​Amelia Armstrong (she/her/hers) is a sustainable food systems advocate passionate with experience in farm and garden production, place-based education, community-driven projects, and nonprofit program development. Amelia’s interest in food systems first took shape while working in international ecotourism in Northern Thailand, where she witnessed meaningful connections between food, culture, and ecology. Amelia’s current research focuses on agroecology as a pathway toward more just and sustainable food systems, with particular attention to the role of university student farms and agricultural education. Playing music, running, and sharing meals with her friends and family fills most of Amelia’s days. 

Tin Mar Oo (she/her) is a PhD student from Myanmar. Her research focuses on systemic land dispossession and erasure of Rohingya identity from Myanmar. Originally trained as a medical doctor, she later transitioned into human rights activism. She is Rohingya, a community widely recognized as one of the most persecuted minorities in the world. Over the past 12 years, Tin has worked as a humanitarian professional in program management, focusing on human rights, gender equality, and community-based initiatives. She has participated in fellowship and leadership programs across the Middle East and Europe, and collaborates closely with women’s groups in Indonesia, Turkey, Bangladesh, and Thailand. Tin holds a Master of Public Health from the Australian National University and a Master’s degree in Global Developmental Challenges from the University of Edinburgh. Tin enjoys reading philosophy, writing vlogs and calligraphy. Her motto is “Silence is the language of the Eternal.”

Ande Peersen (she/her) is an environmental anthropologist who has spent years working across rural Montana on wilderness trail crews, as a range ecology technician, and in public health. Her love for the landscapes and people of this state informs her master thesis work on how shifting land ownership dynamics affect agricultural identities and futures. Through her research and as a Wyss Scholar, she strives to center and bring the tools of academia to often-overlooked rural communities. In her free time you can (ideally) find her deep in the Absaroka-Beartooth Wilderness.

Shae Barber (they/them/theirs) was born and raised between the towering Rocky Mountains and the vast Great Basin in Bountiful, Utah, where they developed a deep connection to place on the shores of Great Salt Lake. Their academic interests center on human cultural, social, and emotional relationships with land, exploring the intersection of gender and environment through an ecofeminist lens. Their current research examines how the use of gendered and personified language by environmental advocates at the Great Salt Lake influences action and policy for environmental protection. In their free time, Shae enjoys watercolor painting, camping in the desert, and curling up with a good book and their cat, Beetle.

Phoebe Eisenbeis (she/her/hers) is a farmer, writer, artist and equitable land access advocate originally from Minneapolis. She studies alternative models of farmland access beyond private property and her current research explores the intersection of agricultural community land trusts and broader movements for land justice. Phoebe is committed to land access, food sovereignty, and supporting people in cultivating meaningful relationships to land. 

Nari Lee (she/her/hers) is a trilingual activist, community organizer, and Master’s student in Environmental Studies at the University of Montana. She has over 10 years of experience leading community-based conservation programs in South Korea and Mongolia, including afforestation and bird conservation initiatives. Before graduate school, she was active in feminist organizing in Daegu, South Korea, helping lead the youth feminist collective Bad Feminist and founding the environmental NGO Zigudang (“the action to save the earth”). Her current research centers on gender equity in conservation across South Korea and Mongolia, integrating principles of social justice, diversity, inclusivity, and multiculturalism into environmental action.
 

LinkedIn https://www.linkedin.com/in/nari-lee/

Instagram https://www.instagram.com/naraa_nari/

Email nari.lee@umontana.edu

Biak Lian Thang (Lian) is a youth environmental advocate from Chin State, Myanmar. After earning his bachelor’s degree from Thanlyin Technological University in 2019, he returned to his hometown of Hakha, where he spent four years farming on his family’s farm. He is a recipient of the 2025 Quad Fellowship, and his research interests – having farmed himself – include rural farmers’ livelihoods, generational farming, food security, and climate resilience strategies for small-scale family farmers. His current research examines the factors shaping the next generation’s decision to take over and continue family farming, as well as the impacts of ongoing armed conflict in his home country on farming livelihoods and food security. In his free time, Lian enjoys playing soccer and tennis, and watching Hollywood romance films.

