Meet Our Current Students

Christopher Anderson | cjanderson6@wisc.edu

Chris is broadly interested in processes of social stratification, environmental degradation, and loss of food sovereignty. He is interested in complexity embracing theories like agroecology and multifunctionality as tools for understanding and reducing socioenvironmental inequality.

Nathan Bard | nabard@wisc.edu

Nathan is interested in living mulches and row crop production, specifically corn production in a kura clover living mulch system. He is looking at how it can be implemented in an organic farm setting in hilly areas of Wisconsin and the north central U.S. where fields are susceptible to erosion.

Andrew Barrett | ambarrett@wisc.edu

Andrew joined the department as part of the Peace Corps Master's International Program. He spent two years as a Protected Areas Management volunteer in Honduras, providing technical support to small scale producers in the buffer zone of the Refugio de Vida Silvestre Corralitos. He is utilizing his experience there, in combination with conversations with extension agents, NGO representatives, farmers and their families in a case study research project that seeks to provide a practical application of the holon approach to understanding agriculture.

Jennifer Blazek | jblazek@wisc.edu

Jennifer is interested in international agriculture with a focus of dairy in Mexico. The role of the dairy cow in the livelihoods of rural smallholders in Mexico is one of the topics she is exploring, and she is also working on using the concept of a holon to develop narratives of the three dairy production systems in Mexico. Specifically, her study in this area lies in using these narratives as a way to better understand Mexico's diverse dairy industry and the contexts in which it is developing.  Being that extension is her career interest, these investigations are tailored towards the practical application and implementation of the results in the field. Other topics that she is interested in are organic agriculture, grazing or pasture-based dairying, niche marketing and the multifunctionality of agricultural farm landscapes.

Rebecca Claypool

David Duncan | dsduncan@wisc.edu

David is attempting to characterize the natural history, population structure, and behavior in unmanaged environments of a naturalized but little-used introduced forage grass in an effort to draw conclusions about its behavior and potential ecological effects under more widespread, favorable management conditions. This is part of an overarching interest in exploring ways to more completely evaluate the possible unintended effects of modified agricultural practices.

Thais H. Passos Fonseca | passosfonsec@wisc.edu

Thais came from Brazil, where she worked during 9 years on milk quality issues for dairy farms. She wants to help optimize the energy use in farms. She wants to look at efficiency improvements, waste reduction, pollution reduction, renewable sources of energy. Her intention is to act as an instrument to contribute with humanity's development, both by the means of her work at environmental issues (renewable energy in farms) and through her attitudes as a person.

Hannah Gaines | hgaines@wisc.edu

Hannah is studying how insect communities in agroecosystems respond to local and landscape scale land use practices. Specifically, she is working on potato farms in central Wisconsin to determine how farmers can manage their off-crop habitat to encourage insect diversity as a way to reduce pesticide use. This project is part of the Healthy Grown Potatoes program and the results of her research will be incorporated into their set of standards as a way for farmers to better manage their whole farming system.

Laurel Gutenberg | gutenberg@wisc.edu

Laurel is interested in ecology and conservation of soil, water, and biodiversity, particularly pertaining to alternative agricultural systems. She is also interested in the opportunities for sustainable agriculture in developing countries and rural areas.

Lynne Haynor | lhaynor@wisc.edu

Lynne joins the Agroecology program with a background in community gardening, youth development, and urban agriculture. She is interested in food production and beekeeping as a community development tool and resource, both domestically and internationally. She is particularly focused on different models, objectives, and outcomes of garden or farm-based programs and these programs' roles in the larger frameworks of agriculture and economic development.

Katelin Holm | kholm@wisc.edu

Katelin is interested in examining agricultural research that is conducted in a manner which allows and encourages farmers to implement scientific results into their agricultural landscape. She is also interested in plant-insect interactions, intensive rotational grazing, local food systems, and the potential for agricultural landscapes to provide food and ecosystem services concurrently.

Herika Kummel | hkummel@wisc.edu

Herika seeks to improve understanding of ecosystem support, provisioning, and regulating services provided by pasture ecosystems in the Upper Midwest.  Collaborating with one grass-based Bison farmer and the Wisconsin Cropping System Trial, Herika is evaluating forage quantity and quality as well as C sequestration potential under a gradient of C3 (non native, cool season) to C4 (native, warm season) grasses ratios. This information will help grass-farmers to reap the economic benefit of C4 forage production during the hot summer months when C3 forage production wanes. This work will provide much needed understanding about C3 pastures and the benefits of re-storing native grasses to working lands.

