The AX Program
The Agroecology Extension Summer Research Fellowship is a fully paid, 10-week research and outreach experience open to undergraduates from across the US. ̽̽ provides the project, mentorship, and research sites. You bring your enthusiasm and willingness to get engaged under Vermont's summer sun!
At a Glance
Research Projects
Program Goals
The AX Program is rooted in the IFA’s philosophy of transformative agroecology, which is focused on transdisciplinarity, participatory processes, equity and just transitions.
- Provide students with transdisciplinary experiential learning focused on developing adaptable research, leadership, and outreach skills
- Help prepare students for careers and graduate education in agroecology and extension
- Match students with ̽̽ faculty and staff working within Vermont's multifaceted landscape
- Support and contribute to new and ongoing Extension outreach projects dedicated to ̽̽'s Land Grant mission
As a learning community, we recognize that transformation in agroecology requires deep engagement with questions of identity, power, and positionality. We are committed to transforming traditional systems of higher education and agricultural outreach through our collaborative work. In partnership with the ̽̽ Division of Inclusive Excellence and a diverse network of researchers, farmers, organizational leaders, and academics, we create spaces for critical reflection and dialogue about these complex issues. Our curriculum and partnerships facilitate understanding of individual and collective identities while developing practices grounded in cultivating wellbeing, belonging, and resilience. Through this work, we aim to contribute to more just and equitable food and educational systems.
Check out AX featured on ̽̽ Extension's TV program, 'Across the Fence'! .
What to Expect
The AX Program offers a 10-week immersive work experience that weaves together personal and professional growth in the context of agroecology through labor, learning, and community engagement. We begin our time together developing a shared understanding of transformative agroecology and setting personal and collective goals for our learning and development.
The program runs weekly, Monday – Friday. For research project work (three days per week), Fellows typically work up to 8 hours a day, timing may vary by research site and project needs. The Agroecology Leadership Enrichment Program (two days per week) follows a more flexible schedule to accommodate community-building activities, shared meals, and possible overnight experience. During this time, AX Fellows will engage with core agroecological texts and frameworks, guest presenters, workshops, and site visits. Fellows should expect some evening programming and should maintain scheduling flexibility for these enrichment activities. The program concludes with time for deep reflection, meaning-making, and sharing of our collective research and learning.
The AX Program offers a deeply embodied approach to agroecology, engaging Fellows in multiple dimensions of learning and development. This includes mind-body awareness integrated with hands-on agricultural work. Fellows participate in mindful observation, reflective practices, and experiential learning while also engaging in the physical aspects of agricultural research and farm work. This means being prepared for fieldwork in various weather conditions on commercial and research farms, such as weeding, soil sampling, scouting. Through this integration of mind and body, Fellows develop a more complete understanding of agroecological systems and their own role within them.
Program Team
Karen Nordstrom
Cohort Facilitator & Evaluation Director
Karen co-leads the AX leadership development & enrichment programming and the program’s participatory evaluation processes. Karen’s work in education has been deeply intertwined with exploration, service, and a commitment to sustainability. It started with a summer of service with the Student Conservation Association, immersed in wilderness education, which ignited a passion for environmental stewardship and led to two enriching years as a Peace Corps volunteer in El Salvador, where her program focus was on agroforestry. Karen completed graduate studies that delved into educational action research projects, with the first focused on the school garden as an integrating context for science and English Language Development, which took place in the Central Coast region of California, before turning to sustainability in higher education, where her doctoral studies at ̽̽ focused on the field of sustainable agriculture and food systems education. Karen serves as the Policy Co-Director of the Integrated Policy Program at Food Solutions New England, where she works on coordinating regional initiatives across multiple issue areas, including food, farms, forests, fisheries, and communities. Beyond her professional endeavors, she is a coordinating member of the ̽̽ Contemplative Practices Learning Community. She believes in using contemplative practices to cultivate compassion and drive positive social change. In her spare time, you can find Karen exploring nature, practicing yoga, or experimenting with new recipes using local ingredients.
Emily Hoyler
Cohort Facilitator & Project Director
Emily co-leads the AX leadership development & enrichment programming. Emily is an educator, facilitator, un/learner, and aspiring family herbalist. She is also the Operations Manager at the ̽̽ Institute for Agroecology. Emily’s work centers on transformation toward justice, healing, and joy through relational practices. Emily has over two decades of experience working as an educator in a variety of settings. She is a Professional Affiliate at Shelburne Farms, where she also served as the Curriculum Specialist. At Shelburne Farms, Emily’s passion for farm to school and food systems education as a portal for transformation emerged. Emily is a current doctoral student in ̽̽’s Transdisciplinary Leadership and Creativity for Sustainability Ph.D program. Emily’s interests include organizational learning & culture, relational systems change & compassionate systems awareness, unsettling self/systems, cultivation of relational space for change, post-sustainability & place-based education, reciprocal healing with Land, food and farm-based education, and youth leadership. She lives in Ripton, Vermont with her family, where she spends a lot of time hanging out with the trees in the forest. She also loves to cook, especially with locally grown or foraged food, but she is often too ambitious when planting her garden and lets the “weeds” take over!
Vic Izzo
Lead Mentor & Curriculum Director
Vic is the lead mentor for the AX Fellowship cohorts and is the primary curriculum developer for the program. In addition to his leadership and development roles, Vic serves as an AX team mentor for the Vermont Entomology and Participatory Action Research Team (VEPART). As one of the core team members of VEPART, Vic spends a lot of his summer with farmers and student researchers developing innovative strategies for managing pests in local agroecosystems. Vic is also a faculty member in the Department of Agriculture, Landscape, and Environment (formerly the Department of Plant and Soil Science) at ̽̽, where he also holds positions as Co-Director of the Environmental Studies Program and the Head of Undergraduate Education for the Institute for Agroecology. Along with a diverse array of student-centered roles at ̽̽, Vic is deeply committed to creating collaborative learning opportunities with the students, colleagues, and farmers focused upon creating a more just and ecologically viable food system. When Vic isn’t in the classroom or on a farm, you might find him with his partner Carolina and son Nico at a music festival, in the garden, in a canoe, or hiking through the woods. In case you want to learn more about Vic you could always tune into his radio show on The Radiator, a public access radio station located in Burlington, VT.
Ernesto Méndez
Faculty Director, ̽̽ Institute for Agroecology
V. Ernesto Méndez serves on the leadership team of the Institute for Agroecology as the Faculty Director and is a Professor of Agroecology at ̽̽’s Department of Agriculture, Landscape of Environment. His research and teaching focus on agroecology, agrifood systems, smallholder coffee systems, participatory action research (PAR), and transdisciplinary research approaches. He has over 25 years of experience working with smallholder farmers and Indigenous communities in Latin America and collaborating in agroecology efforts in a wide diversity of regions. Recently, these efforts have expanded across the world and currently include education and research initiatives in the Northeast U.S.A., Latin America, Africa, and Europe. Since 2022, he serves as vice-president of the board of directors of the Latin American Scientific Society of Agroecology (SOCLA). Ernesto supports the AX program by working to align activities with the IfA’s guiding pillars, supporting BIPOC participants and sharing agroecology content and experience. Ernesto was born and raised in El Salvador and maintains deep connections with his Central American roots.