About Me

I am an environmental demographer and sociologist. I primarily research demographic responses to environmental change. Currently, I am a Sociology PhD student and a Center for Demography and Ecology pre-doctoral fellow at the University of Wisconsin-Madison. I expect to graduate in May 2026. In addition to my training at UW-Madison, I spent the summer of 2024 at the Max Planck Institute of Demographic Research where I participated in their Summer Incubator Program. Prior to attending graduate school, I received my B.S. in Statistics from Iowa State University (2020).

Links

Bluesky

GitHub

Overview

I primarily study how environmental phenomena shape human population dynamics. More specifically, my work analyzes how environmental changes and events may influence fertility, migration patterns, and population health. To date, I have researched the demographic implications of several environmental phenomena including hurricanes, wildfire smoke, extreme precipitation, and extreme temperatures. My dissertation work analyzes post-disaster migration patterns in the United States. In this work, I use detailed residential history data to understand the demographic, spatial, and temporal dimensions of post-disaster out-, in-, and net-migration. While my dissertation is U.S. focused, my research program is global in scope and includes studies of populations in Africa and Europe.

Published Work

Ronnkvist, S.R., Haskell-Craig, Z., Robinson, A., Conte Keivabu, R., Hauer, M.E., Bovienzo, D., & Zagheni, E. (2025). What’s the TEE: Metrics of Temperature Extremes in Europe NUTS Regions (1980-2024). Scientific Data. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41597-025-05352-7

Ronnkvist, S.R., Thiede, B.C., Barber, E. (2023). Child Fostering in a Changing Climate: Evidence from Sub-Saharan Africa. Population and Environment. 45(28). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11111-023-00435-2

Thiede, B. C., Ronnkvist, S. , Armao, A., & Burka, K. (2022). Climate anomalies and birth rates in sub-Saharan Africa. Climatic Change, 171(1), 1-20. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10584-021-03273-z