Alexandra Lyon | ahlyon@wisc.edu

Alexandra is exploring the processes that generate knowledge about agriculture. She is interested in how farmers and university scientists relate to each other, and the implications of those relationships for on-farm research. Specifically, she will work with a group of Wisconsin graziers and university scientists to understand how identity and community influence their efforts towards collaborative research.

Rachel Mallinger | remallinger@wisc.edu

Rachel Mallinger is pursuing a joint degree in agroecology and entomology with a focus on organic pest management. Her research will look at the abundance and diversity of beneficial insects in conventional versus organic growing systems, including corn, soybean and alfalfa. She is also researching a variety of organic methods to attract the natural enemies of insect pests.

Kelly Maynard | kmaynard@wisc.edu

Kelly hopes to gain a better understanding of the social, economic and cultural conditions that foster adaptation of more sustainable agricultural systems by poor, small-scale producers. She is particularly interested in farmer-to-farmer knowledge exchange, extension models, and farmer experimentation as means to enable farmers to transition towards from one system to another.

Matt Raboin | raboin@wisc.edu

Matt is interested in issues related to recent agricultural expansion into the paramo region of the high Andes. Considering the multifunctionality of agriculture, he is exploring ways to improve farmers' livlihoods while also promoting biodiversity and conserving paramo soils for their importance in the hydrology of relevant South American nations.

Martha Rideout, DVM | mrideout@wisc.edu

Martha came to UW from the Western Slope of Colorado, where she had practiced Veterinary Medicine for 12 years. She is interested in herd health issues, grazing, animal welfare, and agricultural policy.

Matt Robinson | mrobinson4@wisc.edu

Matt is interested in the adoption of sustainable methods and improvement of local markets to promote a more just and environmentally sound agriculture. He is also interested in the relationship between spiritual beliefs and human understanding of the environment. Currently he is studying the social effects of the growing corn ethanol industry in Wisconsin, including community conflicts surrounding ethanol processing plants.

Marie Schmidt | mschmidt5@wisc.edu

Marie joined the program after working in several Wisconsin counties as well as other states as a soil conservationist and soil scientist for the USDA-Natural Resources Conservation Service. She is hoping to use her knowledge of Midwest management intensive grazing systems to examine the suppression of perennial weeds in pastures. In addition, she will be working on invasive weed species in riparian areas and how these plants are effecting trout populations in portions of Southwest Wisconsin.

Laura Smith

Molly Placke | placke@wisc.edu

Molly seeks to encourage equity and justice as defining principles in building sustainable regional food systems. She is studying how minority, low-income, and other disenfranchised communities define their food security challenges and working with these communities to develop policies and programs to help meet these needs. Coming from a long line of Wisconsin dairy farmers, she is also interested in increasing support for beginning and small farmers, including land and capital access for immigrant and minority farmers.

Renata Solan | solan@wisc.edu

Renata is interested in plant ecology in agricultural. Specifically, she is studying weed competition and integrative weed management in potato crops with the hopes of significantly reducing herbicide use. Through her research, she hopes to increase sustainability in conventional as well as organic crop systems.

Carl Wahl | ctwahl@wisc.edu

Carl is focusing on soil physics. His main topic of interest is the correlation between deforestation and soil degradation, especially in a soils water-holding capacity, in southern Africa. His longer term interests are developing models for encouraging the innovation of appropriate soil conservation by subsistence farmers in southern Africa.

Julie Sinistore | sinistore@wisc.edu

Julie is evaluating the net energy efficiency and greenhouse gas neutrality of corn ethanol produced within the Wisconsin agricultural context.  Through this analysis, she endeavors to identify key factors in the life cycle of Wisconsin corn ethanol that determine the fuel's net benefit to the domestic fuel supply and climate change.  She hopes that the product of this research will include recommendations to improve the efficiency of corn ethanol production in Wisconsin as well as a thorough evaluation of the benefits and shortcomings of corn ethanol.