People

I work at the intersection of the history of biology, environmental history, and cultural history. In addition to teaching a senior seminar on the history of food in America, I often include food-related topics in my other courses. I have written two prizewinning books: A Passion for Birds: American Ornithology after Audubon (Princeton Univ. Press, 1998) and Nature’s Ghosts: Confronting Extinction from the Age of Jefferson to the Age of Ecology (Univ. of Chicago Press, 2009). My current research project examines the cultural and environmental history of the American alligator.

I am an extension agent with Virginia Cooperative Extension. I have been with Extension since 2009. I have a BA in History and a MSED in agricultural and extension education. I have been overseas twice to work on capacity building in the agricultural sector. My interests include local food supply chains, value-added foods, food and social justice, diversity and inclusion, capacity building, the confluence of food and its impact on people’s lives, urban/suburban agriculture and rural development.

I am a Research Assistant Professor in the Department of Food Science and Technology. I am passionate about applying sensory & consumer science and food chemistry knowledge to support the development of high-quality foods. I previously worked in the food and pet food industries in my home country (Brazil), in the areas of quality assurance and innovation (R&D). Food has the power to connect people and I love to travel, taste, and learn about foods from all over the world. Website

I am a design researcher and practitioner focused on sustainable futures in product design. My work integrates sustainable design, behavioral science, and advanced technology to promote responsible consumer behavior, reduce waste, and enable material recirculation within a zero-waste circular system. My recent work involves transforming food waste into pigments for K-12 art education, addressing food waste challenges in K-12 environments. I have worked as a packaging and product designer for multiple consultancies in London, primarily focusing on the food and beverage industry.  Website

I primarily address gendered aspects of agricultural research-for-development projects. Drawing on feminist political ecology and ethnographic and participatory research methods, I use food and kitchenspace as a lens to explore issues as diverse as aflatoxins and food safety in Uganda and invasive weeds in Ethiopia. Focusing on food preparation began as a feminist strategy to recognize women’s knowledge and priorities in three communities in central Mexico, where preparing food for community celebrations is part of the fabric of everyday life. Website

I have been teaching in the Virginia Tech Architecture graduate program since 2001. I am a licensed architect and have worked with firms in New York City and New Haven, Connecticut. I hold an undergraduate degree in Philosophy from the University of the South, a Masters of Architecture from Virginia Tech and a Masters of Environmental Design (history/theory) from Yale University. I've long been interested in the relationship between food and architecture; I'm thrilled to learn about this new program.

My research is broadly located at the intersection of international political economy, political ecology, critical race studies, and theories of decolonization.  My current research projects include my role as a co-investigator on a SSHRC-funded multi-institutional, transnational collaboration titled "Four Stories about Food Sovereignty," which investigates the central role of Indigenous struggles around food and land rights in addressing the climate crisis. 

As a senior instructor with the Department of Human Nutrition, Foods & Exercise (HNFE) and director of the HNFE Foods Teaching Laboratories, I teach and develop undergraduate nutrition classes and practice-based laboratory courses in human health assessment and food preparation in the context of sustainable dietary patterns and disease prevention. I have served on departmental, college-, and university-level committees and am the faculty advisor of several campus-wide student organizations. In Fall 2023, I am part of teaching the first cohort of our “Salute! Food and Health in Switzerland” study abroad program at Virginia Tech’s Steger Center.

I work in the political sociology of science and technology, emphasizing food governance, controversies in nutrition, international politics of food and risk, and the politics of demography and population. Recent work focuses on both governance practices within the USDA and expert authority within public settings. I advise a wide range of graduate students, have served as the graduate director for STS, and teach courses in science and technology policy, food politics, and public engagement with science.

I have my MS and Ph.D. in food science from Louisiana State University and serve as a fellow of the Academy of Nutrition & Dietetics. I am currently directing a graduate program leading to a MS degree in Business Administration with specialization in Hospitality & Tourism Management. I am author of seven books mainly in the area of foodservice management. My career spans from teaching at Albright College, a liberal arts and science institution to research at the University of Illinois, Urban Champaign, all in foods, nutrition, and foodservice management.

I have 30 years of professional experience to evaluate strategies and stakeholders’ performance to create healthy and sustainable food environments for populations to prevent obesity and diet-related chronic diseases and address the Global Syndemic. My research strives to be relevant to inform policies for government, industry and civil society. Website

I focus on sensory science in my work. I research the flavor profiles of fermented and distilled products, new methods for understanding sensory experiences, and the social and theoretical dimensions of food-sensory experience beyond reductive biopsychological explanations.

