Alumni

Thesis: Strategies to enhance organic vegetable production systems: Soil blocking, cover crop mixtures, and poultry integration

Advisor: Ajay Nair

Thesis: Prenatal nutrition in Iowa: A multi-study qualitative analysis

Advisor: Christina Campbell

Thesis: Cultivating conservation: Exploring relationships, experiences, and emotional connections in agricultural land stewardship

Advisor: J. Arbuckle

PhD, Agricultural Education and Studies. Minor in Sustainable Agriculture, Fall 2024

Thesis:  Investigating Opportunities for Capacity Building of Extension Agriculture and Natural Resource Professionals in Overlooked Communities

Advisor: Nancy Grudens-Schuck

Thesis: Evaluating tissue localization and pathogenicity determinants of Serratia marcescens in cucurbits, and optimizing mesotunnel systems for organic cucurbit production

Advisor: Mark Gleason and Gwyn Beattie

Thesis: Ground beetle response to prairie strips and their potential ecosystem service delivery in crop fields

Advisor: Matt O'Neal and Lisa Schulte Moore

Thesis: Incorporating policy programs into the Iowa food-energy-water systems model: A proposal

Advisor: Amy Kaleita

Thesis: Plant and insect community responses to manure application in prairies.
Advisors: Lisa Schulte Moore and John Tyndall 

Creative Component: Supporting Climate Dialogue in Agricultural Communities: Artistic Strategies for Engagement
Advisor: Monica Haddad

Thesis: Challenges and opportunities for consumers and producers in Central Iowa local food systems
Advisor: Ajay Nair

Thesis: The other sides of prairie strips: An exploration of the value of prairie strips for the beekeeping and hunting industries
Advisor: John Tyndall

M.S. Thesis: Local food access in inner cities: Integrated research through: comparison study, literature review, case studies and design implementation

M.S. Advisor: Paul Anderson

Dissertation: Resilient Community Food Systems: Intersectional analysis across impacts, values, and organizational capacity
Advisor: Francis Owusu

Thesis: Exploring the role of anthropogenic and biophysical factors in forest dynamics of native and invasive legumes in St. John, US Virgin Islands
Advisor: Emily Zimmerman

Thesis: Developing resilient lettuce (Lactuca sativa) production systems in Iowa
Advisor: Ajay Nair

Thesis: Decay Chain and Resistance: Theatre as a tool for discussing sustainability, risk, and innovation

Advisors: Abby Dubisar and Charissa Menefee

Dissertation: Identifying environmental, economic, and equity opportunities through a spatial lens
Advisors: John Tyndall and Emily Zimmerman

Thesis: Food as grounds for peacebuilding: Conceptualizing a food peace framework for the field of nutrition and dietetics

Advisor: Christina Campbell

Thesis: The spatial and temporal effects of prairie strip restoration on soil health

Advisor: Marshall McDaniel

Thesis: Data-driven applications to address nutrient reduction goals in agricultural landscapes

Advisor: Emily Zimmerman and Tom Isenhart

Dissertation: Toward a better understanding of the complex factors that influence farmers' soil and water conservation behaviors

Advisor: J. Gordon Arbuckle

Thesis: Seed sovereignty, rematriation, and Three Sisters Intercropping in Native American communities

Advisors: Christina Gish Hill 

Dissertation: Weed community and waterhemp population dynamics in simple versus diverse cropping systems suitable for the Midwestern USA

Advisor: Matthew Liebman, Emeritus Professor, Agronomy

Thesis: Application of Multi-State Financial Data for Use with the USDA Agricultural Conservation Planning Framework

Advisors: John Tyndall and Emily Zimmerman

Thesis: The role of ecosystem services in urban agriculture and planning in Austin, Texas

Advisor: Carlton Basmajian

Thesis: Managing and quantifying phosphorus in Iowa cropping systems for optimum agronomic and water quality benefits

Advisor: Antonio Mallarino

Thesis: Management effects on near-surface soil properties in a temperate corn-soybean cropping system

Advisors: Richard Cruse and Tom Sauer

Thesis: Pollinator Response to Prairie Strips in the Iowa Agricultural Landscape

Advisors: John Tyndall and Matt O'Neal

Thesis: Effects of Dicamba on monarch oviposition and larval growth and development

