Who We Are

Affiliated Faculty and Staff

The names listed below are UC Berkeley faculty and staff who have dedicated a portion of their work to food and agriculture systems. Food systems work is inherently interdisciplinary, and our unique strength comes from the wide range of expertise across campus.

Our affiliated faculty and staff are informed of special opportunities and invited to contribute to the evolution of food systems education at Berkeley. Many have worked on projects funded through our seed grant program, which supports innovative, collaborative, and interdisciplinary research projects aligned with our mission areas. BFI affiliates also have the opportunity to collaborate with BFI staff and other affiliates on policy work, events, and other forms of community engagement.

If you are a UC Berkeley faculty or research staff interested in joining BFI as an affiliate, please email foodinstitute@berkeley.edu.

African American Studies and African Diaspora Studies

John A. Powell civil rights, civil liberties, race, structural racism, ethnicity, housing, poverty, democracy, racialized space (also Ethnic Studies, Law, and Othering & Belonging Institute)

Agricultural and Resource Economics

Michael L. Anderson environmental economics, health economics, applied econometrics

Maximilian Auffhammer air pollution and agriculture, greenhouse gas emissions, climate change, econometrics, energy, environmental economics (also International and Area Studies)

Ellen Bruno agriculture and natural resources policy, California water policy, farming, climate change, drought (also UC Cooperative Extension)

Marco Gonzalez-Navarro development economics, urban economics, subway infrastructure, retail globalization in emerging markets, rural land titling, road infrastructure, crime, political economy

Ethan A. Ligon food demand, agricultural contracts, risk and insurance, intra-household allocation, international development, applied econometrics

Jeffrey Perloff farm labor, industrial organization of agricultural and food markets, agricultural production and the environment, trade, econometrics

Sofia B. Villas-Boas economics, industrial organization, applied econometrics

David Zilberman agriculture, nutrition, policy, economics, technological change

American Studies

Kathleen Moran food media, California food spaces, representation, American studies

Anthropology

Junko Habu human-environment dynamics, climate change, hunter-gatherers and small-scale societies, local environmental movements

Christine Hastorf agricultural production, foodways, plant-use, cooking practices

Seth Holmes public health, medicine and science, labor, immigration, medical anthropology, health disparities, Latin America (also Environmental Science, Policy, and Management)

Architecture

Jennifer Brooks urban, sustainability, urban design, architecture

Renee Chow urban design, intersection between architecture and its locale, urban farming

Rene C. Davids technology, topography, urbanism, Latin America, housing for homeless, technical and material innovation, design theory

Harrison Fraker urban, sustainability, urban design, architecture, self-sufficiency, global

Art Practice

Jill Miller public art, social practice, community engagement, curating, collaborative cooking

Business

Sara Beckman systems design, innovation, design process, problem framing and solving pedagogy, teaming

Omar Romero-Hernandez green supply chain, life cycle implications, sustainable practices, biofuels, bioenergy, environmental impact

William Rosenzweig social-focused business, environmental value, entrepreneur, health, environment

Robert Strand sustainability, corporate ethics, strategic management, empathy and the corporation

Center for Cities and Schools

Jeff Vincent school food policy, school kitchen infrastructure, urban planning, infrastructure, finance equity and adequacy, municipal and school district governance, collaboration, and policy

Centers for Educational Equity and Excellence

Ruben Elias Canedo Sanchez education, equity, underrepresented students, food security, food pantries

Center for Global Public Health

Hildy Fong Baker global health policy research and advocacy, child and paternal health, program design and implementation, social marketing, policy development

City and Regional Planning

Charisma Acey city and regional planning, sustainable urbanism, environmental behaviors, access to basic services, poverty reduction, social equity, spacial analysis, food disparities, water activism

Karen Chapple housing, community and economic development, regional planning, job creation on industrial land, regional governance in rural Peru, accessory dwelling unity

Jason Corburn city planning, public health, environmental health and social justice in cities, street science, local knowledge, urban health equity, food disparities, healthy communities

Zach Lamb urban design, climate change adaptation, climate justice, flooding, affordable housing, shared tenure housing

Moira O’Neill strategic planning, policy analysis, negotiation, community development across sectors, environmental law and zoning, children nutrition and health

Center for Responsible Business

Persis Sberlo food justice, food industry, sustainability, sustainable food, reimagining capitalism

Robert Strand sustainability, corporate ethics, strategic management, empathy and the corporation (also Business)

College of Engineering

Ricardo San Martin plant-based foods and ingredients, alternative meat lab

College of Natural Resources Executive Programs

Mio Katayama Owens anthropology, food

Economics

Hilary Hoynes policy, poverty, domestic, infant health, food, nutrition, labor, economic disparities, SNAP (also Public Policy)

Energy and Resources Group

Youjin B. Chung political economy of development, historical and feminist political ecology, critical food and agrarian studies, African studies, Tanzania, feminist theory, critical ethnography, visual methods

Lara Kueppers climate-ecosystem feedbacks, vegetation dynamics, effects of agriculture on the atmosphere

Isha Ray water, sanitation and development; water and gender; technology and development; common property resources

Margaret S. Torn climate change, ecosystems, society, biodiversity, greenhouse gases, food systems, soil, land use

English

Susan Schweik 19th-Century American, 20th- and 21st-Century American, Critical Theory, Cultural Studies, Gender & Sexuality Studies, Disability Studies, Poetry

Environmental Science, Policy, and Management

Rodrigo Almeida ecology and management of plant pathogens, emerging plant diseases, insect-plant-microbe interactions

Ronald Amundson biogeochemistry, soil, ecosystems, land, energy, nutrients

Dennis Baldocchi biosphere, biometeorology

Timothy Bowles agroecology, soil ecology, biogeochemistry, plant-soil-microbe interactions

Justin Brashares biodiversity, conservation

Claudia Carr biocultural diversity and food, tribal health, food security, urban and peri-urban agriculture, sustainable food systems

Federico Castillo technology transfer and innovation, economic valuation, socioeconomic impacts of climate change, economic aspects of protected areas, migration

Ignacio Chapela microbial ecology, ecosystems, agriculture, biotechnology, environmental science, microbial biology, policy and management

Kent Daane agriculture, insecticides, biological control, sustainability, farm management (also UC Cooperative Extension)

Kathryn De Master food system mapping, organic agriculture, sustainability, sociology

Paolo D’Odorico ecohydrology, surface hydrology, ecosystem ecology, aeolian processes, desertification, stochastic, nonlinear environmental dynamics, water and food security, food inequality, food trade, food distribution

Mary Firestone soil, microbial ecology, terrestrial system response to global change, sustainability, biodegradation, soil structure

Louise Fortmann rural development, sociology, poverty, community control of natural resources, democratizing science, forestry

Christy Getz food systems, social justice, labor, industry, food security, sustainability (also UC Cooperative Extension)

Manuela Girotto hydrologic response and interaction between natural and human driven processes, land surface remote sensing and multi-sensor, -spectrum, -resolution data assimilation; hydrology contribution to sea level change, snow hydrology.

Ted Grantham environmental flow science, California water management and policy, spatial freshwater conservation planning, climate change risk assessment and adaptation (also UC Cooperative Extension)

Seth Holmes public health, medicine and science, labor, immigration, medical anthropology, health disparities, Latin America (also Anthropology)

Lynn Huntsinger wildland, rangeland, conservation, livestock, pastoral, socio-ecological systems, sustainable management, agroecology, political ecology, ecosystems

Alastair Iles agriculture, agroecology, diversified farming systems, environmental justice, democracy, education, policy, science and technology studies (Founding BFI Faculty Co-Director; Co-Director, Center for Diversified Farming Systems)

Maggi Kelly GIS, ecosystem sciences, forests (also UC Cooperative Extension)

Michael Mascarenhas postcolonial theory, development studies, environmental justice, critical race theory, science and technology studies

Adina Merenlender Conservation Biology, Community Science, Climate-wise Habitat Connectivity, Working Lands Conservation

Nicholas J. Mills insect parasitism, biological control, pest management, community ecology

Meg Mills-Novoa climate change adaptation, political ecology, land use change, and climate justice

Rachel Morello-Frosch public health, environmental justice, malnutrition, environmental and health disparities, policy, community-based participatory research, epidemiology (also Public Health)

