Having grown up in Lebanon and spent a number of years in the Palestinian Territories, Jennifer C. Olmsted has long been interested in globalization, Middle East economies, and the ways conflict shapes economic outcomes. A graduate of Georgetown University and the University of California, Davis, much of her research focuses on socioeconomic conditions facing women in the Arab world.  Her current research examines the way conflict and economic isolation affect economic conditions and gender norms, often in contradictory ways, using Iran, Iraq and Palestine as case studies. Her publications have appeared in various journals, including World Development, Industrial Relations, The Journal of Development Studies, Feminist Economics, and The Journal of Middle East Women’s Studies, as well as numerous book volumes. Dr. Olmsted is currently Associate Professor and Chair in the Department of Economics at Drew University, Madison, NJ, USA. She has also worked for various other universities, as well as the US Department of Agriculture, and consulted for numerous research organizations, including the Social Science Research Council (SSRC), RAND, the World Bank, and the International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI).