Demetrice “Dee” Jordan is a Dean’s Postdoctoral Research Fellow in the Department of Global Health and Social Medicine at Harvard Medical School. She has a dual-doctorate in Geography and Environmental Science and Policy from Michigan State University, becoming the first student in the department to receive a dual-PhD. Dee’s research focuses on the ecological and environmental determinants of disease risk for vector-borne parasitic illnesses, infectious diseases, and Neglected Tropical Diseases of sub-Saharan Africa. She is a diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) consultant and has developed innovative programs and curricula to promote the principles of DEI in academic and non-profit settings. Dee is the Founder of the Advancing Geography Through Diversity Program (AGTDP) at Michigan State University, which seeks to address the underrepresentation of African American, Latinx American, and Native American graduate students in the discipline of Geography. She recently developed the Celebrating Black Geographers anthology hosted online by the American Geographical Society. Dee is a proud member of the National Council of Negro Women and Alpha Kappa Alpha Sorority, Incorporated.

Dr. Moses Kansanga is an Assistant Professor of Geography and International Affairs at the George Washington University. His research explores questions at the intersection of sustainable agriculture and natural resource management using community-based and participatory approaches. In the past decade, Dr. Kansanga’s research has focused on integrating traditional knowledge systems and modern science to generate contextually appropriate solutions to complex socioecological issues such as food insecurity and climate change.

Brian co-founded the Reducetarian Foundation in 2015 after coining the term “reducetarian” to describe a person who is deliberately reducing their consumption of meat. He is now the author of The Reducetarian Solution, The Reducetarian Cookbook, and Meat Me Halfway, and is the lead producer of the documentary version of Meat Me Halfway. He is a regular contributor to Fast Company, Entrepreneur, and Forbes, and his writings have appeared in The Atlantic, The Los Angeles Times, and The Washington Post, among others.

Dr. Pamela Koch is the Mary Swartz Rose Associate Professor of Nutrition and Education and the faculty director of the Laurie M. Tisch Center for Food, Education & Policy in the Program in Nutrition at Teachers College, Columbia University. Pam conducts research with schools and communities to give people power to demand healthy, just, sustainable food. She translates her research into curricula for school teachers, recommendations for policy makers, and resources for advocates. She has evaluated many school-based programs that improve school meals, create school gardens, conduct cooking sessions, and promote food justice. She teaches courses on sustainability of the food system, social and psychological determinants of food choice, and the process of food and nutrition education, all done through a sustainability and equity lens. She also teaches an online professional development course for educators, Teaching Food and Nutrition for All. Her work contributes to increased access to nutritious, delicious and sustainable food for all. She completed her BS and MS from Rutgers University and her EdD and RD from Teachers College, Columbia University.

Great-Great Grandfather John David Nightengale lived in Ostroh, Russia. He was the village doctor. His son, Great-Grandfather Abraham Nightengale at 18 years old, immigrated to America in 1909. He came to Kansas and eventually purchased 160 acres in Haskell County to farm. Today, I'm the 4th generation farmer in Western Kansas. My wife Sherry Martens is also a farmer! We've farmed together for over 38 years.

We grow organic Hard Red Winter Wheat, Winter Durum, Winter Barley, Black Beans, Black Eyed Peas, and Corn. For Conventional crops we grow Hard Red Winter Wheat, Pinto Beans, Corn, and Grain Sorghum.

I served on the USDA Farm Service Agency in Wichita County for 6 years from 2016 to 2021.

I am a Director on the Board for Heartland Mill, Inc., a local stockholder owned company. I have served since 2003. Heartland Mill, Inc., is an organically certified mill and has been milling flour since 1985.

I am deeply humbled to speak today at the American Geographical Society Symposium to share a farmer's perspective about the future of agriculture.

Kruczkiewicz is a physical scientist interested in the role of satellite data and remote sensing technology for sector-specific applications, such as the development and assessment of algorithms to detect and map spatial and temporal patterns of precipitation, temperature and other climatic and geophysical variables. This includes analyzing the impact of extreme weather and climate events on infrastructure, public health and agriculture, on different timescales, to increase the understanding of risk for decision making. Kruczkiewicz is science advisor to the Red Cross and has led NASA and World Bank funded projects to understand and reduce disaster risk.