Peter Nelson Indigenous archaeology, Indigenous stewardship, Indigenous peoples of California, California Indian foodways

Dara O’Rourke environmental justice, globalization, industrial ecology, labor

Celine Pallud soil, sediments, water, nutrients, contaminants, bioavailability, biogeochemistry

Nancy Lee Peluso political ecology, resource management, environmental sociology, environmental policy, international, rural development

Matthew D. Potts plantation agriculture, land use policy and planning, food, energy, water nexus, natural resource management

Jeffrey M. Romm social distributions of power and wealth, economic growth, natural resource quality, public science, institutional watershed and river basin management, race and natural resources

Seth B.C. Shonkoff fracking, water, air, climate, ecological and population health

Whendee L. Silver ecosystem ecology, biogeochemistry, land use, nutrient cycling, biodiversity, climate change, greenhouse gases, soils, rangelands

Jennifer Sowerwine biocultural diversity, food, tribal health, food security, urban and peri-urban agriculture, sustainable food systems, food safety (also UC Cooperative Extension)

Sunaura Taylor disability studies, ableism, animal studies, veganism, interdependence, environmental justice, capitalism & labor

Neil Tsutsui insect behavior, evolutionary biology, Argentine ants, genomics, honey bees, chemical ecology

Ethnic Studies

Peter Nelson Indigenous archaeology, Indigenous stewardship, Indigenous peoples of California, California Indian foodways

John A. Powell civil rights, civil liberties, race, structural racism, ethnicity, housing, poverty, democracy, racialized space (also African American Studies and African Diaspora Studies, Law, and Othering & Belonging)

Lok Siu diaspora, transnationalism, migration, cultural citizenship, un/belonging, racial, ethnic, and gender formation, Asians in the Americas, Chinese diaspora studies, cultural politics of food ethnography

Food Labor Research Center

Saru Jayaraman labor, food, social justice, policy

Geography

Jake Kosek cultural politics of nature and difference; cultural geography, science and technology studies; critical race theory; critical cartography; biopolitics; human and the non-human; and environmental politics

Nathan Sayre ecology, rangelands, livestock production, suburbanization, conservation, pastoralism, environmental history, local ecological knowledge, climate change, political ecology

Othering & Belonging Institute

Elsadig Elsheikh social dynamics, human and indigenous peoples’ rights, political ecology

History

Janaki Bakhle intellectual history of religion, politics and modern India, history of food and agriculture in South Asia

Rebecca M. McLennan global history of foodways, American history in a global context, law and society, crime and punishment, incarceration, capitalism, environment, social theory

Institute for the Study of Societal Issues

Deborah Lustig cultural anthropology, gender, education, youth, policy, social justice, Kenya, United States

Robin Marsh rural development, gender and agriculture, gardening, food security, sustainability, youth leadership

Integrative Biology

David Ackerly ecology, evolution, diversity, terrestrial plants, California, flora, native, ecophysiology, population biology, community ecology, phylogenetics, climate

Thomas Carlson ethnobotany, ethnoecology, biocultural diversity, evolutionary medicine, cultural foods, nutrition, pediatrics, human health, Type 2 diabetes mellitus, Native American health

Paul Fine Amazon, rain forest, tree diversity, biotic interactions, environmental heterogeneity,

plant distribution & speciation, edaphic specialization

International and Area Studies

Maximilian Auffhammer air pollution and agriculture, greenhouse gas emissions, climate change, econometrics, energy, environmental economics (also Agricultural and Resource Economics)

Clara I. Nicholls sustainable rural development, Latin America, agroecology, community based participatory research

Joeva Rock international development, food sovereignty, biotechnology, foodways, ethnography

Journalism

Andrés Cediel immigration, international, investigate, video journalism

Michael Pollan food systems, agriculture, gardening, nutrition, obesity, science, cooking, journalism

Mark Schapiro environmental health, international

David Tuller health, journalism (also Public Health)

Edward Wasserman journalism ethics, media ownership, poverty

Malia Wollan journalism, science, food systems, agriculture

Labor Occupational Health Program

Laura Stock labor, workers’ compensation, ergonomics programs and policies

Suzanne Teran immigrant worker populations, health communication and social marketing, occupational health disparities, leadership and capacity building programs

