Abhinand Krishnashankar is a Research Analyst II in the Air Quality program, where he primarily works on the USAID-funded Clean Air Catalyst, a flagship five-year project working in Indore, Jakarta, and Nairobi to identify and design equitable and sustainable solutions for persistent sources of air pollution. In this role, he leads the design of activities, research, and knowledge products that integrate the climate co-benefits of improving air quality across the project's workstreams in all three project cities.

He began his journey at WRI as an intern in the Global Commission of Adaptation, where he provided background and scoping research support to the Commission's Urban Resilience and Nature-based Solutions Action Tracks. Outside WRI, he serves as a governing council member of the National Network of Ocean and Climate Change Interpretation and holds active memberships in the American Society of Adaptation Professionals and the Society for International Development.

Abhinand holds a Master of Urban Planning degree from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign and a master's degree in Development Economics from the Indian Institute of Technology-Madras. He brings experience strengthening resilience planning processes and identifying pathways to operationalize equitable and just nature-based solutions in Chennai and municipalities in Puerto Rico. He has presented his work on fishing communities' collective mobilization for spatial justice in post-disaster landscapes and other topics pertaining to urban planning at several international academic conferences.

Outside work, Abhinand has received training in Indian classical music for more than 14 years and has performed at galleries, business events, and other gatherings in India and the United States.