Advisor: Robert Hartzler

Thesis: Influence of cereal rye spring termination timing and herbicide type on soil nitrate and litter composition

Advisor: Michael Castellano

Thesis: Indigenous women’s empowerment as quinoa producers in rural Ecuador

Advisors: Carmen Bain and Ann Marie Oberhauser

Thesis: Understanding the variation in vegetation composition of prairie restorations within crop fields

Advisor: Matthew Liebman

Dissertation: Motivations, challenges, benefits, and educational needs associated with organic grain farming adoption in Iowa

Advisor: Nancy Grudens-Schuck

Thesis: Understanding site location factors of food pantries and free meal programs in the Des Moines, IA metro

Advisor: Francis Owusu

M.S. Thesis: Conservation plans and targeted conservation: Investigating two approaches to improving farmer practice adoption

Dissertation: How Social and Structural Factors Affect Agricultural Sustainability Outcomes: Investigations of Farmer Trauma and Conservation Organizational Effectiveness

M.S. & PhD Advisor: J. G. Arbuckle

Thesis: Gauging food provisioning, social and economic benefits of community farms for Iowa's immigrant community

Advisor: Kathleen Delate

Thesis: Advancing PEWI: An ecosystem service and economic outcomes simulator for agricultural and natural resource education

Advisor: Lisa Schulte Moore

Thesis: Approaches to sustainable management of sudden death syndrome of soybean

Advisor: Leonor Leandro

Thesis: Farmer and farm characteristics associated with interest in prairie strips in Iowa

Advisor: Jane Rongerude

Thesis: Effects of interest rate changes on midwestern U.S. farmland values

Advisor: Wendong Zhang

Thesis: What does food mean? A multi-scale investigation into Des Moines, Iowa

Advisor: Monica Haddad

Thesis: Smallholder farmers’ social capital, resource access and adoption of integrated soil fertility management technologies and practices in the Masaka bean innovation platform

Advisor: Robert Mazur 

Thesis: A feminist political ecology of food justice in Iowa

Advisor: Ann Marie Oberhauser

Thesis: Impact of nutrition education centers on food and nutrition security in Kamuli District, Uganda

Advisor: Francis Owusu

Dissertation: Optimizing high tunnel vegetable crop production through grafting, cultivar selection, and microclimate modification

Advisor: Ajay Nair

Advisor: Betty Wells

Thesis: Livestock production, water scarcity, and the potential for collaborative water governance in northwest Iowa

Advisor: J. Arbuckle

Thesis: Impact of host plant health and host plant resistance on Aphis glycines (Hemiptera: Aphididae)

Advisors: Erin Hodgson, Matthew O’Neal

Thesis: Cover crop, manure application timing, nitrification inhibitors, and biochar impact on nitrogen loss in Midwestern soils

Advisor: Daniel Andersen

Dissertation: Identifying opportunities for co-production of commodities and water quality improvements in agricultural landscapes in the US Cornbelt

Advisors: Lisa Schulte Moore and John Tyndall

Thesis: Energy and food security in the context of biomass, crop production and soil quality in Uganda

Advisor: Robert Mazur

Thesis: The Growing Together Project: Understanding impacts on field day attendees and Iowa Master Gardeners

Advisor: Cynthia Haynes

Thesis: Soil carbon sequestration potential of tree windbreaks in the U.S. Great Plains
Advisors: John Tyndall and Thomas J. Sauer, US Department of Agriculture 

Thesis: Soil carbon sequestration potential of tree windbreaks in the U.S. Great Plains

Advisor: John Tyndall

Dissertation: Understanding and predicting nitrogen dynamics in the Midwest United States Corn Belt

Advisor: Michael Castellano

Thesis: Gender, trees, and hardship or the dilemma of the Haitian farmer

Advisor: Francis Owusu

Thesis: Khana khanu bhayo (Have you eaten)? Traditional rice varieties, land tenure, and social structure in Nepal’s mid-hills

Advisor: Francis Owusu

Thesis: Winter cereal rye and selected brassica cover crops for forage prior to soybeans

Advisor: Andrew Lenssen

Dissertation: Chronic wasting disease as a model for the development of risk communication using the mental models approach