Landscape Architecture and Environmental Planning

Patricia Algara urban gardens, urban design, farms, pollinators, designing for difference

Louise Mozingo history of landscapes, urban design, social and cultural factors in landscape design, environmental and social sustainability, collective public landscapes

Kimberlee Stryker landscapes, historic gardens, urban design, San Francisco, sustainable landscape design

Law

Anne Bloom civil justice, litigation, public interest

Erwin Chemerinsky constitutional law, criminal procedure, federal jurisdiction

Maria Echaveste labor law, immigration law, policy

Daniel A. Farber environmental law, environmental writing, energy

Laurel Fletcher transitional justice and humanitarian law, globalization and migration

Moira O’Neill strategic planning, policy analysis, negotiation, community development across sectors, environmental law and zoning, children nutrition and health

Claudia Polsky pollution prevention, green technology, public health, environmental health, agricultural pesticides, toxicity, toxic waste disposal, conservation easements

Molly Van Houweling food law, intellectual property, technology policy

Linguistics

George Lakoff application of cognitive and neural linguistics to politics, literature, psychology, philosophy and mathematics

Mechanical Engineering

Boris Rubinsky biotechnology, bioengineering, biomedical engineering

Tarek Zohdi modeling, simulation and engineering technologies for robust and sustainable food systems

Media Studies

Jean Retzinger media studies, culture, agriculture and food studies

Molecular and Cell Biology

David E. Presti neuroscience, behavior, addiction, nutrition, chemistry, psychopharmacology, ethnobotany (also Psychology)

Nutrition Policy Institute (UC Cooperative Extension)

Patricia Crawford nutrition, policy, obesity, nutrition assessment, pediatric health (also Public Health)

Wendi Gosliner obesity prevention, nutrition, health disparities, policy

Lorrene Ritchie nutrition policy, children, family, education, child obesity, school programs, child nutrition

Ron Strochlic equitable and sustainable food systems, agricultural workers, low-income and immigrant communities, nutrition

Nutritional Sciences and Toxicology

Susana Matias nutrition, obesity, food security, breastfeeding, maternal health, health disparities, immigrant health (also UC Cooperative Extension)

Mikelle McCoin dietetics, nutrition therapy, chronic disease management, cardiovascular disease

Kristen Rasmussen food systems, food, nutrition, policy, sustainability

Mary Lesser nutrition, developmental nutrition (maternal, perinatal, and pediatric nutrition), developmental origins of health and disease, clinical research, dietetics, food, food systems, policy, public health, health disparities

Oxford Tract Facility

Tina Wistrom plant growth facility management and research support, integrated pest management, controlled environment agriculture

Plant and Microbial Biology

Robert Fischer epigenetic regulation of seed development in angiosperms

Sarah C. Hake genetics, plant development, plant architecture, meristems, morphological diversity

Peggy G. Lemaux crop biotechnology, cereal crops, education, genetic engineering (also UC Cooperative Extension)

Sheng Luan plant responses to the environment, molecular networks, mineral uptake, rice

Political Science

Christopher Ansell governance, food safety regulation, regulation, public administration

Psychology

Dacher Keltner prosocial behavior and health, power, wealth, food consumption

David E. Presti neuroscience, behavior, addiction, nutrition, chemistry, psychopharmacology, ethnobotany (also Molecular and Cell Biology)

Public Health

Colette Auerswald homeless youth, food security, adolescent health, marginalized youth, HIV, STDs

John R. Balmes farmworkers, asthma, lung cancer, ozone, nitrogen dioxide air pollution

Stefano Bertozzi HIV, tuberculosis, UC-Mexico Initiative

Jason Corburn city planning, public health, environmental health and social justice in cities, local knowledge, urban health equity (also City and Regional Planning)

Lori Dorfman public health, journalism, communication, media, framing, marketing, food, beverages

William Dow demography, health policy, aging, global

Brenda Eskenazi reproductive hazards, chemical exposure, toxicology, epidemiology, environmental health, biostatistics, maternal-child health, public health

Lia Fernald obesity, nutrition, epidemiology, immigrant health, maternal-child health, global, policy, public health, inequality and health disparities