I am an Associate Professor in Art History, and current director of the Material Culture and Public Humanities MA program. My research area is the Early Modern Netherlands and Northern Europe, 1500-1800 with a global reach. My current research project examines the origins of "taste" as a way to describe judgment and appeal in the visual arts by looking at how writings about Early Modern food intersect with art criticism and imagery. Website

My teaching and research follows the consequential interplay among writing, rhetorics, and technologies. I regularly teach courses in visual rhetorics, composition theory, and research methods, and I have focused first-year writing courses on environmental justice, mapping & memory, and food deserts. My current project is an edited collection, Radiant Figures, which looks at the crossroads shared by visual rhetorics and writing program administration. Website

My research, teaching, and outreach program centers on the role of power and equity in community education and development with scholarly interests in ontological politics, cultural studies, action research; participatory and cultural community development; critical pedagogy; and the political praxis of community food work. From these perspectives, my current intatitiaves focus on Appalachian community food security; the political economy of new farmer sustainability; storytelling for food justice; and the intersection of farmworkers, technology, and disability. I also direct the VT Center for Food Systems and Community Transformation, teach graduate and undergraduate courses, and provide leadership for the Virginia Beginning Farmer and Rancher Coalition and Virginia AgrAbility Program. Website

I am a sociologist whose research revolves around how structures of power are solidified and perpetuated through day-to-day, seemingly mundane interactions. I examine food from a social and political lens. My research explores the way food is discussed in online spaces and how these online discourses engage with identity making, reinforcement of norms, and policing of others. I am interested in work that views food as a form of communication that shapes symbolic boundaries.

My research interests are at the intersection of food safety and food recovery, primarily how food handlers in food recovery organizations (e.g. food banks, food pantries, meal kitchens, etc.) can be equipped and empowered to safely handle food to ultimately protect the people they serve. I also support other research and extension projects with food producers, food handlers, and consumers to increase knowledge of food safety and inform behaviors. Website

I teach public history, Native History, and early US History to graduate and undergraduate students. My recent public work includes a COVID-19 Mutual Aid project with the Southern Foodways Alliance, a collaborative, classroom-based oral history project about food and health disparities at the Virginia-West Virginia border, and an ongoing project with commercial seafood fishermen in Eastern Virginia. Website

I have been working in food studies for fifteen years. I am the editor of the Food Studies Journal for the Common Ground Food Studies Knowledge Community. I serve on their Board and am their Research Network Chair. I have done research on the Codex Alimentarius Commission, the US food safety regulatory regime, food security, food labeling, and the intersections among food, political economy, and mass political violence. Website

I teach and research contemporary Hispanic cultures. While I have previously focused on issues of gender and sexuality, I have a growing interest in food cultures of the Spanish-speaking world.  Website

I am an Assistant Professor in the School of Architecture at Virginia Tech and a Ph.D Candidate in Architectural History + Theory at the ASAU, Carleton University, Canada. I received my Master's in Architectural History + Theory from McGill University and my professional degree in Architecture from Virginia Polytechnic Institute. I am a Registered Architect and have practiced professionally across the United States and Canada. In 2021, I co-founded the design firm Metier Projects. I am also the co-coordinator of CR|PT|C (Carleton Research Practice of Teaching Collaborative). My research centers on the multisensory experience of architecture and methods of architectural representation. 

Among other topics, I research the politics of school meals in the United States and globally.  This work seeks to understand how conservative politics undermine the nutritional, academic, social, and environmental possibilities of what kids eat at school. My publications include Unpacking School Lunch: Understanding the Hidden Politics of School Food (2022) and the co-edited book School Food Politics: The Complex Ecologies of Hunger and Feeding in Schools Around the World (2011)—winner of a Critic's Choice Book Award from the American Educational Studies Association. Website

My work is grounded in an agricultural education community of practice that includes secondary teachers, teacher educators, preservice students, extension staff, as well as graduate students, and teaching faculty in the college of agriculture and life sciences. My teaching and learning work emphasizes developing inclusive teaching practices to support and engage all learners, so they feel comfortable being their authentic selves as they learn.