Advisor: Robert W Klaver

M.S. Thesis: The agronomic and economic performance of flax in Iowa

PhD: Evaluating alternative, diverse cropping systems that include canola, wheat, and red clover in Iowa

Advisor: Mary Wiedenhoeft

Dissertation: Rethinking adaptive capacity: A study of Midwestern U.S. corn farmers

Advisor: J. Arbuckle

Thesis: Effects of cover crops and tillage in a muskmelon production system

Advisor: Ajay Nair

Thesis: “If you have money, you have water”: Intersectional influences on women’s participation in irrigation management in Batken, Kyrgyzstan

Advisor: Francis Owusu

Dissertation: Transforming lands and livelihoods in the Awach River Basin of Lake Victoria, western Kenya

Thesis: Changing capitals, shifting livelihoods : case study of Luo community living on Awach catchment of Lake Victoria Basin, Western Kenya

Advisor: Lorna Michael Butler, Lee Burras

Thesis: Production, perceptions and limitations of organic small grains in Iowa

Advisor: Mary Wiedenhoeft

Thesis: Magincally modified Grimm’s: Storytelling in the agricultural classroom

Advisor: Michael Dahlstrom

Dissertation: Place-based communities and neoliberalism: a study of the artisanal fishing community of Chorrillos, Peru

Advisor: Maximilian Viatori

Thesis: Agricultural Labor in Midwestern United States specialty cropping systems

Advisor: Lois Wright Morton

Thesis: Organic no-till and strip-till systems for broccoli and pepper production

Advisor: Ajay Nair

Thesis: An equitable alternative to conventional agriculture? Discourses of whiteness and color-blind racism in local foods systems

Advisor: Carmen Bain

Thesis: Tough tobacco transitions

Advisor: Carlton Basmajian

Thesis: Reducing Herbicide Use Through Cropping System Diversification: a Case Study at the Iowa State University Marsden Farm, and Some Recommendations for the Mekong Delta of Vietnam

Advisor: Matt Liebman

Dissertation: Who is not at the table: Land deal negotiations in Southwestern Cameroon

Advisor: Robert Mazur

Dissertation: Agricultural transformations: climate change adaptation and farmer decision making

Advisors: J. Arbuckle and John Tyndall

Dissertation: Production and marketing innovations in Fair Trade and organic coffee cooperatives in the Cordoba-Huatusco corridor in Veracruz, Mexico

Advisor: Jan Flora

Dissertation: Climate-smart agriculture in Midwest cropping systems: evaluating the benefits and tradeoffs of cover crops

Advisor: Fernando Miguez

Thesis: Farmers’ Knowledge, Perceptions, and Socioeconomic Factors Influencing Decision Making For Integrated Soil Fertility Management Practices in Masaka and Rakai Districts, Central Uganda

Advisor: Robert Mazur

Thesis: Case study: a sustainable livelihoods analysis of a non-governmental organization working with quinoa producers in the province of Chimborazo, Ecuador

Advisor: Francis Owusu

Thesis: Strategizing agency and community partnerships: A case study of an urban fishing program

Dissertation: “We love this land, and we want to take care of this land”: Iowa women farmland owners constructing and contesting narratives

Current Title: Associate Professor of Environmental/Energy Justice at Michigan Tech University

Advisors:  Dr. David Schweingruber and Rebecca Christoffel

Thesis: A longitudinal panel study of participants’ attitudes and behaviors towards transdisciplinary science

Advisor: J. Arbuckle

Thesis: Analysis of adaptive capacity and governance surrounding an invasive pest, the Emerald Ash Borer , in Iowa

Advisor: John Tyndall

Thesis: Cover crop impacts on soil quality during Miscanthus x giganteus establishment in central Iowa

Advisor: Richard Cruse

Thesis: Impacts of riparian buffer vegetation on soil quality physical parameters, 20-23 years after initial riparian buffer establishment

Advisor: Richard Schultz

Thesis: Suitability of winter canola (Brassica napus) for enhancing summer annual crop rotations in Iowa

Advisor: Mary Wiedenhoeft

Thesis: An exploratory case study of three scales of food pantries in Story County, Iowa

