Past Fellow

Patricia Townsend
Research Fellow
Washington State University
Phone: (425) 357-6020
Email: patricia.townsend@wsu.edu

Patricia Townsend is a Regional Extension Specialist for Washington State University (WSU) Extension. In this position, Patricia works with stakeholders throughout the Pacific Northwest on issues related to renewable energy, ecosystem services, and green infrastructure. She recently joined WSU’s Metropolitan Center for Applied Research and Extension. Patricia also leads outreach for Advanced Hardwood Biofuels Northwest, which includes energy literacy, stakeholder research, and connecting poplar growers with market opportunities. In her dissertation research, she worked closely with landowners and local conservation practitioners to find realistic solutions to land degradation and planning for climate change in Costa Rica.  Currently, she is happy to be doing research and outreach on poplar trees and green infrastructure to build sustainable systems in the Pacific Northwest. Patricia received a Ph.D. from the University of Washington and a M.S. from the University of Florida.

Fulfilling the Land Grant University Mission at State Agricultural Experiment Stations in Urban Interfaces of the West  

The authors are seeking support to dive deeply into the experience of experimental agricultural stations and to develop recommendations for stations to adapt to continued urbanization, understand the current needs of our agricultural stakeholders, as well as the tribes whose land we are on, and understand how the Land Grant mission can continue (or adapt) in the peri-urban west. 

Julie Jesmer
Washington State University
Research Fellow, Graduate Student
Email: Click here

Julie Jesmer is a graduate student in the Master of Agriculture program at Washington State University. She has a master’s degree in social work (MSW) from Virginia Commonwealth University. She is exploring the intersections between agriculture and social work. Her earlier work in Western Kenya introduced her to the complexity of food security and she has developed a passion for integrating food justice into her work in agriculture. She focuses on community based education and development working through organizational collaborations and university extension programs. Her goal is to assist communities and organizations to increase everyone’s access to healthy food while incorporating a lens of food justice.   

Sabrina Drill, Ph.D
Washington State University
Research Fellow
Email: Click here

Sabrina Drill most recently worked as the Natural Resources Advisor for UC Cooperative Extension in Los Angeles and Ventura Counties and former Director of California Naturalist. Her areas of research and extension include urban ecology, restoration of urban streams, climate change resilience, terrestrial and aquatic invasive species, fire ecology and recovery, and public participation in science. Throughout her extension career she has worked to build capacity for community-based resource management, and to substantively engage under-represented communities in stewardship of their local watersheds and ecosystems. Dr. Drill has conducted research in Southern California, the Colorado River, the Hudson River, and the East African Great Lakes. She is a former Fulbright fellow, and has worked for the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institute, Harvard University, and the Council for Watershed Health. She holds a Ph.D. in Geography and a M.S. in Biology from UCLA, a B.S. in Biology from Virginia Tech, and an A.A. in Natural Science from Simon’s Rock of Bard College.

Jordan Jobe, MEM
Washington State University
Research Fellow
Email: Click here

Jordan manages and supports interdisciplinary agriculture, water, and natural resource management projects and communication efforts for the Center for Sustaining Agriculture and Natural Resources and the Water Research Center. She is also the Project Manager for the AgAID Institute. Jordan has a broad background, starting with coral reef restoration work as a Peace Corps Volunteer in Western Samoa, and coral reef conservation for The Nature Conservancy. She managed projects related to  agriculture and floodplains at PCC Farmland Trust before joining WSU in 2018. Jordan has a Masters in Environmental Management from Yale University, and a B.S. in Zoology and Fisheries from the University of Washington. Outside of work, Jordan enjoys running, knitting, gardening, and inventing new hot sauce recipes. 

Jordan will be working in partnership with Todd Murray (WSU).

Alyssa Bowers, MS
Research Fellow
University of Florida
Email: Click here

Alyssa Bowers is a Senior Program Consultant with the Juvenile Welfare Board of Pinellas County. Her most recent work with the University of Florida was as the 4-H Youth Development Agent in Pinellas County Florida. Her primary areas of focus are STEM, urban 4-H, and veterinary science. She has a passion for innovative and creative 4-H programming and partnerships. Alyssa has an MS in Agricultural Education and Communications from the University of Florida and BS degree in Animal Science from the University of Florida. She also is the co-chair for the ESP Urban Affinity Group and recently completed a graduate certificate in nonprofit management at the University of Tampa. When not working, she loves to spend time with her family and pets, traveling, and learning new things! 

