The College of Agricultural and Natural Resources welcomed a number of new faculty members prior to the start of the 2014 fall semester. Each Friday we've been introducing a few of these newcomers and providing some details about their work and/or research interests.
This week, in our final installment of New Faculty Friday, we meet two assistant professors from the Department of Agricultural & Resource Economics and a lecturer from the Institute of Applied Agriculture. Welcome Dr. Lint Barrage, Ms. Meredith Epstein and Dr. Snaebjorn Gunnsteinsson!
Dr. Lint Barrage: Assistant Professor, Department of Agricultural and Resource Economics
Dr. Lint Barrage comes to the University of Maryland from Yale University, where she received a Master’s and Ph.D. in economics. Her undergraduate studies were at the University of Chicago where she double-majored in economics and environmental studies. Barrage specializes in public economics and has a particular passion for climate change economics. Her past and current research focuses on how to integrate fiscal and macroeconomic considerations into climate policy design. New research projects will take a look at the macroeconomic consequences of climate change and extreme weather events, as well as on the value of investments in public transport infrastructure. Originally from Switzerland, Barrage came to the U.S. as a teenager in the hopes of becoming a documentary filmmaker. She says her family encouraged her to learn something ‘real’ first, and she ended up loving the learning part so much, she made a career out of it.
Meredith Epstein: Lecturer, Institute of Applied Agriculture
Meredith Epstein is a lecturer and advisor in agricultural business management and sustainable agriculture at the Institute of Applied Agriculture. Raised in Montgomery County, MD Epstein has more than five years of sustainable fruit and vegetable production experience. She discovered a passion for sustainable farming while pursuing her undergraduate degree in environmental science at St. Mary’s College of Maryland. After working for many years at Even' Star Organic Farm in Lexington Park, MD, Epstein moved to California to study Ecological Horticulture at the UC-Santa Cruz Farm & Garden. From there, she went on to study sustainable agriculture, nutrition, and food policy at the graduate level. She has worked as an organic gardening coach in Washington, DC and on numerous projects at the New Entry Sustainable Farming Project in Boston, MA. At the University of Maryland, Epstein can often be found in the Public Health Garden/IAA Teaching Garden helping aspiring agrarians and advising the student garden club, collaborating with Terp Farm, and organizing the Sustainable Agriculture Tuesdays lecture series.
Dr. Snaebjorn Gunnsteinsson: Assistant Professor, Department of Agricultural and Resource Economics
Dr. Snaebjorn Gunnsteinsson’s work in the Department of Agricultural and Resource Economics focuses on microeconomics in developing countries with an emphasis on empirical contract theory, risk, insurance, property rights and agriculture. He also works on human capital formation, behavioral economics and global public health. Gunnsteinsson has led research studies on crop insurance markets and land property rights in the Philippines. He received two master’s degrees and a Ph.D. in economics from Yale University and holds a bachelor’s degree in Mathematics from the University of Iceland. Gunnsteinsson teaches a course called Evaluating Global Development Assistance for the Honors College at the University of Maryland.