Teaching Chemistry is my job, but food and cooking are my hobby and I use them to bring people together. Every couple of weeks or so, I work with students in the Honors Residential Commons to make soup for 30-50 students. I have also taught a course in the Honors college on the chemistry of cooking where we used the kitchens in Wallace Hall. Diego Troya and I have taught a course on veganism for Life-long Learning Institute. Website

I study food as a way of understanding histories of environmental change, consumer behavior, technology, health, and justice. My first book, Canned: The Rise and Fall of Consumer Confidence in the American Food Industry (Univ. of California Press, 2018), won a 2019 James Beard media award. I am also the author of US History in 15 Foods (Bloomsbury, 2023) and the co-editor of Acquired Tastes: Stories about the Origins of Modern Food (MIT Press, 2021). Website

I grew up in several states across the country, and in the United Kingdom, respectively. I received my undergraduate honors degree in English and History from Mary Baldwin University in Staunton, Virginia. My research interests lie in the role of food in late 19th to early 20th century American literature with a focus on global, ethnic, and post-colonial implications. Outside of work, I enjoy reading, cooking, baking, and boxing. I hope to pursue a PhD in food studies.

I am a long time student of the political, economic, and social implications of international agricultural trade and development in the Global South and am invested in agrarian and peasant movements for food sovereignty. My dissertation work critically engages with the role of rural development NGOs in either helping or hindering peasant led agroecological movements in India. I have spent time conducting both field work and archival studies in Haryana, Rajasthan, Punjab, and Indian National Archives.

Previously a tech journalist reporting assorted emerging food technologies happening in New York, I am now a PhD candidate in Science, Technology and Society Program. My research project currently focuses on how emerging food technologies, such as cultured meat and vertical farming, are incubated and travel across national borders. I see the connection of food studies and STS provides new avenues to talk about climate issues, mind/body dualism, and evolving international geopolitics.

I am a Ph.D. student in the Howard Feiertag Department of Hospitality and Tourism Management in the Pamplin College of Business at Virginia Tech. My research focuses on sustainability and its real-world applications, particularly within the foodservice and event industries. I am driven by a commitment to exploring practical, equitable solutions that support sustainability across economic, environmental, and social dimensions. Website

I am a graduate student in the Department of Food Science and Technology. I have always been interested in how food in particular interacts with the world and more generally how science interacts with society. Although I am a student in natural science, I’m always looking for opportunities to be engaged in social science, as it was my original interest. I came to the United States in 2018 from Vietnam, and am only now learning about the field of Food Studies, which is of strong interest to me. 

I am a Registered Dietitian and a first-year PhD student in the Department of Human Nutrition, Foods, and Exercise (HNFE) at Virginia Tech, Blacksburg, VA. I serve as a Graduate Research Assistant under the mentorship of Dr. Vivica Kraak (PhD advisor). My research interests are centered on food and nutrition policies and practices that promote sustainable diets and regenerative food systems, aiming to prevent obesity, type 2 diabetes, and other diet-related non-communicable diseases (NCDs), while also promoting planetary health.

I’m a student in the Master's in Public Administration program. Within the food system and public administration, I am interested in how we can leverage community partnerships for a more equitable food system. I previously served as an AmeriCorps VISTA member at Blue Ridge Area Food Bank in Harrisonburg, VA, where I completed a service year focused on child nutrition and community engagement. Currently, I work with Virginia Tech's Center for Economic and Community Engagement as the project coordinator.

I am a graduate of Virginia Tech's ASPECT program (2023) and my interests broadly involve the political, social, and cultural implications of food, particularly within restaurants. My current research explores the politics, governance, and organization of labor in fine dining kitchens. I am also a co-founder of "Ursula's Cafe," a pay-what-you-can cafe and community arts space in Roanoke, Virginia.

 I currently direct Virginia Tech's food access initiatives for students experiencing food insecurity, namely, The Market of Virginia Tech. I also facilitate the Campus Kitchen program, which diverts unserved food from campus dining facilities to food access locations around the New River Valley. I am a student in the Master of Public Health program and have a background in water quality and Appalachian water access. 

I am a 1983 and 1985 graduate of Virginia Tech from the College of Human Resources. My Master's thesis examined American values according to Good Housekeeping magazine food ads. I went on to have a career in food communications/recipe development/marketing in Chicago and Nashville. I am a cookbook author and a champion (episode 251) of the show Chopped! I am researching the history of self-rising flour and cornmeal. I teach (pre-covid) Salad Brain classes that examine creativity and Biscuit and Cornbread labs. Website