Alyssa will work in partnership with Ramona Madhosingh-Hector (UF)

Our Urban Extension fellows are:

• Ramona Madhosingh-Hector and Alyssa Bowers
• Julie Jesmer
• Judith Wait
• Todd Murray and Jordan Jobe
• Sabrina Drill

We’re looking forward to working with all seven of these bright urban extension minds!

Tim Aston
Advisory Board
Colorado State University
Phone: (303) 738-7907
Email: TAston@arapahoegov.com

Timothy Aston is the Director of Colorado State University Extension/Arapahoe County. He has served in this role since 2013. Prior to this position he was partial owner of a food service company, Big Sky Ventures, a C-Corp in Highlands Ranch, CO, from 2011- 2013.

Mr. Aston spent the first 30 years of his career in the technology business as a systems consultant, a systems engineer, an IT director, a VP of Information Technology, a Chief Technology Officer and a Chief Information Officer. These roles were served in the media and newspaper business including the Hartford Courant (A Tribune Company newspaper) and the St. Petersburg Times (now the Tampa Bay Times).

Mr. Aston was born and raised in Bloomfield, Connecticut, and achieved a BS in Natural Resources from the University of Connecticut and a MRP in Regional Planning from the University of Massachusetts. Mr. Aston currently resides in Highlands Ranch, CO with his wife Dawn and daughter, Natalie.

The Western Center for Metropolitan Extension and Research (WCMER) is a multi-university collaboration established by the Western Extension Directors Association to:

• increase the internal capacity of Western Extension programs to address metropolitan issues, and
• to elevate the stature and value of Cooperative Extension to external metropolitan audiences.

Since its founding in 2014 we have focused our efforts on applied research on best Extension practices and issues facing metropolitan areas, and professional development for Extension professionals, with a goal of better aligning programs and program delivery with the needs, issues and interest of their metropolitan constituency.

This mid-year report from the WCMER highlights the initiated four applied research fellowships; co-led a national effort to gather stakeholder input for the National Institute of Food and Agriculture’s (NIFA) Urban, Indoor and other Emerging Agricultural Production Research, Education and Extension Initiative; explored new projects around urban wildfires/urban smoke, nature based solutions, and sustainable regional systems; and produced seven Leading Edge Dialogue papers as the proceedings at the 2019 National Urban Extension Conference.

Past Fellow

Tyler Augst, MS
Research Fellow
Michigan State University
Phone: (269) 436-0520
Email: augsttyl@msu.edu

Tyler Augst is a Government & Community Vitality Educator for Southwest Michigan with Michigan State University Extension and Michigan Sea Grant focusing on land use, zoning, planning, and community development. Prior to MSU Extension Tyler spent time working on increasing civic and democratic participation in a variety of K-12, post-secondary settings, including a year serving as an AmeriCorps VISTA with the Eastern Upper Peninsula Intermediate School District and working with 4-H. Tyler holds B.A. degrees in Anthropology and Sociology from Michigan State University and a M.S. degree in Rural Sociology from Pennsylvania State University.

Augst worked in partnership with Craig Carpenter (MSU) and David Ivan (MSU).

Craig Carpenter, Ph.D
Research Fellow
Michigan State University
Email: carpe224@msu.edu

Dr. Craig Carpenter completed his bachelor’s degree from Kalamazoo College and has a Ph.D. in Agricultural, Food, and Resource Economics from Michigan State University. His major field was economic development with a focus in applied econometrics. Dr. Carpenter holds a joint appointment as an Extension Specialist in the Community, Food, and Environment Institute at Michigan State University Extension, and as an Assistant Professor and Extension Specialist in the Department of Agricultural Economics at Texas A&M University and Texas A&M AgriLife Extension Service. He specializes in community and regional economic development. Dr. Carpenter’s research expertise includes the interaction of race, ethnicity, entrepreneurship, and economic growth.

Dr. Carpenter’s primary goal is to help communities and businesses organize, understand research and local economic data, make informed decisions, and take action about community and economic development issues. Pursuantly, he develops research-based educational and data materials on local/regional community, economic, and business development issues, while publishing this research in academic journals. His programs underscore regional economic coordination, cooperation, and action, resulting from understanding their regional and historical context based on publicly available data.

Carpenter worked in partnership with Tyler Augst (MSU) and David Ivan (MSU).