Importance of Faculty Advising:
Graduate Faculty Advisors are faculty who act as primary sources for students regarding academic information and their plans of study.  They play a crucial role in each student’s web of mentors and advisors, complementing the role of Major Professor.  In addition, the cohesive group of Advisors work collaboratively with the graduate program Chair to provide a unified advising vision for the program or group, and they review and take action on the forms and petitions students submit. 

Dr Amanda Crump, Associate Professor of Teaching in International Agricultural Development

Dr. Amanda Crump is Associate Professor in International Agricultural Development at University of California, Davis. Her research focuses on the impacts of compounding disasters on vulnerable farmers. She and her research team work to create greater understanding of the constraints faced by vulnerable people who are involved in agriculture, research better strategies to increase the uptake of agricultural technologies by vulnerable groups, and develop better teaching strategies that increase critical thinking skills for U.S. university students who will become development practitioners and for farmers who engage in agricultural extension activities. Dr. Crump has managed over $40 million in international and domestic agricultural research projects and her mentees now work as gender equity specialists, program managers and evaluators throughout the world. She earned a PhD from University of California, Davis, a M.S. degree from Colorado State University, and a B.S. from the University of Idaho. Originally from a farm, Amanda spends her free time listening to music and playing with her dog Sam. 

Why I love advising: One of the things that energizes me is seeing students thrive at UC Davis. I’m good at connecting students with others in their field of expertise and with the resources they need. I’m encouraged when students think outside the box because the issues that development practitioners encounter are bigger than they used to be. It’s student creativity that may solve our most pressing problems. 

Dr Louise Ferguson, Professor of Cooperative Extension

Dr. Louise Ferguson’s program is focused on developing new production practices for pistachios, olives, citrus, figs, persimmon  pomegranates and teaching the results to growers.  She has coedited books on pistachio, citrus, fig, and table and oil olive production.  She has worked in multiple USAID international training projects in Iran, China, Afghanistan, Iraq, Egypt, Pakistan, South America, Republic of Georgia and Armenia.   She has done extensive leadership training for mid-career adults in academic, government and commercial agricultural organizations.          

Dr Erin McGuire

Erin McGuire is the director of the Feed the Future Innovation Lab for Horticulture. In this work McGuire spearheads global research and partnership initiatives aimed at enhancing the livelihoods of smallholder farmers and fostering community empowerment through horticulture, with a keen focus on nutrition and healthy diets. In this role McGuire oversees 19 different horticultural research projects in East and West Africa, Central America, and Southeast Asia, and UC Davis-based research focusing on social network analysis, postharvest management, and informal market value chains. In 2023, she was the chair of all the USAID Feed the Future Innovation Labs helping to generate discussion in the importance of horticulture, local leadership, and gender and social inclusion.  She has long-standing relationships with the CGIAR, focusing on innovating and scaling for equitable food systems transformation.

McGuire leads a global class, “Innovating and Scaling for Social Transformation in International Food Systems,” attended by academics and practitioners worldwide to explore cutting-edge science on engaging agricultural innovation systems to achieve the Sustainable Development Goals. McGuire also directs the Global Horticulture Opportunities Study, a collaboration with WorldVeg and CGIAR spanning ten countries and involving hundreds of horticultural experts, to analyze R&D investments in fruits and vegetables and identify immediate research needs to advance the sector globally. In partnership with Wageningen University and the Alliance of Bioversity and CIAT, McGuire developed GenderUp, a tool used throughput the AR4D community to innovate and scale considering population and landscape heterogeneity.

McGuire has worked as an economic analyst and researcher at UC Davis, where she set-up D-Lab curricula in Honduras and Thailand, co-authored research with Agricultural Resources and Economics faculty on the effects of purchasing local foods and led a project with the College of Agricultural and Environmental Sciences International Programs Office on understanding call center efficacy in agricultural extension in Ghana and Bangladesh.

Prior to her UC Davis career, McGuire served as the policy director for the National Farm to School Network, where she championed children's nutrition and bolstered small farm income. Erin has worked for the United States Congress, where she formulated policies that significantly benefited rural communities by advocating for increased investments in locally sourced agricultural products. She holds a PhD from University of California, Davis, focused on equity in agricultural innovation systems, and an MS in International Agricultural Development focused on microeconomics and small-scale farming systems.

Dr Robert Hijmans

Robert Hijmans' studies international agricultural development and human health. He is particularly interested in the role of biodiversity in agriculture, and in climate change. He specializes in spatial analysis, ecological modeling and geo-informatics.

Dr Cameron Pittelkow, Associate Professor, Plant Sciences
 
Dr. Pittelkow’s research is focused on balancing crop production and sustainability goals in agriculture. He conducts integrated assessments of agroecosystem performance with the objective of optimizing resource use efficiencies and crop yields while mitigating negative environmental impacts. He is particularly interested in identifying cropping systems and management practices that increase nitrogen and water use efficiencies while reducing carbon footprint. His projects are conducted in the U.S. and internationally through a variety of collaborations.