Advisor: Carlton Basmajian

Thesis: Optimizing the value of manure nutrients through testing and treatment

Advisor: Daniel Andersen

Thesis: Motivation and retention of Iowa’s Master Gardener volunteers

Advisor: Cynthia Haynes

Thesis: Strip tillage and rowcovers as a potential alternative to black plastic mulch in cucurbit production

Advisor: Ajay Nair

Thesis: Understanding competing motivations for urban agriculture: an analysis of U.S. municipal ordinance adoption

Advisor: Gary Taylor

Thesis: Organic agriculture development strategies in Tunisia and Uganda: Lessons for African organics

Advisor: Francis Owusu

Thesis: Soil moisture patterns and hydraulic properties associated with alternative biomass cropping systems across a landscape gradient

Advisor: Lisa Schulte Moore

Thesis: Salvaging salmon: Shasta Dam and the conservation movement

Advisor: Carlton Basmajian

Thesis: Small-town sustainability: a case study

Advisor: Carlton Basmajian

Thesis: People in Ecosystems/Watershed Integration: Visualizing ecosystem services tradeoffs in agricultural landscapes

Advisors: Lisa Schulte Moore and John Tyndall

Thesis: “Keep it rural”: the politics of planning for smart growth in South Fulton County, Georgia

Advisor: Carlton Basmajian

Dissertation: Integral Agriculture: Taking seriously the mindset of the farmer, the interiority of the beings on the farm, and a metaphysics that connects them

Advisor: Kevin deLaplante

Dissertation: A comparison of carbon storage potential in corn- and prairie-based agroecosystems

Advisor: Matt Liebman

Dissertation: Values-based supply chains: local and regional food systems in the Upper Midwest United States

Advisor: Cynthia Haynes

Thesis: Toward a collaborative model of surface water management: Lessons from the Boone River watershed nutrient management initiative

Advisors: Lisa Schulte Moore and John Tyndall

Thesis: A mixed-methods approach to understanding farmer and rancher interest in supplying woody biomass in the U.S. Northern Great Plains

Advisor: John Tyndall

Thesis: Multifunctional agriculture: Root and nitrogen dynamics in two alternative systems

Advisor: Kirsten Hofmockel

Thesis: Taking back the commons: Motivating factors for the local control of GMOs

Advisor: Gary Taylor

Dissertation: Social capital, agricultural technical assistance, access to productive resources, and food security in post-conflict Lira, northern Uganda

Advisor: Robert Mazur

Dissertation: Soil ozonation as a sustainable alternative to methyl bromide fumigation and synthetic pesticides

Advisor: Ramesh Kanwar

Thesis: A comparison of cellulosic fuel yields and separated soil-surface CO2 fluxes in maize and prairie biofuel cropping systems

Advisor: Fernando Miguez

Thesis: “Somos del campo”. Latino/a gardeners and farmers in two rural communities of Iowa. A Community Capitals Framework approach.

Advisor: Cornelia Flora

Thesis: Insect pollinators in corn and soybean agricultural fields

Advisor: Matthew O’Neal

Thesis: What drives participation in the Farm and Ranch Lands Protection Program?

Advisor: Gary Taylor

Thesis: Seeing biodiversity through a farmer’s eyes: A photovoice analysis in Story County, Iowa

Advisor: Cornelia Flora

Thesis: Effects of perennial and cover crops on hydrology in Iowa

Advisor: Matthew Helmers

Thesis: Civic agriculture and leadership: Builders and weavers in Iowa’s regional food systems

Advisor: Lois Wright Morton

Thesis: Learning and power in international farmer exchanges

Advisor: Francis Owusu

Thesis: The influence of hydrologic and riparian factors on stream channel stability in central Iowa stream

Advisor: Thomas Isenhart

Thesis: Biochar as a replacement for perlite in greenhouse soilless substrates

Advisor: Richard Gladon

Thesis: A case study on the food retail environment of Accra, Ghana

Advisor: Francis Owusu

Dissertation: Transnational identity, food and community: The role of women in cultural continuity and resistance

Advisor: Cornelia Flora

Thesis: An investigation of soybean aphid ecology and management in the context of agricultural sustainability

Advisor: Matthew O’Neal

Thesis: Assessment of wildlife value orientations, state agency credibility, and tolerance for mountain lions in Iowa

