Current Students
Emma McCurry (’21) Emma is a senior Bioengineering major and captain of the SCU Women’s Cross Country and Track & Field team. Emma’s interest in food system transformation began in winter of 2019 when she took a course on Food System Sustainability and Change with Dr. Christopher Bacon at SCU. She was a 2019-20 Food Systems Fellow with SCU’s Center for Sustainability. This was one of the first assessments to combine the ethical and sustainability goals of Real Food with an assessment of food related climate emissions. As a Jean Donovan Fellow, Emma served as an intern at La Mesa Verde, Sacred Heart Community Services’ non-profit organization dedicated to increasing food access and food justice in San José, CA. In addition to co-authoring an article with Bacon and Paige about campus food systems, Emma is analyzing interviews on farm diversification in Nicaragua. Emma plans to study sustainable agriculture in graduate school. Primary Mentor – Bacon
Gabriella Ballardo – 2019-present
Gabriella Ballardo is a junior double majoring in Environmental Studies and Italian Studies. Over the summer in 2019 she was a Conservation Management and Public Engagement intern for the Contra Costa Resource Conservation District (CCRCD) where she worked on several projects including analyzing trends in data from the organization’s Coastal Cleanup Day events and publishing an article in their newsletter. This experience inspired her to continue assisting with research in different areas of sustainability. She has also been a peer educator for Environmental Studies and Italian courses. In winter 2020, she joined the research team. She edits research papers and uses R to conduct quantitative analysis on the relationship between gender and diversification methods of smallholder farmers in Nicaragua. Primary Mentor – Bacon
Erica Martinez, Research Assistant: 2019 – Present
Erica Martinez is a senior triple major in Biology, Public Health and Spanish. She joined the research team in winter 2019. She analyzes the food security discourse of smallholder coffee farmers. She uses Atlas.ti to code the ways smallholder coffee farmers are characterizing their livelihoods and examines discrepancies between the way international news articles portray smallholder livelihoods. She also conducts gendered analyses of smallholder farmer trainings.
Primary Mentor – Bacon
Chloe is co-designing and conducting a study assessing covid-19 food insecurity and food justice related experiences of Santa Clara University students. She helped to develop the overall study protocol, program the survey into Qualtrics, and develop interview and focus group questions. The team is currently recruiting participants into the study, and planning focus groups to elicit students’ creative responses. Conducted in collaboration with the Bronco Food Pantry and the Multicultural Center, this study is also supported by a CAS’s REAL Fellowship and the Center for Food Innovations and Entrepreneurship.
Primary Mentor – Bacon
Andrew Bake, Research Assistant 2018 – Present
Andrew Bake is a senior Economics and Environmental Studies double major and member of the SCU Rowing Team. During the summer of 2018, he went to Bolivia with the Global Fellows program. He has a longstanding interest in the environment and enjoys hiking in the Bay Area. He joined the research team in spring 2018. He conducts quantitative analysis of surveys with R, investigating farmers’ coping mechanisms in response to water scarcity.
Primary Mentor – Stewart-Frey
Skyler Kriese, Research Assistant 2019 – Present
Skyler Kriese is a senior Environmental Studies major. In fall 2018, she conducted field research for four weeks in Costa Rica, which reinforced her interest in environmental justice and sustainable agriculture. She joined the research team in winter 2019. She analyzes the food security discourse of Nicaraguan smallholder coffee farmers using Atlas.ti and conducts quantitative analysis of farm resilience survey data using R. In 2019, she became a Global Social Benefit Fellow (GSBF) at the Miller Center for Social Entrepreneurship to conduct action research for eight weeks in Kenya, Uganda, and Tanzania. Primary Mentor – Bacon
Former Students
Nicholas Chan is a senior Economics and Environmental Studies double major. He has a passion for rugby and he plays for the SCU Men’s Rugby Team. He volunteered with an NGO in Cape Town, South Africa that establishes sustainable urban farms in slums. This experience sparked his interest in environmental science. He joined the research team in summer 2018. He conducts quantitative analysis of survey data with R, researching farmers’ dietary diversity and diversification strategies. He maps farmers’ diversification strategies with Geographic Information Systems, disseminating the maps to the farmers. He is also tracking the international development funding to Nicaragua. Primary Mentor – Bacon, Co-Mentor – Sundstrom.
