Dr. Robert Yablon is an Associate Professor of Law and Co-Director of the State Democracy Research Initiative at the University of Wisconsin Law School. Professor Yablon will explore the relationship between state and federal constitutions, with a special focus on recent controversial cases before the Supreme Court.

Sarah Mock is an agriculture and food expert—on everything from farm production, strategy, and marketing to ag history and economics to logistics, supply chains, and climate impact. Her passion for agriculture runs deep, as does her desire to prove that it is possible to farm without exploiting farmers, farmworkers, the environment, or communities.

Katherine Gutierrez is a Ph.D. candidate in public economics at the University of New Mexico. Usamah Wasif is a post-doctoral research fellow with the Education Policy Innovation Collaborative (EPIC) program at Michigan State University, and studies the educator workforce in Michigan. The pair will present their own research, and discuss social policy surrounding food access such as Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) benefits and grocery taxes.

Ashanté Reese works at the intersection of critical food studies and Black geographies, examining the ways Black people produce and navigate food-related spaces. She will present on a cultural history of sugar and Sugar Land, Texas in which she explores the spatial, economic, and carceral implications of sugar and the sometimes contradictory and deadly sweetness that marks Black life.

Cindi SturtzSreetharan is a professor at the Arizona State University School of Human Evolution and Social Change, interested in the interaction between language and the body. SturtzSreetharan is a co-author of Fat in Four Cultures: A Global Ethnography of Weight and her presentation will incorporate research from this text as it challenges assumptions about body image.

Clare Brock is an assistant professor of political science at Colorado State University. Examining the agricultural and food sectors at a legislative level, Brock will present her research on policy and how the lobbying process impacts everyday food choices.