Meet the Team
North Carolina
Sarah Bowen is a professor of sociology at North Carolina State University, where she teaches classes on food systems, rural communities, and qualitative research methods. Dr. Bowen is PI on the FIRST study and conducts research on how families experience food insecurity and the social processes that shape people’s food beliefs and practices.
Email: sarah_bowen@ncsu.edu
Taure Brown is a native of Kinston, NC and a doctoral student in sociology at NC State University, where his research focuses on qualitative methods, social problems, and social movements.
Email: trbrown2@ncsu.edu
Annie Hardison-Moody is an associate professor in the Department of Agricultural and Human Sciences at NC State State University, where much of her work focuses on the intersections of religion, health, and gender. In addition to being co-PI of the FIRST study, she also serves as Director of the Graduate Program in Youth, Family, and Community Sciences and Director of the Faithful Families Thriving Communities Program.
Email: annie_hardison-moody@ncsu.edu
Lindsey Haynes-Maslow is an associate professor and extension specialist in the Department of Agricultural and Human Sciences at NC State University. Lindsey’s work focuses on the intersection between food systems, nutrition and public health, as well as the impact of government policies driving the food system.
Email: lhaynes-maslow@ncsu.edu
Beth Edwards is a master's student in the Youth, Family, and Community Sciences program at North Carolina State University. She is interested in helping families thrive and better understanding the variety of forces that can become obstacles along the way.
Email: eedward3@ncsu.edu
Kim Eshleman is a Special Projects Manager with the Department of Agricultural and Human Sciences at NC State University. In addition to her work as project manager on the FIRST Study, Kim works on other projects related to food, nutrition, and health and has a deep interest and passion for work that will help to build and support healthy and thriving families and communities.
Email: keshlem@ncsu.edu
Rebecca Shisler is a doctoral student at North Carolina State University. Broadly, she studies inequality across the food system and the moral meanings that inform how and what we eat.
Email: rcshisle@ncsu.edu
G. Solorzano is a doctoral student and instructor at North Carolina State University. Originally from Colombia, G. is a Università di Scienze Gastronomiche alum, where they studied Food Culture and Communication. Currently, their research uses a decolonial lens to examine food access, resiliency, and structural inequality within Latin American immigrant communities.
Email: gsolorz@ncsu.edu
SOUTH CAROLINA
Cassius Hossfeld is a master’s student at Clemson University (Social Sciences). Cassius is from Wilmington, NC and attended UNC-Chapel Hill as an undergraduate. His broad interests are in food security and inequality.
Email: chossfe@clemson.edu
Leslie Hossfeld is dean of the College of Behavioral, Social and Health Sciences at Clemson University. Her current activities focus on food systems research and initiatives involving nutrition, malnutrition (obesity), health outcomes and health disparities, to develop policy coherence linking health and agriculture policy.
Email: lhossfe@clemson.edu
Catherine Mobley is Professor of Sociology at Clemson University. Her primary areas of research are STEM education, food insecurity, environmental sustainability, and applied sociology. She has over 30 years of experience conducting interdisciplinary, mixed-method research in a variety of academic and community-based contexts.
Email: camoble@clemson.edu
MISSISSIPPI
Laura Jean Kerr is a Sociology PhD candidate at Mississippi State University and Student Fellow at Myrlie Evers-Williams Institute for the Eliminations of Health Disparities.
Email: ljk19@msstate.edu
Kecia R. Johnson, Ph.D., Assistant Professor, Mississippi State University, Department of Sociology
Email: kjohnson@soc.msstate.edu
MICHIGAN
Levi Gardner is a doctoral student in Community Sustainability at Michigan State University, where he is the CS Mott Predoctoral Fellow in Sustainable Agriculture. He is the Founder and Co-Executive Director of Urban Roots, an urban farm, market, and education center in Grand Rapids, MI; and an adjunct faculty of Environmental Studies at Grand Valley State University.
Email: gardn247@msu.edu
Lissy Goralnik is an assistant professor of environmental studies and community engagement in the Department of Community Sustainability at Michigan State University. Her qualitative work bridges environmental ethics, experiential learning, and resilience thinking to explore human/nature relationships in conservation and sustainability contexts, with a focus on individual and community well-being, sense of place, art-science interactions, and change agency.
