Meet Our Current Students
Barnabe Achard | achard@wisc.edu
Courtney Berner | cberner@wisc.edu
Courtney originally hails from Oregon but has spent the last five years living in Washington, DC and working for the Worldwatch Institute. She is interested in exploring how regional food systems can more effectively promote and distribute locally-grown foods through improved production methods and distribution channels. She would also like to investigate whether or not a decentralized food system would ultimately be more secure and sustainable.
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.
Kolby Bray-Hoagland | brayhoagland@wisc.edu
Kolby concentrated his BA studies on biodiesel and direct market farms. In the Agroecology program, he will evaluate nutrient cycling in switchgrass on 'marginal land' in Southwest Wisconsin to determine fertilizer recommendations. These recommendations will be used by extension agents throughout Southwest Wisconsin. He is also interested in the energy analysis and policy that will influence the future of switchgrass.
Rebecca Claypool | rclaypool@wisc.edu
Rebecca is working with fresh market vegetable farmers in Wisconsin on developing farm management tools. Specifically she is looking at the accumulation of labor hours for the production of various crops to determine the cost of production by crop. She is also interested in record keeping strategies and tools to improve overall farm profitability.
Rachael Cox | racox@wisc.edu
Rachael is interested in temporal and spatial diversity in Midwest cropping systems. Specifically she will be comparing the environmental impacts of different crop and livestock systems at the Wisconsin Integrated Cropping Systems Trial (WICST) using Life Cycle Assessment. This study will provide better understanding of the environmental impacts of conventional and organic systems and identify areas for improvement. Rachael is pursuing a joint degree in Agroecology and Agronomy.
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.
Noelle Harden | nharden@wisc.edu
When she worked at Bluebird Gardens last year, Noelle often wondered why farmers make many of the land use decisions that they do. In particular, she is interested in government policies that attempt to change these decisions, and methods for determining the effectiveness of such policies. Using tools from geography, soil science, and ecology, she will study the Yahara Lakes Watershed and potential solutions to water pollution grounded in landscape agroecology.
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.
R. Menyon Heflin | rheflin@wisc.edu
Katherine Keller | kkeller1@wisc.edu
Katie joined the program hoping to broaden her own agricultural education after her work on a diversified educational farm outside Cincinnati. Currently she is working on characterizing the interaction between two commercially important pests of soybeans, soybean cyst nematode and root lesion nematode. The goal of the work is to help management practices more accurately reflect the community of nematodes present in Wisconsin fields. Broadly, Katie is interested in informal agricultural and environmental education as a method of cultivating respect for food, farms, and the land.
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.
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.
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.
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.
Arthur Schwab | arschwab@wisc.edu
Arthur is interested in cover crops and their applications in diverse agricultural food production. His background is in geology and organic horticulture. At Madison, he is working on analyzing runoff differences seen with the implementation of kura clover living mulch in conventional forage production scenarios. After completing his studies, Arthur hopes to work in extension and farm.
Mark Sieffert | sieffert@wisc.edu
Mark hopes to turn a love for tomatoes into a career in sustainable agriculture and food security. He now works at the Center for Integrated Agricultural Systems on its Eco-Fruit project. Specifically, he is involved with regional growers and their efforts to increase capacity, reduce chemical use, and expand their exposure in local markets.
Laura Smith | lcsmith4@wisc.edu
Laura is interested in biologically-available nitrogen sources and the nitrogen-conservation strategies of perennial native grasses. More specifically, she is working to apply these strategies to the management of perennial grass biofuel cropping systems and how biomass can be produced and harvested without degrading soil resources and contributing to leaky nutrient cycling. She hopes to better understand how different management methods and species diversity in the cropping system affects nitrogen conservation in order to address the ecological and economic benefits of nutrient retention and reducing nitrogen losses.
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.
Christopher Stillion | stillion@wisc.edu
As a Peace Corps volunteer in francophone West Africa, Chris spent three years organizing projects including land reclamation, agroforestry training, and women's income generating activities. This and other experiences form the background for his interest in agroecology. He is interested in sustainable agriculture at home and abroad, especially in Sub-Saharan West Africa. He is especially interested in sustainable agricultural systems that increase productivity and biodiversity and that farmers can adapt to their context. He would also like to develop the potential of community gardens and agricultural cooperatives to empower people and create opportunities for sustainable land use. Chris would eventually like to run a CSA or similar venture, while participating in sustainability-focused international exchange.
Carl Wahl | ctwahl@wisc.edu
Carl is pursuing a degree in agroecology with a focus 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.
