Group members
Group alumni
Peter Newton, Associate Professor
Pete is an interdisciplinary scientist who studies socio-environmental systems. In particular, he is interested in understanding how innovative policies, programs, and technologies affect synergies and trade-offs between environmental, economic, and social outcomes in agricultural and tropical forest landscapes. He works mainly in Brazil and the US.
Rayna Benzeev, PhD candidate
Rayna is a PhD candidate researching tropical forests, socio-environmental systems, forest landscape restoration, and geospatial modeling of land use change. Her dissertation focuses on the Atlantic Forest of Brazil where she 1) tested the spatial relationships between property-level variables and forest restoration, 2) conducted a causal analysis on the relationship between indigenous land tenure and forest conservation, and 3) is evaluating the relationship between multi-level institutional capacity and forest change at the landscape scale.
Sebastian Dueñas Ocampo, PhD candidate
Sebastian is a socio-environmental planner and educator. He has many years of experience working in the education sector and with business in topics like Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR), Sustainable Development, Social Innovation and Business Ethics. His research is in the area of sustainability, CSR, green consumption, and responsible leadership. He is interested in understanding how to create policy, value chains, and business models that contribute to the development of sustainable food systems in the Global South.
Rawinorn (Tip) Dulyakasem, PhD candidate
Prior to studying at CU Boulder, Tip worked at the Ministry of Natural Resources and Environment in Thailand. She worked on environmental issues, with international organizations including the United Nations. Her academic interests are in natural resources and environmental management. Her research focuses on community based natural resource management and mangrove restoration among coastal communities in southern Thailand.
Margaret Hegwood, PhD student
Margaret is a USDA Food Technology and Food Security Fellow. She is interested in building an improved understanding of the socio-economic and environmental impacts of new food technologies. She received her B.S. and M.S. in Biological Engineering from Purdue University, where she acquired significant experience working on food security internationally through internships and research. Margaret aspires to use her technological background to advise domestic and international governments on critical global agriculture issues.
Waverly Eichhorst, PhD student
Waverly is a USDA Food Technology and Food Security Fellow. She is passionate about pursuing interdisciplinary research that explores the intersection between biotechnological food innovation, food system sustainability, and global food sovereignty. Her research has focused on local and global food distribution networks, cellular agriculture, the production of plant-based scaffolds to support the growth and differentiation of animal cells, and the cross-disciplinary application of scientific knowledge to advance novel food production techniques.
Lee Frankel-Goldwater, PhD candidate
Lee studies food systems and environmental education using qualitative and community-based methods. His research focuses on regenerative agriculture, relational values, and politically aware environmental education practices. More broadly, Lee's work operates at the science-policy-practice interface and aims to draw practitioner insights from a variety of contexts into decision-making while supporting local community well-being.
Hilary Brumberg, PhD student
Hilary is a USDA Food Technology & Food Security Fellow, and a Graduate Research Assistant on the NSF-funded Responsible Mining, Sustainable Communities Project. Hilary spent four years living at a research station deep in the Costa Rican rainforest, originally as a Princeton in Latin America Fellow. While working at the NGO Osa Conservation in Costa Rica, she helped launch a community-based restoration and rewilding network and one of the largest arboretums in Central America, and she developed a collaboration with NASA DEVELOP to map land use change in southern Costa Rica.
James P Sullivan, Assistant Pawfessor
Pula Boo, Post-dogtoral researcher
Sulley and Pula are faithful group members, and like to collaborate with anyone who will pet them. They are particularly interested in the topic of food.
Kaitlin Netel
Kat graduated from CU Boulder in May 2021 with a double major in Environmental Studies and Evolutionary Biology and Ecology. Her goal is to work in a sustainability related career and she has a particular interest in sustainable food systems. She wrote her Honors thesis on ‘Consumer interest in and awareness of sustainable food: The case of the "Regenerative Organic Certified" eco-label’.
Eva Aneshansley
Eva graduated from CU Boulder in May 2021 with a dual degree in Environmental Studies (B.A.) and Music Education (B.M.E.). She plans to pursue graduate work in sustainable agricultural systems. She wrote her Honors thesis on ‘Impacts of food eco-labels on student consumer choices’.
Bruno Perosa
Visiting Professor
Bruno is a professor of agricultural economics at the Federal University of Uberlândia in Brazil. His current research focuses on the adoption of integrated crop-livestock-forestry systems as a form of low carbon agriculture. He visiteCU Boulder on sabbatical for the Spring 2020 semester.
Ashley Dancer
Ashley graduated with a dual MS/MBA degree in ENVS and Business, in May 2018. She wrote her MS thesis on ‘What are the perceived opportunities for, and barriers to, the development of local food systems, and how can public policy respond? A case study from Boulder County, Colorado’. She subsequently developed her thesis into a research article, which is published in the journal Food Systems: An Interdisciplinary Journal (paper available here). This research was supported by a CU Outreach and Engagement grant, in collaboration with The Shed.
Joey Filmanowicz
Joey graduated with a BA in Environmental Studies from CU Boulder in May 2019. He wrote his Honors thesis on ‘Class V sustainability: an analysis of food waste on outfitted river rafting trips’, which was inspired by observing - while he was working as a river guide - the amount of food being thrown away.
Panos Smyrnios
Panos graduated from CU Boulder with a double major in Environmental Studies and Spanish, as well as minors in Geography and Business, in May 2018. He wrote his Honors thesis on 'Sustainable seafood: improving environmental attitudes, not increasing product information, can lead to greater willingness to pay'.
Maddy Gaffigan
Madeline graduated from CU Boulder with a double major in Ecology and Evolutionary Biology (EBIO) and Environmental Studies (ENVS), as well as a Public Health Certificate, in May 2017. She wrote her Honors thesis on ‘Is insect protein a sustainable alternative to soy and fishmeal in poultry feed?”.
Emilie Adamovic
Emily graduated with a BA in Environmental Studies from CU Boulder in May 2017. She wrote her Honors thesis on 'Food insecurity among college students: an assessment of prevalence and solutions'. She subsequently developed her thesis into a research article, which is published in the Journal of American College Health (paper available here).
Mauro Capelari
Mauro graduated with a PhD from the Department of Public Administration and Public Policy at the University of Brasilia in Brazil in March 2017. He wrote his PhD dissertation on 'Instituições para a governança: o papel das regras formais e informais no controle do desmatamento em reservas extrativistas da Amazônia' (Institutions for governance: the role of formal and informal rules in the control of deforestation in Amazonian extractive reserves). Mauro visited CU Boulder for a semester in 2016 to work on his PhD dissertation. Upon graduating, Mauro secured a position as a post-doctoral researcher at the University of Brasilia.
Zoë Sigle
Zoë graduated with a BA from the Environmental Studies Program at CU Boulder in May 2016. She wrote her Honors thesis on 'Reducing animal product consumption in the United States with state interventions: possibilities, limitations, and recommendations', and received the Jacob Van Ek award. Upon graduating, she secured employment with The Humane League.