Email: goralnik@msu.edu
Dr. Jenny Hodbod is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Community Sustainability, Michigan State University, where she researches resilient food systems. An environmental social scientist, she uses mixed methods to explore the impacts of proposed solutions on the resilience of food systems.
Dr. Zeenat Kotval-Karamchandani is an assistant professor with the Urban & Regional Planning Program within the School of Planning, Design & Construction at Michigan State University. Her research interests lie in travel behavior, health, and food systems in urban built environments.
Email: kotvalze@msu.edu
Marah Maaita is a graduate student at Michigan State University in urban and regional planning. Her research interests are in food accessibility and public health.
Email: maaitam1@msu.edu
Najma Muhammad is a second-year master's student at Michigan State University's Urban & Regional Planning program. Her research focuses broadly on social inequalities, with a focus on blight, unequal access to culturally appropriate food, and other societal injustices.
Email: muhamm80@msu.edu
SOUTH DAKOTA
Sarah Maikon is a graduate student at South Dakota State University, pursing a Master of Science degree in Nutritional Science and Dietetics. She graduated from Iowa State University with a Bachelor of Science degree in Dietetics and is passionate about helping individuals live healthier lives and improving the health and wellbeing of her community.
Email: sarah.maikon@jacks.sdstate.edu
Jessica Endres is an undergraduate student at South Dakota State University, studying Nutrition Dietitics. Her interests include women’s health and community nutrition.
Email: jessica.endres@jacks.sdstate.edu
Lindsay Moore, MS is the Community Health and Obesity Program (HOP) Director for South Dakota State University Extension. She is interested in enhancing healthy lifestyles in all communities through community-led initiatives that lead to sustainable change. Her research has focused on enhancing food security and physical activity in rural South Dakota communities.
Email: lindsay.moore@sdsustate.edu
Dr. Jessica Meendering is an Associate Professor within the Department of Health and Nutritional Sciences. She serves as the program director of the undergraduate Exercise Science Program and the graduate certificate in Transdisciplinary Obesity Prevention (TOP). She is also the faculty advisor for the Exercise Science Club. She teaches in both the undergraduate and graduate programs and her research focuses on physical activity promotion efforts to reduce childhood obesity.
Email: jessica.meendering@sdsustate.edu
Dr. Lacey McCormack is an Associate Professor and Director of the undergraduate Didactic Program in Dietetics (DPD). She currently teaches graduate courses in Public Health Nutrition (NUTR 715) and Nutrition and Physical Activity Assessment and Evaluation (NUTR 751) and serves as Co-Advisor for the undergraduate Nutrition and Health Sciences Club. Her research examines how the rural environment shapes diet and physical activity behaviors across the lifespan. Additionally, she serves as an evaluation expert on several SDSU Extension-led projects.
Email: Lacey.McCormack@sdsustate.edu
Dr. Linda Burdette is an Associate Professor for the SDSU College of Nursing/Assistant Dean for the Aberdeen Accelerated Nursing program. Her program of research is policy evaluation, tobacco control, rural nursing, and self-care in rural women. She serves as Evaluation Director for a 3-year CDC 1416, CDC 1809, SNAP-Ed and HRSA grants. She conducts evaluation research related to tobacco-free policies in multi-unit housing, schools and health care facilities. In the past, as a family nurse practitioner, Linda provided care to rural and underserved women at a community health clinic, occupational health, and as a locum at a primary care clinic located on an American Indian reservation.
Email: linda.burdette@sdsustate.edu
Nathania Knight serves as a SDSU Extension Family and Community Health Associate based out of the Rapid City Regional Center. She is involved in several grant projects that aim to improve the health and wellness of residents throughout South Dakota. Nathania has vast experience working with tribal communities on community-led efforts to improve the health environment within their communities.
Email: nathania.knight@sdsustate.edu
CALIFORNIA
Dr. Kara Young is an author, speaker, researcher, and educator with expertise in food systems and racial inequality in Urban America. Between 2017-2020 Kara worked as an Assistant Professor at The Ohio State University in a joint faculty position between the Department of Sociology and the Initiative for Food and AgriCultural Transformations (InFact) She now runs a consulting practice in Oakland, California through which she helps foundations, non-profit, and for-profit organizations on projects requiring expertise in food systems, racial inequality, and gender inequality.
Email: kara.alexis.young@gmail.com
