Dr. Ryan Thomson is an Assistant Professor of Rural Sociology at Auburn University. His work examines the intersection environment and community health as it pertains to issues of inequality. In 2019, he completed his dissertation working with the Gullah/Geechee Nation around issues of involuntary land loss pertaining to heirs' property. He has published several studies on the topic and is among the first to advance a geospatial methodology for locating properties suffering from a tangled titled. Ryan currently serves as the chair of the Southern Rural Development Center's Heirs' Property Research Committee, SRDC Extension Heirs' Property Trainer, serves on the board of the Gullah/Geechee Land Trust, and maintains an active collaboration with the Federation of Southern Cooperatives. His heirs' property work has appeared in many top journals in the field as well as news outlets including PBS, USA Today, and Washington Post.
