Affiliated Faculty and Staff

The BFI Affiliates 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 multidisciplinary, and our unique strength comes from the breadth of expertise on campus. Many Affiliates have worked on projects funded through our seed grant program, which supports innovative, collaborative, and interdisciplinary research projects that are aligned with the mission of the Institute. If you are a UC Berkeley faculty or research staff interested in joining 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

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

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

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)

Elizabeth Hoover

Native American food sovereignty, heirloom seeds, seed rematriation, Native American chefs and culinary work, food justice and environmental justice, Native American community based farming and gardening projects

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)

Luke T. Macaulay

wildlife management, rangelands, ecosystem services, land use change

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

john a. powell

civil rights, civil liberties, race, structural racism, ethnicity, housing, poverty, democracy, racialized space (also African American Studies and African Diaspora Studies, Ethnic Studies, and Law)

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

Italian Studies

Danielle Callegari

history of food in Italy, food literature and cultures of the pre and early modern Mediterranean, history of wine

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

john a. powell

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

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)

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)

Saru Jayaraman

labor, food, social justice, policy (also Food Labor Research Center)

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

University Health Services

Kim Guess

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