SFSI affiliates are University of Michigan faculty and staff members who conduct research and teach courses that directly relate to food systems. SFSI involves faculty and staff from diverse areas of study. More than 70 affiliates represent 11 schools and departments.
Faculty & Staff by Schools and Departments | Advisory Board | Cluster Hires in Sustainable Food Systems | Faculty Spotlights
By Schools and Departments
Cluster Hires
The University of Michigan Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, the School for Environment and Sustainability, the School of Public Health, and the Urban and Regional Planning Program of the Taubman College of Architecture and Urban Planning have completed a faculty cluster hire of 5 faculty in the field of Sustainable Food Systems.
Regina S. Baucom, PhD, Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology
Jennifer Blesh, PhD, School for Environment and Sustainability
Meha Jain, PhD, School for Environment and Sustainability
Lesli Hoey, PhD, Taubman College of Architecture and Urban Planning
Andrew Jones, PhD, School of Public Health
Learn more about the cluster hires
The cluster is examining the path toward a sustainable and equitable food system, spanning the natural and social sciences. Sustainable Food Systems is part of a five-year, $30-million initiative announced in 2007 by U-M President Mary Sue Coleman to recruit scholars whose work crosses boundaries and to bring experts from different fields together to explore significant questions or complex problems.
The imperative is urgent to evaluate potential transformations of food and agriculture. The university is the ideal place to forge the intellectual foundation that will inform and guide the construction of a coherent path toward a sustainable and equitable food system, helping to reinvigorate rural and urban communities, promote environmental protection, and enhance economies at state, national and international levels. The complex challenges of transforming the food system require an approach that engages multiple disciplines and considers systemic effects such as feedbacks and interdependencies.
“This is an exciting time to expand the faculty interested in sustainable food systems. The student interest is tremendous and there are many opportunities for research and engagement,” said Professor Catherine Badgley, who coordinated the cluster hire for EEB.
Together with faculty already working on related topics in these and other units, the cluster is building an interdisciplinary program to train the next generation of natural and social scientists, as well as applied scholar-practitioners, in food systems studies. The cluster combines disciplinary specialization with commitment to interdisciplinary research on the food system in relation to the environment, human health and equity.
SFSI Advisory Board
The Sustainable Food Systems Initiative Advisory Board is comprised of an interdisciplinary group of senior faculty:
Catherine Badgley, PhD, Ecology and Evolutionary Biology
Lesli Hoey, PhD, Taubman College of Architecture & Urban Planning
Ivette Perfecto, PhD, School of Natural Resources and Environment
John Vandermeer, PhD, Ecology and Evolutionary Biology
Amy Schulz, PhD, School of Public Health
