Megan A. Horst (PhD)’s research interests are in the relationship between food systems and planning, particularly focused on questions related to public policy & planning and food justice, sustainable food systems, farmland conservation, and access/ownership of resource lands. Megan received her doctoral degree in Urban Design and Planning Department at the University of Washington. She focuses on qualitative methods, including observations, interviews and content analysis.
Marie O’Neill is an assistant researcher on this LAPI project focusing on state level policies. Previously she researched food access and food policy in the city of Indianapolis as well as local institutional food purchasing in the state of Indiana, both with the Sustainable Food Systems Science group at IU. Alongside her research experience, Marie is a beginning farmer in Bloomington, IN growing diversified vegetables and raising poultry. She earned her B.A. in Environmental and Sustainability Studies with a Certificate in GIS from Indiana University.
Dr. Shellye Suttles is an agricultural economist with a focus on food system sustainability, including local and regional food systems, agricultural production, and agriculture’s impact on climate change. Her research applies macroeconomic and microeconomic analysis to a variety of sustainable food system topics. Her areas of interest include public policy impacts on sustainability in food and agricultural systems, particularly social, economic, and climate policy. Suttles joined the O’Neill School as an assistant professor in 2020. She also served as an assistant research scientist with Sustainable Food System Science at IU. Suttles earned her Ph.D. and M.S. in agricultural economics from Purdue University.
Dr. Angela Babb is a critical food geographer whose work examines the political economy of hunger and the contemporary food movement. Research projects include de/reconstructing the federal calculation of basic food needs; evaluating food access initiatives and food assistance programs; and identifying avenues for justice and sovereignty in regional and (inter)national food systems. Babb is an Assistant Research Scientist with Sustainable Food Systems Science at IU-Bloomington and Director of the Critical Food Studies Lab at the IU Food Institute.
Dr. Justin Ross is a public finance economist specializing in state and local tax policy. Ross joined O'Neill in 2008 and teaches public revenue theory, public managerial economics, and benefit-cost analysis. He is a two-time recipient of IU's Trustees Teaching award, in 2013 and 2009. He currently serves as director of the Ph.D. in Public Affairs and Joint Ph.D. in Public Policy Programs. Ross's primary research interests include property tax-related issues such as assessment and zoning. His published works explore local governments' use and access to the property tax by examining how it affects the politics, fiscal capacity, land use regulation, and community decisions. Ross's articles have appeared in the top public finance, economics, and public administration journals.
Dr. Analena Bruce is a sociologist with a research program on the development of sustainable livelihood strategies for New England farmers and Values-Based Food Supply Chains designed to increase equity, transparency, and resilience in the food system. Her previous research is focused on farmers’ participation in initiatives designed to increase the social and environmental sustainability of agriculture, including Alternative Food Networks, organic certification, the EQIP Seasonal High Tunnel Initiative, and other conservation programs. She also has a line of research on public engagement with regulatory policy that governs science and technology in the food system.
Dr. James Farmer is a sustainable behavior and decision-making researcher with interest in community food systems and sustainable agriculture. He focuses on individuals’ choice-making that lead to sustainable resource usage, such as farmers’ adoption of organic management practices and farmer adaptation in response to climate change. Farmer directs the IU Food Institute and the Sustainable Food Systems Science research program, as well as co-directs the IU Campus Farm. His interdisciplinary and applied approaches have him collaborating with scholars from biology to anthropology and professionals such as farmers and food advocates.
Dr. Burnell Fischer is a clinical professor emeritus specializing in urban and community forestry. He joined Indiana University in 2005 after 15 years with the Indiana Division of Forestry where he served as the state forester and director. At O'Neill, Fischer taught classes on urban forestry and urban ecology, and he still conducts research on urban and community forestry practices and issues. He leads the Bloomington Urban Forestry Research Group. Fischer served as the co-director and interim director of the Vincent and Elinor Ostrom Workshop in Political Theory and Policy Analysis from 2012-14. He was the O'Neill Undergraduate Program director from 2008-11. He was a Professor and then adjunct professor of forestry at Purdue University from 1977-2014.
Dr. Dan Knudsen is Professor Emeritus of geography in the College of Arts and Sciences at IU Bloomington and former chair of the Department of Geography. He also served as the director of the former International Studies Program. He is currently an affiliate faculty member with the IU Food Institute and the Center for Rural Engagement at IU Bloomington. He has worked in areas as diverse as regional development, tourism and food studies.