People

Faculty Director    Research & Outreach Staff    Associates & Collaborators      Current Students    Undergraduate Research Fellows    Alumni

Faculty Director

V. Ernesto Méndez 
Faculty Director, Agroecology and Livelihoods Collaborative
Contact: Ernesto.Mendez@uvm.edu
Areas of Focus: Agroecology, Food Security and Sovereignty, Rural Livelihoods, Agrifood Systems, Political Ecology, Participatory Action Research (PAR),  Environmental Conservation in Agricultural Landscapes

Research & Outreach Staff

Martha Caswell, M.P.P. 
Research and Outreach Coordinator
Contact: Martha.Caswell@uvm.edu
Areas of Focus: Agroecology, community-based participatory action research, food justice, farmer livelihoods, agroecological approaches to climate change resilience, project design and management.

Vic Izzo, Ph.D.
Educational Coordinator and Lecturer
Contact: vizzo@uvm.edu
Areas of Focus: Evolutionary Ecology, Entomology, Sustainable Pest Management, Agroecology.

Claire Wiggin
Researcher and Program Coordinator
Contact: Claire.Wiggin@uvm.edu
Areas of Focus: Urban agroecology, food justice, the intersections of gender & agriculture, community-based participatory action research, small-scale organic vegetable production, website & graphic design.

Research Associates and Collaborators

Rigoberto Hernandez Jonapa
Mexico Coordinator “Assessment of Diversification Strategies in Smallholder Coffee Systems of Mesoamerica” Project/Coordinador de México Proyecto “Análisis de Estrategias de Diversificación en Sistemas de Pequeños Caficultores de Mesoamérica”
Contact: rhernandez.jonapa@outlook.com
Areas of Focus: Participatory Action Research (PAR); Coffee Systems; Chiapas, Mexico/Investigación Acción Participativa (IAP), Sistemas de Café, Chiapas, México

Stephen R. Gliessman
Professor Emeritus of Agroecology, University of California, Santa Cruz
Chair, Board of Directors, Community Agroecology Network
Editor, Agroecology and Sustainable Food Systems
Contact: gliess@ucsc.edu
Areas of Focus: Agroecology, Agroecogical transitions, Sustainability, Education in Agroecology, Sustainable Food Systems

Roseann (Rose) Cohen, Ph.D.
Executive Director, Community Agroecology Network (CAN)
Research Associate, Center for Agroecology and Sustainable Food Systems (CASFS), University of California, Santa Cruz
Contact: rose@canunite.org
Areas of Focus: Agroecology, participatory action research, political ecology, gender, youth, immigration.

Rachel Schattman, Ph.D.
Produce Safety Specialist, University of Vermont Extension
Contact: rschattm@uvm.edu
Areas of Focus: Best management practices for Vermont farmers in the face of climate change, applied research and outreach, farmer to farmer education.

Katlyn Morris
Research Associate, ALC; Higher Education Field Representative, AFT Vermont.
Contact: Katlyn.Morris@uvm.edu
Areas of Focus: Tropical smallholder agriculture, food security, international environmental studies, agroecology, farmer livelihoods and health.

John Hayden
Owner and Farmer, The Farm Between, Jeffersonville, VT
Contact: thefarmbetween@gmail.com

Joshua Faulkner, Ph.D.
Farming and Climate Change Coordinator, Center for Sustainable Agriculture Contact: Joshua.Faulkner@uvm.edu
Areas of Focus: Climate change adaptation in agriculture; soil and water management; agricultural hydrology and water quality.

Carol Adair
Assistant Professor of Climate Change and Adaptation
Contact: carol.adair@uvm.edu

Margarita Fernandez Ph.D.
Executive Director, Vermont Caribbean Institute
Contact: margaritafernandez2@yahoo.com
Areas of Focus: Agroecology; Food security; Food sovereignty; Livelihoods; Cooperatives.

Scott A. Lewins, Ph.D.
Research Affiliate
Contact: slewins@uvm.edu
Areas of Focus: Entomology, Biological Control, Insect Agroecology, and Sustainable Agriculture

Gabriela Bucini, Ph.D.
Postdoctoral Researcher, Department of Plant & Soil Science
Contact: gbucini@uvm.edu
Areas of Focus: Ecology, Geographic Information Systems (GIS), Human-ecological systems

Current Graduate Students

Janica Anderzén
Ph.D. Student, Department of Plant and Soil Science
Contact: Janica.Anderzen@uvm.edu
Areas of Focus: smallholder coffee agroforestry systems in Mesoamerica; livelihoods assessments in smallholder communities; international migration and immigration policies; project design and management.

Maria Rosa Yumbla
Ph.D. Student, Universidad Pablo de Olavide
Contact: myumbla@uvm.edu
Areas of Focus: Agroecology, Rural Development, Participatory Action Research, Feminization of agriculture, decolonization and territory.

Alissa White
M.S. Student, Department of Plant & Soil Science
Contact: Alissa.C.White@uvm.edu
Areas of Focus: Agroecology, participatory action research, agricultural resilience to climate change, sustainable livelihoods, and the intersections of global climate change, sustainable agriculture and ecology.

