Max Pfeffer

Max Pfeffer is a producer and actor, known for Elle (2016), While I Was Gone (2017) and Milk and Honey (2014). In addition to his longstanding and active interest in film production, Max has a long and distinguished academic career. He is International Professor of Development Sociology and Executive Dean in the College of Agriculture and Life Sciences at Cornell University. Pfeffer's expertise and research in key policy areas-including land use and environmental planning, rural and agricultural labor markets, and rural-to-urban and international migration-have helped Cornell develop a reputation with policy makers for innovative solutions to pressing social issues. His academic work has focused on a variety of rural and urban communities in North America and Central America. The National Institutes of Health, the National Science Foundation, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, the U.S. Department of Agriculture's National Research Initiative and its Fund for Rural America, and the Social Science Research Council have funded his research. Pfeffer has published a wide range of scholarly articles and has written/co-edited four books, including (with John Schelhas) Saving Forests, Protecting People? Environmental Conservation in Central America. Pfeffer has served on and led National Research Council committees of the Water Science and Technology Board, and has served as Chair of the New York Sea Grant Board of Governors. He has been Senior Associate Dean, Chair of the Development Sociology Department and the Associate Director of both the Cornell University Agricultural Experiment Station and the Cornell University Center for the Environment.