Jay Graham community-acquired antimicrobial resistance, zoonotic infectious diseases, environmental determinants of infectious diseases, exposure assessment, E. coli

Sylvia Guendelman reproductive health of immigrant women; women’s health; access to health care for disadvantaged populations, health along the U.S. Mexico border

Kim Harley maternal and child health, endocrine disruptors, prenatal exposure to pesticides and environmental contaminants

Carly Hyland climate change, farmworker health, epidemiology, pesticides, community-engaged research (also School of UC Cooperative Extension)

Barbara Laraia food security, health disparities, obesity, diabetes, nutrition, policy, domestic, social justice

Michael Lu maternal and child health, health disparities

Sangwei Lu foodborne diseases, outbreaks, Salmonella, child-friendly formulations of antibiotics

Kristine Madsen community health, pediatric obesity, health disparities, community based participatory research, school lunch reform (BFI Faculty Director emerita)

Daphne Miller integrative medicine, nutrition, culinary medicine, medical ecology, sustainable agriculture

Rachel Morello-Frosch public health, environmental justice, malnutrition, environmental and health disparities, policy, community-based participatory research, epidemiology (also Environmental Science, Policy, and Management)

Emily J. Ozer violence prevention, trauma, adolescent, mental health, physical health, depression

Jaspal Sandhu design, public health, healthcare, human-centered design, mHealth, mobile phones, interactive, data-driven tools, decision-making

Karen Sokal-Gutierrez education, maternal-child health, oral health, nutrition, developing countries, health disparities

David Tuller health, journalism (also Journalism)

Isabel Madzorera global nutrition and health, maternal and child nutrition, women’s empowerment, food systems interventions in resource-poor settings

Public Policy

Henry Brady politics, government, democracy

Hilary Hoynes policy, poverty, domestic, infant health, food, nutrition, labor, economic disparities, SNAP (also Economics)

Solomon Hsiang agriculture, climate change, international, socio-ecological systems, development economics, natural disasters

Jane Mauldon demography, domestic, race, social welfare, health, poverty, policy

Michael O’Hare public management, environmental policy, global warming, land use, food price, biofuels

Robert Reich industrial policy, labor and employment, leadership and management, leadership and social change, macroeconomic policy, social and economic policy

Social Welfare

Tina Sacks racial disparities in health, social determinants of health, race, class and gender, poverty and inequality

Sociology

Jill Bakehorn gender, sexuality, culture, food

Caitlin Daniel poverty, inequality, food choice, culture, judgment, decision-making

Troy Duster sociology of science, sociology of knowledge, deviance and control, sociology of law, race and ethnicity, policy

Laura J. Enriquez development in Latin America, rural sociology, political sociology, social movements

Christopher Muller inequality, incarceration, historical sociology, social theory

Statistics

Philip Stark food equity, sustainability, urban foraging, wild foods, earthquake prediction, climate modeling

UC Cooperative Extension

Ellen Bruno agriculture and natural resources policy, California water policy, farming, climate change, drought (also Agricultural and Resource Economics)

Kent Daane agriculture, insecticides, biological control, sustainability, farm management (also Environmental Science, Policy, and Management)

Bill Frost range, natural resources, environment, management

Christy Getz food systems, social justice, labor, industry, food security, sustainability (also Environmental Science, Policy, and Management)

Carly Hyland climate change, farmworker health, epidemiology, pesticides, community-engaged research (also Public Health)

Maggi Kelly GIS, ecosystem sciences, forests (also Environmental Science, Policy, and Management)

Peggy G. Lemaux crop biotechnology, cereal crops, education, genetic engineering (also Plant and Microbial Biology)

Susana Matias nutrition, obesity, food security, breastfeeding, maternal health, health disparities, immigrant health (also Nutritional Sciences and Toxicology)

Adina Merenlender biodiversity, landscape, conservation, watershed, ecosystem, land use (also Environmental Science, Policy, and Management)

Jennifer C. Sowerwine biocultural diversity, food, tribal health, food security, urban and peri-urban agriculture, sustainable food systems, food safety (also Environmental Science, Policy, and Management)

University Health Services

Kim Guess health services, nutrition, wellness, dietetics, behavior, counseling, food choices policy