Sustainable Systems

Sustainable food systems, landscapes and ecosystems

Sustaining our food system is foundational to our college’s mission and requires an interdisciplinary approach, involving almost all of our faculty as well as those externally.

To be sustainable, agriculture must be:

1. Profitable for the producer;
2. Affordable, safe and nutritious for the consumer; and
3. Respectful of the environment. 

Without any one of the three, the system fails. Beyond food, our research has, and will continue to focus on sustainable landscape design and management, and sustaining the world’s ecosystems by conserving natural resources and enhancing biodiversity and resiliency.

The Delmarva region provides an excellent setting in which to study sustainability since it is a relatively populous, environmentally sensitive region of the country.

Related graduate programs

Co-chairs

• Jeffrey Buler
  Associate Professor of Wildlife Ecology

• Angelia Seyfferth
  Associate Professor of Biogeochemistry and Plant-Soil Interactions

Researchers

• Jake Bowman
  Professor of Wildlife Ecology and Chair

• Carmine Balascio
  Associate Professor of Water Resource Engineering 

• Susan Barton
  Professor and Extension Specialist, Ornamental Horticulture

• Kyle Davis
  Assistant Professor of Environmental Science

• Deborah Delaney
  Associate Professor of Entomology

• Erik Ervin
  Chair and Professor Turfgrass & Hort. Systems

• Tanya Gressley
  Associate Professor, Dairy Nutritionist

• Shreeram Inamdar
  Professor and Director, Water Science and Policy

• Alyssa Koehler
  Assistant Professor and Extension Specialist

• Mark Isaacs
  Associate Professor & Director Carvel Research and Education Center

• Deb Jaisi
  Associate Professor of Environmental Biogeochemistry

• Yan Jin
  Edward and Elizabeth Rosenberg Professor

• Jarrod Miller
  Assistant Professor and Extension Specialist

• Amy Shober
  Professor and Extension Specialist, Nutrient Management

• Doug Tallamy
  Professor of Entomology

• Mark VanGessel
  Professor and Extension Specialist, Weed Science

• Bruce Vasilas
  Professor of Agronomy and Soil Management

• Chris Williams
  Professor of Wildlife Ecology

• Anna Wik
  Assistant Professor of Landscape Architecture