Gabriela Hamm (’20) is a senior Environmental Studies major with minors in Studio Art and Italian. She joined the team in summer 2019. Also during the summer of 2019, she interned at SCU’s organic urban garden, The Forge, and with Bronco Urban Gardens, where her interest in sustainable agriculture and alternative food systems took root. She hopes to continue working with food and environmental justice. She transcribes focus groups and interviews, and uses Atlas.ti software to code the ways smallholder coffee farmers are characterizing their livelihoods. She also conducts gendered analyses of smallholder farmer training. Primary Mentor – Bacon
Annalicia Anaya, Research Assistant 2019 – 2020
Annalicia Anaya (’20) was a Sociology major with double minors in Environmental Studies and Anthropology. She is interested in the impacts of climate change on vulnerable communities. She joined the research team in winter 2019. She analyzed the food security discourse of smallholder coffee farmers, using Atlas.ti to code the ways smallholder coffee farmers characterize their livelihoods. She also analyed the ways newspapers are framing the livelihoods of smallholders and designed a qualitative analysis to understand how gender impacts farmers experiences. In 2019, she was an immigration intern at the International Rescue Committee. Primary Mentor – Bacon
Griffin Garner, Research Assistant: 2019 – 2020
Griffin Garner (’20) was a double major in Environmental Studies and Spanish. In 2018, he was an assistant manager at the Bimini Biological Field Station Foundation, a shark research and marine biology institute. He is interested in marine conservation, agroecological and climate adaptation practices. He joined the research team in Winter 2019. He tracked international development funding to Nicaragua. In 2019, he became a Global Social Benefit Fellow (GSBF) at the Miller Center for Social Entrepreneurship to conduct action research in Uganda. He was most recently awarded a Fulbright to conduct further research in Uganda, where he will draw on his experience as an RA to work with smallholder coffee farmers. Primary Mentor – Bacon
Vanessa Shin, Research Assistant 2017 – 2019
Vanessa Shin (’19) majored in Environmental Science with triple minors in Communication, Biology, and Japanese Studies. She participated in an immersion trip to Nicaragua in December 2015 which sparked her interest in environmental justice. She conducted quantitative analysis of survey data with R, researched farmers’ diversification strategies, food security and coping mechanisms. She mapped farmers’ diversification strategies with Geographic Information Systems and disseminated the maps to the farmers. As a 2019-2020 CivicSpark AmeriCorps fellow, she is finishing up her year of service with the City of Cupertino doing community outreach and energy data management for implementing the City’s Climate Action Plan.Primary Mentor – Bacon
Kimy Grandi Soriano, Research Assistant 2016 – 2019
Kimy Grandi Soriano (’19) was a double major in Environmental Studies and Spanish with double minors in Latin American Studies and Sustainability. She joined the team in spring 2016. She designed surveys, translated documents and transcribed focus groups. She also edited papers for publication. She was the original creator and translater of this blog. During the summer of 2016, she travelled to Nicaragua where she gathered and recorded information from field measurements, focus groups, and meetings/workshops with our partner organization ASDENIC. She now works as a Housing Initiative Coordinator in Mountain View.Primary Mentor – Bacon
Anand Purohit, Research Assistant 2015 – 2018
Anand Purohit (’18) was a double major in Political Science and Environmental Studies with an Economics minor. He joined the research team in spring 2015. He analyzed the discourse of Nicaragua’s food and water insecurity. Using Atlas.ti software, he analyzed the language of newspaper articles that cover Nicaragua’s food/water scarcity. He is now a JD candidate (’21) at UC Berkeley School of Law.Primary Mentor – Bacon
Martin Perez, Research Assistant 2016 – 2018
Martín Pérez (’18) was a double major in Environmental Studies and Public Health. He joined the research team in spring 2016. He cross-analyzed farmer survey data as well as transcribed and translated focus group recordings and interviews from Nicaraguan community members collected by the research team in the Summer of 2016. He is currently finishing up his Master’s in Public Health at UCLA.Primary Mentor – Bacon
Chris Esparza, Research Assistant 2017 – 2018
Christopher Esparza (’18) was a double major in History and Physics. Since his family is from Mexico, he was interested in working with populations from Latin American countries, hoping to contribute in any way he can to the lands he and his family call home. He is currently working at a tech startup firm where he recently won a design competition.
Co-Mentor – Bacon, Co-Mentor – Sundstrom.
Audrey Gozali, Research Assistant 2018
Audrey Gozali (’18) was a Civil Engineering major with a minor in Spanish. She joined the team in winter 2018. She analyzed the mid-summer drought phenomenon, programming scripts and developing trendlines from historic precipitation data. She modeled the effects of climate change on the mid-summer drought. She is currently pursuing a master’s degree at UC Berkeley. Primary Mentor – Stewart-Frey, Co-Mentor Maurer
Deja Thomas, Research Assistant 2016 – 2017
Deja Thomas (’17) Alumnae and former research assistant discussed EJ in California with mentor Chris Bacon, including Thomas’ action-oriented research on food justice, race, and transformative climate adaptation in Southern California. Like Bacon, Thomas was recently awarded a Switzer Fellowship. She is completing a Masters of Urban and Regional Planning, as well as a Food Studies Certificate, at UCLA’s Luskin School of Public Affairs.Primary Mentor – Bacon
Claire Smoker, Research Assistant 2016 – 2017
Claire Smoker (’17) was an Environmental Studies major with a minor in Anthropology. She joined the team in winter 2016. She used GIS to spatially analyze and map data. She designed and edited survey questions. In addition, she traveled to Nicaragua in the summers of 2016 and 2017, where she prepared and conducted field measurements and focus groups.
Primary Mentor – Bacon. Co-mentor: Stewart-Frey
Amanda Alipaz, Research Assistant 2016 – 2017
Amanda Alipaz (’17) had a major in Economics. She researched relevant literature and designed survey questions. She analyzed survey data and examined the relationship between food and water insecurity. She identified gender discrepancies and coping mechanisms.
Primary Mentor – Sundstrom, Co-Mentor Bacon.
Lindsay Tenes, Research Assistant 2016-2017
Lindsay Tenes (’17) majored in Environmental Science. She researched communities’ exposure to air pollution near San Jose, CA schools. She joined the team in fall 2016. Lindsay conducted qualitative analysis of news articles written about drought, the Coffee Leaf Rust disease outbreak and food security in Nicaragua and Central America. Primary Mentor – Bacon
Lauren Cloward, Research Assistant 2015 – 2016
Lauren Cloward (’16) was a double major in Environmental Studies and Political Science. She researched relevant food and water security literature, designed survey questions to measure food and water security among rural smallholders, and crafted maps of the study region using GIS. Along with Claire and Kimy, she traveled to Nicaragua in the summer of 2016, where she collaborated with local stakeholders, conducted focus groups, and collected field measurements. Lauren was a finalist for the Rhodes scholarship and was awarded a Fulbright in 2018 to conduct food and water security research in Burkina Faso. Primary Mentor – Bacon