Dr. Louise Buck
Louise Buck is a Senior Extension Associate with the Department of Natural Resources at Cornell University and the coordinator of the joint EcoAgriculture Partners-Cornell University Landscape Measures Initiative. Her work focuses on facilitation of multi-stakeholder innovation to develop systems of natural resource management that integrate ecological conservation, agricultural production and livelihood goals. She is engaged in creating and testing frameworks and instructional resources that stimulate interactive (social) learning across different professional structures (disciplines, sectors, management roles). Current applications are in ecoagriculture systems of landscape management in Eastern Africa. In her work, she applies knowledge in social science, education and planning to issues and practices in sustainable agriculture, forest resource management and recreation resource management. Read more about Louise at her faculty page. (leb3@cornell.edu)
Abby Hart
Abby Hart is an Extension Support Specialist in the Department of Natural Resources. Her work includes researching on the ground examples of initiatives engaged in integrated landscape management to better understand the contexts in which integrated landscape management is happening as well as the institutional arrangements and governance systems that support multi-stakeholder management. Her work also supports the development of tools, curricula and programs for training landscape leaders to participate in multi-stakeholder management processes. Prior to joining the Ecoagriculture Working Group in 2010, Abby worked as a sustainable agriculture and food security project assistant with Mennonite Central Committee and the Centro Intereclesial de Estudios Teológicos y Sociales in Matagalpa, Nicaragua, as well as the USDA’s agricultural research service. She holds a B.S. in Environmental Studies from Wheaton College, with an emphasis on biology and sustainable development. She is currently pursuing a Master’s in Natural Resources with an emphasis on collaborative management of forest landscapes in Chile and Canada. (akh67@cornell.edu)
Dr. James Lassoie
Jim Lassoie is a Professor of Conservation in the Department of Natural Resources and an International Professor in the College of Agriculture and Life Sciences at Cornell University. Originally trained as a forest ecologist at the College of Forest Resources, University of Washington in Seattle (PhD,’75), his teaching and research activities now focus on coupled human and natural systems related to conservation and sustainable development. He is specifically interested in community-based natural resource management, ecotourism, ecoagriculture, and parks and protected area management, and has worked extensively in Africa, Asia, Latin America, Canada, and the United States. He holds an Adjunct Professor appointment at Beijing Normal University in support of his current conservation work in China. Jim has over 150 scholarly research publications, has served as the major advisor for 42 Masters and 26 PhD students, and presently advises 10 graduate students with projects in Bhutan, China, Ethiopia, Haiti, Mali, Mexico, and Nepal, as well as the USA. Read more about Jim at his faculty page. (lassoie@cornell.edu)