Mindi Schneider
2005-2006 CSIP Fellow

Research Interest:
Development Sociology and Agronomy

My research focuses on food system issues from the plant and farm level to the global scale. Background in the natural sciences informs my current study as a graduate student in the Development Sociology department. Specifically, I am looking at consolidation in the organic food and farming sectors and examining power relations in the contexts of food regimes and globalization.

In the CSIP program, I would like to explore the human–nature relationship with students in a cross-disciplinary, systems-based context. One challenge in environmental education is making relevant connects between large scale environmental problems and individual activities and choices. Using inquiry based methods with a focus on both the natural and social sciences, we can build greater understandings of the dynamics of these relationships. I am committed to action-based education and building student ownership in the process so that meaningful investigations can be made around individual interests. For me, one of the primary purposes of education should be to teach us how to be responsible citizens of the ecological community. I’m excited to undertake this process with students in the program.