Amaya is a PhD student at the Food Systems’ Graduate Program. Amaya has multiple experiences working for the government of Ecuador at national and local levels, including the Ministry of Environment and the Municipality of Quito, on areas of international cooperation, development, climate change, public policy and evaluation. Amaya has collaborated with nonprofit organizations for over a decade, working with vulnerable populations in Ecuador, India, Spain, Australia and the United States. Amaya is interested in applied, participatory and transdisciplinary research with grassroots organizations, NGOs and academia in the intersection of agroecology, climate change, food justice and urban agriculture.

Amaya will be joining UVM’s Agroecology and Livelihoods Collaborative (ALC) to work in the Collaborative Crop Research Program’s (CCRP) Agroecology Support Project, which seeks to strengthen agroecological knowledge and capacities in Africa and South America. In collaboration with Ernesto Méndez, Taylor Ricketts, and Rachelle Gould, Carrasco hopes to focus her work on the Andes region in South America, which includes her home country of Ecuador.

Advisor: Ernesto Mendez