As a creative technologist at the The Earth Genome Cameron focuses on designing and building digital products in their infancy. He specializes in machine learning and geospatial data visualization. In the past, he was a Senior Solutions Architect at Mapbox and a Creative Technologist at Booz Allen Hamilton. He is also a National Geographic Explorer and Fulbright Scholar. In his free time, you'll likely find Cameron struggling to climb large rocks in Yosemite.

Weixuan Lyu is a second-year doctoral student in Geography at the University of Connecticut (UConn). Weixuan’s research focuses on perceived food environments and health inequity. Her current project employs a mixed-method approach combining a structured survey and GIS modeling techniques to analyze how people perceive their potential food space at the individual level. Participants’ perceived food space is measured and visualized in the context of GIS, compared with their actual food activity space, and further correlated with their food security status and sociodemographic variables to reveal how food perception is moderated by individual characteristics. Weixuan’s research is funded by the Africana Studies Institute at UConn. Prior to her doctoral studies, Weixuan received her Master of Science degree in application of geographic information science from East Stroudsburg University of Pennsylvania and a Bachelor of Science in geographic information science from Henan University.

Mr. Masback is the CEO of the United States Geospatial Intelligence Foundation (USGIF), a nonprofit foundation supporting training, education, professional development, and innovation for the geospatial intelligence (GEOINT) community. USGIF has over 235 corporate and institutional member organizations, and currently accredits 12 colleges and universities to grant academic GEOINT Certificates. Prior to this position, he spent over twenty years combined as an officer in the U.S. Army and as a senior executive civilian in both the Department of Defense and the Intelligence Community. In addition to his position as a Councilor of the American Geographical Society, he serves as a member of the Department of Commerce, National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s Advisory Committee on Commercial Remote Sensing (ACCRES) and the Department of Interior’s National Geospatial Advisory Committee (NGAC).

Skip leads the public sector line of business for Pixxel Space Technologies USA. For over 35 years, he has worked as a technologist and business leader within the commercial, defense and intelligence communities. His passions and roles have led to innovations in remote sensing systems and data processing technologies that enhance imagery and geospatial intelligence analysis. Skip has managed a variety of programs developing and employing commercial space and airborne multispectral, imaging spectroscopy, and synthetic aperture radar technologies to support objectives in environmental monitoring and mitigation, natural resource assessments, land use measurements, and national security missions. As an Army officer, he was assistant principal investigator on two Space Shuttle initiatives developing optical and hyperspectral sensors and analysis of complex remote sensing data. He has taught image processing and geographic information systems at the collegiate and federal agency levels. He holds a Master of Science in Environmental Monitoring and Digital Analytic Photogrammetry from the University of Wisconsin and a Bachelor of Science in Geology and Philosophy from Dickinson College. Skip is also a member of the Janes Defense National Intelligence Advisory Board. Outside of the daily grind, Skip is a published poet, author, triathlete and father of two.

Steve Molino is a Principal at Clear Current Capital, an early-stage venture capital firm focused on reinventing food through alternative protein and sustainable foodtech investments. CCC’s primary investment categories are focused on plant-based food (meat, seafood, dairy, and eggs), cultivated meat, fermentation, enabling technologies, and other mission-oriented enterprises focused on shifting to a more sustainable food system. With CCC, Steve is responsible for leading new investment and diligence activities, portfolio company support, and internal portfolio management and operational needs. Steve has prior experience at leading mission-driven VC firms, as well as in the alternative investments and strategy consulting spaces. He is a Board Member at Sundial Foods and is a mentor with The Good Food Institute, ProVeg Incubator, and The Protein Directory and a member of The Rising Tide Collective. He received his a BS in Finance from The College of New Jersey (magna cum laude) and an MBA from Columbia Business School (Deans List).