Seng is a researcher and educator committed to social and political change. He has been actively involved in democratization, human rights, and environmental and natural resource issues in Myanmar for over a decade. His research interests include natural resource conservation, policy, and governance, with a focus on rare earth mining in his home state of Kachin, northern Myanmar. Seng is a co-founder of the Naushawng Development Institute, an initiative dedicated to advancing higher education and community development in Kachin State, northern Myanmar.

Kyle Barbian is a graduate student in the International Conservation & Development MSc program at the University of Montana.  His research explores rural depopulation, social and economic transformation in ‘inner areas’, and strategies for sustainable development in southern Italy.  Upon receiving a Franke Sustainability Fellowship award through the W.A. Franke College of Forestry and Conservation, he conducted fieldwork in the region of Molise,  examining how demographic decline reshapes local understandings of opportunity, value, agricultural livelihood, migration, and contemporary development frameworks.  Broadly, his interests include rural resilience, uneven development, neo-rural social movements, agricultural transitions, and alternative economic models that prioritize social and ecological stability and wellbeing.  Kyle is a youth soccer coach for MT ODP and enjoys hiking and biking in the mountains whenever given the chance.

​Haley’s research sits at the intersection of land systems science and political ecology, using GIS to examine how conservation policy and land ownership patterns shape ecological and social outcomes. She integrates spatial analysis, remote sensing, and critical environmental scholarship to understand land governance across scales. As a systems-oriented researcher, she works to connect data, policy, and community perspectives in applied environmental research.

Tara (she/her) has called Missoula home for several years. She previously worked at Winter Kissed Farm in the Bitterroot Valley, and at Garden City Harvest managing a community gardens program. Her passion for agriculture has led her to consider the significant role that agriculture and ranching play in land use decisions, particularly in Montana where public and private land are often intertwined. As a Wyss Scholar at UM, her research explores the tensions between ranching and conservation interests by investigating the conflict around the non-profit American Prairie operating in central Montana. She hopes to leverage the conflict resolution skills she gains in graduate school through the Natural Resource Conflict Resolution program to open up conversations about conservation strategies in the West and their social, political, and economic implications for rural communities. After graduating, Tara hopes to continue working with farmers, ranchers, and landowners in Montana and the West to steward natural resources and build healthy rural communities. In her free time, she plays competitive ultimate frisbee, gardens, reads, cooks and preserves food, and enjoys the many outdoor activities that Missoula offers!

Olivia Heller (she/her/hers) is a graduate student in Environmental Studies at the University of Montana. Originally from San Diego, CA, she has developed deep roots in the Mountain West through years of living and working in California, Oregon, Texas, and Montana. Her work and interests bridges agricultural policy, cooperative development, and community-based food systems research. Her research examines corporate consolidation in the beef industry and the different models, including cooperative processing, that independent ranchers are relying on in resistance to the highly consolidated industrial agriculture system. Particularly with a focus on agricultural cooperatives and alternative systems can resist wealth extraction from rural communities. In her free time, Olivia enjoys tending to her small flock of backyard chickens, making jewlery, and exploring the landscapes that keep drawing her back to the Northern Rockies.
 

Aviva Keynton (she/her/hers) is a registered dietitian, sustainable food and seed systems advocate, artist, and master’s student in Environmental Studies at the University of Montana. Her research examines regional adaptive seed systems in Montana and their role in strengthening food system resilience and agricultural adaptation in a changing climate. She previously worked as a clinical inpatient dietitian before pursuing graduate study to explore how food systems can function more sustainably and holistically. Her work bridges public health, agroecology, and community-based food systems research. Outside of her academic and work life, she enjoys experimenting in the kitchen, playing clawhammer banjo, knitting sweaters, climbing, skiing, and feeding people she loves.