Advisor: Rebecca Christoffel

Thesis: Climatologists’ methods of climate science communication to agriculture in the North Central Region of the United States

Advisor: Lois Wright Morton

Thesis: Evaluation of cover crops in reduced tillage systems for organic production

Advisor: Kathleen Delate

Thesis: The Iowa Food Policy Council: a case study

Advisor: Carlton Basmajian

Dissertation: Agronomic productivity of conventional and low-external-input cropping systems and their effect on giant foxtail (Setaria faberi) population dynamics

Advisor: Matt Liebman

Thesis: Soil moisture dynamics in agriculturally-dominated landscapes after the introduction of native prairie vegetation

Advisor: Heidi Asbjornsen

Thesis: Diversifying monoculture crops by incorporating prairie buffer strips

Advisor: Matt Liebman

Thesis: Denitrification woodchip bioreactor two-phase column study: Evaluation of nitrate removal at various hydraulic retention times and effect of temperature on denitrification rates

Advisor: Alok Bhandari

Dissertation: Tradeoffs in ecosystem services of prairies managed for bioenergy production

Advisor: Matt Liebman

Thesis: Sustainable soils, sustainable communities: Promoting the environmental and social sustainability of human-soil interactions in Iowa

Advisor: Thomas Kaspar, Mary Wiedenhoeft

Thesis: Undergraduate education and attitudes towards swine welfare

Advisor: Cornelia Flora

Thesis: Increasing access to healthy food at a cooperative grocery store

Advisor: Betty Wells

Thesis: Empowerment in the context of climate change: how community-based organizations can play a role in engaging citizens

Advisor: Carlton Basmajian

Thesis: Design and performance of denitrification bioreactors for agricultural drainage

Advisor: Matthew Helmers

Thesis: Sowing seeds for learning: A case study of a school garden in Pocahontas, Iowa

Advisor: Francis Owusu

Thesis: Farming for ecosystem services: A case study of multifunctional agriculture in Iowa, U.S.A

Advisor: Lisa Schulte Moore, John Tyndall

Thesis: Ephemeral gullies and ecosystem services: Social and biophysical factors

Advisor: Richard Schultz, Thomas Isenhart

Thesis: Impacts of land use on stream bank erosion in the Northeast Missouri Claypan Region

Advisor: Richard Schultz, Thomas Isenhart

Thesis: Mapping the social landscape of grazing management in the Corn Belt: A review of research and stakeholder perceptions of the multifunctionality of Iowa grazing systems

Advisors: John Tyndall, J Arbuckle

Thesis: The role of indigenous knowledge and innovation in creating food sovereignty in the Oneida Nation of Wisconsin

Advisor: Betty Wells

Thesis: Food Traceability Information modeling and Data Exchange and GIS Based Farm Traceability Model Design and Application

Advisor: Charles Hurburgh

Dissertation: Towards sustainable agriculture in the developing world: Theoretical perspectives and empirical insights

Advisor: Robert Mazur, Mike Duffy

Thesis: Status of veterinary care for organic livestock producers in Iowa and suggestions for improvement

Advisor: Betty Wells

Thesis: Farmer photovoice: visual values and the impact on conservation practices

Advisor: Cornelia Flora

Thesis: Grain amaranth production and effects of soil amendments in Uganda

Advisor: Kathleen Delate

Thesis: Evaluation of greenhouse gas emissions from three dairy production systems in Iowa—conventional, grazing, and combination conventional/grazing

Advisor: Michael Duffy

Thesis: Quantifying the aggressiveness, temporal and spatial spread of Pantoea stewartia in sweet corn

Advisor: Forrest Nutter

Dissertation: The impact of ownership on Iowa land owners’ decisions to adopt conservation practices

Advisor: Michael Duffy

Dissertation: The role of capitals in the promotion of sustainable community microfinance organizations

Advisor: Russell Mullen

Thesis: Optimized landscape plans for bio-oil production

Advisor: Michael Duffy

Thesis: Keeping the wineglass full: Exploring the intersection of sustainable viticulture and sustaining winegrower legacy in Lodi, California

