This month we are featuring the Food Systems Research Center team in lieu of a Researcher of the Month. Learn a little about our team's background and what they do at work and outside of work.
Polly Ericksen, Director of the Food Systems Research Center
Polly Ericksen is the inaugural director of the FSRC, joining the team in December of 2022 following an international search. Polly's expertise lies at the intersection of food systems and global environmental change. She has been studying food systems long before it was the hot thing and published some seminal works in the field. Prior to joining ¶¶Òõ̽̽, Polly served as the Program Leader for Sustainable Livestock with the International Livestock Research Institute in Nairobi, Kenya. Polly has a PhD in Soil Science and MS in Economics from the University of Wisconsin-Madison and a BA in History from Swarthmore College.
1. What are you most excited about as you start as Director of the Food Systems Research Center?
The chance to—again—explain why a focus on food (instead of a specific agricultural commodity) helps so many actors to take action to solve key challenges, of climate change, of inequity and food insecurity, of falling incomes for small and medium farming enterprises, and so on!
2. What are you most excited about moving to Vermont?
I am excited to be able to ride horses and learn how to sail on Lake Champlain. I am also excited to be closer to my family.
3. What is something about you people would be surprised to learn?
I used to be a terrible public speaker!
4. What TV show, band/artist, podcast, video game, book, and/or anything are you most obsessed with right now?
Currently reading The Perishing: a Novel by Natashia Deón.
Meredith Niles, Associate Director of the Food Systems Research Center
Meredith Niles is the Associate Director of the FSRC and an Associate Professor in the Department of Nutrition and Food Sciences. A prolific scholar, Meredith studies the intersections of food security, agriculture, climate change, political science, and more. Meredith's career has included stints working in politics in Washington DC, for several nonprofits focused on food, and as a Sustainability Science post-doctorate fellow at Harvard University’s Kennedy School of Government. Meredith has a PhD in Ecology from the University of California, Davis and a BS in Political Sciences with Honors in Environmental Studies from the Catholic University of America.
1. What is your favorite thing about working for the Food Systems Research Center?
Helping catalyze others to do amazing food systems research that I know I wouldn't be able to do myself... and helping my colleagues work through red tape and make things happen, when it seems impossible that they couldn't happen.
2. What is your favorite thing about living and working in Vermont?
Living in Vermont—the way that so many people are connected to the outdoors—whether its through hunting, fishing, farming, or recreation like skiing, birding, or hiking. Most Vermonters enjoy doing something outside. Working in Vermont—that it's a small state and people know each other and offer up their time to talk with you. When I lived in California, that wasn't the case. There's something special about a small state.
3. What is something about you people would be surprised to learn?
After college I left the US to travel for a year and a half across Asia, Australia, New Zealand and the Pacific, mostly by myself. This included spending a year in New Zealand on a work visa, where I worked multiple jobs to live, including as a ski lift attendant for a season, a bartender, waitress, and on the cleaning staff at a hostel. Later, I returned to New Zealand as a PhD student, where I did half of my dissertation research focused on farmers and climate change.
4. What TV show, band/artist, podcast, video game, book, and/or anything are you most obsessed with right now?
My Spotify playlist is largely dictated by my three year old right now, which includes some 80s music, Taylor Swift, and most recently, "my favorite things" from the Sound of Music. When it's not that, I'm often listening to Kenny Chesney and Dolly Parton in the winter time—they make me feel warm and happy.
Debb Fraser, Grants and Business Administrator
Debb Fraser is the Grants and Business Administrator for the FSRC. Debb brings a wealth of knowledge in grant administration to the team, as she served as Program Coordinator for the Vermont Space Grant Consortium (VTSGC) and from 2013-2022, making her the longest serving ¶¶Òõ̽̽ employee on the team. Debb was instrumental in helping to expand the Space Grant program at ¶¶Òõ̽̽ and brings these skills to the FSRC. Debb holds an AA in Criminal Justice from Champlain College.
1. What is your favorite thing about working for the Food Systems Research Center?
There is never a dull moment with the USDA grants.
2. What is your favorite thing about living and working in Vermont?
Definitely being able to get outdoors and play 365 days a year.
3. What is something about you people would be surprised to learn?
A few years ago, after I learned to swim, I did an Olympic Triathlon on a Saturday and an Ironman 70.3 on a Sunday back to back!
4. What TV show, band/artist, podcast, video game, book, and/or anything are you most obsessed with right now?
Bosch based on Michael Connelly books on Amazon Prime.
Chris Skinner, Research and Outreach Coordinator
Chris Skinner is the Research and Outreach Coordinator with the FSRC, where he works to support research at ¶¶Òõ̽̽ and translate that work to a broader audience. He is also a Lecturer in the Department of Nutrition and Food Sciences. Chris's research focuses on repurposing food "waste" for novel nutritional products and on both diet- and alcohol-driven liver diseases. Prior to joining ¶¶Òõ̽̽, Chris was an Assistant Professor at a small liberal arts college in Arkansas. Chris has a PhD in Animal and Food Sciences (emphasis in Human Nutrition) and MS in Exercise Physiology from West Virginia University and a BS in Exercise Science from West Virginia Wesleyan College.
1. What is your favorite thing about working for the Food Systems Research Center?
I get to connect with researchers who study so many different things, learn about their work, and how they're trying to improve food systems and Vermont. I also really enjoy working to support our undergraduate, graduate, and postdoctoral fellows.
2. What is your favorite thing about living and working in Vermont?
The access to the outdoors, the beer, and how nearly every musician I love stops here for a show (a folk music lover's paradise).
3. What is something about you people would be surprised to learn?
I got a cat in graduate school named Apple, who I am pretty sure isn't really a cat, but an alien pretending to be a cat. My wife and I have created elaborate backstories for her (and our other animals, Nokona the cat and Maple the dog). We are thinking about turning these silly stories into a children's book.
4. What TV show, band/artist, podcast, video game, book, and/or anything are you most obsessed with right now?
This is actually really hard for me to answer, because I am always a little obsessed with several things... I love the sound of this psych/blues rock band named All Them Witches and they inspire my guitar playing a lot. My wife and I just played through several of the Zelda games and are currently remodeling a room in our basement to make a home gym. That's my biggest obsession right now—I want it done!
