Dr. Gabrielle E Roesch-McNally

Background: I received my B.A. from Western Washington University where I studied at the Huxley School of Environmental Studies and Fairhaven College. My degree was focused on the political economy of agriculture and development studies. During my B.A. I received a fellowship that took me to Ethiopia and Zambia to explore food aid and agricultural development for a year. This experience deeply affected me and I intend to make it back to Africa at some point in my future. I took some time off between my B.A. and my M.S. where I pursued development work in New York and sustainable agriculture in Europe. During this time I also started working with Washington State University Extension in the Snohomish County office where I developed a nationally recognized 4-H youth program called 4-H Fish and Forest Stewards. During my tenure, over five years, with WSU Extension I also developed a training program for citizen scientists interested in climate change mitigation called Carbon Masters. While working with WSU Extension I also pursued on my M.S. from University of Washington at the School of Forest Resources. I had the opportunity to do research on public willingness to pay for forest ecosystem services and focused my thesis on environmental economics where I conducted both quantitative and qualitative research.

Research Interests: Currently I am pursuing my Ph.D. research, which is focused on sustainable corn production in the Corn Belt with regards to developing greater resiliency in the face of climate change while minimizing nutrient loading in the Mississippi and the Gulf of Mexico. My dissertation research relies heavily on qualitative research conducted in nine Midwestern states where we are talking with farmers about their conservation practices, their perceptions about weather variability and climate change while also assessing their willingness to adapt and mitigate climate change in their farming operation. I am working closely with Extension Educators for this project and we hope to develop outreach tools as a result of this research. I will also be answering quantitative questions through a survey that was developed as part of this project. My personal interest is to explore how to develop more diversified agricultural systems so that we can enhance the ecological services that farms provide by seeking to better understand how farmers think about sustainability.

Personal Interests: I am a huge fan of urban gardens and had a big garden with 13 chickens back in WA. I hope to do the same here in Iowa. I like to cook a variety of foods and worked as a chef at one point in my life. I still cook as a volunteer for Food at First here in Ames. I have discovered Frisbee Golf which is great and I can now add that to my love of hiking, biking, backpacking, kayaking, running, yoga and camping. I have been known to enjoy a good concert, a nice Kentucky Bourbon and good political debates between friends.