events, indicating vulnerability may be widespread and undocumented in formal ways. Residents described exposure to diverse risk factors for chronic and infectious diseases, particularly for seniors and young children, and emphasized stressors associated with repeated economic loss and uncertainty. Opinions varied on the adequacy, responsibility, and equity of local and federal relief funding and programs. We expand knowledge of flood-related vulnerability, offer innovative suggestions for risk communication based on residents’ experiences, and recommend additional research for documenting patterns of recurrent flooding and response, even for precipitation events that are not characterized as extreme or disaster-level in the media or by agencies. These findings should guide local public health, emergency preparedness, sustainability, water and sewage, and community leaders in post-industrial cities.


Despite growing interest in the impact of immigration on U.S. society, research has rarely examined the effects of immigration flows on the natural environment. The current study addresses this gap in research using data on 183 Metropolitan Statistical Areas drawn from the Environmental Protection Agency, the U.S. Census Bureau, and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration to empirically assess the relationships between contemporary immigration and seven measures of air pollution. In doing so, we seek to (1) broaden knowledge about the social consequences of immigration to include its potential effects on the environment, (2) address competing theoretical perspectives about immigration environment relationships (i.e., population pressure/social disorganization versus ecological footprint/community resource perspectives), and (3) extend knowledge about the predictors and sources of environmental harm within local communities. In contrast to popular opinion and population pressure positions, our research indicates that immigration does not contribute to local air pollution levels across any of the seven pollution measures examined.

Select Publications: Public Sociology



White Papers and Policy Reports