Graduate Education
The PhD program offered by UCSC's Environmental Studies Department includes
a focus on agroecology and sustainable agriculture. Other departments
offering advanced degrees related to the Center's work include Sociology,
Anthropology, Politics, Economics, Biology, and Earth Sciences.
Faculty
affiliated with the Center provide graduate students with advice and research
opportunities on a variety of topics, including international agricultural
systems, the political economies of sustainable agriculture, and basic
research in agroecology. Some examples of PhD dissertations are listed
below. Graduate students can receive advice from Center staff in planning
and conducting their research, and have access to the Center's facilities
for lab- and field-based work.
For information on the Environmental Studies Board's PhD program, see
their web site or call 831.459-2634.
For general information on UC Santa Cruz's graduate programs, see their
web site or call 831.459-2510.
Examples of PhD Dissertations on Agroecology and Sustainable Agriculture
Topics —
- Ecological role of wild mustard (Brassica kaber (D.C.) L.C.
Wheeler) in the management of soil-pathogenic fungi and nematodes in
a corn agroecosystem / by Francisco Javier Rosado-May.
- Mechanisms of weed suppression by squash (Cucurbita spp.) intercropped
in corn (Zea mays L.)/ by Phillip Thomas Fujiyoshi
- Nitrogen dynamics in vegetative buffer strips receiving nitrogen runoff
in Elkhorn Slough Watershed, California / by Marc William Los Huertos
- Responses of the tripartite bean symbiosis of Phaseolus-Rhizobium-Glomus
to cabbage interference in an intercropping agroecosystem / by Robert
Allen Kluson.
- The effect of different management strategies on the tripartite symbiosis
of bean (Phaseolus vulgaris L) with Rhizobium and vesicular-
arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi in two agroecosystems in Costa Rica / by
Martha Elizabeth Meyer Rosemeyer.
- Vegetative buffer strips in a Mediterranean climate: potential for
protecting soil and water resources / by Felicia A Rein
Center Competitive Grants Program
UCSC graduate students are eligible for funding from the Center's annual
competitive grants program to support independent research. Each fall
quarter the Center issues a Request for Proposals, which is distributed
via email listservers, posted on campus, and posted to the Center's home
page. Grants of up to $1,000 are available, with supplemental funding
for travel to conferences awarded to selected projects. For more information,
contact Barbara Maximovich at 831.459-3299 or bamax@ucsc.edu.
Projects that received grants in the last two funding cycles are listed
below.
2004 Graduate Student Awards
Sarah Bothwell – Perennial Habitat for Conservation Biological Control
in Annual Cropping Systems: The Role of Landscape Complexity
Roseann Cohen – Homegardening on the Urban Periphery: Translating
Rurality for Cultural and Territorial Survival
Brian Gareau – Part II, Global Politics, Social Relations, and the
Methyl Bromide Phaseout: Consequences for California Strawberry Production
Tara Pisani Gareau – Farmscaping with Hedgerows in the Central Coast
of California; Examining the Potential for Biological Control
Suzanne Langridge – Can Natural Systems Augment Agriculture? Ecological
Implications of Landscape Level Riparian Restoration
Dorothy Overpeck – An Interdisciplinary Analysis of Agricultural
Sustainability: A Case Study from Southern Malawi
Sajeemas Pasakdee– Evaluating Soil N Dynamics After Applications
of Organic N Fertilizers
Alex Racelis – Palapas in Paradise: An Enthnobotanical Approach to
the Commodification of Pole Wood in Central Quintana Roo, Mexico
Robert Sirrine – Preserving the Viability and Cultural Integrity
of a Northern Michigan Farming Community: An Interdisciplinary Framework
for Sustainable Tart Cherry (Prunus cerasus L.) Management
2003 Graduate Student Awards
Ariane de Bremond: Land Rights, Land Use and Environmental Governance
in the Post-war Resettlement of Agrarian Landscapes in El Salvador
Tara Pisani Gareau: Survey of the Ecological and Cultural Value of Hedgerows
in the Elkhorn Slough Watershed of California
Jill Harrison: Drifting into Action—Grassroots Critique of Pesticide
Drift and its Contribution to Sustainable Agriculture in California
Katie Monsen: Seasonal Nitrate Movement in Soil and Soilwater Profiles
Under Organic Management Practices
Dorothy Overpeck: An Interdisciplinary Analysis of the Agricultural Sustainability:
A Case Study from Southern Malawi
Robert Sirrine: Preserving the Viability and Cultural Integrity of a Northern
Michigan Farming Community: An Interdisciplinary Framework for Sustainable
Tart Cherry (Prunus cerasus L.) Management
Keith Douglass Warner: Nature, Networks, Knowledge and Risk in California
Winegrape Partnerships