Alisha Utter
Ph.D. Student, Department of Plant & Soil Science
Contact: autter@uvm.edu
Areas of Focus: Beginning farmers and ranchers; stockfree farming; food safety implementation on small and medium-scale farms in New England.

Ben Dube
Ph.D. Student, RSENR & EE Certificate Student
Contact: bdube@uvm.edu
Areas of Focus: Energy in Food Systems, Grass-based Farming, Ecological Economics, Impacts of Agriculture on Climate Change

Sam Bliss
Ph.D. Student, Natural Resources
Contact: samcbliss@gmail.com
Areas of Focus: Ecological economics, degrowth, decommodifying food, non-market agriculture, yard farming

Undergraduate Research Fellows, 2017-2018

Nell Carpenter
Undergraduate Research Fellow, 2018
Contact: Nell.Carpenter@uvm.edu
Nell is a junior Environmental Studies Major and Food Systems Minor in the College of Agriculture and Life Sciences. Nell’s areas of interest include food access and justice, environmental studies, and gender studies. Nell’s roles in the ALC include assisting in research for the Thought for Food Project and support to other projects. 

Emma Trainor
Undergraduate Research Fellow, 2018
Contact: Emma.Trainor@uvm.edu
Emma is a senior ENVS student in the College of Arts and Sciences with a concentration in Nature, Culture, and Justice. Her roles in the ALC include offering support in preparation for the PSS 212 Advanced Agroecology Course, as well as support for other current research projects.

Undergraduate Research Fellows, 2016-2017

Olivia Andreozzi
Undergraduate Research Fellow, 2016-2017
Contact: Olivia.Andreozzi@uvm.edu
Olivia is a senior ENVS student in the College of Arts and Sciences hailing from Rhode Island. Her areas of interest are Environmental Studies, Anthropology, and Food Systems. Her roles in the ALC include facilitating meetings as well as assisting in research for the Urban and Peri-urban Agroecology project.

Alumni

Bennett LaFond
M.S., Department of Plant & Soil Science
Contact: Bennett.LaFond@uvm.edu
Areas of Focus: Agroecology in International Development; Smallholder Coffee Production; Soil Conservation and Erosion Control; Urban and Peri-Urban Agriculture.

Margarita Fernandez, Ph.D.
Executive Director, Vermont Caribbean Institute
Contact: margarita@vtcaribbean.org
Areas of Focus: Agroecology, food security, food sovereignty, livelihoods, cooperatives.

Sebastian Castro, Ph.D.
Postdoctoral Fellow in GIS and Remote Sensing, Antioch University New England
Contact: sebastiancastro28@gmail.com
Areas of Focus: Agroecology, coffee, GIS, quantitative analyses.

Katlyn Stillings Morris, Ph.D.
Research Specialist, Center for Rural Studies, University of Vermont
Contact: Katlyn.Morris@uvm.edu
Areas of Focus: Tropical smallholder agriculture, food security, international environmental studies, agroecology, farmer livelihoods and health.

Meryl Richards, Ph.D.
Science Officer, CGIAR Research Program on Climate Change, Agriculture and Food Security and Research Associate, Rubenstein School of Environment and Natural Resources
Contact: meryl.richards@uvm.edu
Areas of Focus: Climate change mitigation in agricultural systems, quantification of agricultural greenhouse gas emissions, biodiversity conservation.

Katie Goodall, Ph.D.
Botany Postdoctoral Fellow, Wellesley College
Contact: katherinegoodall@gmail.com
Areas of Focus: Agroecology, Biodiversity Conservation, Landscape Ecology, Latin America, Farmer Livelihoods

Marcela Pino, M.S.
Co-Founder and Co-Director of Food 4 Farmers
Contact: marcela@food4farmers.org
Areas of Focus: Agroecology and rural livelihoods, community and organizational development, food security and smallholder farmers.

Dan Erickson, Ph.D.
Founder and Managing Partner, Food Systems Research Institute
Contact: derickson@foodSRI.com
Areas of Focus: GIS, Food Systems

Lee Gross, M.S.
International Program Specialist at USDA FAS
Contact: leehgross@gmail.com
Areas of Focus: Agricultural sustainability standards and value chains, monitoring and evaluation, corporate sustainability, partnership management, training and capacity building, and integrated landscape management.

Rafter Sass Ferguson, Ph.D.
Mellon Postdoctoral Fellow and Visiting Assistant Professor in Environmental Science at Haverford College
Contact: rsferguson@haverford.edu, liberationecology.org
Areas of Focus: Diversified farming systems, permaculture, grassroots movements, political agroecology.

S’ra DeSantis, M.S. 
Plant and Soil Science/Agroecology (2009)
Co-director of the Farmer Training Program at UVM
Contact: sra.desantis@uvm.edu
Areas of Focus: Organic management of small-scale, diversified agricultural production, organic vegetable production.

Andrew Gerlicz
M.S. – CDAE (2016)
M&E Coordinator for Lutheran Immigration and Refugee Service
Contact: Andrew.Gerlicz@uvm.edu
Areas of Focus: Economic viability of agroecology in small-scale production

Dana Christel
M.S. Plant and Soil Science (2016)
Market Manager at Plovgh, Inc
Contact: Dana.Christel@uvm.edu
Areas of Focus: Use of Bokashi in small scale vegetable production

Angel Cruz