CURRENT RESEARCH
My current research is under the advisement of Dr. Sean Cash, an economist in the Agriculture, Food, and Environment Program. I work with him on examining the impact of climate change on tea production and quality across China. This is a collaborative project with faculty from the Tufts Departments of Biology and Chemistry. We are examining how climate change impacts the quality of key phytochemicals found in tea that give the drink its many beneficial health qualities.
I am also working on two other projects that focus on improving the food environment in schools. Both of these projects are only in the nascent stage and I’ll be writing more about them in the coming months.
PUBLICATIONS
Planting Restrictions: Just an Afterthought for Most Commodity Producers - Paper I wrote for Determinants of U.S. Food Policy course in spring 2011.
GIS project to look at corn yields in Tompkins County, New York - Took a GIS course in spring 2011 and examined productivity of land in the county in which Cornell University is situated.
The Farmers Guide to the Conservation Stewardship Program - Updated this while I was a policy intern at the National Sustainable Agriculture Coalition.
Nitrobuster: Reducing Nitrogen Runoff and Pollution in U.S. Agriculture - Paper I wrote in fall 2010 to describe a U.S. cross-compliance program to reduce nitrogen pollution produced by U.S. agriculture.
Science Brief: Meeting food security needs with a growing global population - Paper I wrote in fall 2010 to review the state of the science on agricultural intensification and global food security.
Farm to School Feasibility Study for the Boston Public Schools - Large report I completed in 2007 with grant funding while working at The Food Project in Roxbury, MA.
PRESENTATIONS
“All the tea in China: modeling crop production in a changing climate” - Presented at the 5th annual Friedman Fellowship Symposium, New York City, New York on November 17, 2012.
“Planting Restrictions: An afterthought for most U.S. commodity producers” - Presented at the Friedman School of Nutrition Science and Policy 2012 Student Research Conference in Boston, MA on March 31, 2012.
“Introduction to the Farm Bill: Northeast Organic Farming Association” - Talk I gave on behalf of the National Sustainable Agriculture Coalition in the winter of 2011 to introduce their Farm Bill 2012 platform.
“Farm to School: reinventing the lunch line in the Boston Public Schools” - Poster presentation at the American Public Health Association Conference in Washington, DC in November 2007.
OTHER
“The Friedman School: as white as Wonder Bread” - My editorial in the Tufts Daily about the racial diversity (or lack thereof) at my school