Advisor: Cornelia Flora

Thesis: Looking at community gardens through neoliberal lenses

Advisor: Carmen Bain

Thesis: Assessing new methods of integrated pest management for apple orchards in the Midwest and phenology of sooty blotch and flyspeck fungi on apples in Iowa

Advisor: Matthew Liebman

Dissertation: Impact of social capital on food security in southeast Uganda

Advisors: Robert Mazur, Betty Wells

Dissertation: Small Meat Processors Working Group: Managing knowledge in a new era of agriculture

Advisor: Cornelia Flora

Thesis: The effects of farmer attitudes and farm management practices on soil quality: a study in Cherokee County, Iowa

Advisor: Andrew Manu

Dissertation: Identity preservation & traceability: the state of the art – from a grain perspective (status of agricultural quality systems / traceability / certification systems)

Advisors: Charles Hurburgh, Michael Duffy, Richard Kottman

Thesis: An integrated approach to investigating the reintroduction of flax production in Iowa

Advisor: Mary Wiedenhoeft

Thesis: Farmer field schools in Bungoma district of western Kenya: a rapid appraisal

Advisor: Robert Mazur, Ricardo Salvador, Francis Owusu

Thesis: Grassland bird abundance and nesting in short-duration rotationally grazed pastures in southwest Iowa

Advisors: James Pease, Stephen Dinsmore, Stephen Barnhart

Thesis: Degradation and restoration in remnant tallgrass prairie: Grazing history, soil carbon, and invasive species affect community composition and response to the fire-grazing interaction

Advisor: David Engle

Dissertation: Diversity, productivity, and stability in perennial polycultures used for grain, forage, and biomass production

Advisor:  E. Charles Brummer

Thesis: Species and functional diversity effects on productivity and nutrient uptake: implications for designing sustainable agricultural systems in the Midwest

Advisor: Matthew Helmers, Heidi Asbjornsen

Thesis: The Endangered Species Act, local power and contested issues on the rural-urban interface

Advisor: Lois Wright Morton

Dissertation: Agriculture and ideology in a globalized world: a multiplicity of farmer discourses

Advisor: Jan Flora, Fred Kirschenmann

Thesis: Hacia el ranchito: Mexican immigrants, farming and sustainable rural livelihoods in Iowa

Advisor: Jan Flora

Thesis: Soil respiration and plant growth across a chronosequence of tallgrass prairie reconstructions

Advisor: Heidi Asbjornsen

Thesis: Diversifying Midwestern agriculture with perennial forages: a review of the benefits and barriers to forages in Iowa, and a genetic study of biofuel potential for reed canarygrass

Advisor: Charles Brummer

Thesis: Evaluating the Conservation Security Program utilizing the perceptions and economics of producer participation: implications for land stewardship in Iowa agriculture

Advisor: James Kliebenstein

Thesis: Characterization and classification of Native American maize landraces from the Southwestern United States

Advisor: Candice Gardner

Thesis: The utility of Sustainable Livelihoods Framework in NGOs in Peru

Thesis: Winter cereal grain – forage legume intercrops: component yield tradeoffs and potential for cultivar improvement

Thesis: Soil quality response to manure or compost amendments in alternative Iowa farm systems

Dissertation: Effects of crop rotation and nitrogen fertilization on soil nitrate concentration and corn yield

Thesis: A comparative agroecosystems analysis of soil water and root dynamics under six different vegetative cover types

Dissertation: Poverty and food insecurity in rural Iowa: an examination of four food desert counties

Thesis: Impacts of forage management on phosphorus cycling and sediment and phosphorus transport in surface runoff

Thesis: Cropping system effects on weed population processes

Thesis: A Market Chain Analysis of Chamaedorea Palms: Prospects for Fair Trade Labeling

Dissertation: Weed control in no-till organic soybean in southern Brazil

Advisor: Matt Liebman

Thesis: Public access to urban-grown produce : Who eats local? : A case study of Intervale food consumption in Burlington, Vermont

Thesis: Method for comparative analysis of agricultural systems

Thesis: Threatened existence: Saba senegalensis in southeastern Senegal

Advisor: Lorna Michael Butler

Thesis: Factors affecting symbolic and use adoption of local foods for consumers in Black Hawk County, Iowa

Advisor: Michael D. Duffy