Students

Colin is a longtime Badger, having gotten both a B.S. in environmental science, as well as an M.S. in secondary education at Wisconsin Madison. Colin is returning yet again to pursue his interest in sustainably farming and food security, hoping to use his educational background to get involved in UW-Extension programs and help further the Wisconsin idea by getting resources and research into the hands of Wisconsin’s communities.

Angad graduated with a B. S. in Biology before returning to southern India to volunteer with the Isha Foundation for three years. Here, he was given the opportunity to work with the center’s agroforestry department, the Save Soil initiative – a global movement to raise awareness about soil degradation, and later with Isha Sacred Walks, where he supported various sojourns in northern India and Nepal. Now, as a Graduate Student in Agroecology, Angad is looking to further his passion for nutritional security and sustainable development. He is particularly interested in the interconnectedness between agriculture and soil.

Gideon is a graduate student pursuing a master’s degree in Agroecology under Gregg Sanford’s advising. He was raised in northwest Iowa on a once-abandoned acreage, where his love for wilderness and fascination with agriculture flourished together. He earned his B.A. in Biology—Ecological Science from Northwestern College in Orange City, Iowa, where he became convicted of the ways agriculture is both a cause and victim of ecological crises, and strove to promote positive change for farmers and land. His research is focused on ecological intensification—the integration of ecologically-founded changes to agricultural systems to improve productivity and sustainability—of dairy-forage and cash-grain systems, and how these changes affect soil health, especially the sequestration of soil organic carbon, which is vital to soil ecosystems.

While pursuing a B.S. in Conservation Biology and Environmental Studies with a certificate in Public Policy at UW-Madison, Liz discovered her passion for sustainable agriculture, especially when it comes to helping farmers adjust to the ever-changing climate. Liz’s graduate work in the Kaufman Lab for Food Systems will focus on the impacts of growing climate-smart commodities for both farmers, farmers markets, and the land. Through hands-on work with farmers across the country, she will investigate the effects of cover cropping on soil health, farmer wellbeing, and the marketability of farmers’ products.

After earning a double B.S. in Biology and Environmental Studies from the University of Utah, Jaya worked for a startup, FarmRaise, for two years. In this role, she helped farmers apply for funding to implement conservation practices. Her childhood in Iowa and experience at FarmRaise have made her passionate about helping working lands coexist with healthy watersheds. She is joining Dr. Kalcic’s lab to study how cold weather processes affect farm runoff and assess the impact of management practices on water quality.

Stacy studied Sustainable Agriculture and Food Systems at UC Davis, where she was challenged to think of land management strategies that build ecosystem resilience for adaptation to large-scale climatic disturbances. Her graduate work will focus on exploring the links between ecosystem management, soil biogeochemistry, and global environmental change. She is particularly interested in studying how natural and anthropogenic disturbances affect soil carbon storage and how much our soils can contribute to a carbon-negative society.